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Oak Glen High School

Oak Glen Looking For Bounce-Back Year In 2023

NEW MANCHESTER — Transformations don’t happen overnight.

The 2022 season was a season of learning for first-year head coach Doug Taylor and the Oak Glen football team. The Golden Bears ended last season with a record of 2-8, and the boys from Hancock County began the season with a three-game losing streak, and they ended it by losing their last four games.

“It was a learning process,” Taylor said. “I did not know the athletes. The kids had to learn about me, and I had to get to know the kids. You learn what their abilities are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are and what to build on and what to work on.”

One of the main reasons for the team’s struggles last season was due to all the injuries the team sustained throughout the course of the season. Oak Glen battled the injury bug from the start of the season until its end.

Coach Doug Taylor on the upcoming season

“Last year, a lot of young guys got a lot of experience,” Taylor said. “The roles they had to play — I did not want to put them in those situations, but it was a case of next man up. It takes time to build things.

“We dealt with the injury bug all last year.

“This year, we just want to stay healthy, and we want to have our best 11 out on the field.”

Injuries are going to happen, but Oak Glen dealt with more than their fair share a season ago.

“I don’t know what it was. I know they had a little bit of an issue with it the year before. We have spent a lot of time on conditioning and stretching. We have stressed that.

“We will see what happens. Kids are going to get hurt. We fought the injury bug all last year. We dealt with it from the first game. We were never fully healthy.

“With all the injuries, I think we left a couple of wins out on the table. If not for the injuries, we would have had better opportunities to win a couple more games.”

The Golden Bears lost nine seniors from last year’s team, but there is still a good amount of talent on the roster this season.

“We’re fortunate,” Taylor said. We’ve got some big kids out. I hope they are able to make an impact. It is a work in progress. It is just a matter of seeing where the pieces fit in the puzzle. It is getting clearer every day.

“We are trying to build depth. That is something we did not have. It is something we are working on.”

Oak Glen begins the season with 36 players on its roster.

“In a perfect world, you would like to be in the 50s. Sometimes, it is better to have lower numbers. You are able to run an offense and have a scout team defense, or you are able to run a defense and have a scout team offense. When you have lower numbers, kids are able to get more reps.”

The Golden Bears return five starters on offense and six on defense.

“We have three returners on the line,” Taylor said. “We have one running back who saw a lot of time last year. Our quarterback will be new, and our receiver got a lot of playing time. We have five returning starters on offense, and we have six returning starters on defense. It always helps.”

Oak Glen had difficulty at times putting points up on the scoreboard last season as the Golden Bears averaged less than 13 points per game, and they were shut out four times. The Golden Bears will look to improve upon that number this season.

The team will be running the Wing-T offense.

“We are going to change things up a little bit,” Taylor said. “Our blocking scheme is going to remain the same, but we are going to do some things different. We are going to be in the gun a little more this year than we were last year.”

Wesley Molish looks to lead the way at quarterback, while Logan Murray could also see time at the position.

Oak Glen has a talented group of running backs. Leading the way in the backfield are Anthony Burt, Aiden Flowers, Ethan Haenke and Gregg Saurers.

Cameron Carter will be one of the squad’s receivers, while Murray and Haenke will also see time at the position.

The tight ends are Tyler Mozingo and Alex Dennis.

The Golden Bears return a good group up front on the offensive line. That group includes right tackles Tikia Starr and Landon Winland, right guards Evan Clouston and Nate Edmonds, centers Xavier Howard and Gage Groetzinger, left guards Sam Wright and Kam Hebrock and left tackles Noah Schmidt and Jayden Wilson.

“Our strength is these kids know what they are doing,” Taylor said. “We have gone through summer workouts, and now we’re in camp.

“The guys on offense know what we are about. They know what we are trying to accomplish. They are on the same page. That is a big plus for us.”

“We are looking to double our win total this season.

Defensively, Oak Glen allowed 38 points per game last season.

The Golden Bears have a lot of guys capable of playing up front on the line.

Howard will be the team’s right defensive end, Dennis and Hebrick will see time at left end while seeing time at the tackles spots are Connor McElory, Starr, Groetzinger, Wayland Courtwright, Hebrock and Wilson.

Burt will be the team’s right outside linebacker, Molish and Sauers will see time at middle linebacker and Mozingo and Josh Maher will see time on the left side.

The cornerbacks will be Murray and Heanke with Carter also seeing time at the position.

Flowers will be the strong safety with Glen Adams and Devan Jusczak seeing time at free safety.

Haenke and Burt will return kickoffs, while Murray and Burt will return punts. Wright will handle the kicking duties in terms of field goals and extra points, while Dennis will kick off. Mozingo will be the team’s punter. Molish will serve as the team’s holder.

“We are still young,” Taylor said. “We are relatively young. We started some freshmen and sophomores last year. We are still at the development stage.

“We’re young. We want to improve every game and every week. We are going to take it one game at a time. Next year, we will have five or six returners who are two-year starters. We will have guys who have experience. We will have guys who got experience as freshmen and sophomores for a few more years.”

Oak Glen has made some changes to its schedule this season.

“We have some new faces on the schedule,” Taylor said. “We lost North Marion and Beaver Local. We added St. Marys who is a really good single-A school. We also picked up Edison, who was undefeated last year. They should be a formidable foe for us.”

The Golden Bears will face quality opponents on both sides of the river.

“The schedule is what the schedule is. I have not had the opportunity to make our schedule. We just play the teams that show up on the schedule. I would rather play local teams than get on a bus and travel two or three hours. There are enough local teams that compare to us that we shouldn’t have to travel two or three hours to play a game.”

Oak Glen has a pair of rivalry games on the schedule against Weir and East Liverpool.

“Our goals are always the same,” Taylor said. “We want to win our big county game with Weir, we want to win the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ and we want to win enough games to qualify for the state tournament. Those goals are not going to change. Those are always going to be our goals. It is just a matter of if the kids can achieve them.”

This season, Taylor will be assisted by Ray Pernell, Scott Pryor, Joe Petrovich, Josh Weltner and Clayton Flowers.

Oak Glen is set to open its season Aug. 25 against Weir at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

“It is a grind,” Taylor said about the season. “We have just started. I know by late next week, the kids are going to want the season to kid started. Coaches always want perfection. You want to practice, but the kids are going to want to start the season.”