Pirates embrace high expectations

Editor's note: This story appears in the Sandusky Register and Norwalk Reflector's 2023 football preview special section. The 32-page edition will be received automatically by home subscribers and is available Friday, Aug. 18 on newsstands and at our offices. PERKINS TWP. — Perkins hasn't forgotten how last season ended — a potential game-winning field goal blocked and returned the other way by Van Wert. "I was on that field goal team," senior Kaiden Nixon said. "I looked back and saw him running with our playoff dreams down the sideline." The Pirates are doing everything in their power to avoid a repeat of that feeling. "It's been in the back of everyone's heads since the day of that game," junior Mikey Young said. "We know we can do so much more as a team than being a second-round exit. We had big expectations for our team last year. We want to just go farther." Perkins had a lot to be proud of in 2022 — a 9-1 regular season, an SBC Lake Division title and a playoff victory. But that sour ending, in a Division IV regional quarterfinal, is just part of the motivation for another talented group heading into Jalen Santoro's fourth season at the helm. This is also the first time in awhile the Pirates will enter the season with massive expectations. They were high last fall, coming off a 7-3 2021, but this is different. These are defending league champions with a three-year starter at quarterback and gifted athletes all over the field. "That's the thing we've been on since January," Santoro said. "You go from being the hunter to the hunted. It's always hard to get to the top, and now you're there, and expectations are high." The thing is, Perkins isn't shying away from the pressure. The Pirates are leaning in. They don't just want a league repeat. They want a deep November playoff journey. After losses in the regional semifinal and then regional quarters in back to back seasons, they want more. "It builds fire inside knowing that you don't want to feel that again," senior Wyatt Nemitz said. "Especially for me two years in a row losing in the playoffs, it doesn't feel good." Division IV Region 14 remains one of the toughest regions in the state. Glenville, Van Wert, Elyria Catholic, West Holmes, Clear Fork, St. Marys Memorial, Shelby and Bellevue all remain in the stacked bracket. Perkins hopes to be the best of the bunch. "The team is looking really good," senior quarterback Logan Lesch said. "I'm proud of what happened last year, but that's not our end goal. We're chasing something bigger than last year, something bigger than 9-1, something bigger than SBC champs. We want the state, and that's what we're chasing." Another strong regular season schedule should help prepare the Pirates. They'll travel to Elyria Catholic in Week 2 for a rematch of last season's game of the year, a 42-41 Perkins comeback win in overtime. Warren JFK visits Perkins in Week 4 after being the only team to top the Pirates in the 2022 regular season. JFK went on to finish state runner-up in D-VII. Bellevue is now an SBC crossover game that won't count in the league standings but will still have plenty of juice in Week 5. Edison is Perkins' other crossover in Week 7. And looming in weeks 9 and 10 are trips to Sandusky and Tiffin Columbian that will likely decide the SBC Lake Division. "The SBC Lake is always competitive," Santoro said. "That's why we're expecting what we're expecting and trying to practice the way we are because once we get to the back half of the schedule, there's gonna be some battles." Offense Perkins is as well equipped as it has ever been at the quarterback position. Lesch holds essentially all the Pirates passing records, including career yardage and touchdowns. Entering his third year as starter, Lesch holds an offer from Division II Tiffin University and has shown up on lists ranking the top quarterbacks in the state. "The biggest thing this year is taking that next role of leadership, taking charge of this team and taking us to the next level," he said. As a junior, Lesch threw for 3,153 yards and 34 touchdowns while running for 641 yards and five TDs. He was second-team All-Ohio in Division IV. "He throws it on the money all the time," Nemitz said. "He's got a good spiral. He's smart." Perkins graduated two wideouts from its deep stable of pass catchers in Jayden Rowe and Drake Venerucci. That still leaves a deep group for Lesch to throw to, from Braylon Collier and Weston Sturzinger to Kaiden Nixon, Brady Legando and Wyatt Nemitz. Collier caught 13 touchdowns as a sophomore and totaled 847 yards on 54 grabs. Sturzinger was a dominant deep threat with 28 catches for 681 yards (24.3 average) and eight touchdowns. "Having Braylon on the other side of me makes it a little bit easier," Sturzinger said. "Our receiver group as a whole is really good. Logan, how great he is. Other guys make it easy on me, I just go out there and play." Perkins also has a reliable running back, junior Isaac Bunts, who stepped into the backfield for the second half of last season and averaged 5 yards per carry and 14.6 yards per reception. "He's had plenty of experience, and he's a smart kid, too," Santoro said. The Pirates will have to solve some openings on their line. They'll build around all-league returner Haiden Bollini but will miss Norwalk transfer Jason Ziegler for a stretch after a mid-August foot injury is expected to sideline him for much of the season. Ziegler, son of former Pirates coach Jason, grew up in the Perkins district and had returned to play with his old friends after three years with the Truckers. A younger Ziegler, Joey, could also be a blocking factor. Eli Sanchez saw a lot of offensive line snaps last fall and should again. Vinny Strohl is the new center for Perkins, replacing the reliable Austin Yoakum. If Perkins battles injuries, the offense has depth made up of a number of first-string defenders. Braxden Martin should also see work in the backfield with Bunts, and Joey Diederich can factor in as a blocker or on the perimeter. All told, Perkins' offense should once again be a strength after averaging 32.7 points per game last fall. "Our offense can be dynamic right off the bat," Collier said. "Yeah, we lost Jayden and Drake, but we have lots of good guys to fill their spots." Defense It's a tale of two halves for Perkins defensively. The back half is all returning — Sturzinger and Nemitz at safety, Diederich and Legando at corner, Young in his hybrid linebacker/secondary spot. Collier will go two ways this fall, as well, helping out at corner. "Defensively we're experienced in the backfield," Sturzinger said. "That should be a strong point. We should do great things back there." Things look different up front. The linebacking corps looks to be the pair of running backs, the junior Bunts and the sophomore Martin. It'll be a leadership task in part for Young, who spent each of the last two seasons alongside two strong senior linebackers (Kaiden Weyer/Sam Oddo and Sam Sturzinger/Zach Oprzadek). This time, Young is the veteran. "I'm just trying to make sure to lead the whole front seven unit and play together," Young said. It's new faces on the defensive line, too. The Ziegler brothers, Sanchez, DT Banks, Raegan Kaufman, Cam Fosco and Johnny Gulash are among the potential leaders on the front end. "A lot of guys are new but got a lot of reps on JV or 2s last year," Santoro said. "They're getting tested. They're getting the work in right now." This will be the third season starting at the varsity level for juniors Young and Sturzinger, who both hit the Division I camp circuit hard over the summer and could wind up playing at that level down the line. With the experienced likes of Legando and Nemitz in the backfield, too, the Pirates know where their defensive leadership has to come from. "That's something we're on Mike is about as far as being the leader of the defense, and Weston Sturzinger for that matter," Santoro said. "They're two guys that have started since freshman year, got a lot of accolades and made some plays and seen the battles and been part of the battles. They're two guys we're counting on stepping up and being leaders both vocally and physically for our defense." Special teams From one Normington-Slay to another — after Jon set a bunch of Perkins kicking records, his younger brother Noah is on the Pirates roster as a kicker. Noah's soccer teammate, Grant Hickman, will also suit up to give Santoro a couple options there. The now-senior Normington-Slay is the Pirates' talented soccer goalkeeper who is occasionally called upon to take free kicks from his own half of the field toward the opponent's 18-yard box, so raw leg strength shouldn't be an issue. Normington-Slay had joined the football team by the end of last season and spent multiple pregames getting work in with his older brother. At punter, Collier is expected to replace the graduated Venerucci. There's some trick play potential with Collier's athleticism back there. He punted once last season for 24 yards. Roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 0 Mikey Young WR/LB 6-2 190 11 1 Braylon Collier WR/DB 6-2 170 11 2 Wyatt Nemitz WR/DB 5-7 150 12 3 Kaiden Nixon WR/DE 6-2 185 12 4 Weston Sturzinger WR/DB 6-2 175 11 5 Logan Lesch QB 6-1 195 12 6 Dylan Crabtree QB/LB 5-9 160 11 7 Braxden Martin RB/LB 5-8 160 10 8 Anthony Wilken TE/LB 5-10 175 11 9 Owen Stewart WR/DE 6-3 170 11 10 Brady Legando WR/DB 6-0 175 11 11 Morgan Ohlemacher WR/DB 5-9 165 11 12 Joey Diederich WR/DB 6-0 175 11 13 Blake Parker WR/DB 6-2 165 10 14 Julian Kessler WR/DB 6-2 160 11 15 Noah Normington-Slay K 6-5 195 12 16 Sam Schweinfurth QB/DB 6-0 160 10 17 Kaden Legando QB/DB 6-1 165 9 18 Isaac Bunts RB/LB 5-9 200 11 19 Keegan Russell WR/DE 6-1 175 12 20 Kash Koch WR/DB 5-9 160 10 21 Ty Wheatley WR/DB 5-7 150 12 22 Mason Adams WR/DB 5-9 160 10 23 Isiah Jackson RB/LB 5-9 185 10 24 Connor Smith WR/DB 5-7 125 9 25 Kaiyon McKinney RB/DB 5-9 160 11 26 Levi Jackson RB/LB 5-9 165 9 27 Sam Oprzadek WR/LB 5-7 145 9 29 Cam Fosco RB/DE 6-2 235 12 30 Bryce Davie WR/DB 5-7 145 9 31 Landon Flores WR/LB 5-7 145 9 32 Ty Gast WR/DB 5-8 140 10 33 Trey Harvey RB/LB 5-11 170 11 36 John Zwiesler RB/LB 6-0 175 12 38 Jermaine Kennedy RB/LB 5-8 185 10 41 Grant Hickman K 5-10 180 10 50 Bob Hutchinson OL/DL 5-10 225 10 52 Vinny Strohl OL/DL 5-10 205 11 54 Evyn Straub OL/LB 6-0 185 10 55 Kam Frazier OL/DL 5-10 185 11 59 Cam Frisch OL/DL 5-10 180 11 62 Jake Ziegler OL/DL 6-4 280 12 65 Joey Ziegler OL/DL 6-3 270 10 66 Zacchaeus Gamblin OL/DL 5-8 235 11 69 DT Banks OL/DL 5-11 235 11 70 Eli Sanchez OL/DL 6-4 265 10 71 Haiden Bollini OL/DE 6-1 215 11 75 Reagan Kaufman OL/DE 6-0 190 11 77 Graden Kochendoerfer OL/DL 5-10 220 11 78 Nate Jones OL/DL 5-10 215 10 79 Ethan Butler OL/DL 6-5 205 12 81 John McGlashen OL/DL 6-2 220 10 84 Kaden Dorsey WR/DB 5-11 160 9 2023 schedule Aug. 18: at Toledo Woodward Aug. 25: at Elyria Catholic Sept. 1: Rocky River Sept. 8: Warren John F. Kennedy Sept. 15: Bellevue Sept. 22: at Clyde Sept. 29: Edison Oct. 6: Norwalk Oct. 13: at Sandusky Oct. 20: at Tiffin Columbian 2022 results (10-2) Perkins 57, Woodward 6 Perkins 42, Elyria Catholic 41 (OT) Perkins 49, Port Clinton 0 Warren JFK 20, Perkins 12 Perkins 29, Huron 28 Perkins 24, Clyde 13 Perkins 21, Bellevue 6 Perkins 21, Norwalk 19 Perkins 31, Columbian 14 Perkins 37, Sandusky 7 Playoffs Perkins 65, River Valley 14 Van Wert 29, Perkins 22