Flashes focus on stronger defense

WILLARD — Twenty-three long years. Outside of 2020 when every high school football team in Ohio had the opportunity to play in the playoffs, Willard hasn't played in a postseason game since 2002. That's a goal the Crimson Flashes have this year, but they have a long way to go. What's first on coach Bill Speller's mind is a good start to the season — and sustaining success when things get a little tougher. "We have to embrace toughness," the fifth-year coach said. "That's not something that has been real common around here for quite a number of years in the football area. We're looking at over 20 years. There's been a 6-4 season in there or maybe a 5-5 once in awhile. Not very many. Toughness is a big thing. "It's a grind to go through a 10-week season and then hopefully get into the playoffs." Willard has had nice starts the past few seasons under Speller — 2-0 in 2024, 2-0 and 4-1 in 2023 and 4-1 in 2022. But, the Crimson Flashes are 1-17 after those starts. "We've got better speed and size this year, I feel," Speller said. "Numbers-wise, it's not a big team (29 on the roster). Size-wise, we've got some decent size across the offensive line. We have some big, tall receivers and speed-wise, we've gotten a lot faster." Offense Jake Rothhaar is returning at quarterback for Willard. The sophomore completed 170 of 289 passes for 2,157 yards, 19 touchdowns and 19 interceptions last season. "He says he feels a lot more comfortable this year," Speller said. "Last year, he said he felt scared when he was out there as a freshman. This year, he feels a lot more comfortable and he knows where people are supposed to be. He knows when he's supposed to throw the football. He's gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster." The Crimson Flashes struggled to run the ball last year. Willard totaled just 556 yards on the ground with Paxton Flores — a primary receiver — leading the way with 275 yards on 32 carries. Speller said his son, junior AJ Speller, will get a majority of the carries. Coach Speller said AJ has beefed up from 175 pounds to 205 after a good weight room season. "We need to move faster. Last year, we tried to slow things down with our offense a little bit because we didn't feel like we'd be good defensively," coach Speller said. "We wanted to eat some clock and that didn't really work a whole lot. It bogged the offense down. We need to move faster. We need to utilize the no-huddle part of this offense and keep teams back on their heels." Flores, a senior this season, led the receivers with 62 catches for 835 yards and nine touchdowns. Harry Meisner graduated after 54 receptions for 642 yards and six scores. Speller said players like Grant Poston, Chase Manlet and freshman Jacob Beamer will get opportunities to make big plays. Seniors Eli and Ethan Keefe, who have always lived in Willard but attended Plymouth, are on the roster this year for the Crimson Flashes. The offensive line will be manned by Gavin Patton, Cam Harmon, Roger Whetstone and Grady Vaughn, while Jason Redd and Kainen Lindsey can step in and play a varsity role. "I think it's a lot stronger across the offensive line," Speller said. "It's much more athletic than we were last year and stronger than last year. Big improvement there on the offensive line." Defense After allowing seven points in a win over South Central and 21 in a victory against Plymouth, the Crimson Flashes gave up 40 or more points in each of the last eight games of the season. "You can't get much worse than last year," Speller said. "That was bad. It was flat-out embarrassing at times." Willard does return its top two tacklers in AJ Speller (124 tackles) and Flores (73 tackles). Harmon, Redd and Patton will see time at tackle while Vaughn, Eli Keefe and Gage Stover will rotate at defensive end. "We're not happy," Speller said. "We were very young and very small on the defensive side of the ball last year. Those kids have gotten bigger." Besides AJ Speller, it'll be Manlet and Whetstone at linebacker, which coach Speller is excited about. "When we took a look back at things last year, we tried to be creative too much to try and counter what people were doing," Speller said. "We've taken a much more simplistic approach to things and really starting a lot more technique about running the 4-3 defense. Not over-confusing their brains and doing the same things over and over." This season is the final one for Willard as a member of the Sandusky Bay Conference. The Crimson Flashes will make the move to the Northern 10 Athletic Conference as big changes come in 2026. "It would be nice to go out on a good note," Speller said. "We're looking forward to going to the N-10, especially the commutes. We have some nice, long commutes in the SBC River. Going to the N-10 will save us a lot of time, anyways. Then, there's a lot of nice local rivalries that we're going to have." 2025 schedule Aug. 22: South Central, 7 p.m. Aug. 29: at Plymouth, 7 p.m. Sept. 6: Vermilion, 7 p.m. Sept. 12: Margaretta, 7 p.m. Sept. 19: Woodmore, 7 p.m. Sept. 26: Northwood, 7 p.m. Oct. 3: at Lakota, 7 p.m. Oct. 10: Hopewell-Loudon, 7 p.m. Oct. 17: at Gibsonburg, 7 p.m. Oct. 24: at Tiffin Calvert, 7 p.m. 2024 results (2-8) Willard 32, South Central 7 Willard 24, Plymouth 21 Vermilion 41, Willard 12 Woodmore 41, Willard 34 Lucas 49, Willard 19 Lakota 40, Willard 8 Hopewell-Loudon 56, Willard 0 Gibsonburg 55, Willard 14 Tiffin Calvert 42, Willard 6 Margaretta 50, Willard 14 2025 roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 1 Ethan Keefe WR/DB 6-2 160 12 2 Grant Poston WR/DB 5-9 165 11 4 Gage Stover WR/DE 6-4 200 10 6 Josh Huston QB/LB 6-0 160 10 7 Eli Keefe WR/DE 6-3 175 12 8 Jake Rothhaar QB/DB 6-0 175 10 10 Paxton Flores WR/DB 6-0 170 12 11 Nevan Dombeck WR/DB 5-9 130 10 12 Jacob Beamer WR/DB 6-2 150 9 13 Diego Sanchez WR/DB 5-7 150 9 16 Aiden Contreras RB/LB 5-7 175 10 21 Brayden Jordan WR/DB 5-7 130 10 25 Danny Machado WR/DB 5-4 100 10 30 Chase Manlet RB/LB 5-9 150 11 34 AJ Speller RB/LB 6-0 205 11 50 Jayden Lacy OL/DL 6-4 150 9 51 Leo Johnson OL/DL 5-8 275 10 53 Santiago Cuevas OL/DL 5-8 210 9 54 Roger Whetstone OLLB 5-9 200 10 55 Aiden Barnett OL/LB 5-9 195 9 57 Blake Workman OL/DL 5-11 160 9 58 Grady Vaughn OL/DL 6-1 200 11 59 Cam Harmon OL/DL 6-2 240 12 65 Kainen Lindsey OL/LB 5-8 205 10 70 Jason Redd OL/DL 5-9 270 12 72 Gavin Gutierrez OL/DL 5-10 280 10 74 Hunter Reed OL/DL 6-0 230 9 75 Will Hall OL/DL 5-10 200 11 78 Gavin Patton OL/DL 6-0 270 10