Warren head coach Cody Bupp speaks to the Dragons at a practice. Times Observer photo by Mark Evans

It’s all hands on deck for Warren football as the Dragons try to snap a 12-game losing streak dating back two seasons. Coming off an 0-10 season, Warren returns with a 54-man roster when it takes on Conneaut at 7 p.m. Friday at War Memorial Field.

“Our focus is on getting better each day, being accountable, and doing your job,” said second-year head coach Cody Bupp. “We have to learn from last season; that’s not easy for anyone to go through. But at the end of the day, they are 13-to-18-year-old kids that are giving us everything they have. We have a long way to go to get back to the standard of Warren football. We are getting back to stability and healthy numbers in each grade throughout the program. The junior high program is pushing 50 kids. We have new faces (and) faces returning that took time away or haven’t played since the youth league. There is excitement again when you walk in the doors, and we want to build off that. So we are focusing on coaching them up and trying to get them up to speed. There are games on the schedule that I think we should be competitive in, and then there are the measuring sticks of where we want to get to.”

Conneaut was a loss on last year’s schedule, but it was the most competitive game of the season at 24-12 at War Memorial. The teams played to a scoreless first quarter before Conneaut led 8-0 at halftime.

Then junior quarterback Benjamin Easler had 200 combined passing and rushing yards, all three of the Eagles’ scores, and two of the three two-point conversions.

Much like Warren, most of Conneaut returns, but the Dragons lost top skill players in Region 4 all-stars Eric Dippold (quarterback) and Tommy Nyquist (running back).

In his high school career, Nyquist had 2,410 yards rushing and 892 receiving, including close to 400 return yards. He scored 26 touchdowns — 19 on the ground, six through the air, as well as one punt return. Oh, and he had two touchdown passes. He will now play at Alfred University.

For his career at quarterback, Dippold finished with 3,593 yards passing in three seasons with 34 touchdowns and 34 interceptions, along with four rushing touchdowns. He also caught a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Those two graduates, along with Matt Sowa, Johnny Corbett, Sam Harvey, Kenny Pizarro, Hector Cruz, Ben Hoffman and Eddie Johnson, combined for most of the Dragons’ stats in 2023.

“There are open battles going on in all positions,” said Bupp. “The one thing that has impressed us is the younger group from day one has come in and pushed the older guys to compete at a high level. … We are going to need the skill guys to step up. There are many first-timers or youth in all those positions, so seeing who will step up and separate themselves from the pack. We want to see who that kid is when the game is on the line who wants the ball.”

At wide receiver, Warren returns junior Payton Hammerbeck and sophomores Chase Myers and Oliver Boozer, “who all saw starts and playing time last season,” said Bupp.

At running back, sophomore Colby Zinger and freshmen Aiden Eger and Ayden Corbett are “very youthful and the group has limited varsity reps,” he said. “Each brings a different dynamic and running style.”

At tight end, Austin Fiscus is a transfer from Sheffield with a “big body and frame that can create matchups,” said Bupp.

At quarterback, junior Brady Shene and sophomore Noah Bleech “each has a different skill set that we can utilize each week,” he said.

At linebacker are sophomores Bleech and Zinger, and junior Hayden Raffaele.

In the secondary is a “combo of the following all that received starts last season: Sophomores Chase Myers, Oliver Boozer, Chris Orth, and juniors Payton Hammerbeck and Patrick Ross,” said Bupp.

Top returning players also include Greyson Linkerhof, Devin Vantassel, Jacob Retterer, Landen Pritzl and Charlie Blum (kicker).

Sophomore Carson Sobkowski joins top newcomers Fiscus, Eger, and Corbett.

“We were pleased with what we saw at Saturday’s scrimmage,” said Bupp. “We were able to force numerous turnovers, but we must finish tackles when we have the opportunity. Conneaut has a couple kids that if you don’t contain will make you pay; we saw that last season. Offensively, we will go as the offensive line goes. They got good pushes, running backs hit the lanes, and we had some explosive plays. The kids played with competitiveness and physicality, which we lacked a season ago. They have some big kids up front, but I think we have some overall speed that we can use. If we play assignment football, we match up well with them.”

What would make this a successful season?

“To see growth in the areas that we struggled with a year ago,” said Bupp. “We must win the battle up front on both sides. If they all gel together, we can move the line of scrimmage and run the football.

“With the enrollment cycle number change, we moved up from AAA to AAAA this year,” added Bupp. “The region is very similar to the last cycle. The addition is General McLane, while Conneaut and Titusville moved back to AAA and are no longer league opponents. Our schedule is very similar to a year ago, with the addition of Corry, Cathedral Prep, Girard and North East rounding out the non-region matchups. The region is going to be a grind; four of the five teams will most likely get into the playoffs. Meadville, Oil City and Franklin round out the region. We get to have a home opener to start the season, then follow up with a short week and Thursday night road contest at Corry. Later in the year, we host a Saturday night game against Oil City.”

Assistant coaches include Greg Miller – Offensive Coordinator, OL/DL; John “Joe” Sanford – Defensive Coordinator, QBs; Shawn Wilson – Wide Receivers & Defensive Backs; Matt Pascuzzi – Running Backs, Linebackers; and Ken Hinton – Volunteer Assistant. Junior high coaches are Brian Retterer, Dwight Damcott and Randy Wilkins.

The roster is rounded out by freshmen Aaron Shene, Wyatt Trojanowski, Ayden Dean, Cameron Hagg, Kaleb Hadfield, Brendan Gallegos, Lucas Gardner, Collin Montgomery, Brycen Farnsworth, Giovanni Larson, Kaleb Niemetz, and Brian Polley; sophomores, Cory Ristau, Max Spiegel, Adam Yeager, Tyler Anderson, Reed Wilson, Ben Drew, Garrett Winship, and Alex Wilkins; juniors, Scott Nichols, Johnny Sensenig, Tommaso Clemente, Alex Meneo, Blake Albaugh, Sebastian Oyola, Wyatt Stearns, Tyson Harkins, Hayden Lilley, Parker Campbell, Logan King, Hudson Haight and Landon Nelson; and senior Dylan Harkins and Vantassel are the team’s only seniors.

“I’m incredibly proud of all my guys and the culture that is being created,” said Bupp. “It’s important to me that their time spent in our program is memorable and makes them a better person by the time they leave. We want alignment from the coaching staff through the 54 student-athletes on the roster. We want them to spend as much time with each other as possible outside of their time with us. We have pushed for them to get involved in other sports and activities; we saw a huge uptick in that this past season. Some of those are already showing dividends on the field. We defined our core values during camp, and two of those were service and sacrifice. We use the word sacrifice almost daily, and to achieve where we want to get to, there is going to be many sacrifices along the way. Unfortunately, we live in a society that wants instant results and immediate repayment and these values can be lost. Our staff is going to push them both on and off the field because we believe in each one of them.”