DUKE CENTER, Pa. — For Troy Cook, the landscape along RL Sweitzer Drive is vastly different now.
An assistant during Virgil Graham’s tenure, Cook was part of an Otto-Eldred football program that went a combined 17-35 from 2010-14. At that point, sub-.500 seasons were the norm; the Terrors were among a stretch of 12-straight losing regular campaigns.
An influx of talent and confidence combined with a new coach, however, changed the O-E narrative.
In the last two years, under Nick LaBella, the Terrors went 10-0 in the Allegheny Mountain League North, advanced to the AML championship and District 9 playoffs (in both seasons) for the first time in school history and, in 2017, secured their first overall winning record (6-5) since 2003.
On the heels of perhaps the program’s best two-year stretch, Cook is back – as the head coach now – with LaBella having to leave his post as part of his job as a Bradford middle school administrator.
He knows: These aren’t the same old Terrors.
And he’d like to keep it that way.
“Before when I was here, there wasn’t the confidence in the program that I see now,” said Cook, a 2000 Smethport graduate and sales analyst at Dresser-Rand in Olean. “That was one of the first things I noticed coming back here. It used to be, you had some guys that were confident about it, but a lot of the guys were kind of on the fence. And pretty much, to a man now, it’s, ‘we know we can play with these guys.’
“There’s a different group of athletes now. The last few years, these guys coming through, they’re familiar with each other, they know that they have a lot of ability. They’ve learned to play together. It’s really going to help us out quite a bit.”
The Terrors suffer a significant graduation loss in quarterback Sawyer Drummond, the heart and soul of those AML North championship teams.
As a senior, Drummond threw for 2,199 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 456 yards and two more scores. He often put up video game-like numbers in leading a high-octane offense that, in divisional play, averaged 40 points per game.
LaBella didn’t leave the cupboard bare, however.
O-E returns eight starters from last year, including most of Drummond’s playmaking wide receivers — names such as Chase Sebastian and Cameron Magee — and all-star linemen Trey Lee and Chris Connelly. More than that, Cook expects plenty of continuity from 2017.
“Coach LaBella did a great job when he was here,” he said. “He left a lot of talent, so it’s nice as a new coach coming in, I don’t really have to start from scratch.
“Our philosophies on offense are very similar, so there’s going to be a lot of carry over there. (It’s) something the guys have picked up easily over the summer. A lot of verbiage is the same, so that will help us in the long run. Plus, we have a lot of carryover with the coaching, too.”
Still, Cook has a large void to fill in the absence of the Drummond, one of three quarterbacks selected to last year’s Big 30 All-Star team
Nearing the eve of official practice, Sebastian, younger brother Cole and Magee have each taken their turn at the position. And while the signal-caller will be different, their spread-heavy offensive approach will remain the same.
“Sawyer was a unique talent,” Cook said. “You don’t get a lot of guys who are his size (6-1, 195) that play quarterback that can basically play running back as well. We don’t really have a guy in that same mold, so we’re going to probably change up a little bit how the offense is run through the quarterback position … but the passing game itself is going to be fairly similar.
“I don’t know if you can replace a guy, especially with Sawyer’s experience … we don’t have that guy yet. But I think we probably have two or three guys that can go against each other in practice, and it will be good competition, so we’ll see which guy comes out of there.”
Not only is Cook coming into an entirely new culture at O-E, he’s taking the reins ahead of the most drastic league change in decades.
Even at their best, the Terrors, like the rest of the AML North, were no match for the South in recent years — though they did nab one of the North’s few crossover wins in that span with a victory over Elk County Catholic last fall.
Now, in a new District 9 League Small School division that resembles the old AML North, they won’t have to face the gauntlet that used to be the first month of the year.
That means instead of the likes of Kane and Brockway, O-E will see Redbank Valley and Clarion-Limestone.
According to Cook, a couple of his players were actually disappointed that they’d no longer be playing the South. They viewed it as an opportunity to knock off a giant.
Overall, though, they see the new league dynamic as a positive.
“Our guys are really excited about it,” he said. “Everybody’s on a little bit more level of a playing field. Before, you come into that first part of the schedule and you know kind of how things are going to go.
“Now, we actually get to play a full season. We don’t have to say, ‘OK, we’re going to kind of play this one out and then sprint to the finish line.’ Now, we have a complete schedule. We can kind of plan accordingly and go from there.”
For Cook, the bar is much higher at O-E than where it was when he came on as an assistant. In 2010, the Terrors were coming off a winless season and on the cusp of going 2-8.
Is it fair to expect that same kind of success in 2018?
“I believe so, with the guys we have coming back,” he said. “Not that it would be a letdown if we don’t get to that level again, but I think that’s something that we have to shoot for.
“Everybody always says the hardest thing to do once you get to the top is stay there, so that’s something that Otto-Eldred hasn’t had to do before. We’d never really been to the top, so now that we’ve gotten there two seasons in a row, let’s see if we can take that next step, let’s see if we can try to stay up there.”
THE RETURNING starters:
Chase Sebastian, senior, 6-1, 170, wide receiver-QB/defensive back
Cole Sebastian, sophomore, 6-0, 160, wide receiver-QB/defensive back
Cameron Magee, junior, 6-0, 170, wide receiver-RB/defensive back
Brady Valerius, senior, 6-0, 175, running back/defensive end
Michael Vandergrift, senior, 6-0, 220, line both ways
Chris Connelly, senior, 6-1, 190, guard-WR/linebacker
Steven Langworthy, senior, 6-1, 175, guard-RB/linebacker
Trey Lee, senior, 5-9, 180, guard/defensive end
ALSO LETTERING were:
Ethan Smith, sophomore, 5-10, 155, wide receiver/defensive back
Colton Gietler, junior, 5-9, 160, running back/linebacker
Patrick Rounsville, senior, 5-9, 150, wide receiver/defensive back
Zane Grimes, senior, 5-9, 210, center/defensive tackle
Brett Kreamer, junior, 6-2, 190, tackle/defensive end
James Nellis, senior, 5-10, 215, line both ways
Michael Welch, senior, 6-4, 165, wide receiver/defensive back
THE PLAYERS, by position:
Offense
Quarterbacks: Ch. Sebastian, Co. Sebastian, Smith, Braden Maholic (fr., 5-10, 160)
Running Backs: Langworthy, Valerius, Gietler, Mathius Spinney (fr., 5-7, 145), Issiah Mathewson
Ends/Receivers: Magee, Connelly, Welch, Alex Quintero (jr., 5-10, 190), Rounsville, Thomas Van Scoter (so., 6-0, 165), Noah Wichert (so., 6-2, 170), Gavin Jimerson (fr., 6-1, 155), Gavin Pierce (fr., 5-8, 160), Michael Hewitt (jr., 5-10, 160), Justin French (sr., 6-1, 165)
Guards/Tackles: Kreamer, Lee, Nellis, Vandergrift, Jake Bell (sr., 5-9, 175), Wyatt Farr (fr., 5-5, 175), Chance Palmer (fr., 5-5, 150), Josh Rhinehart (so., 5-6, 155), Shae Southard (so., 5-9, 230), Brett Taggart (fr., 5-7, 220), Bradley Walker (fr., 5-9, 185), David Wheaton (jr., 6-2, 205), Trent Windsor (sr., 5-10, 190), Cole Bennett (sr., 5-7, 185), Honor Gross (jr., 6-1, 210), Konner Hanchett (so., 6-1, 200)
Centers: Grimes, Zazeric Bell (so., 6-1, 205), Jacob Coffman (fr., 5-10, 190)
Defense
Ends: Bell, Kreamer, Lee, Quinterio, Valerius, Windsor
Guards/Tackles: Vandergrift, Nellis, Taggart, Southard, Walker, Wheaton, Bennett, Gross, Hanchett, Bell, Hoffman, Grimes, Farr
Linebackers: Connelly, Langworthy, Magee, Gietler, Maholic, Van Scoter, French, Rhinehart, Palmer
Defensive Backs: Ch. Sebastian, Co. Sebastian, Smith, Welch, Rounsville, Jimerson, Pearce, Spinney, Wichert, Hewitt, Mathewson
THE SCHEDULE:
August
24 — Port Allegany, 7 p.m.
31 — at Redbank Valley, 7 p.m.
September
7 — Cameron County, 7 p.m.
14 — Union/A-C Valley, 7 p.m.
21 — at Smethport, 7 p.m.
28 — Clarion-Limestone, 7 p.m.
October
5 — at Coudersport, 7 p.m.
12 — Curwensville, 7 p.m.
20 — at Sheffield, 1:30 p.m.
NEXT: Smethport
