Bellefontaine Chieftains football preview

High school: Bellefontaine Chieftains

Division: III

Region: 10

League/conference and division: Central Buckeye Conference, Kenton Trail Division.

Head coach: Toby Smith, fourth year, 17-14 record; 128-54 overall career record.

Assistant coaches: Jason Brown, Rick Reed, Biff Roberts, Ryan Ormsbee, Dave Myers, Dal McDonald, Carleton Cotner, Kyle Crawford, Scott Rose.

2015 record, conference / overall: 3-2, 4-6.

Key returners

Anthony Carothers, sr., 6-2, 200 LB/OL

Hayden Nease, sr., 6-2 195 WR/DB

Cole Braun, sr., 6-1 OL/DL

Melech Hutchison, sr., 6-1 260 OL/DL

Notable: Started eight sophomores and a freshman last season and it took a while for us to get used to Friday night football. We finished strong, second in our league.

Coach's comments: We start our season with some very tough non-league opponents, but we feel confident that we can compete with those teams, which will prepare us for our league schedule.

Schedule

Week 1: Fri., Aug. 26 host Wapakoneta, 7 p.m.

Week 2: Fri., Sept. 2 at Sidney, 7 p.m.

Week 3: Fri., Sept. 9 host Troy, 7 p.m.

Week 4: Fri., Sept. 16 at Graham, 7 p.m.

Week 5: Fri., Sept. 23 host Ben Logan, 7 p.m.

Week 6: Fri., Sept. 30 at Tecumseh, 7 p.m.

Week 7: Fri., Oct. 7 at Urbana, 7 p.m.

Week 8: Fri., Oct. 14 host Spg. Shawnee, 7 p.m.

Week 9: Fri., Oct. 21 at Indian Lake, 7 p.m.

Week 10: Fri., Oct. 28 host Kenton Ridge, 7 p.m.

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