A Tale of Two Villages. West Holmes travels to Triway to open its season Friday night.

  • By Bill Houston
  • August 26, 2010
  • 261
                        
First, a little bit of history to bring you up to speed. It was the best of times in Shreve. It was the worst of times in Millersburg. It was indeed a tale of two cities (or villages, actually) on the football fields at West Holmes and Triway in 2009. After putting up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter against visiting Triway, to rally from a 27-7 halftime deficit and knock off the Titans 28-27 in their season opener a year ago, a pretty exciting season looked like it might lie ahead for the West Holmes Knights football team. In his fourth season as head coach of the Knights, Tom Eastep’s team travelled to Warsaw a week later and handed River View a 28-0 loss. Eight straight losses later, during which time they were outscored by their opponents 239-80 and failed to score any points in three of those games, the Eastep era was over and West Holmes started looking to rebuild. Meanwhile over in Shreve things went the exact opposite direction for Tony Lee’s team, as Triway bounced back from its shocking loss to West Holmes in the season opener to put together an 8-2 regular season record, finishing second in the Principals Athletic Conference behind Akron Manchester and earning a trip to the playoffs. Enter Kevin Maltarich. The 1994 West Holmes graduate, former Knights’ running back and linebacker, and the son of former legendary head coach Bob Maltarich – who guided the Knights to a record of 108-70 from 1986-2002 – returned home to guide West Holmes after he was hired to replace Eastep back in January, raising the hopes of Knights fans all around Millersburg and the surrounding area. Maltarich’s resume includes eight years as head coach at Norwayne, where he put together a record of 43-38, including an 8-3 record in 2008, which gave the Bobcats a share of the Wayne County Athletic League title for the first time in 43 years, punched the school’s first-ever ticket to the playoffs and earned Maltarich Associated Press Division V co-Coach of the Year honors. Last year the coach moved up to Division I, Ohio Cardinal Conference rival, Mansfield Madison where he endured a 1-9 season leading the Rams, whose lone victory came at the expense of that 2-8 West Holmes team. Friday night, August 27, the Knights and Titans kick off the season again, this time at Triway, but unfortunately for Maltarich, it appears as though the programs at West Holmes and Triway may still be even further apart than the 14 miles that separate the villages of Millersburg and Shreve. Departing from last year’s West Holmes roster were 20 seniors, including co-captain and starting quarterback, Zac Mathie, who threw for 128 yards and two touchdowns in the 2009 game against Triway, along with co-captain and starting running back, Brandon MacKey who was named to the All OCC Team and the second team Division III AP All District Team after rushing for 783 yards on 169 carries and leading the team in tackles with 100. Also gone are leading receivers Jeremy Anderson, who hauled in a 46-yard touchdown pass from Mackie in last year’s game, and Justin Haas, who led the entire OCC in punting a year ago as well, with a 43-yard average. The punting game may be important for Maltarich and his team again Friday night and throughout the season with so many holes needing to be filled. Returning from last year’s 2-8 team are only nine seniors, including Aaron Clark who will likely start the season at quarterback for the Knights, with the six-foot-three-inch, 175-pound sophomore Gabe Snyder backing him up. Quarterback may not be the most important position on the field for the Knights, however, as Maltarich said his philosophy “is to run the ball and play tough football on both sides of the ball.” Those competing to carry the rock and become the feature back in Maltarich’s offense are juniors Joey Gonzalez and Mason James, along with a pair of sophomores in Garrett MacKey and Grant Hay. Whoever ends up carrying the ball will be running through holes created by an impressive offensive line anchored by three 300-pounders – senior Ryan Sowers (300), sophomore Benton Smith (305), and junior Tylor Grant (310). If Maltarich’s conditioning program allows them to play both ways, those three lineman will be counted on to solidify the defensive line as well and shore up a defensive unit that gave up 130 more points than the offense scored a year ago. There will be a lot fewer questions to be answered over on the Triway side of the ball on Friday night as Tony Lee’s team goes up against the Knights and into its season with 14 returning seniors, including starting quarterback, Derek Carmichael – who threw for nearly 2,800 yards and 32 touchdowns a year ago, with 206 of those yards and three of those touchdowns coming against West Holmes – and starting running back Sawyer Polen, who averaged almost five yards per carry and put up 59 yards against the Knights a year ago. Lee’s team also returns four of its six leading tacklers from a year ago – including defensive linemen Eric Myers and Cody Gessel, linebacker Zach Zody and defensive back Marcus Bertsch – to a defense that held its opponents to seven points or less in four of its last six regular season games last season. Friday night may be a tough night for Maltarich’s young Knights team, but that’s ok. Right now the coach just wants “to get better each week and stay mentally tough.” When the season is all said and done however, he hopes he can look back and see that a different kind of novel has been written.


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