Staff photo / Greg Macafee Champion junior quarterback Christian Williams attempts to evade a group of McDonald defenders during a scrimmage earlier this month. Williams looks to replace Joey Fell under center.

CHAMPION — Entering his third season as head coach, Champion football coach Tom Conrad knows a change is necessary.

For the past two seasons, Champion relied on the offensive tandem of Joey Fell and Nick Vesey as a source of the team’s scoring. Since the duo has graduated, Conrad is looking at shaking up the schemes on both sides of the ball.

“I was trying to do too much to try to run a multitude of schemes and plays,” Conrad said. “When we looked at the film and reevaluated last year, the things that we were really good at were Wing-T-based principles.”

Realizing the simplicity behind the offensive strategy, Conrad said he is implementing the Gun-T scheme on offense.

“We’re moving away from the five-wide, spread attack and we’re going to go with a complete system where all the plays are derived and based off of three main play families,” he said. “We’ve been working all offseason to try to fix things. Five wins in two years isn’t good enough. We have great kids at Champion. They’re hungry. They want to win and get better.”

Much of the offense is going to have a number of different options based off of one play. For years, the Champion offense has excelled at the buck sweep and last season, the team averaged five yards per attempt at all levels.

“Our kids know that play, so why change something that they know and are good at?” Conrad said.

With Fell graduating, Conrad would like to see the offense move to a rushing-based attack like in years prior.

“We want to establish the run game,” he said. “We want to be known for, and establish, an identity at Champion of being a hard-nosed, running football team. If you look back to 2019 when Champion had a winning year, they ran the football efficiently and they were probably one of the best rushing football teams in the county at that time. We want to get back to our roots.”

With that in mind, Conrad said playing that type of football will allow different options to open up.

“We want to make defenses not only have to prepare and guard and stop the run, but also stop the pass that comes off that same exact play. We want to give our quarterback options. We have numerous places a quarterback can put the football to have success on that play. When we give those options, we dictate where the ball goes based on what the defense gives us. That will allow us to be successful,” Conrad said.

OFFENSE

As to who the quarterback with all the options will be, two players have stood out as viable candidates for the job. Christian Williams and Zack Morris are both up for the task and complement each other well, according to Conrad. He hinted at the poise both signal callers possess and their ability to take command, as well as a knowledge of what each position should do in any given play.

“We believe both guys are fully capable of throwing and running the football, so that opens many opportunities and possibilities in what we can do with our offense,” he said.

As the season opens, Conrad said Williams will be the starter with Morris as the back up, but called them both interchangeable. He added that the two are both able to play different positions and he wants to see them both on the field at the same time.

“(Williams) adds needed depth at the wide receiver spot,” Conrad said. “Both (Williams and Morris) can play in that position and can run out of the backfield. The game plan moving forward will be having the best 11 players out on the field.”

In the backfield, the team boasts several players who have the capability of producing. Honing in on the buck sweep, Conrad said that play is going to be the centerpiece the offense is built around. Filling the role could be a combination of Mike Sanders, Khalil Gray, Noah Ray, Mason Litz and Alejandro Baez.

“We’re looking at those guys to fill that role,” Conrad said. “We’re going to focus on and be true to our system, as well as watch some of our young guys blossom and come into their own. We’re excited about that.”

At the receiver position, Conrad has over eight viable options in Chase Vesey, Zack Morris, Collin Cope, Kasen Brooks, Tony Smith, Gray, Carter Boggs and Ethan Abruzzi. One downfall, however, is that group’s lack of experience and youth.

“A lot of them are younger but they’re picking up the nuances of playing the position. Coach (Caleb) Davis is doing a great job of preparing them,” Conrad said. With Boggs and Smith, Conrad is looking at them to push the field vertically and is relying on Vesey and Brooks to go over the middle and make plays.

“That group is going to be vital to our success in keeping defenses honest and having to defend the entirety of the field,” he added.

To help establish the run game, senior and four-year letterwinner Ethan Ray is expected to lead the charge as an anchor on the offensive line. Joining Ray on the offensive line is a group made up of Bruce Click, Derrick Darby, Ian Gallison, Keegan Clifford and Matt Wilkes.

The latter two are only sophomores, but Conrad anticipates them to be crucial and for Ray to lead the charge.

“We have some young guys up front and we have to get more aggressive, but (Ethan) is really leading them well,” Conrad said. “He’s essentially an extension of the coaching staff because he believes in what we are trying to do. He’s doing a great job and we’re excited for him to lead that unit this year.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes
Champion head coach Tom Conrad goes for a low-five with one of his players during a recent 7-on-7 passing scrimmage at Lakeview High School. Conrad enters his third season at the helm of the Golden Flashes program and is looking to make changes.

DEFENSE

On the defensive side of things, Conrad said the attention has been turned to simplicity through “being multiple.”

At its core, the defense is a 3-4 set.

Out of that set, the defense can shift and move to give a variety of different looks to opposing offenses.

To come up with that system, Conrad looked at what other teams had done against Champion.

“A defensive team could line up in an odd front one play, then an even front the next, and then go back to an odd front. That gave us a really hard time and those things are hard to prepare for in four days. That’s why we want to be multiple,” he said. “Just like we want to do on offense, we know teams in the Mahoning Valley are going to want to establish the run, so our defense is focused on stopping it and forcing teams to beat us in the air.”

In the secondary, Conrad admitted the team has a disadvantage when it comes to experience, but believes the stable of skill players on the team can cause incompletions and turnovers by way of Morris, Smith, Cope, Chase Vesey, Diego Baez, Gray, Brooks, Williams, Litz, Boggs and Abruzzi.

“We’re keeping our coverages simple and we’re trying to get good at one or two coverages to let those guys go out and just play on Friday nights,” Conrad said.

On the defense, the strength of the team comes from the front seven, according to Conrad.

At the linebacker position, Andrew Skebe, Sanders and Conor McDermott will be tasked as outside linebackers, while Eric McIntyre, Jacob Forrest, Noah Ray, Litz, Alejandro Baez, Dylan Morrow and Tyler Rider will be ready to step in as well.

Up front, Ethan Ray, Click and Forrest will shore up the defensive line. McIntyre, Owen McMahon, Darby, Gallison, Clifford and Wilkes will also be vital.

“We have a good rotation going there so we can try to keep those guys fresh,” Conrad said.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Another role that needed to be filled was the special teams unit. Taking command of the kicking side of things will be Collin Cope who, according to Conrad, has worked a lot during the offseason to solidify his spot.

“You can just tell he put in a lot of work because he’s doing a great job,” Conrad said.

In addition to Cope, Conrad poached Braylen Cowger from Champion’s soccer team to come in and fill in when needed.

“(Cowger) is going to be a capable backup to (Cope) so we essentially have two really good kickers in our program moving forward,” Conrad said.

Manning the return responsibilities will be Smith, Vesey, Boggs, Gray and Morris, to whom Conrad credits the group’s elusiveness and shifty running abilities.

2023 Schedule

Aug. 18 at Warren JFK 7 p.m.

Aug. 25 at Rootstown 7 p.m.

Sept. 1 vs. Southeast 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Brookfield* 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Garfield* 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 vs. LaBrae* 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 at Campbell Memorial* 7 p.m.

Oct 6 at Crestview* 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 vs. Liberty* 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 vs. Newton Falls* 7 p.m.

*Conference game

2022 Results (3-7)

vs. Kennedy (13-2) L 14-44

vs. Rootstown (7-4) L 22-25

at Southeast (4-6) W 45-14

vs. Newton Falls (3-7) W 29-24

at LaBrae (1-9) W 37-14

vs. Garfield (9-3) L 14-54

vs. Liberty (4-6) L 34-35

at Campbell Memorial (2-8) L 14-21

vs. Crestview (4-5) L 14-35

at Brookfield (10-2) L 7-42

Coaching staff

Head coach: Tom Conrad, 3rd season, 5-15

Staff: L.D. Hartman, James Naylor, Marcus Kubansek, Mike Wilson, Bobby Gillium, Caleb Davis, Michael Thompson, Jim Smith

Team facts

Division V, Region 17

Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference – Gray Tier

Players on the roster: 39

Returning letterwinners (22): Kasen Brooks, Colin Cope, Anthony Smith, Alejandro Biaz, Carter Boggs, Chase Vesey, Zach Morris, Eric McIntyre, Mike Sanders, Noah Ray, Mason Litz, Andrew Skebe, Christian Williams, Dairek Darby, Matt Wilkes, Keegan Clifford, Bruce Click, Ethan Ray, Ian Gallison, Connor McDermott, Jacob Forrest, Kalylle Gray

2022 season: After losing their first two games of the year, Champion rattled off three straight wins, defeating Southeast, Newton Falls and LaBrae. But, the Golden Flashes dropped their final five games of the year.