Crimson Flashes have eyes on playoffs

WILLARD — Last season's great start almost ended in disaster. After winning four of its first four games and having the highest scoring offense in its division, Willard allowed at least 56 points in four straight league games and fell below .500. Just a scrappy, tough win over Vermilion in Week 10 evened the Crimson Flashes' record last season. Now, Willard is ready to take it another step further, finish above .500, compete for a league title, and make a push for the first earned playoff berth since 2002. "We have to keep the gas pedal down," third-year coach Bill Speller said. "We have to keep being aggressive. At times, we played a little bit intimidated. We got into some old Willard and that started to come out in them. "We have to understand that if we have to keep playing aggressive — especially on defense — we can make noise. We can make the playoffs. We can possibly win a league. It's a change in mentality around here." Willard drops from the Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference to the River Division. It will cause the Flashes to compete with schools closer in its size, but that's not to say there won't be a plethora of challenges. "Moving to the River I think is a positive move for us," Speller said. "We're not a big team by any means. We have 39 guys. We're in that range of sizes in the River. We're very athletic." Willard was perhaps just one point away from starting 5-0 last season, but dropped its season opener at home to South Central. The word "one" has been a big talking point over the past eight months for the Flashes. Willard will get the chance to avenge that tough loss in Week 1 in Greenwich. "We owe South Central one. We lost by one point," Speller said. "Our weight room has got 44-43 pasted up on the wall. We have to get that point back. One was a big discussion this year. We lost by one point to South Central and that kept us out of the playoffs. We lost by one touchdown to Edison and that kept us out of the playoffs. "We easily could have been a 7-3 team sitting with a playoff spot. That didn't happen. We have to get over that one. We talked about what are you going to do to get that one point back? What are we going to do to get that one touchdown back to get us to the next level?" OFFENSE There is no secret or surprise what Willard wants to do offensively. The potent, throw-first offense will be led by senior quarterback Isaac Robinson. As a junior last year, he completed 220-of-359 passes for 3,328 yards with 37 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He will have his top target back — Cam Robinson, who hauled in 74 passes for 1,275 yards and 15 touchdowns. "We have some big guys back," Speller said. "Isaac Robinson is back at quarterback. Cam Robinson was a first-team all-Ohio receiver last year. There are two big guys back. We lost some key guys like Carson Cinniger, Austin Parsons, Carson Hamons, and Carson Wiers. We had some good linemen. We lost four of our five linemen. That will be the big question for us is our offensive line." Cinninger (eight TDs) was second in the league with 56 receptions and 776 yards while Hamons' 579 yards receiving was good for sixth in the league. Hamons tallied 36 receptions and five touchdowns. Parsons had 100 rushes for 384 yards and eight touchdowns in the backfield while catching 25 passes for 376 yards and six scores. "We lost some skilled guys in that group, but we had some skilled guys behind them coming up," Speller said. "We have some guys coming up like Harry Meisner and Jackson Beamer. We have a new guy this year in Aiden Slone, who is a 6-foot-4 wide receiver. Other guys like Grant Schaarda and Xavior Kirk have been waiting their turn. They've been around a while. They've been with us for three years and understand the program. They're pretty exciting athletes." All told, Willard averaged 38.9 points per game last season, but just 15.3 points over the final three games. "We do run the ball sometimes," Speller said. "The style of offense we run has brought a lot of excitement. The big issue we have here is getting enough guys to want to play offensive line because everybody wants to play wide receiver. I have dads that want their kid to be a wide receiver, but I have to have some linemen. You can't play 7-on-7 all the time." DEFENSE On the other side of the ball, the defensive woes were prevalent the whole season. Willard kept just two opponents under 24 points the entire season — Fremont St. Joseph in a 63-7 win and Vermilion in a 26-14 victory. In consecutive losses to Huron, Edison, Port Clinton, and Oak Harbor, the Flashes allowed 66, 56, 68, and 63 points. "We have to improve on our aggressiveness," Speller said. "It felt like we weren't aggressive enough on defense last year and we gave up a lot of holes. We gave up a lot of points, especially when we got into the Bay. That's just unacceptable. "There's been a mentality this summer to get better defensively. We've made a change from a 3-front defense to a 4-front defense. We're trying to get a little more aggressive with that." Cinninger paced the defense with 123 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and two interceptions while Hamons added 122 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Issac Robinson, Parsons, and Wiers all also picked a pair of interceptions. A lot of the same names will show up on the defensive side of the ball. In total, Willard gave up 40.7 points per game last season. "Cam Robinson will be back playing outside linebacker for us," Speller said. "We have four guys that will rotate at defensive end for us in Aiden Slone, Aiden Bates, AJ Speller, and Cam Harmon. "We have a couple guys in junior varsity too like Grady Vaughn who will be really good for us, too. We have two new middle linebackers in Jovan Alfaro and Kellen Cooper who have been waiting their turn. I think their aggressiveness is really going to pay off." Paxton Flores, Beamer, Kirk, Schaarda, and Meisner will all see significant time in the defensive backfield. Speller wants to see a little less pressure on the defense this season. "We're not going to have as many guys going both ways," Speller said. "We have some depth on the varsity level to play with. We'll get some guys a blow and keep them fresh."