PERRYSBURG — A topsy-turvy inaugural Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division saw no football team get through the conference season unbeaten.

Perrysburg fourth-year coach Dirk Conner, whose teams are 27-10 in his first three seasons, expects more of the same.

“I don’t see it being a lot different than last year,’ Conner said. “There are four teams that can win it, and that’s no disrespect to the other two, but just program-wise they are out there.

“So, you talk Perrysburg, Anthony Wayne, Findlay, Whitmer, and on any given night any of those four can beat each other,” Conner continued.

“Year one last year was one where fans really got their money’s worth in those games against those teams. We’ll see in year two if anybody can get through their games unscathed against each other.

“We’re excited for those, but we’ve got a lot of building to get to between now and then, and enjoy every single week one at a time.”

The Yellow Jackets open on Friday, August 23 by traveling to the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl to take on Toledo St. Francis, then host Marysville after playing them on the road twice, including a Division I playoff game.

“I love it. It fits very well for us,” Conner said. “We play some big programs who are going to be markedly improved from what they were last year.

“We look forward to getting up and playing at the Glass Bowl, which is a good opportunity for the young kids, and then we’ve gone down to Marysville twice over the last three years and we’re excited that they get to make a trip up here and see that Northwest Ohio football is every bit as Columbus-area football.”

Then it’s three straight non-league games against NLL Cardinal Division opponents Fremont Ross, Sylvania Southview, and Clay before taking on five Buckeye Division teams in league play.

Conner believes the Jackets are in good shape this year no matter who they take on. Of 77 players on his roster, he has 23 seniors and 15 returning starters on both sides of the ball.

“We really like the product that we are going to put on the field,” Conner said. “We’ve got a good senior class leading the way — not just good from the perspective on the field but they are very good in the leadership that they provide for our program.

“It makes you excited to get on the field. The last several years we think we have a chance to win it every time we walk out there. Our season will be as successful as our physicality, lack of selfishness, and willingness to do whatever it takes allows.”

Takats returns for year two

Returning to start at quarterback is 6-foot-2, 208-pound senior Josh Takats, who had a solid first year as a varsity starter, completing 139-of-207 passes (54.1%) for 2,004 yards and 24 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. He also ran for 266 yards and four TD.

“He got better every week last year and continued to get better over the summer,” Conner said. “We are very excited about what he brings to the table and what he can do for us this year. It’s nice not to be breaking in somebody new like we were at this time last year.”

After the loss of Nick Oros (858 yards rushing last year) to graduation and of Connor Walendzak two years ago, who is now playing football at the University of Toledo, the Yellow Jackets’ running game is getting an overhaul.

“Nick Oros really carried the load all of last year and really a lot of the year before when Connor played mainly defense and Nick got a lot of carries on offense, so he got to start a few games as a sophomore, so he was really seasoned back there,” Conner said.

“This year, I think you are going to see us as more of a running back by committee approach. I’m not saying it in a bad way, but we have several kids back there that we think can do a good job, so I think you’ll see four or five guys carry the ball on a Friday night. They’ve all got different sets of things that they are better at.

“Joseph Seney (5-11, 195 senior) and Braxton Mefferd (5-11, 175 senior) both have varsity carries to their name, and they’ll get their time as two of our prime defensive players, so they are not going to be 20 to 25 carries per game type kids.

“We’ve got two seniors, Carson Pershing and Chayce Conger, that early in the season we are going to say, ‘Are you guys capable of carrying this load right here and how much can you take off of Joe and Braxton?’

Then, a junior named Nicolo Walkowsky (5-9, 165), who we knew was going to be a good player for us and eventually, but he’s done a good job of putting himself in the mix for playing time this year as well.”

At receiver, the Yellow Jackets are looking to replace the production of now-graduated Gavin Fenneken, who had 50 receptions for 753 yards and 15 touchdowns.

“Gavin Fenneken had a tremendous year last year, but we’re really excited about the receiver group that we have and we feel like we are deeper at the receiver position and more balanced than we have been in the last couple of years,” Conner said.

“I don’t know that you are going to see, like last year, you know Gavin tied the school record for receiving touchdowns in a season, and the year before that Jack Moore was most receptions in a season.

“I don’t think you are going to see one guy carry the load as much this year by virtue we have more of them who we think can do a good job for us this year and Josh sees the field really well and is good about taking what is available to him.

“I think we’ll be spreading it around where there may not be one guy who is dominating the stat line. So, we actually feel like we can have more success than we’ve had the last couple of years throwing the football.

“The three guys who have kind of jumped out and when we walk out on the field for the first time, unless something happens in practice, is going to be (6-2, 175-pound senior) Iain Hall (21 receptions, 289 yds., 2 TD), (5-11, 170-pound senior) Dominick Woods (31 rec., 458 yds., 3 TD) and J.D. Zeeb, and the top two were numbers two and three last year and produced very well for us in big moments last year and we are excited to have their experience and leadership back.”

Whether or not to platoon

Conner and his staff are also weighing on how to platoon offensive and defensive positions, which could affect the tight end and other positions.

“At tight end, Zach Schroeder (5-11, 200-pound senior) was our starter at tight end last year, but again very similar to Seney and Mefferd, he’s a very good defensive end and we believe in playing good defense first and we’ll figure out what we have to do offensively,” Conner said.

“Zach still leads the way there and is a really good tight end, but we have some guys who we are trying to work into the mix.

“They are going to get there eventually, the question is are they going to be ready week one or is it going to be week five or six before they get ready, and that senior Aaron Crowley and then a really good sophomore prospect for us in Braylon Foster (6-5, 200).

“It’s just a matter that those guys have really progressed in this last week and how quick can we get them to the level we expect to play because we aren’t putting guys on the field who aren’t ready to play the way that we expect them to play.”

Perrysburg has a standing tradition of developing linemen for the next level, and it appears as if that could continue with this year’s crop.

“Offensive-line wise, we actually had a lot of injuries on the offensive line and shuffled a lot of kids in and out, but we’ll bring back four of the five kids that started our two playoff games for us, which is a really nice situation for us to be in,” Conner said.

“Mincho Stanchey (6-3, 265 senior), Oliver Zieman (6-0, 210-pound senior center) and Aiden McDowell (6-2, 245 senior) are the three seniors in that group that we starters for us in the playoff games, and obviously we have a big time sophomore in Reed Gerken (6-2, 285) who started every single game for us last year as a freshman and is already a Division I recruit with offers. The sky is kind of the limit with him.

“On the defensive line we have two really good starters returning in Zach Schroeder and Eric Bush (5-11, 285 senior) and we also feel really good about the other two that we will put out there on the field with them.

“With the way things look right now, that will be Paulo Walkolsky (6-1, 220 senior) and Spencer Kies, who came back out for football this year after not playing the last several years and has had an excellent camp and put himself into position to play. He kind of came in off the radar on that, but Eric and Zach are both very high level kids. Eric should put himself into the conversation for all-state this year.

“Last year we had two on the team we were focused on, but Zach will be the main focus for a lot of offenses that we go against this year. He’s just a throw-back kind of player, a tough kid who does a great job of leading the way.

“Again, I’d be remiss without talking about Paulo Walkolsky, who is going to start on the defensive line for us. He’s a senior who has progressed and developed and waited his turn, and he is really taking advantage of that this year and is looking to have turned the corner, like he’s ready to play high level football for us.”

All-Ohioan Seney leads defense

The Yellow Jackets have plenty of talent returning at the linebacker and defensive back positions, too.

“It’s the same thing — a lot of big names come to mind who are returning. So, at linebacker Joseph Seney, who everybody knows at first team all-state last year as a junior, and everybody should know him. He’s earned that,” Conner said.

“Braxton Mefferd will start next to him, probably in the middle linebacker spot, and he’s the one who got hurt for about a three-game stretch last year and that really kind of hurt us defensively and offensively, and also kind of hurt some of his momentum where he would have been an all-league kid and an All-Northwest Ohio kid, but he kind of fell off the radar because of that injury. He’s full strength for us and doing a great job.

“We’ve got a junior, Jonathan Butterfield (5-11, 180 junior), who appears like he’s going to start — he’s in competition with a senior, Mario Gutierrez, but we feel like we have really good depth and four guys who can play right there and vying to get the spot and I think we’ll get there.”

One area that the Yellow Jackets have done well is getting players back into the program after taking a couple years off.

That worked well for Matt Hubbard last year, who as a senior returned to the program to play linebacker, and had a standout year. Conner believes that the 6-4 Hubbard, who is now playing NCAA Division I baseball at the University of Toledo, could have played football there, too.

”We’ve been able to have some good stories with that. It happens when you try to do things the right way and provide kids with a good experience, and also we are still very serious about our business and we are going to win,” Conner said.

“If he (Hubbard) had been around, if he had been a football kid the whole time there is not a doubt in my mind that he could have become a Division I football player.”

PERRYSBURG SCHEDULE

Aug. 23 @ Toledo St. Francis

Aug. 30 MARYSVILLE

Sept. 6 FREMONT ROSS

Sept. 13 @ Sylvania Southview

Sept. 20 CLAY

Sept. 27 @ Sylvania Northview

Oct. 4 TOLEDO WHITMER

Oct. 11 @ Findlay

Oct. 18 SPRINGFIELD

Oct. 25 @ Anthony Wayne