“The league top to bottom is better than it’s ever been,” Schneider said. “Week in and week out, you’ve got to play. We proved that with Springfield last year. There’s just a lot of great programs, a lot of great coaches and the talent level in the league is off the charts.”
Schneider’s team upset Springfield, last year’s Division I runner-up and this year’s league favorite, 22-21 in Week 9. The Vikings finished 6-5, 3-4 in the GWOC and lost to Findlay 28-26 in a first-round playoff game. The Vikings opened this season with a 62-26 win at West Carrollton and host Bellbrook, which has been one of the best programs in recent seasons in the Southwestern Buckeye League, on Friday night.
The Vikings finished a combined 5-20 in Schneider’s first two seasons. He said last year’s success, especially the win over Springfield, gave his team the confidence to say, “Look what we can do.”
“It really helped us this offseason because the biggest issue we’ve had here is kids buying into the weight room the entire offseason,” Schneider said. “We’ve got a lot of two-sport guys and three-sport guys, and we wanted to make sure that they understood how important it was to train year-round That kind of helped catapult us that way this offseason. We had a lot more guys buy in.”
The Vikings are talented on offense, which has been a key for the league’s top teams – Springfield, Wayne, Centerville, Northmont – in recent seasons.
Jackson McGohan, a 6-foot-5 receiver, leads the receiving corps and is committed to Cincinnati. Running back Christian Davis, who rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns against West Carrollton, is a three-star recruit with offers from Cincinnati, Marshall and some MAC schools.
“We have a lot of good offensive weapons,” Schneider said. “I think anybody we can get the ball to can definitely score points for us.”
Schneider is using a two-quarterback system that put the ball in the hands of six different receivers last week. The quarterbacks are senior Brock Vaughn and junior Preston Barr. Vaughn completed 9 of 13 passes for 144 yards and Barr was 4 of 8 for 34 yards. But Schneider said that’s not necessarily how it will always go. Barr is also a good runner and had 102 yards on six carries and a 50-yard touchdown.
“Both of them can do the things that we’re asking them, and we feel it makes it difficult for teams to prepare for two different guys,” Schneider said.
Three other takeaways from Week 1 for GWOC teams:
Position change: Springboro senior Evan Ruzzo rushed for over 900 yards last year, and Sam Feldman, who graduated, ran the offense and passed for 1,333 yards. Ruzzo played quarterback last week in the Panthers’ 21-19 win over Lebanon. He completed 15 of 20 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns. The Panthers travel to Cincinnati Withrow on Friday.
Big-play Bolts: Northmont opened the season with a 49-13 win over Vandalia Butler and scored on six plays of 56 yards or more and scored in almost every way possible. Quarterback Deuce Cortner ran 95 yards and threw touchdown passes of 56 yards to Jordan Cortner and 63 yards to DaJuan Lamb. Noah McClure ran 94 yards for a score, Payton Lupton returned a punt 100 yards and Larry Lockwood returned an interception 85 yards. Northmont plays at Richmond, Ind., on Friday.
Defensive Elks: Centerville has the look of a good defense with several Division I recruits and a stingy Week 1 performance in a 9-6 win at Lakota East. The Elks held East to 151 total yards and 2.6 yards per carry. The Elks host Dublin Coffman on Friday.
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