Consistent Clyde looks to reload

CLYDE — Clyde has been a model of consistency. The Fliers have made the playoffs every year in coach Ryan Carter's 12 seasons. Carter, who is 104-42 in his career, said the secret is giving guys a break. Most sports play year-round, but football doesn't really. Sure, there are camps, but once the season ends in the fall, there's no putting pads on for spring practice. At least not in Ohio. "We go about it a little bit differently than other schools do," Carter said. "We really want our kids to get away from it in the offseason and do other sports to be multiple-sport athletes. In June, we start to focus in on what we're looking for out of the summer. We start to put camp days together. "We have really backed off a ton, even with our two-a-day practices, just to make them healthy and hungry and fresh when game week rolls around." Carter and the Fliers hope to keep that consistency after an 8-4 mark last year, winning at least one playoff game for the ninth time under Carter. Clyde was 2-2 in the competitive Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division. "I've been super impressed and happy with my old kid leadership so far," Carter said. "My seniors and juniors haven't played a whole lot of football and haven't been two-way starters or anything like that. I don't have a ton of lettermen back. They've bought into everything I've asked them to do. "We lost a ton of skilled kids last year, so we're fishing around trying to find some more kids to fill those spots. I really like what we have done with our preseason." Offense Clyde averaged 29.8 points per game last year, scoring 33 or more seven times. The Fliers used a two-quarterback offense most of the season, but all eyes will be on senior Jonathan Lantz this year. Last year, he split time with Brennan Wilson, completing 61 of 91 passes for 754 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. Wilson was 118 for 181 for 1,358 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. "Jonathan had certain packages where we really liked him in," Carter said. "Now, he has the full arsenal. He's a super smart kid who works extremely hard. He studies the game. He wants the knowledge. Now we have to go out and translate that to game nights." The Fliers return their top running back, first-team league pick Adam Young. As a junior, Young racked up 167 carries for 933 yards with 12 touchdowns. He gets to run behind first-team honoree Brady Dukeshire, who is back to anchor the offensive line. "We've got some pieces at each level coming back to help us," Carter said. "Those are three of the ones I'm talking about with great leadership and guys that have bought into everything we've done in the offseason. They've really improved themselves physically and now we're trying to get them to be great leaders on and off the field and help some of our younger guys out that are going to have to play." Clyde was hit most in production at wide receiver. Kam Shortridge (44 receptions, 508 yards, three touchdowns), first-team pick Brayden Olson (31-510-6), Price Carter (28-350-2) and Jackson Dashner (25-296) all graduated. Carter pointed to returners like Aric Kauble, Tyler Noftz and Dekin Crockett as receivers who could step in and fill that void. With Dukeshire back for the offensive line, Ian Everett, Kaidence Cooksey and Michael Scruggs will see significant time alongside him. Carter said players like Cole Sengstock, Mason Flewelling, Dawson Jeffrey, Hector Garza and Linkin Mullins aren't offensive linemen, but maybe don't fit the best at wide receiver. They will line up in hybrid roles, getting touches from different angles. He didn't particularly like the way the Fliers' season ended last year in a 38-7 loss to Ontario. "We had a ton of guys that graduated that played a lot of football last year," Carter said. "We knew we were going to have to fill a void in a bunch of different positions. We were pleased with last year's season. Ontario was a good football team, but we just felt like we did not play our best game that week. You like to be playing your best at the end of the season, whether you win or lose." Defense After seven interceptions last year, Shortridge was a first-team pick at defensive back. He's among a group that graduated, leaving positions open for the taking this year. The Fliers had three shutouts last year and limited two more opponents to just seven points. "I really like our front," Carter said. "We bring a lot of our front-7 back. We're going to have get some experience and good players in our back end. We graduated all of the guys that played back there. I think these kids are going to be very good. "They were just behind some very good players last year. You don't know that until the lights come on Friday night and you see how they perform." Kauble, Crockett, Noftz, Mullins and Karsen Garner are all in the mix for positions in the defensive backfield. Garza led the team with 111 tackles last year and will return to his linebacker spot along with Mullins, Sengstock and Flewelling. Dukeshire was also first-team defensive end and will be joined by Everett, Cooksey and Scruggs. "This group has progressively grown since June," Carter said. "We're nowhere near being a finished product, but I like the progress we're making." 2025 schedule Aug. 22: Bellevue, 7 p.m. Aug. 29: at Toledo Start, 7 p.m. Sept. 5: Ashland, 7 p.m. Sept. 12: at Toledo St. Francis, 7 p.m. Sept. 19: at Port Clinton, 7 p.m. Sept. 26: at Perkins, 7 p.m. Oct. 3: Edison, 7 p.m. Oct. 10: Sandusky, 7 p.m. Oct. 17: at Tiffin Columbian, 7 p.m. Oct. 24: Norwalk, 7 p.m. 2024 results Clyde 34, Bellevue 0 Clyde 49, Toledo Start 25 Clyde 42, Toledo Waite 0 Toledo St. Francis 30, Clyde 13 Clyde 56, Port Clinton 21 Perkins 28, Clyde 7 Clyde 33, Tiffin Columbian 14 Sandusky 22, Clyde 21 Clyde 20, Huron 7 Clyde 34, Norwalk 0 Playoffs Clyde 42, Otsego 7 Ontario 38, Clyde 7 2025 roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 0 Dekin Crockett WR/DB 6-1 177 11 1 Joel Greenslade WR/DB 5-10 159 11 2 Hunter Thomas WR/DB 5-10 155 11 3 Linkin Mullins RB/LB 5-9 173 11 4 Tyler Noftz WR/DB 5-11 201 12 5 Mason Flewelling WR/OLB/S 6-1 188 12 6 Reese Rex WR/DB 5-6 144 10 7 Karcen Garner QB/DB 6-1 183 11 8 Hector Garza RB/LB 6-1 206 11 9 Jax Binder WR/DB 5-8 147 10 10 Cole Davis WR/DB 6-1 153 10 11 Isaiah Lester WR/DB 5-11 147 12 12 Landon Dirnberg WR/DB 5-7 133 12 13 Breck Wilson WR/DB 5-6 135 9 14 Aric Kauble WR/DB 6-1 168 12 15 Jonathan Lantz QB 6-3 207 12 16 Grady Binder QB/DB 6-2 171 10 17 Jackson Engler WR/DB 6-1 167 10 18 Cole Sengstock RB/LB 6-2 209 12 20 Zach Davis WR/DB 6-1 163 10 21 Mason Holden RB/LB 5-11 183 10 22 Caseson Fiser RB/LB 5-11 165 10 23 Dane Aldrich WR/DB 6-1 163 10 24 Wint Keegan RB/LB 5-7 155 10 25 Xavier Navarro WR/DB 6-0 160 10 26 Julius Morrisette WR/DB 5-11 145 12 27 Curtis Dick OL/DL 5-11 207 12 28 Adam Young RB/LB 6-0 203 12 30 Khi Morrisette RB/LB 5-7 168 10 31 Jeremy Lantz QB/DB 5-5 135 9 32 Alex Hoffman K 5-6 180 12 33 Ian Everett TE/DL 6-4 228 12 34 Dan Deborde RB/LB 5-10 160 9 35 Jace Wilson WR/DB 5-9 135 9 36 Myles Bailey RB/LB 6-1 150 9 38 Mitch Newsome K 6-2 165 11 40 JeCori Roberts TE/DE 6-5 223 9 41 Payton Franks RB/DL 5-8 187 10 42 Gavin Gschwind OL/LB 5-8 155 9 43 Blake Beebe WR/DB 5-10 140 9 45 Justin Kofron OL/RB/LB 5-8 205 10 46 Ethan Skeels RB/LB 5-8 150 9 47 Wyatt Keegan RB/LB 5-8 144 9 49 Derek Allen WR/DL 6-0 155 9 51 Kaidence Cooksey OL/DL 6-3 269 12 52 Dawson Jeffrey OL/TE/LB 5-11 203 12 53 Owen Waugh OL/LB 5-10 187 10 54 Jayden Michaels OL/DL 5-11 213 12 55 Michael Scruggs OL/DL 6-1 223 12 56 Max Miller OL/DL 6-0 220 10 57 Xavier Elder OL/DL 5-11 177 11 58 Randonn Lagrou OL/DL 5-9 175 9 60 Grayson Wade OL/DL 5-8 215 9 62 Nathan Scruggs OL/DL 5-7 205 9 63 Jayde Heuther OL/DL 6-0 177 9 64 Braxton Brock OL/DL 5-8 179 11 65 Bentley Turpening OL/DL 6-7 170 9 66 Cory Shondell OL/DL 6-4 220 9 68 Noah Koke OL/DL 6-0 276 11 70 Wyatt Harvey OL/DL 6-2 240 11 72 Uriah Lower OL/DL 5-10 178 10 73 Vincent Benevides OL/DL 5-9 167 9 75 Xyience Sours OL/DL 5-8 190 9 76 Brady Dukeshire OL/DL 6-6 303 12 77 Kamdon Bigler OL/DL 6-1 315 11 78 Landon Bigler OL/DL 5-11 340 9 80 Koltan Turner WR/DB 5-10 125 10 81 Trevor Oberdorf WR/DB 5-10 125 9 86 Trenton Brown P 5-10 183 10 88 Alex Rodriguez WR/DB 5-8 145 10