Lakers on the verge of history

DANBURY TWP. — Anchor down is the Danbury hashtag.But it's been the "pound the ground," mentality as senior tailback Sam Tyson put it, that's led the Lakers to somewhere they haven't been in 35 years: above the .500 mark.A team that features 19 total players, has grounded and pounded its way to six wins for the first time since 1981, and in turn, has put itself in position for a program first. Danbury (6-3, 3-2) is eighth in Division VII Region 26 and visits Toledo Christian (1-8, 0-5) with the chance to qualify for the postseason for the first-time ever."Playoffs would be something really big around here. A lot of people are excited about that chance, but we got to get past this next week first," Tyson said. "Still, there's a lot of people that have been looking at the standings and everyone is looking at the odds of us making playoffs. So it's hard to ignore."Really, only one scenario could ruin everything. Delphos St. John's — an uncharacteristic 5-4 — is 10th in Danbury's region and a win over 8-1 Division V Coldwater would likely vault it into the top eight spots, likely pushing the Lakers out.Still, odds favor 2016 being a special year on the peninsula for a program that's won three games each of the last three seasons. And a new offense and new way of conditioning stand at the forefront of the turnaround."We pull tires, which is kind of our main staple around here," said Tyson, who has run for a team-high 1,198 yards on 136 carries, while scoring 14 touchdowns and converting six 2pt-point conversions. "Pulling tires is something we do every Monday. Our conditioning this summer was one of the hardest things I've done in my life."Those suicide runs with a rope around the waist, connected to a tire, may have been hell to run. However, it's allowed the Lakers to do the unthinkable, which is wear down opponents who sometimes may have rosters of 50-plus kids."I kind of got them trained in way to be excited about that, even though they knew it was going to be awful," second-year coach Keith Mora said. "It's hard to explain without showing someone film, to show how we're able to wear someone down with 13 guys. There's no other reason for it than what did we do in the offseason that was different from last year, and it was pulling tires. Then you see on film, Sam would be running with a kid hanging from his jersey, and I'd just think, that's him running with a tire."Unplanned switch in offense keys successGoing into May, Mora had his offensive playbook all setup. He'd studied a lot of high-tempo spread looks that Bowling Green State University had run in recent years and had big ideas for junior quarterback Justin Tibbels.Then came the team's first throwing session. And the playbook went out the window."We had sent Justin off to a camp, and he actually won the NFA (National Futures Association) Dual, which is a national competition for quarterbacks, and I thought we had a gunslinger," Mora said. "Then we went into our throwing session and things changed. We knew we had Jared Koenig and that was it. The rest of our guys were younger."So we really looked inside ourselves and asked, "are we really a spread team or do we need to be something different?,'" he added.Tibbels threw for 924 yards and nine TDs in 2015 with a completion percentage of 45 percent.No one in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference was running the Wing-T, so Mora thought it would give his team an advantage. His team was in games with programs like Ottawa Hills, Northwood and T.C., but had trouble controlling the game's pace and getting the clock in its favor."We were lacking in certain positions and we had a lot more big guys than we did skilled position guys," Tyson said. "So we felt the offense was a good change. The offensive line has been blocking really well for me. Nick Bossetti has really taken that group under his wing."That change reached across state lines. "We reached out to some really good Wing-T coaches, including a retired state-championship coach from Virginia that has helped us out tremendously to build up our playbook," Mora said.Longtime area coach Toby Hammond — who guided St. Mary Central Catholic to the state championship game in 1990, before having even more success at Tiffin Calvert, then helped rebuild Port Clinton — has been part of Mora's staff since the start."He was one of the first guys around this area doing all the spread stuff," Mora said. "At first, I was hesitant to tell him. I thought he might leave. This was a guy who runs a spread and he ran the Run-and-Shoot. He's done basically everything, but run a Wing-T."But he didn't even take a second to think about it. He said, 'yeah, we should run that. It makes sense,'" he added. "The fact that our kids were able to buy in, while we as a staff were learning it, too, was real cool. They were real patient with us."There were times during camp we'd throw something out there and we'd tell them, 'well, we're going to come back to this tomorrow because we're not even fully sure yet how to run it properly,'" Mora continued. "So we'd call up our guy in Virginia who was helping us and he'd break it back down for us and usually say, 'no, that's not right coach, you're way off, do it this way.'"Having a guy around the school like Gary Quisno, who knows a thing or two about the Wing-T himself, couldn't hurt. Fresh out of college, Quisno took over for John Matsko and led the Lakers to 6-3 mark in 1976. He went on to compile a 253-95 record in 33 years at Danbury, Oak Harbor and Perkins schools."He's been great, too," Mora said. "There's not many athletic directors out there where you can go into their office, talk Wing-T football and both parties aren't confused about what's being said."Ups and downs bring lessons along the wayAfter opening the year with a 37-0 win at Vanlue, the Lakers jumped ahead of Div. III Toledo Woodward 16-8 in the opening half, before losing 42-20 in Week 2. They rebounded, topping Hardin Northern (35-6), then crossed off a big checkmark on their season goals in Week 4 when they won at Ottawa Hills (24-22). But the win over the Green Bears was followed by a 50-30 home defeat at the hands of winless Cardinal Stritch in Week 5.Along the way, Danbury lost Tug Tibbels to injury and Justin Tibbels missed two games. The Lakers won one game with transfer Saylor Evans at quarterback. But despite some injuries and having to dress a few more freshmen, the numbers never got close to the danger zone.Tibbels still threw for 521 yards in the air on 35-of-68 passing. Koenig leads the team with 14 receptions for 243 yards."I told the kids, don't rush this process because if the playoffs come, they're going to come at them a lot faster than they want them to," Mora said. "This is a big rivalry week for us. I don't want our guys overlooking this game because they finally have something larger to look forward to. That T.C. game used to be the biggest thing of the year for us."Mediocre teams go 6-4," he added. "We can go 7-3 this week as long as we focus on going 7-3."Our guys were deflated after that Stritch game, but they didn't fold things up, they got back to work."Danbury beat Northwood 30-26 to get to 5-2. It was the school's first win over the Rangers since entering the TAAC in 1999.Gibsonburg remains the only TAAC school that Tyson and his senior teammates failed to beat in their careers."We knew we were a good team to start, and we knew we could be a lot better than we were last year," Tyson said. "We lost a lot of close games last year that we knew we could turn around and which we did win this year. It's been an exciting run."Danbury football seniors were recognized at Friday's game at Biro Field against Hilltop. From left to right, Jared Koenig, Sam Tyson, Connor McClellan, Nick Bossetti and Avery Nowak.Danbury players celebrate a 30-26 win against Northwood on Oct. 7 at Biro Field in Danbury Township.Danbury's Sam Tyson breaks free for a touchdown during an Oct. 14 game against Gibsonburg at Biro Field in Danbury Township.Danbury's Justin Tibbels runs for a touchdown during Friday's game against Hilltop at Biro Field in Danbury Township.Danbury's Logan Kenley holds up the football during Friday's game against Hilltop at Biro Field in Danbury Township.