The Cardington football team will have a lot of skill players back from last year’s 7-3 team, but will have to fill in some holes on the line in order to match that success.
The team returns 11 lettermen, including seven offensive and five defensive starters, but graduated nine players and had another move out of the district.
A number of the returnees had big years for the Pirates last year. Devin Pearl (wide receiver, free safety, returner) was a first-team pick in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, Central District and state, while Luke McCarrell (quarterback, punter) got second-team nods from the league and district and Daniel Kill (running back, linebacker) was a second-team league pick who also was named honorable mention in the district. Both Tyler Villella and Christian Huffman also were second-team picks by the MOAC.
“Our offense is led by senior quarterback Luke McCarrell, who threw for over 2000 yards as a junior,” said head coach Jerry Williams, “a receiving core led by first-team all-state receiver Devin Pearl and talented tandem running backs in Daniel Kill and Christian Huffman. The weaknesses are replacing three senior linemen and depth.”
The coach had much the same to say about his team’s defense.
“We have talented linebackers Tyler Villella and Daniel Kill and all-conference Christian Huffman is a strong edge player,” said the coach. “It’s an all-senior secondary group led by Clayton Clark, who helps in the back half of the defense. The weaknesses are replacing the entire defensive line and depth.”
While Williams feels the league is competitive, he hopes his squad can win the Blue Division, as well as continue their season into Week 11.
