By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
NORTH BALTIMORE — North Baltimore heads into the season looking to bounce back after a 3-7 record and eighth place finish in their Northwest Central Conference inaugural season. The Tigers return eight seniors of their 28 rostered players.
Coach Wade Ishmael was optimistic following summer workouts, saying he is excited to see them take the field.
“We’ve been working real hard,” Ishmael said. “We have a good group of younger kids who have been working very hard, with a couple seniors that have been working really hard as well. Sky’s the limit with these kids.”
The Tigers will be led on the field this season behind a young ironman Lucas Long, who will be a leader on both sides of the ball.
“We have a sophomore quarterback, Luke Long, who is a very talented quarterback, who will also be playing linebacker for us as well. The kid is super talented, works hard, amazing work ethics, while also being a very respectful kid.”
Long will have plenty of time to show his talent off this season with the Tigers running a majority pass offense once again. Ishmael was pleased with how it ran last season and believes year two under the system can only be better.
“Offensively, I think our offense was pretty good last year,” Ishmael said. “We just made some more tweaks here and there that we put in this year that’s going to make us have some more success. Those tweaks go along the way. We’re getting better and better week by week.
“In the NWCC, there are only a couple teams in the league that actually throw the ball a lot. So most weeks, our opponent will be preparing for the run, then we come out and we throw the ball. So it’s putting us a step ahead. I wouldn’t say we’re not a run team, but we’re definitely a pass team,” added Ishmael.
Having a full year of NWCC football under the Tigers’ belt, Ishmael will keep his offenses similar game-to-game but will change his defense depending on the scenario.
“It was our first year,” Ishmael said. “Last year we didn’t have that much film on a lot of the teams, and it’s a predominantly run offense league. We’ve made some adjustments to go to a better run defense and will be ready for this season,” said Ishmael.
Defense is not the only thing that has changed for the Tigers. Ishmael says his team has beefed up a lot in depth, especially on the line.
“We have 28 kids, which is a decent number,” Ishmael said. “Would like to get more, but we have a lot of linemen this year who have been putting in hard work.
“We‘ve had a couple kids change roles — one of our running backs from last year tore his ACL and now is a guard for us. One of our other guards was like a tight end, but now he’s a guard. So we have kids step up into positions and key roles on our team, even stepping into a position without being truly asked to do it. They want to do it.”
Ishmael put it simply when asked how he would describe the 2024 Tigers.
“They are a team of hard-working kids ready to compete,” Ishmael said.
NORTH BALTIMORE SCHEDULE
Aug. 23 VANLUE
Aug. 30 HARDIN NORTHERN
Sept. 6 @ Elgin
Sept. 13 @ Cory-Rawson
Sept. 20 WAYNESFIELD-GOSHEN
Sept. 27 @ Lima Perry
Oct. 4 RIDGEDALE
Oct. 11 @ Ridgemont
Oct. 18 CRESTLINE
Oct. 25 @ Upper Scioto Valley
