Franklin Heights

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Falcons focus on working harder
By JEREMY STEWART
ThisWeek Staff Writer

First-year coach Jeff Pica of the Franklin

Heights High School football team was in the
middle of a practice Aug. 16 when he stopped
all the drills because he didn’t like what he saw.
He made everyone line up and do sprints.
There was a little grumbling, but Pica didn’t
mind that. Franklin Heights faded down the
stretch last season, losing its final five games,
and Pica was finding out which players were
ready to break out of the mentality that has
plagued the team.
“It’s been tougher (this preseason),” said senior
Mike Chandler, whose team opens Friday against
Riverside Stebbins. “But as a leader and as a
senior you have to work harder than what you
did (in the past). We just need team unity. We
have the physical ability that’s not even a con-
cern.”
The Falcons finished 4-6 last year. They won
four of their first five games, scoring more than
50 points twice, but then came the league sched-
ule. The Falcons were shut out twice on their By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
way to finishing last in the OCC-Capital Divi-
sion at 0-5. Big Walnut and Watkins Memorial The Falcons’ Kyle Powell pursues on a play against Northland in a scrimmage Aug. 11.
shared the title at 4-1, followed by Olentangy
Liberty (3-2), Dublin Scioto (2-3) and New offense with a slew of new talent. Taking over
Albany (2-3). at quarterback is senior Rian Kennedy (5-foot-
10, 150 pounds), and the main runner will be
At a glance
“First of all we’ve got to get these kids to
believe in themselves so they can raise their level junior Rico Jackson (5-8, 150). Jackson had two FRANKLIN HEIGHTS FALCONS
carries for 14 yards last season as a fullback. Colors: Gold and black
at practice, raise their level in the games,” Pica Coach: Jeff Pica, first season
said. “It’s starting with taking care of the little At receiver will be seniors Mike Chandler (5- Key players: Mike Chandler, Rico Jackson, Tori Jack-
things everyday, getting them to have some per- 11, 165), Tori Jackson (6-0, 180), Dominque son, Rian Kennedy and Kyle Powell
sonal discipline. It’s hard to break old habits, Watson (5-11, 165) and junior Jerrone Givens On the Web: swcs.k12.oh.us/fhhs.html
even if they’re bad habits, people want to hold (5-11, 165). Mike Hamilton (6-3, 175) will get 2007 SCHEDULE
onto them.” opportunities in the passing game as a tight end. Aug. 24..............Riverside Stebbins ............Home
Chandler, like many of the other seniors, was On the offensive line senior Josh Spillman Aug. 31..............Briggs...............................Home
Sept. 7...............West..................................Away
in second grade the last time the Falcons won (6-0, 240) is the lone returning starter. Sept. 14 ............Ready ................................Away
an OCC championship. That year was 1997 and Defensively the Falcons will run a 50 slant- Sept. 21 ............West Carrollton...................Away
the Falcons finished 8-2 overall and won their angle defense with a lot of the guys that will Sept. 28 ............Dublin Scioto......................Away
second OCC championship in three seasons. Oct. 5 ................New Albany.......................Home
start on offense. Oct. 12 ..............Watkins Memorial...............Away
Those teams were some of the reasons why In the defensive backfield Dominique Chan- Oct. 19 ..............Big Walnut ........................Home
he had interest in taking over as coach this sea- dler is the only returnee who had an intercep- Oct. 26 ..............Olentangy Liberty................Away
son. The former Bloom-Carroll coach remem- tion last season. The five other players that had 2006 RESULTS
bered the successful teams the Falcons had back one are gone. Graduate Devin Williamson led (4-6 overall, 0-5 OCC-Capital)
in the mid-1990s, and a big part of his job this that group with five. Riverside Stebbins .................................W, 28-21
season is getting the current roster of players to Whitehall .................................................W, 55-7
This year for pass defense the Falcons will West......................................................W, 54-27
realize that they, too, can have that kind of suc- turn to junior Kyle Powell (5-9, 170), who will Ready.....................................................L, 41-14
cess. St. Thomas Aquinas .................................W, 18-7
line up at strong safety next to Mike Chandler,
But he’s going to have to start from scratch. Dublin Scioto ..........................................L, 41-21
Both Victor Graham, the starting quarterback who will play free safety. Senior Dominique New Albany ...............................................L, 44-0
last year, and Dominique Chandler, the starting Watson (5-11, 150) is a probable starter at cor- Watkins Memorial......................................L, 33-6

running back and leading rusher, transferred.
Graham, now playing at Africentric, threw for
905 yards last season on 58-of-136 passing. He
also threw five touchdown passes. He also gained
270 yards on the ground on 73 attempts and four
scores. Chandler, now playing at South, had 789
yards rushing on 123 attempts. He also led all
Falcons with nine touchdowns.
Their leaving left Pica to install his spread
August 22, 2007 • Central Ohio High School Football Preview ’07
nerback. Tori Jackson will play a combination Big Walnut ................................................L, 29-0
of safety and linebacker.Another probable starter Olentangy Liberty ....................................L, 26-14
at linebacker is senior linebacker Kyle Merz (5-
11, 210). BE THE ONE to
“We’re showing great improvement through champion
two-a-days,” Powell said. “Our defensive backs life for patients in need.
should be pretty good. We have some gaps to 1-800-GIVE-LIFE
fill with people leaving. We lost a lot of starters, BloodSavesLives.org
but our speed I think will make up for our size.”

OCC-CAPITAL
Continued from page 41
to Big Walnut 16-10 at home and
New Albany 30-19 on the road.
Scioto’s win over Liberty not
only ensured Liberty would need
help to win its third consecutive
league championship, it snapped
the Patriots’ home winning streak
that dated to its inaugural season.
But Scioto couldn’t capitalize on
its new life. The Irish fell at home
to Watkins Memorial the next week
20-7 as Watkins Memorial clinched
a share of the title on is way to a
Division II playoff appearance.
Big Walnut clinched a share of
the league title with its win in a
rainstorm at New Albany. New
Albany needed to win to guaran-
tee itself a playoff berth, but two
fumbles inside the 5-yard line
dearly cost the Eagles. The teams
meet in the season finale at Big
Walnut.
Liberty and Watkins Memorial
played an overtime game in the
second week of the league sched-
ule, which the Warriors won 21-
18 in overtime. Liberty was ranked
No. 3 in the Division II state poll
at the time.
Liberty and New Albany also
played a close game. Liberty won
7-3 in a game in which the Eagles
advanced the ball inside the Patri-
ots’ 20-yard line four times, but
could manage only a field goal.
Twice they fumbled and another
time turned the ball over on downs.
“I think (Scioto) will be back to
what we’ve come to expect from
them,” Big Walnut coach Scott
Wetzel said. “I know they had a
lot of juniors on their team last
year. Olentangy Liberty has been
to the playoffs three years in a row,
so you know they’ve got a good
program. New Albany has a ton of
kids back. They might be the scari-
est of the bunch. Watkins tied us
for the league championship last
year and they’ve got some good
players back. Franklin Heights has
a new coach. I saw them in 7-on-
7 drills and they looked pretty good.
If they have some guys who can
block, they’ll have a pretty good
offense. I think Franklin Heights
will surprise some people.” 45