Wayne: brief history….recent.
Wayne (11-1) fell short again last year losing to Pickerington Central in Ohio’s Big School Classification, Division-1, in the Regional Finals (Qtr Finals) 17-14, with Pickerington Central losing to St. Xavier 29-27 in the semifinals. St. X went on to beat St. Ignatius in the final 27-20.
Winning all their games by an average score of 42-11 saw few challenges except for always strong Trotwood-Madison, 17-6, who lost in the Div-III final to Bishop Hoban. In 2014 and 2015, Wayne lost in the finals to St. Edward 31-21 and again to St. Ed’s 45-35 in 2015, going 13-2 and 14-1 respectively. Their 4 year won-loss is 49-6.
Last year’s team was loaded, returning enough starters to have them favored and ranked 2nd in a number of state polls. Most of the experience was at the skill positions. The real surprise was the sophomore Rashad McKee (6-1, 190) beating out 2 upper classman to win the quarterback position, completing 141 of 197 for 2125 yards for a completion percentage of 72 with a 24/6 Td/Pick ratio. Those are good stats through Coffman, missing the last playoff game with Central. Most of the running backs have graduated, Fred Pitts, 1216, Josh Foster 571, Kevin Wright 259, and 3 receivers, Matt Wilcox, Trew Davis and Ray Jones with 80 receptions for 1248 yards. But his lead receiver returns, WR-Christian Smith (6-6, 210, Sr) with 44 receptions for 718 yards and Steven Victoria (6-0, 175, jr). Smith is arguably the top receiver in the state while LB Alex Reigelsperger (6-5, 235, sr) is being heavily recruited. They have some losses on the lines particularly OL’ers Ben Jackson 6-2, 265; Sean Martin 6-3, 330 and Mazon Walker 6-3, 330, believe just DL.
It’s Wayne so they’re always ranked high and have enough blowouts for backups getting considerable playing time. Cleveland.com has them #1 in the preseason, followed by St. Ignatius, St. Edward, Pickerington Central, St. Xavier, Fairfield, Archbishop Moeller, Elder, Colerain, Toledo Whitmer. Cincinnati schools kicking ass as usual.
** new2pa, I think you're referring to CSmith and AlexR mentioned above.