Pandora-Gilboa quarterback Cory Gerten scans the field during last year’s game at Bluffton. Gerten returns as a junior signal-caller for the Rockets, who went 8-4 last year.
Jessica Trinko | The Lima News
PANDORA — Pandora-Gilboa lived up to its mascot, the Rocket, last year, with 23 touchdowns and 2,421 yards through the air last season.
While the Rockets certainly will miss graduated star receivers Aidan Morris and Colin Harris, don’t expect the Rockets to be grounded this year.
“I’d like to say we’re going to be balanced,” P-G coach Matt Hershey said. “Doesn’t every coach want to say that? If you look back at it, in our games in the past, the big games that we’ve won, we’ve had great balance.”
Cory Gerten is back for his junior year at quarterback, and senior Andrew Miller returns as a senior running back after rushing for 1,139 yards and 12 touchdowns.
“Obviously, yeah, we did lose those two receivers who we were able to air it out to, so now I feel like teams are going to close the box a little bit more and focus on our running game,” Miller said. “We do have some receivers coming up who are able to catch the ball and able to run routes. That will be a key to letting us spread the field.”
The Rockets have junior Chase Meyer, senior Lane Lee and sophomore Layton Cannode all available to catch the ball as receivers. Gerten said he feels like he has a good understanding of the offense after starting as a sophomore.
“I know the plays mostly, and I can help the other guys get to where they need to be,” Gerten said. “It’s a lot easier when you know the playbook.”
As much as Pandora-Gilboa misses Morris and Harris on offense, they might be just as missed on defense. Lee and Meyer return to the defensive backfield. Many players will start on both sides of the ball for the Rockets, who went 8-4 last season. Overall, they have 11 letterwinners back.
“Our biggest concerns are just depth,” Hershey said. “It’s finding guys when people are cramping up or when fatigue sets in because we are a Division VII school with 35 players. We’re going to need more than our first 11.”
It helps to have someone like Miller, an all-state honorable mention linebacker as a junior, returning. Still, there are questions, Hershey admitted.
“We’ve got to focus and find some pass rushers on the outside,” Hershey said, “somebody who can help out our young secondary and not give the opposing quarterbacks tons of time in the pocket.”
Overall, Pandora-Gilboa hopes to remain competitive in the Blanchard Valley Conference. They’ll have to get through an emotional start to the season, though, with rivalry games against Columbus Grove, Bluffton and Leipsic in three of the first four weeks of the year.
“We’ve got a gauntlet right of the gate with our rivals,” Hershey said. “As far as the BVC goes, Liberty-Benton won it last year, and I’d have to say they’re the favorite to win it this year. We had them on the ropes last year, and we’re hoping maybe this year we can deliver the knockout punch that gets us a championship.”
The Rockets are upbeat for 2023, Gerten said, and ready to deliver some surprises.
“It’s pretty fun,” he said. “We have some upcoming people who will be good. We’ve got some newer players, so our opponents don’t really know who we’ll be when we start playing.”
TEAM PROFILE
Coach: Matt Hershey (53-25, eighth season)
Division: VII
Last year’s record: 8-4
Ticket information: https://www.pgrockets.org/index.php/activities/athletics/hometown-ticketing
Returning 2023 varsity letter winners: Cory Gerten (Jr., QB), Andrew Miller (Sr., RB/LB), Ben Burkholder (Jr., RB/LB), Chase Meyer (Jr., WR/DB), Logan Moser (Sr., OL), Parker Gallaspie (Sr., OL/DL), Eli Cobb (Sr., DL), Anthony Gerschutz (Sr., DL), Lane Lee (Sr., WR/DB)
Top newcomers: Conner Gerten (Soph., OL/LB), Alex Tuschilling (So., OL/DL), Layton Cannode (Soph., WR/DB), Braydon Ferguson (So., WR/LB), Caleb Doty (So., OL/DL), Landon Siefker (Sr., OL/DL, Andrew Webster, Jr., WR/DB), Nolan Leatherman (Jr., WR/DB)
2024 schedule
(Kickoffs scheduled for 7 p.m.; subject to change)
8/22 — at Columbus Grove
8/30 — Bluffton
9/6 — at Van Buren
9/13 — at Leipsic
9/20 — Arlington
9/27 — at Elmwood
10/4 — at Liberty-Benton
10/10 — Arcadia
10/18 — Ada
10/25 — Riverdale
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
