2022 North Adams Green Devils Football (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Another new face on the sidelines for the 2022 high school football season will be at North Adams as Elijah Siders takes over for the Devils, becoming the program’s second head coach since their rebirth. Siders is a former Green Devil player, who played under the direction of former head coach Justin Schmitz. Siders takes over a program that boasts six seniors anxious to give their new coach a taste of success.
That success has been elusive to this point as the Devils have struggled, with losses in their first three contests, but they have begun this season with a heavy heart, mourning the loss of former Devil Montgomery Myers, who was tragically lost in an accident before the season began. The North Adams program honored Myers by retiring his #4 jersey before their home opener on August 19.
Coach Siders started playing football at North Adams in the sixth grade and he played all the way though his high school graduation.
“After I graduated, I came back and coached the junior high team for two years and now here I am coaching the high school team,” said the North Adams new head man in his preseason interview with the Defender.
“The high school k ids have different attitudes,” says Siders. “They are not nearly as jumpy or apt to play around. They seem to be a little more focused.”
Early in the season, the North Adams program, from the top down, struggled with numbers but Siders reports that his roster will consist of 19 players, and beyond the six seniors, a very young team with no juniors, three sophomores, and the rest being freshman. Having that much varsity inexperience will obviously make things tough for the Devils in the early going, until they adjust to the speed and physicality of the high school game.
“A lot of these freshman kids I have coached for the past two seasons so they are at least used to me and some of the plays we will run,” said Coach Siders. “They seem to be getting it down pretty quick for the most part.”
“Our number one quarterback this season will be senior Conner Rhoden with sophomore Camden Huff as his backup,” says Siders. “Our halfbacks will be senior Bryceton Huff and Camden Huff and Conner can also play there. Freshman Bradley Rhoden could see time in the backfield along with classmate Xander Thatcher.”
Senior Brennan Shaver and freshman Payton Huff will man the important fullback duties and according to the head coach, the Devils will be mainly a running team with a few passing plays on hand “just in case’, but don’t expect to see the pigskin in much aerial action.
On the o-line, the North Adams center will be Hayden Schweickart, the guard position will be handled by a combination of Cory Coday, Wyatt Johnson, Seth Ward, Colten Richards and Landon Covert, and at tackle the Devils Will use Wyatt Johnson, Mason Groves, plus Richards and Covert. The tight end position, which is important in the Devils’ run attack will be manned by Colton Bowling and newcomer Nathan Parks.
With a roster of just 18, the offensive line will perform double duty on the defensive line and Coach Siders is excited about his linebacking corps.
“Our outside linebackers should be good this season, both seniors, Bryceton Huff and Brennan Shaver,” says Coach Siders. “”Conner Rhoden will be our right defensive end Brayden Hodge will be on the left side. Ward and Parks will also be at linebacker. Corners will be Bradley Rhoden and Camden Huff and our safety will be Xander Thatcher. I normally try to stick with the 4-4 Cover 3 defensive scheme. We can go to 5-3 if need be and shove that middle linebacker down to nose guard.”
As has already been evident, the Devils face a tough schedule, especially for such a young squad.
“I don’t know a lot about West Union with a new coach and we know Peebles is always going to be tough because they have the quarterback who can run and throw effectively. Southern Buckeye is a bit of a mystery still to the NA head coach and they also have Manchester on the schedule, a game with added importance with the move of Coach Justin Schmitz from the Devils to the Greyhounds. “That’s the one we have to win,” says Siders of his September 23 match up with his former coach.
“The adjustment to high school football has gone pretty good for me this far,” says Siders. “Like I said, I coached most of these kids in junior high which has made it easy. We are running a lot of the same stuff they used in junior high but we’ve come up with a few new wrinkles. Everyone seems to have taken to it pretty well so it’s been good.”
“One of our goals this year is to just make it the best year possible for our seniors, since this is their last year playing. If we can keep a decent record just for them, I’ll be happy. For us to be successful, we just have to stay completely focused and if we do get down by a bunch, we can’t walk off the field with our heads down. Stay focused on the game and what we can do to control the game.”
The 2022 North Adams Football roster includes:
Seniors- Bryceton Huff, Cory Coday, Conner Rhoden, Nathan Parks, Brennan Shaver, Mason Groves
Sophomores- Camden Huff, Seth Ward, Wyatt Johnson
Freshmen- Brayden Hodge, Payton Huff, Marken Washington, Bradley Rhoden, Colten Richards, Josiah Hall, Colton Bowling, Xander Thatcher, Landon Covert, Hayden Schweickart
The remainder of the 2022 North Adams schedule includes:
• Sept. 9- Southern Buckeye (HOME-7:30)
• Sept. 16- West Union (AWAY-7:30)
• Sept. 23- Manchester (AWAY- 7:00)
• Oct. 1- Peebles (HOME-7:30)
• Oct. 8- Southern Buckeye (AWAY-7:30)
•ct. 15- SOIL Playoffs (@ N. Adams)
