After winless season, Fostoria stressing improvement

By John MontgomerySports Writerjmontgomery@advertiser-tribune.comFOSTORIA — Simply put, last year was a rough one for Fostoria, and it wasn't totally unexpected.One year after posting their first winning season in a decade, the 2020 Redmen returned just five veteransand struggled through an 0-9 season (0-7 Northern Buckeye Conference) in the midst of the COVID-19pandemic.Graduation claimed the vast majority of last year's letterwinners and this year's Redmen hit the field withlittle experience, lots of spots to fill and only a few seniors."We'll still be young and inexperienced. It's a rebuild. We knew it was going to be a rebuild after the '19season when we lost 16 seniors," coach Derek Kidwell said."So we'll be all juniors and sophomores, the nucleus of our team. They're hard-working kids. They don'task questions, they show up and do the things we ask them to do," he said. "We've got to get stronger andthey've got to get more experience under their belt."The experience will come quickly.Eight of this year's opponents won playoff games last year with three (Hopewell-Loudon, Otsego andEastwood) posting multiple postseason victories.Granted, the pandemic led to everyone getting at least one playoff game last year and graduation claimedsome of the talent involved, but Kidwell said this year's schedule is far from easy. The Redmen open Aug. 20 at home against Oak Harbor before away games at Seneca East and Hopewell-Loudon. They then start the conference slate Sept. 10 at Elmwood, followed by games against Rossford (home),Genoa (away), Otsego (home), Woodmore (away), Eastwood (home) and Lake (home)."We'll know right away (how good we are)," Kidwell said."They're getting tired of practicing against each other, but when we do make a mistake, I tell them to lookaround — the team we have right now will be the team we have next year," he said. "For us coaches, it's awork in progress, but it's also something to look forward to. Hopefully in the short future we'll have anexperienced football team instead of having the inexperienced football team. But it's a fun group. There'sno cancers, no negativity. They do everything we ask them to do."But a small roster of about 35 won't leave much wiggle room for substitutions."Obviously we're going to have to avoid injuries because we lack depth," he said. "Across the board we'regoing to have to be very conditioned because you see the same names on offense and the same names ondefense, and the special teams is going to be the same names also."While some spots are set, others are still being finalized.Who will play quarterback fits that bill, with junior Derek Russell and sophomore Gavin Millercompeting for the starting role to run the spread offense.Kidwell said both are athletic and bring talent to the position."We just have to see them under fire to see what each of them have, what their qualities are. I like howboth of them throw the ball, I like how they both take ownership in the huddle," he said. "We just have tolet it play out and see which of them gives us the best the chance to win."The line is mostly set, with juniors Drake Ritter at center, Trace Agapiou at left guard and Binicio Floresat left tackle and sophomore Dylan Holmes at right tackle.Sophomore Tony Hill-Hernandez and freshman Trenton Kirby are battling to start at right guard, withsenior Ethan Mercado also possibly showing up there once he returns from a stint with the Army NationalGuard.Senior Landon Powell, juniors Antonio Bernal, Kayden Hutchins and Aidan Sprang, sophomoresMatthew Balderama and Caiden Essex, and freshman Braden Harrison are all vying for wide receiverspots.A few different faces will rotate in on defense, but not that many different.Sophomore Kaleb Schube will start at nose guard in Fostoria's 3-5-3 defense, with Agapiou at one tackleand senior Alex DeLaRosa, Flores and Kirby rotating in at another.Sophomore Eli Kiser, sophomore Machi Johnson, Bernal, Hutchins, Sprang, Cramer and Russell willtrade off in the linebacking corps.Miller will play free safety, with Balderama, Essex and Powell also seeing time in the secondary.Along with keeping a small roster healthy, Kidwell a big key will be having the players maintain apositive attitude and stay in the right frame of mind throughout the season. "We're going to have to work hard as coaches to keep these kids positive on a four-quarter basis in a gameand on a weekly grind of the schedule," he said. "It's not an easy schedule because we've got some verygood teams on our schedule."I'm not sure how many wins we're looking at when we look at the schedule, but as coaches, all we canlook to do is see improvement each day in practice, each week during games," he said. "If we stay healthyI definitely think we can see some progress because the more they play, the more the game will slowdown for them."