Ravenna football focuses on the ground game

Before he was pacing the sideline at Portage Community Bank Stadium, Joe Callihan was an offensive lineman at Mogadore.

So when the second-year Ravenna coach talks about focusing on the run this season, and leaning on fullback Austin Marshall and tailback Daniel Sanders, Callihan can't help but smile.

"Being a lineman, what I'm comfortable with is putting your hand in the dirt and getting 3, 4 yards a play and moving the chains," Callihan said. "So ground and pound."

To be clear, Callihan and the Ravens are turning to their ground game because that's what fits their personnel best after graduating Pavel Henderson and M'kell Williams, last year's starting quarterbacks, and losing another quarterback, C.J. Ross, to Benedictine. With a quarterback new to the position in Bobby Melzer and three punishing runners in Marshall, Sanders, and, yes, Melzer, ground and pound is the perfect play for Ravenna.

Marshall, who finished second on the Ravens last year with 149 rushing yards (4.7 average), reminds Callihan of one of his favorite backs growing up: Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott.

"He's a sledgehammer that's just going to come up and hit people," Callihan said. "Holy smokes, getting hit in the face every time from him is going to make a long game for somebody."

Sanders missed eight games last season because of an injury, but in the two games he did play he gained 9.7 yards per carry.

"He's very, very talented and we're excited with some of the things that we've seen in practice," Callihan said. "[We] thought last year he could have a great year for us, and he's healthy now and ready to rock and roll."

And, of course, being a former lineman, Callihan is excited about running Sanders and Marshall behind an offensive line returning six players who got starts last year in Dean Baker, David Davis, Hunter Dray, Charlie Prichard, Andrew Thompson and Mateo White.

"They've all started games for us, which, again, the best experience is experience," Callihan said. "We do return a lot up front, which is nice because they've all played together. I mean, they've been playing together since they were just wee little guys, but it's nice to kind of see things that we were having issues with or mistakes last year, we're taking the next step and we're not making those same mistakes."

2023 Ravenna football schedule

Week 1: Roosevelt (Aug. 17); Week 2: at Mogadore (Aug. 25); Week 3: at Revere (Sept. 1); Week 4: Cloverleaf (Sept. 8); Week 5: Streetsboro (Sept. 15); Week 6: at Field (Sept. 22); Week 7: Coventry (Sept. 29); Week 8: at Springfield (Oct. 6); Week 9: Woodridge (Oct. 13); Week 10: at Norton (Oct. 20)

Callihan doesn't just have downhill running to be excited about this year.

There's also a Ravens-Wildcats match-up in Week 2 — their first meeting in many years — but Callihan knows that Ravenna-Roosevelt is always first priority.

"I'm worried about Week 1," Callihan said. "We got to take care of business Week 1. That's big for the community of Ravenna. It's big for the rivalry."

The Ravens' schedule is full of challenges.

In nonconference play, they face two teams from the bigger Suburban American in Roosevelt (Week 1) and Revere (Week 3), and Mogadore, one of Ohio's great small-school powers (Week 2). Then comes Cloverleaf (Week 4) and Streetsboro (Week 5) — the two have combined to win three of the last four Metro Athletic Conference championships.

"I know what the rest of the schedule entails and there's not an easy week at all," Callihan said, "but right now we're focused on getting ready for Week 1 and doing everything we can to be ready to go."

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This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Led by Austin Marshall and Daniel Sanders, Ravenna commits to the run