Cincinnati Christian
Coach: Ken Kinch, third season (3-17)
OHSAA designation: Division VII, Region 26
Playoff history: None
2014 record: 0-10 overall, 0-7 in the Miami Valley Conference (10th)
Schedule: Aug. 28 — Cincinnati College Prep Academy, 7 p.m.; Sept. 4 — Cedarville, 7 p.m.; Sept. 11 — at Finneytown, 7 p.m.; Sept. 18 — Troy Christian, 7 p.m.; Sept. 25 — at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, 7 p.m.; Oct. 2 — Dayton Christian, 7 p.m.; Oct. 9 — at Lockland, 7 p.m.; Oct. 16 — St. Bernard, 7 p.m.; Oct. 23 — at New Miami, 7 p.m.; Oct. 30 — Clark Montessori, 7 p.m.
Ken Kinch is bringing back an old-school offense to the Cincinnati Christian School football team in his first season back at the helm.
The 17-man squad basically is starting from scratch with a new, but familiar, head coach, a lot of new names in the starting lineups and a whole new system that the Cougars hope will bring their first wins since 2013.
Kinch, an assistant last year and a former CCS head coach in 2005-06, is running a single-wing offense that he said resembles the “Wildcat” at times without a true quarterback and all of the running backs ready to throw if necessary.
“It’s a good fit for us, and our kids have embraced it,” Kinch said. “I believed in it. It’s similar to something we ran the first time I was here — it was a little different back then than what I’m running now — but it matches our numbers and our size. We aren’t the biggest team in our conference, so we’ve got to go strength in numbers offensively, and this is the best way I know how to do it.”
Junior running backs Josh Schmitt, Alex VanWeelden and Daniel Nimmo are the catalysts to the offense, with Schmitt handling the majority of the quarterback duties previously filled by graduate Spencer Fox, who threw for 1,400 yards last year. The Cougars also lost leading rusher Kameron Antwine (572 yards, six touchdowns) and all of their starting offensive linemen, but still hope to be more effective with the running game this season.
Junior Jacob Fortney and sophomore Wayne Lavender anchor the offensive line. Caleb Edwards, the lone returning lineman who got a lot of reps last year, is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
“I think it’s a little better for us,” Schmitt said of the offense. “Last year, we tried to air the ball out a little too much, and coaches always say, ‘There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.’ Throughout our scrimmages, we seem to be moving the ball well running, so it’s going well so far.”
The defense will remain fairly simple, Kinch said, with the same leaders on offense expected to be the big playmakers.
VanWeelden, Nimmo and Lavender are key players at the linebacker spot, while Schmitt and sophomore newcomer Johnny Nimmo are expected to “make some noise” in the secondary, according to Kinch.
“It’s a simple defense, but we worked hard in the offseason and with our conditioning, hopefully, we will be able to outlast other people’s offenses by the end of the game,” VanWeelden said.
Conditioning – and staying healthy – is especially crucial this year with such a small roster, as most starters won’t get off the field much.
Kinch said the team remains optimistic, despite the low numbers and the weight of coming off a winless 2014 season. Although the Cougars are young with just a few seniors, many of the juniors got a lot of experience last year and are proving to be good leaders.
“I think they know the challenge ahead, but they are motivated and hungry,” Kinch said. “They all know they can win some games. When we get into the (Division) 6 and 7 parts of our schedule, we can compete. We don’t predict wins or anything like that, we just go after it. There’s expectations among themselves to win some games, and I expect that as well because they work hard.”
CCS, which finished 6-4 in 2013 (4-3 in the Miami Valley Conference), had three losses by nine points or less last year. Schmitt said the players are anxious to get that first win.
“We’re optimistic,” Schmitt said. “I think there were a lot of expectations last year, and we just didn’t meet the expectations. We kind of crumbled under pressure. This year, I think going through that, we know how it is and I think we’re better from it.”
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