HOLLAND, Ohio — Springfield overview:
2023 Record: 2-8 (Missed playoffs)
Head Coach: LaCharles Smith (2nd year)
2024 Schedule:
WEEK 1 8/23 vs. Maumee
WEEK 2 8/30 @ Rogers
WEEK 3 9/6 @ Start
WEEK 4 9/13 vs. Bowling Green
WEEK 5 9/20 @ Napoleon
WEEK 6 9/27 vs. Findlay*
WEEK 7 10/4 vs. Northview*
WEEK 8 10/11 vs. Anthony Wayne*
WEEK 9 10/18 @ Perrysburg*
WEEK 10 10/25 @ Whitmer*
*Denotes Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division game
With high school football quickly approaching, teams are preparing to either maintain a standard or set one. And second-year head coach LaCharles Smith and the Springfield Blue Devils are aiming for the latter.
“It was a learning curve for us and our staff too and obviously for the kids too, we’re all getting to know each other," Smith said. "And this year I really like our group, I think we have some really good leaders. Now it’s just we've got to bring everything together.”
The program has not had a winning season since 2018. But despite numbers, the team says it would have had a better shot at winning games last season if it had poured into the intangibles.
"We have a lot of guys who have so much potential and are just amazing athletes and it’s just little things: discipline or haven’t been in football that long," said senior linebacker Gregory Ptaszynski. "We’re working on those and once that’s done and over with, we’re gonna be really good.”
Personal fouls are the main factor that got the team in trouble last year, causing discipline to be the focus.
Smith says if the Blue Devils stay strong on discipline on and off the field, they will be able to truly showcase the talent they possess.
"Honestly it’s off the field and on the field and in school too, just three phases of life that we call it," Smith said. "So we’re doing a good job of it and we’re just doing a lot of structural stuff so that kids understand how important it is not to get a personal foul and just to stay on the right track.”
Senior quarterback Kaiden Taylor says as a leader of the team, he needs to preach the same message in the same way to every player no matter their age to accomplish what they are setting out to achieve.
“Making the playoffs, winning 3 games, just any more games than we did in the last few years," he said. "Beating Maumee ... and then also beating one of the powerhouses of the conference. There’s Findlay, Whitmer, Perrysburg, Anthony Wayne. Just one of them, being able to take them down, perfect Cinderella story.”