Correspondent file photo / Michael G. Taylor Lowellville’s AJ Boehlke (8) runs the ball during a Division VII playoff game against McDonald on Nov. 1 in McDonald.

LOWELLVILLE — A new era is beginning at Lowellville and alumnus Drew McLaughlin is taking over as the Rockets’ head coach.

Former head coach Andrew Mamula stepped down in the offseason after producing an overall record of 39-17, two Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference titles and leading the Rockets to five straight playoff appearances.

McLaughlin served as an assistant coach at Leetonia, Champion, Campbell and spent the last three years at Mathews. He now gets his first chance to lead a team.

“I played here, and now I can be the head coach and take the stuff that I got from different spots and bring it here and do it how I think it should be done,” McLaughlin said. “It’s really cool to be in charge of a place where you went to school, you graduated from, you played. So it’s really exciting. I’m really excited to be here.”

After Mamula stepped down, Lowellville hired long-time Mahoning Valley high school football coach Jim Tsilimos. However, he stepped down after six weeks on the job before McLaughlin was hired.

During his time at Mathews, McLaughlin watched the Rockets from afar. He watched their 51-38 stomping of Columbiana in Week 1 last season and also watched them play at other times when Mathews was off. Seeing those games gave McLaughlin a good idea of what he was going to have if he ever took over the Rockets.

“I knew they didn’t have huge numbers in their senior class last year,” McLaughlin said. “Right now, we have 11 seniors, so that’s a big class for a school this size. So I kinda knew when this job opened and how it all went down, that if I was to come here, I’d have a decent senior class to lean on and a quarterback that started all 12 games as a sophomore last year. That helps the cause out a lot.”

As he approaches his first season with the Rockets, McLaughlin is looking to leave his mark on the program. While things will remain status quo offensively, he said things will change defensively as he implements his own philosophies.

OFFENSE

The Rockets will have holes to fill on offense, but they have a very strong foundation to build on. It starts with quarterback Ricky Willrich.

Willrich started all 12 games as a sophomore and completed 58% of his passes for 2,375 yards, 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He threw for over 200 yards seven times and completed 14 of his 19 pass attempts for 271 yards and three touchdowns in Lowellville’s season-opening win over Columbiana.

“He’s like a coach on the field,” McLaughlin said. “He’s so well versed, Xs and Os. He knows exactly where to put the ball and the exact time to put it there. He knows how to read a safety, pre-snap, stuff that a junior really shouldn’t know, he knows.”

McLaughlin is now looking for his young signal-caller to take a step forward in other areas. As he steps under center for his junior season, McLaughlin wants to see Willrich take a step forward as a leader and command an offense that is going to need it after losing a 2,000-yard rusher in Geno Perry.

That will be the biggest hole the Rockets have to fill this season. While Willrich had success through the air, Perry was a big piece of the offense. He rushed for 25 touchdowns and eclipsed the 200-yard mark in five games, including a 302-yard, five-touchdown performance in Lowellville’s first-round upset win over McDonald.

McLaughlin will rely on senior Vance Esenwein, junior Anthony Kacir and sophomore Daniel Huff to fill that role. Esenwein and Kacir are between the tackle runners, and Huff is a speedster who can break to the outside. Huff tallied five carries for 37 yards and a touchdown last season.

“Each guy brings something different to the table and we’re excited to see what they can do,” McLaughlin said.

When it comes to his wide receivers, McLaughlin said he could “talk forever.”

“I can go on and on. We have a lot of dudes at the receiver spot,” McLaughlin said. “I kinda wish we could put more receivers out there, but you can’t. I’ve always been a ground-and-pound type of dude, but we have guys that can really catch the ball and do stuff with it.”

It starts with senior Josh Pazel, who caught 45 passes for 1,138 yards and 12 touchdowns. He averaged 25.3 yards per catch. Seniors AJ Boehlke, Kaden Italiano, Kaden Primous, Nick LaRosa, junior Michael Lucido and freshmen Nate Grimes and Carter Hvisdak will work into the mix as well.

The Rockets will have three seniors on the offensive line with twins Brendan and Ethan Harris filling two spots alongside Landen Tych, who is transitioning from tight end. McLaughlin said junior Anthony Madison and freshmen Parker Macejko, Zach Stevens and Nate Brown will compete for playing time as well.

DEFENSE

If there is going to be one massive difference with the Rockets this season, it may come on the defensive side.

Under Mamula, the Rockets played decent defense, but with a high-powered offense, they were seen as a team that could outscore a lot of their opponents. They scored just over 31 points a game last season, but also gave up nearly 33, which was arguably their worst defensive performance in his five years.

“They let some points go last year, so our defensive staff is going to try our best not to let that happen,” McLaughlin said. “Their philosophy was kinda, ‘We can outscore you.’ But once you get into Week 11, Week 12, I don’t think that’s the right recipe.”

To start, McLaughlin said they’ll switch to a four-man front, which will include a majority of the players who play offensive line. Junior Manny Herron will see time there as well.

Boehlke, who led the team with 97 tackles in each of the past two seasons, will play “Mike” linebacker, and Italiano will slide in next to him at the “Will.” Kacir and Lucido will fill the outside linebacker roles, and Huff will be interchangeable at all four positions.

Pazel and Primus will return as cornerbacks and LaRosa will fill in at safety.

SPECIAL TEAMS

In the past, Lowellville has been known for its propensity to utilize onside kicks, but that won’t be the case this year. LaRosa and Willrich will kick and punt in different situations. LaRosa will handle long kickoffs and Willrich will handle situations when the Rockets need directional kicking or squib kicks.

LaRosa, Kacir and Italiano will handle return duties.