Morning Journal The returning lettermen on the 2024 West Branch football team.

BELOIT — West Branch has claimed 45 wins over the past four seasons and expectations remain sky-high as the Warriors go for their fifth consecutive Eastern Buckeye Conference championship.

Coach Tim Cooper, who has guided West Branch to 23 wins in his first two seasons, doesn’t mince words when talking about the 2024 season.

“I think our kids, at the end of the day, especially with baseball winning a state championship, that’s our goal,” he said. “Obviously it’s a very difficult task, especially in Division IV, and our region [13] is loaded. Our main goal throughout the season is we want to play our best football at the end of the season, regardless of what week it is. It could be Week 10, it could be Week 16, who knows? We just want to make sure we leave everything out there on the field.”

West Branch returns all of its top skill players from last season’s 11-2 team, with the exception of its quarterback, and its entire offensive and defensive lines. The Warriors have won 21 consecutive EBC games and are the heavy favorites to repeat as conference champions.

But Cooper leaves no doubt the 19 seniors want to complete their legacy with – at least – a regional championship. That hasn’t happened for the Warriors since 1997 – they lost to Ursuline and Jefferson Area in 2021 and 2022 in the regional final, and to Canton South last season in the regional semifinals.

Two 2023 state champions – Cleveland Glenville (Div. IV) and Perry (Div. V) – have been assigned to Region 13, along with programs that have equally lofty expectations like Cardinal Mooney, Struthers, Mentor Lake Catholic and Akron Buchtel, will make a tremendous gauntlet for the Warriors to navigate.

“Our kids have really taken that expectation and every day in practice has been more meaningful because of the baseball team’s success, the basketball team’s success and then our success the last couple years,” said Cooper.

“We have five kids that are going to be four-year letterwinners. So even when they were freshmen they were helping on special teams, they were getting in, they might have been two’s on the depth chart, so they’ve been playing a lot of meaningful football games the last couple of years. When you think of the last two years we’ve played 27 games. That’s been really important for their development as players.”

West Branch opens the regular season by playing host to Canfield. The Warriors also have Woodridge, Girard, Chaney and Howland as non-conference opponents.

“That will be good preparation for the postseason,” Cooper said. “As far as the EBC, we know we have a big bulls-eye on our back. We are going to get everyone’s best shot but we also have the expectation that we’re going to play good football.”

OFFENSE

First-team All-Ohio quarterback Beau Alazaus graduated. After leading the West Branch baseball team to the Division II state championship in the spring Alazaus will be pitching at Walsh University. He completed 68% of his passes (258-of-380] for 3,347 yards and 37 touchdowns.

There is a three-man battle to replace Alazaus. Jeremiah Thomas, a junior, is the front-runner. As a receiver last season, Thomas caught 51 passes for 863 yards and six TDs. He also was used as a wildcat quarterback in a few situations last year and responded by averaging 11.8 yards per carry. Thomas is also an all-conference basketball player and was the starting right fielder on the baseball team. The other contenders are senior Charlie Biskup and sophomore Grady Hirst.

“All those guys bring different things to the table,” said Cooper. “Jeremiah is the most athletic. He’s a dynamic athlete. Charlie knows our offense really, really well. He works really hard and he throws the ball really well. Grady has a really talented arm. He might not be the athlete that J.T. is but he throws the ball as well as anyone I’ve seen.

“For sure Jeremiah Thomas is going to take some snaps at quarterback. Whether it’s 100% of the time, or 50% or 20% I’m not sure.”

Senior Boston Mulinix returns at running back. The shortstop and leadoff hitter on the baseball team, Mulinix rushed for 1,186 yards and 19 touchdowns last season and caught 16 passes for 186 yards and two more TDs. He has several offers in hand from Division II and III colleges.

“[Mulinix] played through a broken hand last year, had a knee injury as a sophomore [and] played through that,” Cooper said. “His experience and work ethic has been really great for us and our program the last couple of years. He always wants to improve; he’s always helping our young guys, coaching those guys up and developing those guys as well. He’s got great vision and he’s super explosive. He’s definitely the most explosive back we’ve had since I’ve been here. His athleticism kind of pops off the film.”

Cooper said Mulinix is a key part of one area the coaches were determined to fix following last season.

“We want to get him anywhere from 10 to 15 touches on a consistent basis, but getting him the ball is important, because in the big games, we’ve kind of struggled to run the football,” Cooper said. “So that’s kind of been a point of emphasis right now to fix that and get him more involved a little bit offensively in big game situations.”

The receiving corps – even if Thomas plays exclusively at quarterback – is deep and talented. Senior Joey Jackson has surpassed 1,000 receiving yards each of the past two seasons. In 2023, he caught 74 passes for 1,024 yards and 14 TDs. Senior Anthony Perry also returns after a season with 78 receptions for 769 yards and seven scores.

Seniors Cooper Anderson (15-166-3) and Carson Graham (5-35-1) are being counted on for more production and tight end Gavin Gregory, a junior, returns after catching 22 passes for 366 yards and five TDs in 2023. Grady Close, Lukas Black and Jacob Weingart will be other options.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys that can run and catch,” Cooper said. “Joey Jackson has been great for our program in the weight room. He’s a consistent worker, he’s here every day, you never have to worry about him missing practice. He is just the ultimate competitor. Joey is really explosive with the ball in his hands. He has really taken leaps and bounds the last couple of years of his development as a player.

“Anthony Perry is an explosive athlete as well and we just have a wealth of other guys who can fill in and do some great things. Cooper Anderson is a big body, Carson Graham is maybe the smartest guy on our team.

Zach Coffee had a strong summer, according to Cpp[er. And Gavin Gregory is expected to provide a “different element” as a big-body tight end.

The offensive line returns all five starters and then some.

“I think we’re going to be deeper because we had some injuries that happened later in the season,” Cooper said. “We lost Jax Brooks to a knee injury late in the season, Brock Boyle was a junior who tore his ACL Week 1, so we’re going to get those guys back but we also have some guys who are developing.

“It’s anchored with [senior] Dom Slimon at left tackle. He’s definitely our most talented offensive lineman. We’re trying to develop a physicality up front where we want to run the football and we want to be physical and they’ve done a really good job so far.”

Cam Summers, Hayden Martin, Zack Gorby and Brooks are the other returning starters. Brock Boyle, Cohen Campbell, Gavin Hang, Gavin Heavener and Nick Scofinsky will all rotate in.

“So, this is a really deep team,” Cooper said. “It’s just getting all those guys on the field and keeping those guys healthy.”

DEFENSE

West Branch transitioned to a three-man front before the 2023 season. Slimon, Summers and Gregory will be the starters, with Hang, Campbell and Heavener providing depth.

“Those are going to be our main guys who will be rotating,” Cooper said. “The majority of those guys are offensive linemen, so they’re not necessarily pass rush specialists, but Gregory is a guy we think can get pressure on the quarterback with his length, speed and athleticism. Then we’re expecting those other guys to stop the run. Hang is a little bit of a disrupter.

“All of those guys are pushing each other in practice. They’re flying to the football which is really important for us.”

Two seniors and three-year starters, Garin Harlan and Jack Flickinger, will anchor the linebackers. Flickinger played outside linebacker the last two years and is moving inside. He had 95 tackles, including three sacks, last season.

Harlan led the team with 112 tackles and four caused fumbles.

“Flickinger is a tough kid, resilient and a really smart football player. He’ll use his physicality and understanding of the game to help us on defense.”

Harlan played safety last year and will move to outside linebacker. Coffee is expected to be the other outside linebacker, with Clayton Day, Biskup and Drew Gaspar contending for the Will, or weakside inside linebacker position.

Coffee led the Warriors with three sacks in 2023.

In the secondary, Jackson will start at one corner position with a mix of Thomas, Close, Kayden Porter and Weingart at the other corner. The safeties will be Graham, Perry, Black, Jordan Waite and Brett Weisel.

Jackson led the team with four interceptions a year ago, while Thomas had three.

“We made a transition to the 3-4 last year,” Cooper said. “Our kids adapted to it and we got more speed on the field. They hit their stride late in the year. It gave us some ideas of what to improve on. The biggest thing for us is being gap sound and flying to the football, playing with effort and playing with physicality is going to put us in a good situation.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

Eliza Hirst returns for her senior season after scoring 68 points as the placekicker in 2023. Perry will return to do kickoffs, field goals and punting. Senior Evan Hancock and junior Gavin Clemens provide depth.

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