High school football previews – Crooksville Ceramics
CROOKSVILLE, Ohio – 16 is a good number for a senior class at most any school. But when your high school has a boys enrollment of 134, it’s a huge senior class.
Chad Mickey is entering his fourth season as the Ceramics head coach and said this is the largest senior class Crooksville has had in a while. But coming off a season in which the Ceramics won just one game makes for a long summer.
“It’s definitely been a long off season after going 1-9 and all the thing that go with being 1-9. Any time you get a chance to turn the page and start over is good,” said Mickey.
This senior class is the first to play their entire high school careers under Mickey. And Mickey thinks they’re ready for the challenge of stepping up as leaders.
“Those guys that I’ve had for the entire four years, it’s now their turn. It’s their time to be leaders. They’ve done a great job. It started in the winter at 6 a.m. work outs and all the way through the spring and summer. We’re just ready to get started,” said Mickey.
One of the seniors Mickey is referencing to is quarterback Landon Hinkle . This will be Hinkle’s fourth year as the Cearmics starting QB, meaning that there won’t be many more experienced quarterbacks in the MVL than him.
“We all would like to make the playoffs. We haven’t done it in a while. And for me I’d like to get my touchdowns up and keep my interceptions down,” said Hinkle.
The Ceramics’ one win last season was in week five over winless West Muskingum. Before last year’s disappointing season Crooksville had put together back-to-back 5-5 seasons.
Mickey knows that the defense has to improve if Crooksville doesn’t want to finish in the bottom half of the MVL. The Ceramic “D” surrendered 37 points per game in 2016, second worst in the league.
“I know for a fact that we need to be better defensively. This town is known for hard work and a blue collar work ethic and we need to get back to playing some defense,” said Mickey.
The Ceramics open the season on Aug. 26, a Saturday, at Mickey’s alma mater of Fisher Catholic.
2017 Schedule
8/26 at Fisher Catholic
9/1 Philo
9/8 Maysivlle
9/15 at Tri-Valley
9/22 at Morgan
9/29 Warren
10/6 New Lexington
10/13 at West Muskingum
10/20 at Sheridan
10/27 John Glenn
