Morning Journal / Ron Firth The 2024 East Palestine football team.

EAST PALESTINE — Following two years of rebuilding the East Palestine Bulldogs’ football program, head coach Michael Demster admits that this season, they need to start seeing results.

Winning just two games and having some moral victories last season is no longer good enough. The expectations are much higher now.

Entering his third season at East Palestine, the Bulldogs have gone 1-8 in 2022 and 2-8 in 2023. The Bulldogs were 1-29 in the three seasons before Demster arrived in East Palestine.

“With this being my third year, it finally feels like it’s my football team,” Demster said. “In the first year, you have obviously acquired someone else’s football team and you are trying to transform into the culture that you want to incorporate, and your systems that you want on both sides of the ball. In year two, the expectations go up, but the improvement hasn’t gone up as fast as the expectation has. Here now in year three, we are very optimistic. The expectations have gone up again from the community, the school, from the coaches and even the kids themselves.”

With a mixture of experienced upperclassmen and talented underclassmen, the Bulldogs have a good mix that Demster feels can give them a chance to see positive results on Friday nights. Six starters will be four-year players with four sophomores returning who played as freshmen. A total of 13 lettermen return with nine starters returning on offense and eight on defense.

The Bulldogs will carry 40 players into this season with nine seniors. They also have 13 freshmen and 10 sophomores who Demster feels are very talented, and he looks to sprinkle them into the action on Friday nights.

“The talent has come up. Our numbers are up and the competition for positions is prevalent for the first time in my tenure here,” Demster said. “The kids are working really hard, so we are looking forward to this season.”

One key position that the Bulldogs will be counting on heavily will be their senior, four-year starting quarterback Owen Jurajavcic. His growth both physically and mentally will be a key factor in the Bulldogs’ success in 2024.

“I’ve grown about three inches taller and gained about twenty pounds, and mentally I understand the game a lot more,” Jurajavcic said. “I’m better at reading defenses, and sometimes the game has slowed down, maybe a little too much for me.”

“We have a four-year starter at quarterback, so we have a lot of the things we need to be successful. Now it is a matter of going out and executing on Friday nights once the season starts,” Demster added.

Even more important than the physical play on the field, the nine Bulldog senior starters will also need to be leaders both on and off the field.

“It means a lot. In our last senior class, I had a lot of buddies there and we had a great chemistry with them. I have taken that weight of leadership and put it on my shoulders,” Jurjavcic said. “The past three years and especially the first two years were bad. Last year we were supposed to be better, but we only won two games. Hopefully this year it won’t be just talk, but that we come out and do what we need to do.”

All successful teams have strong offensive and defensive lines. With all five starters and a couple of depth players returning, the Bulldogs certainly have the experienced players in the trenches.

“It’s a cliché for a reason. Everything starts up front. We are fortunate that we have five seniors across the board,” Demster said. “And even the guys we are counting on for depth have been starters at some point over the last two years. They are definitely one of the strengths we have on this team on both sides of the ball. We have good strength and size and good speed on the edge.”

In addition to Jurjavcic, the Bulldogs will return four-year starters Logen Guy, Tommy Beatty, Dalton Johnson and Anthony Lehman all on the offensive and defensive lines. Senior receiver, and defensive back Jeremiah Oldaker is the sixth four-year starter that returns.

“Our line is all bigger and with being three, four-year starters, we have all gotten a lot stronger and we have six 1,000-pound guys in the weight room. And then a lot of our skill guys are so athletic,” Jurjavcic said.

Perhaps the truest test in determining that the Bulldogs have improved this year will be when they face adversity for the first time, and how they react.

“When that first opportunity comes where things aren’t going our way,” Demster said. “We know it is going to happen in week one because they practice too. They (opponents) are going to make plays, and we’re hopeful that we are going to make plays as well, but when our opponent makes plays, we need to be able to respond to it. We can’t get into a ‘here we go again’ mentality. I think that is a thing of the past with these kids. These kids have learned what it takes to win. They have bought in 100%. They understand the system and know now how to solve problems on their own within the system. All of those are things, in my opinion, that are indicators of becoming the program that we aspire to be.”

OFFENSE

The Bulldogs averaged 17.5 points per game in 2023 and they certainly anticipate being even more explosive this season.

With their entire offensive line returning with increased size and strength, Demster is looking for much more offensive production in 2024.

Senior Owen Jurjavcic (1,054 yards passing, 5 TDs, 749 yards rushing) returns as a four-year starter at quarterback with sophomore RJ May serving as a backup. They also have a talented freshman QB in Clark Rutledge who will provide some depth.

Lining up beside Jurjavcic in the backfield will be sophomore Peyton Rutledge, but the tailback position will be one that will see a committee of players rotating into the position. May will also see action as a running back or in the slot as a receiver. They will also utilize sophomore Braydon Plum, who transferred back to East Palestine after a season at Columbiana, and talented freshman Terrance Dixon provided some depth to the running back spot.

Junior tight end Ayvre Klingensmith replaces Shane Richardson. He played a lot last year at tight end and H-back, so Demster feels it is a seamless transition for Klingensmith to take over the position full-time. Springfield senior transfer Brock Kleinknecht and junior Aiden Townsend provide them with experienced depth.

On the outside, in addition to May in the slot, sophomore Tanner Morrow, senior Jeremiah Oldaker at the X position, and senior Isaac Cozza will be the top targets for Jurjavcic.

In the trenches, the Bulldogs return six starters including seniors Dalton Johnson, Anthony Lehman, Kyler Bourne, Logen Guy and Tom Beatty. They also have sophomores Lucas Inman and Michael Morrison, along with junior Alex Kidder, all providing them with experienced depth.

DEFENSE

Defensively, the Bulldogs surrendered over 34 points per game last year, marking the second consecutive year that they have averaged that much. However, this year they return more experience and depth which they are counting on to produce a much stingier defense.

The defensive line will feature the same group of starters on offense with Johnson, Lehman, and Bourne, along with Inman and Morrison. Kleinknecht will start as a defensive end for the Dogs.

Klingensmith and Beatty will start as inside linebackers with Kidder and freshman Kaden Buckius serving as backups. Rutledge and Jurjavcic, along with Townsend will serve as outside linebackers. Junior Kaleb Holly will also look to see some playing time on the outside.

The secondary will feature May (49 tackles, 4 INTs) and Plum both playing at safety with Morrow and Cozza looking to start at the cornerback spots. Oldaker will also see a lot of action at cornerback. Junior Lane Knight and sophomore Tanner Grope give them some more depth in the defensive backfield.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Sophomore Nate Mead, a soccer player for the Bulldogs, has come out to be their kicker this year.

Demster points out that he is quickly developing his technique and they will be looking forward to seeing him perform this year.

Jurjavcic and Betty will split the punting duties, while the return game will feature May and Morrow to take advantage of their speed and talent.

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