Hohler revives Huron's No. 11 tradition

HURON — Huron has a long history of stellar quarterbacks, and most wore number 11. The number has been missing behind center for the last three seasons, but senior Dylan Hohler is bringing it back. "I just thought it needed to come back," said the senior who wore No. 5 his first two seasons on the Huron varsity. "No. 11 is probably the biggest number in Huron. Some of the best players to have ever come through the program have worn it and I just thought it should come back." Hohler, a three-year starter on defense and returning starter at quarterback, did get a little push from some of those quarterbacks from Huron's past. "One of my good friends is Jake Lagando and his dad Pat was always asking Jake why I didn't go back to No. 11," Hohler said. "Jake told him he wasn't asking, but one day I just thought I should. They were all excited that I was doing it." Pat Lagando wore the number as quarterback in 1986-87, earning first-team All-Ohio recognition as a senior. Randy Strickland, a third-team All-Ohioan in 1983, and Joe Harkelroad, a second-team All-Ohio quarterback in 1993, also both wore No. 11. They also got into Hohler's ear. "Dylan has always known about the tradition of No 11, but in junior high he wore No. 5 because Jake wore No. 11," said Hohler's dad, Huron head coach Sam Hohler. "Dylan never put up a fuss about it because he and Jake are good friends. When he got to high school, No. 11 was taken by Drew Sterett, and then Cody Mamere, because his uncle Jeff wore it, so Dylan had a hard time getting it. "Besides, he liked wearing No, 5 because Joey Brown (the Huron quarterback in 2019) wore No. 5 and used to tease Dylan that you had to be tough to wear No. 5 because No. 11 was for the passing quarterbacks." Hohler has proven to be an effective passer and runner. The talented 6-foot-4, 185-pound athlete threw for 2,024 yards and 18 touchdowns last year and rushed for 993 yards and 13 TDs. Sterett, currently a junior receiver at Wittenberg University, was the last Tigers quarterback to wear 11. The combination of No. 11 and stellar Huron quarterbacks geared up in 1980 when Jim Legando, brother of Hall of Fame coach Tony Legando, earned first-team All-Ohio recognition from United Press International as the first run-and-shoot signal caller. Marc Munafo, son of Hall of Fame coach Tony Munafo, followed Legando, with Strickland wearing it the next two seasons. Other All-Ohio quarterbacks who wore No. 11 for the Tigers include Mike Lagando (third team, 1984), Gus Johnson (second team, 1991), Joe Harkelroad (second team, 1993), Greg Cobb, who wore No, 5 as a junior but transitioned to No. 11 as a senior (second-team All-Ohio, 1997; first-team All-Ohio, 1998), Robert Dence (first-team All-Ohio, 2001) and Steve West (first-team All-Ohio, 2003). Jim Fisher, who went to the University of Michigan on a full-ride football scholarship, and Cody Thompson, a receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, also wore the number. "(The number) has such a history to it because of the many people who have worn it since we've had football here. I'm very excited about keeping that tradition going," Dylan Hohler said. "When I was a waterboy here, and even before that, the guy who wore 11 was the guy you wanted to be. My first year as a waterboy, Cody Thompson was wearing it, and then Kyle Kovach, and my brother Jared wore it." However, bringing back the tradition was not a given as the summer started. Junior Beau Harkelroad, son of Joe Harkelroad, was assigned the number originally, but he gave it up when Dylan Hohler showed an interest in wearing it. "Randy Strickland was one of the guys really riding Dylan about brining back No. 11," said Sam Hohler. "Every time Dylan would see Randy or Pat or Joe, they would really get in his head about it. Greg Cobb even start texting him about it. "Dylan wanted to revive the tradition of wearing No. 11. Those guys riding him and telling him he needed to do this was part of it, but Dylan understands our culture, our history, our tradition and he wanted to bring it back for the old Huron quarterbacks." It was also appropriate that it's back this year since the Tigers are hoping for big things this season. Dylan is one of 20 lettermen returning from last year's 6-5 squad that finished second in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division and qualified for the Division IV playoffs. "We have a lot of experience coming back and we're practicing really hard trying to get better," the younger Hohler said. "I like where we're at. I don't care about any numbers and I don't think anybody on the team cares about numbers. We just want to win." ----- Huron QBs since 1980 1980—Jim Legando (1st team All-Ohio UPI) 1981—Marc Munafo 1982-83—Randy Strickland (3rd team All-Ohio UPI, 1983) 1984—Mike Lagando (3rd team All-Ohio) 1985—Scott Chapman 1986-87—Pat Lagando (1st team All-Ohio, 1987) 1988—Scott Johnson 1989—Jeff Mamere 1990-91—Gus Johnson (2nd team All-Ohio) 1992-93—Joe Harkelroad (2nd team All-Ohio) 1994—Pat Moody (was injured and replaced by Rob Majoy, who wore No. 7) 1995—Pat Moody (injured, replaced by Steve Fisher, who wore No. 5) 1996—Steve Fisher 1997—Scott Pisano (replaced by Greg Cobb who wore No. 5) (2nd team All-Ohio) 1998—Greg Cobb (1st team All-Ohio) 1999—Jim Fisher 2000—Robert Dence (platooned at the position and wore No. 9) 2001—Robert Dence (1st team All-Ohio) 2002-03—Steve West (1st team All-Ohio, 2003) 2004—Brandon Jakubcin, who wore No. 16 2005—Nick Bastings, who wore No. 6 2006—Nick Bastings 2007—Mike Mielke, who wore No. 5 (Vince Zappa wore 11) 2008—Matt Acierto 2009—Brian Bollenbacher wore No. 8 and platooned with Joe Ramey, who wore 11 2010—Brian Bollenbacher 2011—Kyle Pisano 2012-13—Cody Thompson 2014-15—Kyle Kovach played QB but did not wear 11 2016—Jared Hohler 2017-18—Drew Sterett 2019—Joey Brown, who wore No. 5 2020—Cole Parker, who wore No. 13 2021—Dylan Hohler, who wore No. 5 2022—Dylan Hohler