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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Can Trotwood return for another state football title?
MASSILLON - With a lineup full of proven talent, Trotwood-Madison coaches were loud and proud before and during their high school football state championship run. A 15-week title train ride was the recurring theme.
And the Rams backed up all that bravado, finishing a perfect season with Friday night’s 42-28 defeat of Avon for the Division II title at Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
That capped a 15-0 season and earned the Rams the only thing that eluded them last year when they suffered their only loss in the 2010 state title game.
T-M was a championship mixture of strong-willed determination and gut-check reality. They were quite capable of being their best and overcoming their worst.
That’s the blueprint that has been cast for Trotwood-Madison football. Can the Rams possibly return to Stark County for their third straight Week 15 game?
“I’m not going to tell them that we’re going to go 15-0 or anything like that,” T-M coach Maurice Douglass said.
“But the one thing that we’re going to try and do is win the GWOC North and if we can do that, we’ll be in the playoffs. And if we’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.”
That seldom heard cautionary tone is the result of just six returning players who started against Avon. But there is quality in those few numbers and more depth from top subs who will emerge as key players.
The only returnee from a dominating offensive line is sophomore center Clem Vinegar. At 5 feet 11 and 295 pounds, he’s a load. Even better, he’ll be a rare four-year starter.
Junior tight end/linebacker Michael McCray can pick his national power to play for. Same with junior cornerback Cameron Burrows.
The running backs are set with junior Isreal Green and sophomore Ashton Jackson. Green saved his best for last, surpassing 2,000 yards while unloading a record-setting six touchdowns and 326 yards rushing on Avon.
Jackson emerged as Green’s perfect compliment, adding 1,081 yards rushing on just 118 carries (9.2 average) and 17 scores.
Handing off to those two will be key. A replacement for super senior quarterback Michael Simpson, Ohio’s D-II offensive player of the year after transferring from Chaminade Julienne, must emerge.
Freshman Andre Foster gets the nod. A rail-thin 6-2, 147, Douglass insists that Foster “can throw it from here to Alabama.
“If (Simpson) wouldn’t have come, they would have gotten the opportunity to see the next best thing coming. We have a young freshman who’s going to be very special.”
After Friday’s celebration, a reflective Douglass immediately dropped the swagger that had been so prevalent. He sounded like so many other coaches.
“We had a bull’s eye on us this year going into the season,” he said. “That means we’re going to have another bull’s eye on us next year.
“With the guys that we have coming back, if we work the way that we have this past January, we’re going to have a chance to come back. That’s all that you can ask for.”
Returning starters
RB Isreal Green, jr.
TE/LB Michael McCray, jr.
C Clem Vinegar, so.
CB Kei Beckham, fr.
CB Cameron Burrows, jr.
DE Trevon Williams’Brown, jr.
Other key returnees:
RB Ashton Jackson, so.
DB Harrison Johnson, fr.
DB Brant Bentley, so.
DB Kieran Winn, so.
DB Romello Crisp, so.
K Eric Cospy, fr.
LB Van-Allen Ashe, jr.
DL Verondtae Wilkinson, so.
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