High school football preview: Midview Middies
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As many West Shore Conference teams scrambled this offseason to find replacements at quarterback, running back or wide receiver, the Midview Middies brought back the bulk of their skill-position players and could be one of the most explosive teams in the league this year.
“We’re really excited about having the main skill positions coming back,” senior running back Josiah Holt said. “They’re all pretty talented, and we’ve all played together since middle school.”
Holt will be the premier piece on the team and in the conference. He was the league’s and Lorain County’s first-team running back last season, averaging 7.3 yards per carry. The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder has amazing speed and shiftiness out of the backfield.
Senior running back Josiah Holt, shown running the ball last year against Vermilion, will be the premier piece on the team and in the conference. (CT file photo.)
“He’s the main key to our offense for sure,” senior quarterback Brett Whitesel said. “I’m sure any team would love to have a Josiah Holt in their backfield. Me and him are like brothers. I love Josiah. We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember.”
While Holt will be the ammunition for the Middies’ pistol offense, Whitesel will be the focal point when they jump into their spread formation. He will have returning receivers Andrew Agee and Justin Strinka to throw to, as well as junior tight end Tony Petrosky.
New targets for Whitesel include senior receiver Nick Cicone, junior Matt Briggs and tight ends Chris Wade and J.D. Myers.
“With the spread we have so many different guys out there,” Whitesel said. “Even Josiah and (returning running back) Zach (Albright) are catching the ball out of the slot spots in the spread offense. We’re just trying to work it to everyone … just look for the open man and get him the ball.”
While the offense promises to be exciting, longtime Middies fans may have a sense of familiarity when the defense takes the field. The team has decided to end its experiment with the 3-3 stack and return to the 4-4, which they are calling the 4-2-5 to honor the college that has given them some new defensive perspective.
“Why we ever got away from it … I keep kicking myself really,” coach Bill Albright said. “It was so successful for us. Late last season we were having some problems with the 3-3, so we scrapped it and went back to our 4-4.
Quarterback Brett Whitesel, throwing for a touchdown last year against Firelands, returns this year for the Middies. (CT file photo.)
“We spent some time with the Mount Union staff and they call it a 4-2-5, but on paper it looks like our 4-4. It’s just adapted from some secondary coverages that they do, and we call it the 4-2-5 because (the players) get a kick out of it because it’s what Mount Union runs.”
The “new” defense gives the Middies the traditional four-man front, then replaces a linebacker slot with an added defensive back. It allows for speed, and is a better fit for the group of players Albright had to choose from this season.
“I think it’ll help us stop the run because it gives you extra guys (to crash the line),” senior offensive and defensive lineman Julian Jackson-Ross said. “We can get around the field easy and it’s definitely going to be hard for teams to get up on us because we’re going to be ready.
“Speed kills. If you have speed, you definitely need to use it … and we have a lot of it this year.”
Albright listed winning the WSC and returning to the playoffs as the Middies’ top goals this year, and made no effort to hide the fact his seniors would be the key components in ensuring the realization of those goals.
“The senior group as a whole has done a tremendous job of bringing all the players together, and they’ve really stressed the team aspect of this season,” Albright said. “They just have a tremendous work ethic and a great attitude and they’ve been working hard. We’ve stressed to them that we have to take baby steps. We have to get the younger guys used to playing at varsity football speed. They’ve done a great job with that. They’re having fun and they just have a tremendous attitude at this point.”
Which has been hard for many of them, who are still trying to shake the disappointment of a junior season where the Middies underachieved in going 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the league. They had a somewhat solid offensive effort, averaging three touchdowns a game for third in the conference, but surrendered 23.9 points a game, which put them in the bottom half of the league defensively.
“We didn’t have as good of a season as we wanted to last year,” said Holt, who also starts at cornerback. “The senior group came in this season pretty excited, and has been showing a lot of enthusiasm out there (on the practice field). We have to keep that up and stay positive.”
Midview Middies
- Coach: Bill Albright, 23rd year
- Conference: West Shore
- 2008 record: 5-5, 3-4
- Fast fact: The Middies have replaced Warrensville Heights with Admiral King as their season-opening matchup. The teams used to be rivals in the Erie Shore Conference.
Schedule
- 8/28: at Admiral King
- 9/4: Amherst
- 9/11: at Buckeye
- 9/18: at Vermilion
- 9/25: Bay
- 10/2: Rocky River
- 10/9: at Fairview
- 10/16: Avon
- 10/23: Firelands
- 10/30: at North Ridgeville
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.
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