Bears, Rockets help each other improve

CASTALIA — Their days as Sandusky Bay Conference rivals are moving further into the past by the day. That meant Margaretta and Oak Harbor's best chance to meet on the gridiron came in July, on Tuesday night on the Polar Bears' practice field in 7-on-7 competition. For two well-respected, well-connected coaching staffs, it may have been the best way for the Polar Bears and Rockets to face off — in this scenario, the only concern on both sides was getting better. "This was a learning experience," Margaretta coach Gary Quisno said. "We just wanted to come out and compete a little bit, get things on film and make our corrections." Quisno enters his third year as Margaretta coach, but the majority of his legendary time on the sidelines came in Oak Harbor, where he spent 29 years and won 224 games. "I know all those guys, know them well," Quisno said. "That's why I scheduled them. We knew how good they were gonna be. It's a good learning experience for us." Oak Harbor coach Mike May took over when Quisno left for Perkins and has won more than 100 games in his tenure in Ottawa County. "This was a lot of fun," May said. "We respect coach Quis and his staff. We sometimes get together with them in the offseason to talk some football. To come over and compete against each other is really a lot of fun." These are two teams at very different points of their development, but that allowed them to present different challenges for one another Tuesday night. Margaretta is young, with just three seniors in the program. The Polar Bears are working with one advantage — they have two returning QBs who saw big playing time last fall. Judah Keller started the year, but after injury, Jake Bouy finished it. They both saw ample action Tuesday, and both delivered solid throws. If Bouy wins the quarterback job, Keller would likely play running back. "We're in a kind of new system, and we're learning," Quisno said. "We alternated quarterbacks, alternated receivers, and that's just kind of the point we're at right now. We're a young football team, and we'll get better as we go here." Oak Harbor has a dozen strong seniors who have won consecutive league championships — the SBC Bay in 2022 and the Northern Buckeye Conference in 2023. Quarterback Michael LaLonde, the Ridener twins, Travis Bouyer, Jaxson Overmyer and Garry Brooks helped the Rockets go 10-0 in the 2023 regular season. "Our seniors have done a really good job this summer," May said. "A number of these guys are three-year starters, and you could see that on the field tonight with our communication, some adjustments we made on the fly. This senior class wants to go out and compete for their third league championship in a row and hopefully make a good run in the playoffs." Oak Harbor's experience shone early in the 7-on-7 when the Rockets connected for multiple touchdowns over the top, including an Overmyer catch that he reeled in despite being clearly interfered with. "They've got a quarterback that's a three-year starter," Quisno said. "They've got a lot of speed. Their track team is awesome. So I knew it would be a good test for us. Hopefully the drone worked, we got it all on film and we'll learn from it." Margaretta grew into the scrimmage, picking up a late interception, finding multiple catches deep down the field and saving the play of the night until the very end. On the 7-on-7's final play, Bouy dropped back and lofted a pass deep down the right sideline, where Julian Washington had single coverage. The future Division I basketball player rose up against tight defense and extended just his right arm out toward the ball. With that right hand, Washington tipped the ball over the helmet of the defensive back, who had inside position. And waiting on the other side was Washington's left hand, which reeled in the pass before a trot to the end zone. There'll still be plenty of time for these teams to improve before Margaretta hosts Vermilion in Week 1 on Aug. 23, the same night Oak Harbor hosts Toledo Bowsher. But on Tuesday night in the setting sun, the Polar Bears and Rockets both provided plenty of reasons for optimism.