PEMBERVILLE, Ohio — Eastwood football is off to another great season.
The Eagles are 6-0, due in part to their offense averaging over 42 points per game, more than what the team averaged this time last season.
A big reason for the offensive production is Drew Sims.
Sims was an All-State quarterback at Perrysburg High School, where he graduated in 2020 before continuing his career at Heidelberg University.
In his first start in 2021, he threw for almost 350 yards and six touchdowns. Leading up to his senior season in 2023, Sims was offered the chance to help out the Eastwood football program, which was being led by new head coach Sam Cotterman.
Cotterman was an assistant, along with Sims' father, under Matt Kregel at Perrysburg, where he knew Sims from an early age.
"He called me and said 'Hey, I'd love for you to be on the staff. I know this is what you want to get into.' I said 'Well, I'm still playing. I'll be there as much as I can,'" Sims said.
Sims would help out during fall camp and be on the sidelines for Friday nights. As fate would have it, four games into his senior season, Sims suffered a career-ending ACL injury. It was then that Sims started turning his focus more towards coaching Eastwood.
"I knew it was something I wanted to get into. I chose education (as a career) to get into coaching," Sims said. "My mom's a coach, my dad's a coach. It's kind of in my blood. I love football. I think I had a good idea of what I was going to do after college."
This season is Sims' first as a full-time member of the coaching staff, taking over the offensive coordinator position.
"You get more time in the film room with the kids. I'm here during the week for practice, so I can help out as much as I can now," Sims said.
When Eastwood's starting quarterback Kadyn Donnell suffered a hand injury earlier this year, junior backup Drew Luidhardt stepped in to lead the offense. He said Sims is one of the reasons why he's been so successful.
"He's huge. He's got so much experience," Luidhardt said. "Eight years of big time football. He's just so smart and he passes it all on to all four of our quarterbacks. He teaches us a lot."
Cotterman thinks Sims has a ton of potential in coaching.
"He's going to be a head coach someday," Cotterman said. "I just hope we can keep him around here long enough before that happens. He's just a tremendous coach. His rapport with the kids and his knowledge of the game and sports in general. He lives it."
Sims said he's just worried about the game this week.
"I'm still young. This is my first year actually calling plays so I'm still learning and growing," Sims said. "Hopefully one day being a head coach or college coaching, but who knows where that'll take me. I'm just focused on one week at a time."
The Eagles next game is Friday versus Fostoria.