Staff photo / Dan Hiner Sebring quarterback Thomas Lair throws a pass during a practice on July 24 in Sebring.

There may be no better phrase for Sebring coach Anthony Agresta to have described the experience of last year’s starters than “baptism by fire”.

Finishing 2-7 last year with a pair of wins over the Valley Christian junior varsity program, the Trojans return every starter from last season’s team.

Entering Year 3 of the program since switching to 8-man football, the goals are shifting. Now that they’ve found some solid footing as a program, the Trojans are past the “just keeping the football program active” stage and are moving into the “playing winning football” stage.

“Minus the freshmen who are playing for the first time, this is the first year where everybody, essentially, has had some playing experience, and almost all of them (playing) with me (coaching them),” Agresta said. “I’ve never had that (at Sebring). We’ve had kids come out for the first time, never played before and been thrust into important roles. This is the most experience (I’ve had here). We don’t have the experience of maybe a perennial power or anything like that, but this is the first year that I can honestly say kids have experience with me and with the program. They’re coming back with higher football IQ, just more knowledge of the game and an understanding of what we need to do if we want to turn this thing around.”

With a core of returners who now have actual football experience, the real fun can begin.

“You can work on schemes, and you can work on concepts, and you can fine tune things that they remember from the previous two years, and just do those things better,” Agresta said. “You’re coaching more football now. You’re always teaching it at the high school level, that’s never going to change, but the degree of teaching we have been doing the past three years was just to get people familiar with the sport. That is less of an issue, and now it’s more of an issue of teaching the finer points to the game and just enjoying coaching some football, so that is a big, big change.”

No matter how much experience the team has, Agresta emphasizes how, at the end of the day, football comes down to just two things.

“The game essentially comes down to blocking and tackling,” he said. “We have a much better concept of football and they have a much better understanding of how the game is played. They have a much better understanding of what we’re trying to do on offense and defense like that. That growth has been exponentially, pretty good, but at the end of the day, we have to be good blockers and tacklers. If we don’t get better in those areas, you know, the scheme we run offensively or defensively, that’s not going to matter. They understand that we just need to get better at those two key components that will always be around football.”

As the Trojans play more and more 8-man games, Agresta is seeing interest grow. A staunch advocate since day one, Agresta is fielding calls from programs that are interested in making the switch. He says it’s the best move they could have done to ensure the long-term survival of football in Sebring.

“A lot of people contact us about 8-man football. I know a lot of these schools are afraid to make the switch, and really, all they’re doing is harming their kids by not making the switch,” Agresta said. “There are so many schools in this part of the state that should be doing this right now. If they’d even just come out and watch a game, they would make the move. It’s a little newer to Ohio, but I think Michigan has close to 100 schools right now playing 8-man football. States like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, they’ve been doing this forever. It’s a great way to keep football thriving in your school district and in your community when you have a smaller enrollment. It’s the best move we’ve made for the football program. There’s absolutely no question about it.”

Sebring opens the year at home against Kennedy Catholic (Pa.).

OFFENSE

Coming back from last year’s group, Zachary Todd will return to his role under center this season for the Trojans.

It’s been a tumultuous process for Todd. He played football for the first time as a freshman, playing wide receiver. He then switched to quarterback last season, and in his final game of the baseball season last year, Todd broke his ankle.

Despite the setbacks, Agresta is optimistic for Todd’s second year under center.

“He’s got a full year of experience under his belt,” Agresta said. “His progression this year was a little hampered, because in the last baseball game of the year, he broke his ankle, so he’ll be back by the time we start camp in the season. His progress has been a little bit slower, but that whole year of experience for him is a positive. He was thrown into the quarterback position, something he had never done, and he handled that well, and I’m excited to see what he can do now, with that year of experience that he has.”

While Tony Baddeley was the team’s feature back last season, Sebring is opting to go more by committee. Part of that stems from the emergence of Brandon Bahler.

Agresta mentioned how Bahler could very well have been the team’s No. 1 running back last season, but positional need took him elsewhere.

Bahler slotted in on the offensive line. While he still may see some time there, Agresta wants to get him more directly involved in moving the ball this year.

“He probably would have been the best running back we had in the program, but because of the maturation progress of the younger kids and learning how the offensive line works, Brandon was forced to play that right guard position for us,” Agresta said. “He may end up back at right guard (at times), but we hope he gets a lot of the carries along with Baddeley.”

In addition to Bahler and Baddeley, expect to see junior Blake Hunter get some carries as well.

There’s a few names to watch out for in the passing game. Logan Culp, Tyler Culp, Isaac Brooks and Konner Leeland will all be in the mix to catch passes this year. You may also see Hunter used at wide receiver as well.

Josiah Bevins returns this season to anchor the offensive line at center. Trevor Timmons, Noah Betz and Gage Mates are all going to be in the mix for the left and right guard positions. In case of emergency, Bahler is waiting in the wings as well.

Junior Emett Sheen started on the offensive line last year as well, but is expected to be used all over. Potentially on the line, potentially as a slot receiver and maybe even as a tight end.

DEFENSE

That extends to the defensive side of the ball, where Sheen is expected to be situated in one of the defensive end spots. Baddeley is going to line up at nose tackle with Betz and Mates battling for that last starting defensive end spot.

At linebacker, Bahler and Hunter are going to occupy the main spots, with Thomas Lair impressing at camp. Don’t be surprised to see him slot in the mix somewhere.

In the secondary, Coltin McGrew will play safety this year, operating as sort of a linebacker-safety hybrid. As the team’s leading tackler last season, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to make an impact.

Logan Culp and Leeland will also be playing roles in the secondary.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Agresta said that unless someone surprises him at camp, Leeland will continue placekicking and punting duties.