GALION — The 2016 football season proved to be a forgettable one for the Golden Knights of Northmor High School. Northmor went 1-9 overall a season ago and 1-6 in the now gone Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Blue Division. The Knights only victory came in week number 10 with a 52-24 win on the road against the Elgin Comets. Elgin went 0-10 in 2016.
On the season, Northmor was outscored 331-184 with their closest game coming in an overtime loss to Worthington Christian in week two, 24-21.
But, that was last season.
This year, the Knights will find themselves under the leadership of first-year head coach Scott Armrose. Armrose hopes to improve on the figures from former head coach BJ Trainer’s final season and will have eight offensive lettermen returning, in addition to 11 defense letter winners. Overall, Northmor is returning six starters on each side of the ball. The Knights had 10 players graduate from the ‘16 roster, including Mathew Ross. Ross earned second-team MOAC defensive honors last year.
Key players returning for the gold and black in ‘17 include Demetrius ‘Meechie’ Johnson (second-team offense), Conan Becker (honorable mention) and Kolton Smith, whom was tied for fifth in interceptions in the MOAC last year with four.
“We will have good team speed this season,” claims the first-year head coach. “We do not have a lot of experience coming back and the players and coaches alike are all learning new systems on both sides of the ball.”
Armrose speaks on his offense this season, “Johnson, Conan Becker and Kyle Kegley should provide some offensive firepower behind a young offensive line lead by seniors Austin Wheeler and Tyson Moore.”
“The linebacking crew, lead by seniors David Milavec and Ryan Moore, will be the strength of our defense and Connor Becker should be a tough run stopper,” continues the coach. Keep an eye out for the defensive line held down by seniors Kaleb Briggs, Wheeler, D’Marcus Hudson and Tyson Moore.
Goals set forth by Armrose are similar to any first-year coach taking over a struggling program. “We are going to work one week at a time to keep improving as a team. We have a long way to go and a lot left to learn.”
Not only is Northmor facing the challenges of learning and growing under a rookie coach, they will also be a part of a new conference. The Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference or K-MAC will begin with the start of fall sports this season.
Essentially, the K-MAC is the MOAC Blue Division with the addition of former Mid-Buckeye Conference member, the Danville Blue Devils. Cardington, Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown, Highland, Mount Gilead and Northmor will all have their eyes set on the initial K-MAC championship in 2017. As for a league outlook, Armrose offered the following in an email. “It’s too early to think about league play but we are excited to start to compete in our new conference. Danville will add a huge challenge to conference play and Highland has proven (themselves) to be the team to beat.”
The Golden Knights’ march to improvement will begin at home on August 25 when they host Crestview. Their first K-MAC match-up will be played at home against the Freddies of Fredericktown on September 15. Regular season action concludes on Seniors Night on October 27 when the Knights face-off against the Highland Fighting Scots.
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