BUTCH HARMON
Sports Scene
The Ithaca football team has been among the gold standard for small school football in the state of Michigan the past few decades and this year’s edition of the Yellowjackets is primed to add another chapter to the legacy.
Ithaca welcomes back a talented core of veteran players from a team that compiled an 11-1 record last season and advanced to the regional title game before falling to eventual Division 8 state champion Ubly.
Ithaca featured a high-powered offense last season that averaged 43.6 points per game. Several of the key contributors of that offense return this season headlined by quarterback Jackson Conn. The strong-armed senior passed for 1,936 yards and 28 touchdown passes last season and is poised for an even bigger season this year.
“I feel pretty good about the season,” Conn said. “A lot of our kids are hungry. We’re amped up and ready to go for week one. We have a couple guys spread around between our offense and defense that are going to be our leaders. We have a lot of young guys coming up but I think the spread of our leadership through our guys will help out all the other positions with our younger guys.”
Ithaca graduated some key pass catchers from last year’s squad but it does return standout wide receiver Ryley White. White caught 26 passes for 681 yards and eight touchdowns a year ago and should be among the top receivers in mid-Michigan this fall.
“I think we should be pretty good this year,” said White. “Obviously we had quite a few kids leave last year. We had five seniors graduate, two of our starting receivers who helped us out a lot, but I think we have some kids coming into positions that will help us out a lot and be productive for us.”
Along with a potent passing game, the Yellowjackets will also have a running threat. Nathan Mikesell is back after rushing for 700 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.
Paving the way for the offense is an offensive line anchored by a trio of talented seniors in Nicholas Mikesell, Broden Peska (5-11, 230) and Lloyd Stoneman.
Many of the same standouts on offense will also be playing defense for the Yellowjackets who allowed 11.8 points per game.
Linebacker Nathan Mikesell led the team with 121 tackles last season along with five quarterback sacks.
“I feel pretty good about our team,” Mikesell said. “We still have things to work on but that’s pretty normal for every team.”
Nicholas Mikesell returns up front along the defensive line along with defensive tackle Karter Araujo. Peska also returns to the defensive line.
The defensive backfield is led by White and Conn.
“We’re excited about the season,” said Ithaca coach Jordan Hessbrook. “We have six or seven guys back on both sides of the ball. We had a lot of kids gain valuable experience as juniors last year. We’re also excited about some of the younger kids we have coming up.
Ithaca has reached the regional title game the last two years and this season the Yellowjackets are focused on taking the next step.
“After losing in the regional title game the last two years everyone is hungry to get back to that game and win the regional,” said Conn.
Ithaca kicks off the season in week one against St. Louis and then takes on a rugged Standish-Sterling team in week two before starting conference play in week three. The Yellowjackets close out the regular season with non-conference tests against Tecumseh and Shepherd.
To reach their goals, it will take a total team effort.
“I think for the older guys it’s going to be taking the younger guys under their wing and getting those guys up to speed in what it takes to play football at a high level,” said Hessbrook. “For those guys also, it’s going to be fighting complacency. We didn’t reach our ultimate goal last year but they did a lot of good things last season so it’s going to be not satisfied with that and continue to push to move up to the next level and play deeper in November. For the young guys, I think it’s going to be trusting their coaches, trusting in those older players who have been there and done that and it’s going to be trying to get them up to speed as fast as possible.”
Menu