Pleasant Football: Spartans continuing to develop in Kevin Kline's second season
MARION — Pleasant coach Kevin Kline likes the way his football team is developing.
"Summer workouts were awesome!" he said. "We averaged about 85% attendance per workout, which is really good. We competed in most of the 7-on-7s, but we found out we still have a lot of work to do."
That's because the Spartans will be a young group coming off a pair of two-win seasons.
"We have a limited number of seniors this year, so our leadership will have to come from our juniors and seniors. We have some key players coming back on both sides of the ball, and we need those kids to set the example," Kline said.
Sophomore Owen Lowry (6-foot, 175 pounds) emerged late in the season at quarterback last year, completing 19 passes for a team-best 273 yards. Top targets C.J. Smith and Aden Casperson graduated, but senior Cadence Varner (5-10, 170) caught 10 passes last season. Senior Devon Horn (6-0, 162) at receiver and senior Brookes Nelson (6-0, 200) at tight end will be other options down field as they continue to run their offense out of the spread.
Sharing the backfield with Lowry will be a pair of junior running backs. Skyler Wolf (5-7, 155) and Daxton Chase (5-8, 157) will try to fill the void left by Spencer Steed, Jonah Bibler, Smith, Casperson and Grant Kantzer. The duo combined for 106 yards on 21 carries a year ago.
Along the offensive line, only Joey Songer (6-5, 245) is a senior at right tackle. Everyone else is an underclassman. Sophomore Luke Flinchbaugh (6-0, 257) at left tackle, junior Landon O'Donnell (5-9, 195) at left guard, sophomore Brady Henry (6-0, 250) at center and junior Caleb Wheeler (5-11, 215) at right guard are the other tentative starters.
Sophomore Michael Brown (5-11, 220) will serve as a backup along the line, while senior Carver Kline (6-4, 145) and juniors Alex Hall (6-1, 183), Jake England (5-8, 163), Trenton Sparling (6-0, 183) and Connor Smith (6-1, 170) will fill roles in the skilled positions.
"These kids have worked extremely hard in the offseason and they love football," Kline said of his offense. "We are very thin in terms of depth at a couple of positions. We only have seven seniors with five of them having Friday night experience."
The defense will switch to a 3-4 alignment for coordinator Kyle Curren.
"New scheme this year means change. It will take a little bit to iron out some of the differences between this year and last year's scheme," Kline said. "We are thin at a couple of positions, so the health of our team will be very important."
Smith was an All-Ohio linebacker with more than 100 tackles last year and that production will need to be replaced. Nelson was the team's second-leading tackler in 2021 with 60 and he's back at inside linebacker along with Connor Smith. Sparling and Wolf will work at outside linebacker as Wolf had 44 tackles.
Wheeler, Henry and junior Nathan Wansik (6-1, 180) will fill roles on the defensive line. The backfield will have some veterans with Horn and junior Carter Mattix (5-11, 152) on the corners and Chase and Varner as safeties. Mattix and Varner both intercepted a pair of passes last year. The foursome in the backfield combined for 79 tackles, too.
Providing depth on defense will be Kline, England, Flinchbaugh, sophomore Connor Murphy (6-4, 180), junior Joey Bradac (5-7, 163), freshman Brennan Ringer (6-3, 178) and freshman Adam Scowden (6-0, 160).
"We believe that we will see improvement on this side of the ball with six starters returning," Kline said of the defense. "Our kids have bought into the importance of team, and they have shown trust in each other."
With special teams, senior Riley Shaffer (6-0, 152) will be the kicker with Varner and Chase as returners. Sparling will punt, and Varner will return punts.
Kline wants to see improvement from the Spartans as they try to build on the base he brought a year ago in his first season at Pleasant.
"One goal is always going to be to make the playoffs and to win as many games as possible. We want to see our team come together, compete and build positive relationships with each other. The development of these players as people is our No. 1 goal," he said.
How the Spartans navigate the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference this year is to be determined.
"This is an extremely tough and competitive league, especially with the addition of Highland. Clear Fork is loaded, Shelby is always dangerous, and the rest of us return some key players that should make for some really good Friday nights," Kline said.
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Pleasant Spartans Football Bullet Points
Conference: Mid Ohio Athletic.
Coach: Kevin Kline.
Assistants: Kyle Curren (defensive coordinator), Colt Tanner (JV and freshmen coach), Brett Thomas (JV and freshmen assistant), Chris Brady (varsity assistant), Hayden Hamilton (varsity assistant), Matt Cochell (varsity assistant).
Postseason: Division V, Region 18.
Playoff Appearances: 26 (1972, 85, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97. 98, 2000, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21).
Playoff Record All-Time: 30-23.
State Champion: 1971, 1972, 1996, 2002.
State Runner-up: 2001.
Last Year: 2-9, 2-4.
Letter Winners Returning: 16.
Starters Returning: 6 offense, 5 defense.
Base Offense: Spread.
Base Defense: 3-4.
Pleasant 2022 Football Schedule
Aug. 19: Pleasant at North Union
Aug. 26: Wynford at Pleasant
Sept. 2: Whitehall-Yearling at Pleasant
Sept. 9: Shelby at Pleasant
Sept. 16: Pleasant at Highland
Sept. 23: River Valley at Pleasant
Sept. 30: Pleasant at Clear Fork
Oct. 7: Ontario at Pleasant
Oct. 14: Pleasant at Galion
Oct. 21: Pleasant at Marion Harding
Pleasant 2021 Football Results
North Union, L 0-36
Wynford, L 6-23
Whitehall-Yearling, L 14-46
Marion Harding, W 27-24
Shelby, L 14-49
Canfield, L 7-35
River Valley, L 14-49
Clear Fork, L 19-48
Ontario, L 21-24
Galion, W 26-12
Playoff: Elyria Catholic, L 7-49
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Pleasant Football: Spartans developing in Kline's second year
