No lack of enthusiasm for first year head coach Zemba and Bishop Rosecrans

ZANESVILLE – The Bishop Rosecrans Football Team returned to 11 man football this year and this was also the first year for Head Coach and Rosecrans grad Chris Zemba. In spite of not many victories on the season, Zemba still says it’s hid dream job.

“This is a dream job for me because I went here, my kids go here, I met my wife here. A lot of the people that I graduated with… you know, their kids, they play on the team. So, I bleed red, white, and black and it’s always been a dream of mine to coach here and, again, it’s been a blessing to have this position,” Zemba said.

Zemba is one of the very few coaches that runs the kickoff drill with the team.

“I think they work hard for us every week because its such a tight-knit group. We’re a small school so if you’re a senior you know every senior. So, again, a lot of freshman on the team and two great senior leaders and some junior leaders so I think hey play hard every week because they don’t want to let each other because of how close they are,” Zemba said.

One of those seniors is offensive guard and defensive end Ethan Phillips.

“It hasn’t been all smiles. I can definitely say that but I can conclusively say that I’ve learned something. You know, I’ve learned something about all of these freshmen. You know, when came out as a freshman I was nothing like these guys. The fact that they’ve persevered through all of these games… these other teams are up big but they never give up. They persevere an I learned a lot,” Phillips said.

After dropping their first eight games of the year, the Bishops did get their first victory of the season on October 30th. The 42-6 win against came against out of conference and Monroe County’s Beallsville.

“That felt great. That felt great. You know, I’ve been waiting a real long time this season and I couldn’t care less whether we lost the last eight game; just winning that game with my team and celebrating in the locker room; it felt amazing,” Phillips said.

One of the many freshman on the team is starting quarterback Brendan Bernath. He would’ve never guessed he’d be the one under center during the season.

“I definitely didn’t think I’d be the quarterback this year. You know, we had some injuries and I had to step in and it just stuck so I rolled with it for the rest of the season,” Bernath said.

Bernath hopes to remain the quarterback for seasons to come and he feels the community should know the bishops are much more than what’s seen on paper.

“We’re fighters. We don’t have a lot of players (and) we had a lot of injuries this year so we’ve had to fight a lot of injuries this year so we’ve had to fight a lot. We’ve had to work a lot and there’s a couple of games we should’ve won and our record isn’t everything. We’re definitely a better team than what our record says,” Bernath said.

“There will be a lot of hard work in the offseason. That’s what it’s going to take because we are a small team… we got to get bigger, faster, stronger, and that’s what we’re going to work on in the offseason and we will get where we need to be,” Zemba said.

Rosecrans did drop their last game on the season on Thursday 52-14 against Worthington Christian. A big thanks to Coach Zemba and his team for sharing their story and best of luck going forward.