OXFORD>>Over the past couple seasons, Oxford coach Mike Means has loaded up the Hornets’ non-league slate with hammer after hammer. A year ago, that resulted in a record of just 3-7. But Oxford was competitive in just about every game, bringing some optimism into this season, where it’s hoped that kind of experience against top teams will have the young Hornets squad ready to go.
“The schedule has been really tough and we hope that the challenges of last season and the grueling summer schedule that we had (interactions against mostly 6A schools such as Downingtown East, Downingtown West, Spring Ford, Souderton) help our young players grow up early,” said Means. “We have a lot of sophomores and juniors who have to be ready to contribute. Last year was my worst job coaching with the talent we had and this group is excited for a fresh start.”
When the Hornets have the ball, they will have Aiden Kane under center. The 5’10” junior will hope to extend the streak of top notch quarterbacks at Oxford as he replaces Dustin Long.
“Aiden has big shoes to fill replacing Dustin Long, who was first-team all-league last year,” said Means. “He has shown a great work ethic all off-season.”
Moving over to running back this year is C.J. Boyer. The 6’1”, 170-pound senior is moving over from wide receiver, where he was a starter the past two seasons.
“C.J. will give us great athleticism in the backfield,”said Means. “He also came in sixth in the state in long jump, and had a great off-season.”
In all, the Hornets bring back just two starters on the offensive side of the ball.
“We have a lot of new guys on the offensive side of the ball to break in” said Means. “We are excited about the speed we have in the backfield and there is a lot of competition between eight guys up front for the five OL spots. We will go as far as our OL takes us.
”Anchoring that offensive line is the only other returning starter besides Boyer, David Kostykov, a 6-1, 250-pound junior.
“David is a really tough kid who started as a sophomore on last year’s senior heavy team,” said Means. “Bulked up and got much stronger in the off-season.”
The Hornets have four returning starters on defense. Strong safety Boyer and free safety Avion Rochester (6-1, 180) will anchor the defensive backfield, while senior defensive end Zack Richardson and inside linebacker Conner Mallon (6-0, 170) also return.
“We need our young guys to step up quickly,” said Means. “We are really young on both sides of the ball and made sure we threw them in the fire as much as possible all summer to try to speed up the learning curve. We have an experienced senior leader at every level of the defense ,and we need them to really take control of their groups.”
Oxford’s best kept secret might be on the special teams, with kicker Will Smith. Smith has a big leg that can be counted on for three points when needed.
“Will Smith is one of the best kickers in the Ches-Mont and we expect him to give us a great advantage every game” said Means. “He is a scholarship-type kid.”
The Hornets season gets underway this coming Friday, when they host Avon Grove in a Ches-Mont crossover game.
“Coach (Joe) Coffey has done a great job with those guys and we know they are going to be excited to come in a lot more experienced against us this year,” said Means.
