BROOKSIDE — Andrew Yahn is the new head football coach at Bridgeport. He replaces Fred Ray who served in the capacity for six seasons.

“The outlook is looking pretty good from our perspective,” Yahn said of he and his staff. “We’ve got some skilled guys back and, actually, we have quite a few linemen that are able to play, which is usually an issue at a small school.

“We should be able to turn things around.”

The Bulldogs finished 3-7 last year and finished 14th in the final Ohio Division VII, Region 27 standings. However, that was good enough to qualify for the playoffs where they fell to a powerful Caldwell squad, 41-14.

“I’m very excited,” Yahn said. “The big thing for us is we need to get back to the fundamentals of football. We can’t turn the ball over. We need to be able to run the ball effectively and play very aggressive defense.

“The vision is to bring back the winning attitude and atmosphere. In order to do that, we need to bring back the mental and physical toughness,” he noted.

In an attempt to instill that pride from the past, Yahn has brought aboard some former Bulldog greats on his coaching staff. Standout twins – Curt and Chris Smelley – will serve as defensive coordinator and running backs coaches, respectively, while younger brother, Cole, is the strength and conditioning coach. Dylan Nowakowski returns to serve as offensive coordinator while Todd Poe and Bailey Sieber will coach the lines. Dallas Fields, another Bridgeport alum, will coach the wide receivers. Vondel Bell is also on the staff.

Coach Andrew Yahn discusses the upcoming season

Yahn’s prior coaching experience came at Wheeling Park and West Liberty University.

He is a 2005 graduate of Wheeling Park High School and a 2009 graduate of West Virginia University where he obtained a degree in Athletic Coaching Education.

“From a mentality perspective we want to run the football more and be physical … more aggressive. We want to try and impose our will on our opponents,” he stressed.

Bridgeport has about 30 kids out this season, a few less than last year.

“We are very junior-sophomore laden,” Yahn admitted. “We will run the spread offense, but will try to run it more than usual.”

Junior Jaki Threet (5-11, 180) will be the starting quarterback after seeing quality time there last fall.

“He played some there last year. There’s not much he can’t do,” Yahn said of Threet. “We are very blessed to have him on our team”

Freshman Connor Nelson (5-10, 150), a transfer from Linsly, will be the backup.

“He will be our backup and also play some at running back.”

Junior AJ Bishop (5-9, 165) will get the bulk of the carries, according to the head coach. “AJ will be our main running back.

Others in the mix include juniors Dakota Lashorn (5-9, 155) and Dontez White (5-10, 230); sophomore Rylin McMahon (5-9, 160) and freshmen Brode Brown (5-9, 160) and Kaden Redman (5-9, 155).

The wide receivers are senior Avery Jackson (6-1, 180); juniors Dylan Charlton (5-10, 145), Owenn Clark (5-7, 150) and Braylon Lewis (5-11, 165); and sophomore Coen Brinker (5-7, 160).

Senior Lyrik Brown (5-10, 175) will start at tight end.

Also listed are juniors Troy Humphries (5-9, 170) and Easton Varner (5-9, 180); and freshmen Caden Edgell (5-9, 160), and Ashton Smith (5-8, 150).

Senior Matthew Kuzmicki (6-0, 275) will start at center, with junior Will Hunt (5-7, 275) and freshman Wyatt Cundiff (5-9, 180) also to see time. Hunt was a part-time starter the last two years.

Senior Logan Baker (6-1, 230) will start at left tackle, Freshman Tycen Baker (5-10, 180) will man the left guard slot, with sophomore Gage Drummond (5-10, 190) at right guard and several others fighting for starting spots, including juniors Chad Coulson (6-0, 240), Justin Eckert (6-0, 300) and Ivan Wynes (6-0, 210); and sophomores DelShawn Irvin (5-9, 210), Tyler Robinson (5-11, 210) and Colton Puskas (6-3, 210).

“It will be nice going forward because we only have one senior on the line,” Yahn pointed out.

The Bulldogs will employ a 4-3 base defense, according to the head coach.

The starting ends will be Logan Baker and Jackson, with Tycen Baker and Redman in the wings.

Eckert will be the nose tackle.

The down tackles are Irvin, Robinson, Tycen Baker, Kuzmicki, Coulson, Hunt, Varner, White, Wynes and Puskas.

The linebackers will be Threet, Drummond and Bishop, with Humphries, Lashorn, Brode Brown, Cundiff, Edgell, McMahon and Smith also listed.

The secondary consists of Brinker, Lewis, Charlton, Lyrik Brown, Nelson and Clark.

Threet will handle the punting with Clark doing the kicking.

“Jaki punted last year and Owenn did some place kicking, so we’re pretty solid there,” Yahn said.

New teams on the schedule include Vienna Mathews (replaces Bradford); Bishop Rosecrans (replaces Steubenville Catholic) and Cameron (replaces Waterloo). Rosecrans and Cameron have been opponents before.

“The kids have been working hard,” Yahn said. “We’ve had to go through some adversity, but like I told the kids, nobody is gonna feel sorry for us. We’ll be stronger, both mentally and physically, because of that.”

Bridgeport lost Law Chambers, Nathan Galownia, Shawn Lovell, Michael Marshall and Andres Alvarez to graduation.