How young is Lima Central Catholic’s football team?
Young enough that not too long ago some of its starters were playing junior high football games after school on weekdays, not games under the Friday or Saturday night lights.
With only five seniors on the roster, the Thunderbirds could start two freshmen and three sophomores this season.
“We’re going to be young. I think we’re talented but we’re going to be young,” LCC coach Scott Palte said.
The situation is similar to last year when LCC had only nine seniors and underclassmen filled many of the starting jobs.
LCC has seven returning starters, some of whom played offense and defense.
Probably the biggest question mark for the Thunderbirds is how to replace the offensive production of quarterback Ethan O’Connor, who threw for 1,797 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for a team-high 833 yards and nine TDs as a senior.
O’Connor threw 75 percent of the passes LCC attempted last season and his 123 carries were half of the Thunderbirds’ rushing attempts, even though he missed parts of two games because of injuries.
Anthony Venturella, who threw for 453 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 137 yards as O’Connor’s back-up last season, will be the quarterback this season.
“He played quite a few downs when Ethan got hurt. When he got out there he performed pretty decent. He has thrown the football well this summer. He’s accurate and can throw the ball well,” Palte said.
LCC, which averaged 28 passes a game last season, has two experienced receivers in Thomas Williams (42 catches, 637 yards, 9 TDs) and Vinny Pignataro (29 catches, 339 yards, 1 TD).
“That (receiver) is our strength position right now,” Palte said. “And we have some sophomores and freshmen. We have a lot of guys who could play receiver. Thomas Williams has really improved. He’s our No. 1 target for sure.”
But the Thunderbirds could use their running game a little more than last season when Logan Shultz’s 30 carries for the season were the most by one of their running backs.
“We will have to change the way we run the ball,” Palte said. “Logan Shultz has really worked hard. He’s a big, fast kid. I think he can fill the bill and get us some yards.
“That’s one of the things we have emphasized, we have to run the ball a little bit better. We really struggled to develop a running back last year. I think we have a couple guys who can do that this year, hopefully,” he said.
In addition to Williams, Pignataro and Shultz, Matthew Heider, Sammy Santaguida, Connor Bowker and Brendan Stolly are returning starters.
Heider had 84 tackles and five sacks as a linebacker last season. Santaguida, another linebacker, had 58 tackles, nine of them for losses. Pignataro had 51 tackles and four sacks, also as a linebacker.
“I’m just hoping we can see a great improvement from Week 1 to Week 10. We’ve got some guys with some skill, we just have to get some experience,” Palte said.
LCC will open its season at home against Elida on Saturday night. The Thunderbirds have two new teams on the schedule this season with Huron and Wynford replacing Edgewood and Wayne Trace.
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