The 2022 football season was supposed to be the year to “get” Clinton-Massie.
Coming off the school’s third state championship in 2021 and losing a large number of seniors supposedly meant a down year for the Falcons.
And it started that way.
Four straight losses to open the season. All good teams to be sure — Waynesville, Edgewood, Fenwick, Columbus DeSales — but still not the way Dan McSurley and Co. are used to going about things.
So what happened?
They turned it around … and in a big way. The Falcons won seven of eight games, leading to a regional semifinal loss to Wyoming, 40-7. The Cowboys were the eventual state runnersup.
Since going 2-8 during the 2001 season, Clinton-Massie has compiled a 221-39 record. The Falcons haven’t missed the post-season since 2001.
In terms of 2022 all-league honors, junior Brightmon Rodman was first team as were graduates Adam Frisch, Gavan Hunter, Keegan Lamb and Owen Trick were first-team; Brody Clutter and Miles Theetge were second team as seniors and Gabe McDowell earned second team as a junior. Frisch and Trick leave big holes on the offensive line. Trick was a Division IV first-team All-Ohio player. Hunter was given honorable mention All-Ohio.
Western Brown ended Clinton-Massie’s American Division championship run at five straight titles.
Logan Chesser, a sophomore last season, led the Falcons powerful ground attack with 1,353 yards and 12 touchdowns. Clutter, the thunder to Chesser’s lightning, had 1,118 yards and a team-best 16 scores.
Clinton-Massie ran for 4,087 yards and 44 touchdowns on 637 attempts. They passed the ball 35 times.
Approaching those numbers this season might be a challenge. Head coach Dan McSurley said the Falcons need to improve their “mentality on the offensive line.”
Hunter was the top defense with 139 total tackles. Elijah Groh had 9.5 tackles for loss. Theetge had four of the 11 Clinton-Massie interceptions.
McSurley is 277-90 in his 28 seasons as Clinton-Massie. There are 18 returning letterwinners but only three returning starters on offense and six on defense.
Leading the way will be Chesser, Miles Theetge, Brighton Rodman, Nolan Phipps, Tristen Trampler and Eli Groh.
There is a strong group of underclassmen coming to the program which gives Clinton-Massie good depth. “Could easily be two-platoon barring injury,” McSurley said.
In the end, this shapes up to be another good version of football on Lebanon Road, which led McSurley to saying the goal for this team is a “regional championship.”
