Playoff success showed growth of Knights, Leppla
West Holmes head coach Keaton Leppla brought a new system to the Knights’ program, and it took a while for the team to grasp the game plan, but once it did, the Knights finished strong, grinding out a pair of playoff victories. Leppla believes it is only the beginning of something great for the program.
When a new head coach brings an entirely new system into a high school football program, the transition can oftentimes be a bit of a bumpy ride, filled with pitfalls and failures.
Such was the case for the West Holmes Knights this season when they welcomed Keaton Leppla to the position of leading the program.
Leppla had zero experience as a head coach, having gained experience as a defensive coordinator at Wooster, and he knew there would be a time of transition that might not look great on the team’s overall record.
That was exactly what happened, as the Knights posted a 5-5 regular-season record.
However, late in the season, Leppla said he could feel things starting to sink in, and the Knights made a spirited playoff run, winning a pair of games in upset fashion before finally succumbing to Division IV, Region 15’s No. 1 seed St. Clairsville 35-21 on Friday, Nov. 15.
Leppla said the challenge of the kids and coaching staff picking up the nuances of the new guy’s system was exactly what he didn’t necessarily want but kind of expected.
“I came in as a guy with no coaching experience and someone people pegged as a defensive guy,” Leppla said. “But I thought our staff did an incredible job of coming together as a collective and putting things in place that are going to help this program grow.”
Leppla said any change is hard, especially for a group of 14- to 18-year-olds who are used to something entirely different.
He credited his players for sticking with the program through thick and thin, noting there were plenty of heartfelt conversations that took place that helped unite the team and develop that late success.
He said watching the staff and players come together and find their groove late in the season was an exciting step toward where he wants to build the program, and now that his inaugural campaign is complete, he said he gained plenty of insight into how to be a better coach.
He said communication between staff and players and the kids understanding the staff is there for them are important.
“It’s been a tough road, one that we didn’t expect but maybe should have expected,” Leppla said. “There’s a learning curve there that comes with anything new. I think people can see that we know who we are and where we want to take this program. Kids needed time to learn the system, and they really began to understand it late in the season.”
Leppla said the players not only invest in football, but also have schoolwork, family gatherings and other duties to attend to that fill up their schedule quickly. Learning an intricate and lengthy playbook certainly adds to the mix, and Leppla said he was proud of the way the players avoided getting caught up in information overload.
“There’s so much new stuff to learn, and I’m as guilty as anyone in thinking that there was going to be an easier transition,” Leppla said. “But at the end here, we are understanding things much better, and everything slows down. I call it schematic progression. This year wasn’t easy for anyone, but we’ve laid the foundation from our youth programs to the high school, and we got buy-in from all programs. This is only going to get easier and better from here on out. We’re hopefully going to see the full fruition of this program in a few years that will last for a long time. We simply had to be patient.”
That the team was able to roll to a pair of road playoff victories was something Leppla felt would be invaluable moving forward because it only bolstered the players’ confidence in what they can achieve.
“We’re playing in week 13, and that gives validation to everything we put in place,” Leppla said. “It gives validation to our kids, to our coaching staff and to everything we poured into this program. It made a tough season a successful one.”
Leppla said every great thing takes time, patience and hard work. He said his team gave him all of that and more, and it will pay off.
“Now we want to gain consistency,” Leppla said. “As a staff our main goal is that we surround our kids around good people that care about them.”
With the playoff success bolstering the program, Leppla said there is already an air of excitement around what lies ahead, and that makes this season a winning formula.