Jonah Loomis is going to be one of many talented juniors the Ithaca Yellowjackets football team will boast this season in its drive for No. 5.
Loomis, a 5’9″, 180-pound wide receiver and defensive lineman, was among several key sophomore contributors to the 2013 state title team. He was starting defensive nose tackle for the varsity.
“During the summer, we did a lot of work for the sophomores,” Loomis recalled. “We definitely put the work in and got a spot on the varsity. All through the season, we had pretty good stats that ranked in the state. I thought my performance was pretty good. I put in the work, and the results turned out pretty well.”
Loomis will play both positions again this season. He had two tackles and two assists at noseguard last season and figures on seeing backup duty as a wide receiver..
“When we go to [preseason] camp, we’ll do a lot of defensive drills, and we’re going to drill hard,” he said. “It’s going to definitely help. We do a lot of competitive drills that improve our skills.”
Loomis said that since he’s short and compact, he’ll go against bigger linemen. He won’t be the first one to do that at Ithaca, and his experience as a wrestler should come in handy.
“Our quickness and our ability to shoot low, that definitely helps,” Loomis said. “Last year was kind of scary in the beginning. But after the first game, I felt like I was there.”
It’s no secret that the Yellowjackets lost some key players on the defensive side, but Loomis is upbeat about his team’s prospects. “We have a young team with only five seniors,” he said. “A lot of juniors will be on defense. Most of us played last year. That will definitely help us this year.”
Loomis is one of the members of a very unique Ithaca junior class. “We’ve only lost one game ever since youth football,” he said.
Going 14-0 is a tall order for any program, but Loomis acknowledges anything less than that would be disappointing.
“It takes a long time to get to 56-0, and that first loss would be tough,” he said. “That’s why we do our work in the summer so we can keep it going.”
Loomis is figuring the 2014 Ithaca defense could be faster and more aggressive than previous teams. “I know we lost a lot of good players,” he said. “They were our role models last year.”