WHITEHOUSE, Ohio — The Anthony Wayne Generals are one of the best football programs in northwest Ohio. Head coach Andy Brungard is in his ninth season leading the program and is surrounded by a great, young staff.
For Bryce Boyer and Mason Alberts, it's their first time coaching varsity football.
But the former Generals know a thing or two about success at Anthony Wayne.
"Obviously I was blessed enough to play here and coach where I played," Boyer, the tight end coach, said. "It's been cool. You see kids and you see them do the same things that you did well and they do the same mistakes that you made."
Boyer and Alberts, who coaches wide receivers, were stars for the Generals in the not-too-distant past, playing in the program from 2016 to 2020.
"It's always something that I feel a lot of kids dream of, being able to come back and help out," Alberts said.
The pair's class won three straight Northern Lakes League titles from 2017-2019, and in their senior seasons were honored as first-team all-state players with Alberts at quarterback and Boyer at linebacker.
"[Boyer]'s awesome. He brings a lot of fun, a lot of energy to every practice," said senior tight end Brode Sweet. "It motivates us to be better and bring each other up. Overall, it makes practice better."
Boyer went on to play at Bowling Green State University while Alberts furthered his career at the University of Findlay. After both graduating in the spring, Alberts is teaching math at Swanton Middle School while Boyer teaches social studies at Fallen Timbers Middle School in the Anthony Wayne school district.
Both knew early on that they wanted to coach.
"I spent a lot of time seeing the coaches aspect of things in the college game and I just knew this was my future," Boyer said.
During his final semester at Findlay, Alberts completed his student-teaching at Anthony Wayne while also assisting on the Generals' boys lacrosse team. He met with Brungard about the possibility of coaching football in the fall.
"I let him know that this was something I wanted to do," Alberts said. "It was definitely Anthony Wayne from the beginning."
Brungard says the two are leaders in practice and that having young coaches on staff can make it easy to work with kids.
"You can relate better to the kids that are 17, 18 years old, but finding that line of respect in there is hard to do, but those guys do a good job," Brungard said. "I felt like both of them were mature beyond their years before they graduated college, so to have them back early in their careers is really awesome."
The Generals won their first game of the season Friday by topping central Ohio's Hilliard Darby 35-13. The team will travel to Toledo for its next opponent, the St. John's Jesuit Titans.