Submitted photo / Robert Senn Studio The 2024 Boardman football team.

BOARDMAN — Experience is key this year for Boardman.

The Spartans are returning 11 starters across both sides of the ball, which is something they didn’t have a luxury of last season.

Head coach DJ Dota said that ahead of last year’s season opener, roughly 85% of the roster had not yet taken a snap at the varsity level. However, this season, the Spartans bring back 29 lettermen, 22 of which saw consistent playing time on offense and defense.

“We didn’t have that in the past,” Dota said. “Because of that, I think we’re also going to have a lot of competition at places, because what we’re doing offensively and defensively is allowing us to play guys on both sides of the ball. We’re going to have more competition at a position because now we know who those guys are. We have a good idea of where guys are going to play on both sides of the ball because now they have that game experience.”

After a 4-6 campaign in Dota’s first season in 2022 and a 1-9 record against a difficult schedule last year, Boardman is looking to take that next step forward.

In Dota’s third season at Boardman, the Spartans are hoping to finally get over the hurdle to finish above .500 and return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 COVID season when every team qualified for the postseason.

“We want to get a winning season and just keep getting better every week so that we’re at our best in week 11,” Dota said. “We want to be able to reach our full potential, and we want to take that step that we’re going to be a playoff team. I think with the type of schedule we have, we definitely have the ability. If we do things the right way, which I think that we have implemented over the last two years, we can be a playoff team year-in and year-out.”

Dota is looking to his 26 seniors to take leadership of the program and guide the Spartans — that starts with communication.

“We live in a world where two kids can be sitting by each other a whole lunch and they don’t even talk because they’re on their cell phones,” Dota said. “So we’re trying to create communication within our football program with the different things that we do. Guys that are leaders, they should be leaders. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in. If you do everything right, nobody can really argue with you.

“I think this is a close-knit group of seniors with a lot of friends. There are a lot of good kids that care about each other, which I think is huge to the team dynamic. So I think that’s going to carry us more than maybe ‘vocal’ guys. But everybody’s sharing that part and playing their role on our football team.”

OFFENSE

For the Spartans, it all starts offensively with senior quarterback Zach Haus, who set the school record for total completions in a season last year and completed about 62% of his passes for 1,956 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 117 times for 422 yards and two touchdowns.

As a sophomore, Haus spent time at running back and took some snaps as the team’s backup quarterback behind now-graduated Tomas Andujar. But last year, Andujar moved to wide receiver and Haus stepped into the signal caller role for the first time.

With Haus having a year under his belt at quarterback, Dota feels the offense is in good hands heading into this season.

“Zach’s a pretty even-keel guy to begin with, so he never really lets anything bother him too much, or at least he doesn’t show it. So he’s always pretty steady, and I think everybody feeds off that a little bit,” Dota said. “He manages the game, puts us in better checks and stays out of bad calls. If we want to take a shot, we feel pretty good that he’s going to get it where it needs to be. He’s played in so many games now, so he understands the game. We hope because of that he’s going to be able to provide some big plays for us and put us in big-play situations.”

However, Boardman’s passing numbers last season were not necessarily by design, but by necessity. The Spartans were very young and inexperienced on the offensive line and were starting three sophomores up front by the end of the year, which made it difficult for them to develop and maintain a consistent running game at times.

So this year, with that year of experience and growth under their belts, Dota said he wants the offense to find more of a 60-40 or even 70-30 run-pass ratio.

“That’s ideal with what we’d like to do,” Dota said. “We didn’t run the ball enough a year ago. … A goal of ours is to be able to run the football. If we do that, it’s going to make Zach more efficient and take less hits. I think that’ll be huge for us because it will make our offense a little bit more productive than it was.”

Boardman will lean on 13 different players that are competing for positions on the offensive line to help establish that run game, each of whom saw playing experience last year.

Some of the more experienced returners up front include, Sean Omellan, Nico Mariani, Derrion McCullough and David Thompson. The coaches are hoping sophomore Brandon Shaw can make an impact on the line, as well.

However, the skill positions are where the Spartans are lacking some returning experience. Vince Atwood and Ryan Smith are two returners in the backfield, but they combined for just 29 carries last year. Sophomore Frank Butto and juniors Alex Battaglia and Ray Vodhanel are also some newcomers at running back to look out for though, according to Dota.

Tight end Mason Nawrocki and running back Mason Rutledge each caught passes last season and are back as well. But there will be a number of new faces getting carries and catching passes for the Spartans this season.

DEFENSE

On defense, Dota said he sees this team as being more of a zone-type of defense that will primarily stay in its base coverage.

“I don’t see us as being an aggressive type of team,” Dota said. “We’re going to read and go and play more zone than we did in the past.”

Just like on the offensive line, Boardman will have 13 players — many of the same names — vying for a spot on the defensive line.

Junior linebacker Victor Dimargio is the team’s leading returning tackler after finishing with 54 tackles and five tackles for loss a year ago. He’ll be joined in the second level by Atwood, who had 45 tackles and led the team with 10 tackles for loss last season.

Senior Ashton Hoover (28 tackles) and Keith Smith (26 tackles) will also add to the depth and competition that Boardman has at linebacker.

“At our inside backer spots, I feel pretty good,” Dota said. “But we’ve also moved people there, so we have more competition at those spots with what we’re doing. So we have juniors and seniors that are fighting for a position to play on Friday nights.

Junior defensive back Vince Butto will continue to lead the group in the secondary after having 31 tackles, three forced fumbles and two pass break ups last year. Meanwhile, junior defensive back Ryan Smith had 20 tackles and a forced fumble and is also back.

“There’s so many people with experience, but I don’t know how it’s all going to unfold at the end of the day,” Dota said of the defense as a whole. “But it’ll work itself out through the competition that we go through.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

With the exception of Andujar as the team’s primary kick returner, Boardman returns all of its specialists, including senior kickers/punters Kosta Cvercko and Tony Pinciaro.

“Our snappers are back, our holders are back,” Dota said. “I think it’s a huge part of being good on special teams. You gotta have those — your long snapper, your short snapper, your holder, your returners, your kickers, your punters. Those are key. If you don’t have that, you’re going to really struggle.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.