Redskins strive to win close ones

PORT CLINTON — Port Clinton was right there last year. The Redskins finished 3-7 overall and 1-3 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division. But four of PC's seven losses came by nine points or less. The Redskins came up just short against playoff teams Ottawa Hills (37-30), Huron (9-6), Vermilion (36-27) and Sandusky (28-19). "We talked about that last year," coach Eric Leuthold said. "We were a couple key plays away in a couple crucial games. That was a big focus going into the offseason — do the work to close the gap from those games. Our schedule in general is a very tough schedule. "We have some really good competition and we played some teams tight. Hopefully we can continue to build on that." Leuthold said this is the biggest changeover when it comes to the schedule since he's been at Port Clinton. The Redskins played Toledo Waite, Rossford and Ottawa Hills in non-league games last year. This year, those three are replaced with St. Paul, Fostoria and Cleveland Collingwood. "St. Paul is notoriously a very good program and they're very well coached," Leuthold said. "They've had a lot of success and (second-year coach Chris Doughty) has done a great job. It's the first time we've ever played them, so we don't know we're getting ourselves into. "We used to scrimmage Fostoria, so we have some relative familiarity with them." Port Clinton hasn't finished with a winning record since the 2021 season when the Redskins went 13-2 and won a regional championship. That was the second of three years in a row that PC made the playoffs. The Redskins have sat at home in Week 11 each of the last two years. "Through the offseason, the kids have put in a lot of work," Leuthold said. "Our kids are another year older after we played a lot of young kids last year. That's a positive. We're still playing some young kids. We have a relatively small senior class, but all of them are key contributors in a lot of ways. "The team in general is one year older, so hopefully that experience lends itself to a little bit more successful." Offense Port Clinton returns two of its biggest weapons on offense in quarterback Wyatt Yarbrough and running back Malakii Pinkelton. Yarbrough completed 94 of 198 passes for 1,425 yards with 16 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He added 97 carries for 433 yards and six scores on the ground. Pinkelton rushed 106 times for 574 yards with seven touchdowns. "Those two have had a really good offseason," Leuthold said. "They've worked really hard to put themselves in a position to be success. Malakii will be a four-year letterwinner for us, so we knew what we had with him last year. Wyatt came into last year in a quarterback battle and started to separate himself from the former starter. "He's done a great job for us and continues to improve." The Redskins must replace their top three leading receivers. Briar Rohrer (31 catches, 605 yards, eight TD), Josh Cornell (22-330-3) and Romney Turner (22-201-2) all graduated. As a team, Port Clinton totaled just 238 carries for 1,170 yards on the ground. That's an average of 4.9 yards per carry and 117 yards per game. "In any football game, you've got to be able to run the ball," Leuthold said. "Hopefully we can run the ball. The line having another year to develop and get bigger and stronger I think is very beneficial. "I think the biggest thing any high school football program needs to do is establish the run in order to be successful on a Friday night." Leuthold said linemen like senior Caleb Spencer and juniors Cam Borror, Julian Curry, Axel Blumensaadt and Eli Cuevas return with experience. Port Clinton averaged 24.4 points per game last year, but was limited to seven points or less three times. "We were really young up from on the offensive line last year," Leuthold said. "We're still really young up front on the offensive line, but they have a year of development underneath them." Defense Port Clinton gave up 28.8 points per contest last year. The Redskins limited Waite, Rossford and Huron to single digits, but allowed at least 26 points in each of the other seven games. Leuthold expects Beckett Mizener, Martez Wilson, Aiden Meister, Cole Bishop, Christian Miller, Brody Bollinger and Jace Cornell to be big pieces of the defense. Kevin Huntley, who was named the head track and field coach in June, steps in as the new full-time defensive coordinator for the Redskins. "Coach Huntley took over our defensive side of the ball," Leuthold said. "He's done a great job of trying to simplify things so our kids can play fast and physical. I think that's really important in the SBC. We have to play fast and physical on the defensive side of the ball. Those are two things we have to focus on and continue to do in order to be successful. "He's done a great job of establishing that as an identity on that side of the ball." Rohrer led the defense with 124 tackles last year. Curry, Blumensaadt and Pinkelton (three sacks) will be workhorses on the defensive line. Port Clinton has 45-50 players on the roster, which is an increase from last year's mark of 40. Staying healthy on both sides of the ball will be key for the Redskins. "I think through the rigors of our season and the teams we play, that's one of the biggest challenges," Leuthold said. "We have to put our best out there and keep them healthy, first and foremost. "We're going to play some tough teams and making sure they're out there is crucial." 2025 schedule Aug. 23: at St. Paul, 7 p.m. Aug. 29: at Fostoria, 7 p.m. Sept. 5: at Oak Harbor, 7 p.m. Sept. 12: Cleveland Collingwood, 7 p.m. Sept. 19: Clyde, 7 p.m. Sept. 26: at Huron, 7 p.m. Oct. 3: at Vermilion, 7 p.m. Oct. 10: Edison, 7 p.m. Oct. 17: Bellevue, 7 p.m. Oct. 24: at Sandusky, 7 p.m. 2024 results (3-7) Port Clinton 55, Toledo Waite 6 Port Clinton 43, Rossford 7 Oak Harbor 42, Port Clinton 7 Ottawa Hills 37, Port Clinton 30 Clyde 56, Port Clinton 21 Huron 9, Port Clinton 6 Vermilion 36, Port Clinton 37 Edison 41, Port Clinton 7 Port Clinton 29, Bellevue 26 Sandusky 28, Port Clinton 19 2025 roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 0 Malakii Pinkelton RB/DE 5-8 190 12 1 Gavin Cornell WR/LB 5-9 165 12 2 Brody Bollinger WR/DB 5-11 150 11 3 Carson Candage WR/LB 5-8 135 9 4 Dylan Reynolds WR/DB 5-5 125 9 5 Wyatt Siefke WR/DE 6-3 205 12 6 Aidan Miester WR/DB 5-11 150 11 7 Elliot Laird WR/LB 5-8 160 10 8 Christian Miller WR/DB 5-6 150 10 9 Jace Cornell RB/DB 5-11 160 11 10 Caden Millhouse WR/DB 6-0 130 9 11 Cole Bishop WR/DB 5-13 125 11 12 Cameron Lanier QB/DB 5-7 155 9 13 Danny Baker WR/DB 6-1 150 11 14 Tre Armendariz TE/LB 5-8 150 12 15 Beckett Mizener RB/LB 6-0 195 11 16 Isaac Guerra WR/DB 5-8 130 9 17 Landon Leis QB/DL 6-1 205 10 18 Martez Wilson WR/DB 5-9 145 11 19 Wyatt Yarbrough QB/DB 6-2 195 11 20 Rosco Neff WR/DB 5-0 105 9 21 Liam Johnson WR/DL 6-2 150 11 22 Lucas Bodie WR/LB 5-9 175 11 24 Jordan Carter WR/LB 5-7 135 9 27 Braylen LoPresto RB/LB 5-9 175 9 33 Ty Henry RB/LB 5-8 165 9 34 Brayden Boyle WR/DB 5-3 105 9 35 Isiah Garcia WR/DB 5-5 130 9 40 Adam Fitt K 5-8 165 11 44 Joey Schwable TE/LB 5-9 130 9 45 Sebastian Velasquez TE/LB 5-6 145 9 50 Jacob Morrissey OL/DL 5-7 205 9 51 Cameron Borror OL/LB 5-7 180 11 52 Ethan Dresser OL/LB 5-9 155 10 54 Parker Howard OL/LB 5-8 155 10 56 Caleb Spencer OL/DL 6-1 190 12 58 Thomas Dowling OL/DL 5-9 185 9 62 Evan Neff OL/DL 5-10 210 9 63 Noah Solis OL/DL 5-11 225 9 64 Shadon Pollard OL/DL 5-7 160 11 67 Eli Cuevas OL/DL 5-7 155 11 71 Julian Curry OL/DL 6-2 260 11 72 Axel Blumensaadt OL/DL 6-2 265 11 75 Zamari Knopp OL/DL 6-2 225 10 76 Ben Wadsworth OL/DL 6-3 275 9 77 Donavon Herald OL/DL 6-0 290 9 78 Devon Bowling-Stankorb OL/DL 6-0 285 9 79 Simon Maschack OL/DL 6-2 330 11 81 Thaddeus Weirzba WR/DL 6-2 155 10