Mohawk travels to Calvert to kick off the 2024 season Thursday

Calvert coach Mike Lento and Mohawk coach Eric Daniel certainly aren't strangers.The two played when Lento was at Lakota with Daniel getting the upper hand a few times.Lento now wears the Calvert blue as he makes his Senecas coaching debut Thursday as Calvert hosts the Warriors to begin the 2024 season at Frost-Kalnow Stadium.Kickoff is set for 7 p.m."It is exciting," said Lento, who led Lakota to the playoffs three times in the last four years. "It is the tradition and belief and representing what's bigger than us and that's God. We remind ourselves daily that we are blessed for an opportunity each day to step on the playing surface. This game is not about me. It is about our boys and the Tiffin Calvert community."My family is just blessed to be able to lead this team with great coaches," he said. "We're excited with butterflies to watch our players go through challenges and successes led by amazing coaches."This season is the fourth in a row that Calvert and Mohawk meet on a Thursday night to jumpstart the high school football season. Each season has laid the foundation for success for the winner and a rough road ahead for the losing team.In 2021, Mohawk won 33-7 en route to a playoff appearance while Calvert went 4-6, missing the playoffs. The next season, the Senecas bounced back to take a 26-9 win, appearing in the playoffs while Mohawk slumped to 4-6.Last season, Calvert slipped past the Warriors 14-12. The Senecas were 8-0 at one point last year before a Week 10 loss to Hopewell-Loudon and a first-round home playoff loss to Convoy Crestview. On the other side, Mohawk went just 2-8, losing three games by five points or less."Our guys have been amped up about this game for the last calendar year," Daniel said. "It has blossomed back into a great rivalry for us and them. This game is something our kids have made a priority and dedicate a lot of time and effort towards in the offseason and preseason."Mohawk returns some nice experience this season. Quarterback Ben Bogner completed 144-of-264 passes last year for 1,813 yards while leading the team with 144 carries for 788 yards. He accounted for 25 total touchdowns. Kaleb Bish and Kahne Hayman are the top receivers back. Bish caught 26 passes for 287 yards while Hayman hauled in 20 passes for 337 yards in just five games."We need to continue to play physical as we feel we have done over the course of the past several months," Lento said. "We need to make sure we are stepping correctly with purpose and speed. We need to play fast and play that way all four quarters. We know what Mohawk is going to bring and we will have to play four quarters from the first snap to the last snap consistently and with purpose."Mohawk averaged just 115.9 yards per game on the ground last year while allowing 191.7 yards per game rushing. Daniel wants to see toughness out of his team and it starts against a big Calvert team."The game is won and lost in the trenches and they have some mammoths up front," Daniel said. "It looks more like a Columbian offensive line than a Division VII one. To combat that, we scheduled some scrimmages against great competition that are tough up front. Monroeville was very physical and they will probably host a playoff game in November and McComb is a perennial top-5 team in the state for a reason. We have seen the competition needed to prepare our guys for that physicality and expect them not to blink or back down."Calvert will have a new quarterback as Harry Shultz graduated after last season's 101-of-180 passing for 1,498 yards and 16 touchdowns. Also gone to graduation is Jacob Rombach's 92 carries for 736 yards and nine touchdowns and Billy Clouse's 38 catches for 641 yards and six scores."They are excellent at the point of attack on both sides of the ball," Daniel said. "Their offensive and defensive lines are huge, physical, well-coached, and they come off the ball extremely hard. In order to match that, we have to be prepared to match their physicality and maintain our effort throughout the entirety of the game."Getting a win to start the season can prove vital. Neither team wants to get behind the 8-ball as both play in extremely tough leagues."Mohawk brings several playmakers back which will pose a threat to any challenge," Lento said. "We need to remember to do our 1/11th, stay within ourselves, and trust our jobs for the best execution we can have on Thursday. It's our job as coaches to put our players in the best possible spots to make plays and do what they do best."Regardless, it's one of just a handful of games on Thursday in the area and there will no doubt be a big crowd. The weather looks beautiful and high school football will be back in the area as the ball is kicked off.There's just something different about small-school football in Ohio."Our boys have put in an extraordinary amount of work and effort into getting ready for this game and I am sure coach Lento and their program has done the same," Daniel said. "The gate for this game is huge every year and it has renewed a rivalry that coach (Steve) Reser and I both wanted to see come back. The game has been such a success in terms of atmosphere, quality of competition, good competitive games, and it is truly the embodiment of what high school football is all about."