Season Preview: Football eager to see what team can achieve in 2023

By Wes Mayberry 

| 2023 Football Schedule | 2023 Football Roster |

ADA — After winning its final two games of 2022, the Ohio Northern football team is eager to see what it can achieve in 2023 under 20th-year head coach Dean Paul.

The Polar Bears spent their offseason working to improve following a 3-7 campaign in 2022 and are coming off a decisive 79-0 win over the FIDAF All-Stars during an offseason team trip to Italy in May. ONU out-gained the Italians 484-30 in total offense in the game, and the Polar Bear defense posted six sacks.

Northern is ready to translate that success during the 2023 regular season. The team returns 45 lettermen from last year's team highlighted by a trio of 2022 All-Ohio Athletic Conference selections in fifth-year senior defensive lineman Josh Bever (Ashland), junior defensive back Dalton Tjong (Cumming, Ga./West Forsyth) and senior defensive back Ed Manning (Sanford, Fla./Seminole). Bever was named to the All-OAC First Team, Tjong was a Second Team honoree, and Manning was an Honorable Mention pick.

A four-time All-OAC selection, Bever posted a team-high eight sacks and 11 tackles for loss last season. He ranked second on the team with 61 total tackles and added two forced fumbles. He ranked fifth in the OAC in sacks and tied for ninth in tackles for loss. In 34 games at ONU, Bever has amassed 208 total tackles, including 85 solo, as well as 30 sacks and 43 tackles for loss. He ranks second in program history in career sacks and fourth all-time in tackles for loss.

Tjong shined in 2022, leading Northern in total tackles (110), solo tackles (52), assisted tackles (58), interceptions (4) and pass breakups (7). Those totals ranked first, second, second, tied for first and tied for eighth, respectively, in the OAC. His 110 tackles rank ninth in program history for a single season, and he has 169 tackles, including 84 solo, in his two-year career.

Manning closed the 2022 season with 28 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, three pass breakups and a fumble recovery. In his three-year career, he has 69 total tackles, including 40 solo, along with three interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

The ONU defense returns 17 additional lettermen.

Fifth-year seniors Tyler Irigoyen (Palm Coast, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast) and Jayden Brown (Dayton/Fairborn), senior Connor Rowe (Mantua/Crestwood) and juniors Nate Holcomb (Williamston, Mich.) and Jake Zimmerman (Grandview Heights) join Bever at defensive line.

Irigoyen and Rowe both played in all 10 games last season and combined for 42 total tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss.

At defensive back, Tjong and Manning are joined by four returning starters in senior Adonis Ables (Panama City, Fla./North Hardin), junior Austin Colon (Cumming, Ga./North Forsyth) and sophomores Terrion Ross (Findlay) and A.J. DeSousa (DeBary, Fla./University), who combined for 83 tackles and six interceptions in 2022. Fifth-year senior Dalton Neitzel (Bay City, Mich./Standish-Sterling) and senior Braeden Gedeon (Bellbrook) are other returning letter winners at the position.

The returning group of linebackers is highlighted by four starters in fifth-year senior Collin Flynn (Sagamore Hills/Nordonia), senior Peyton Wilson (Lima/Shawnee), junior Mikey Moon (Wickliffe) and sophomore Myles Aldrich (Lima/Shawnee). Other lettermen in the position group include seniors Bryce Paul (Ada) and Cross De La Cruz (Findlay) and juniors Austin Wilson (Commerce, Mich./Walled Lake Central) and Blake Hershberger (Lima/Allen East).

Aldrich is coming off a 2022 season in which he posted 45 tackles, nine tackles for loss and three sacks. Peyton Wilson added 47 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss, giving him 167 and 10.5, respectively, for his career. Flynn, Moon and Hershberger combined for 65 total tackles last season.

The Polar Bears return 24 lettermen on offense.

Sophomore Garrison Higgins (Waikoloa, Hawaii/Westlake) is the lone returning letterman at quarterback after throwing for 116 yards and one touchdown in four games in 2022. A pair of transfers in junior Brennon Norris (Steubenville/Indian Creek) and freshman Ethan Fritz (Brunswick) provide added competition.

Fifth-year senior Jamir Nunley (Cleveland/Mayfield) leads the running backs who return from 2022. He ran for 242 yards and two touchdowns last season and has 480 career rushing yards in 26 games. He is joined by junior Donny Crawford (Wellington/Firelands) and sophomores Kameron Cox (Enon/Greenon) and Joe McKean (Sullivan/Black River). Two transfers in sophomore Jordan Pettaway (Oregon/Clay) and freshman Seth Borondy (Bellbrook) will also compete for playing time.

Fifth-year senior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding), seniors Steele Morgan (Wooster), L.J. Payton (Wheelersburg) and Eli Lynch (Washington Court House/Washington) and juniors Jordan Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela-Saint Joseph) and Cade Crawford (Carey) are the returning letter winners at receiver. They are joined by seniors Noah Miller (Coldwater) and Alex Rowan (Cuyahoga Falls) at tight end.

Payton is the leading returning receiver after recording 20 catches for 330 yards and two touchdowns in 2022. As 2023 national qualifiers in outdoor track and field, Kesler and Dean bring plenty of speed to the position group.

Miller, an All-OAC Honorable Mention pick as a freshman, added seven receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown at tight end last season and has 39 catches for 348 yards and three scores in his career.

Returning starters in seniors Aidan Thompson (Madison) and Aiden Train (Sheridan, Mich./Central Montcalm) and juniors Lance Good (Kenton/Hardin Northern) and Freddie Burchett (Grove City/Central Crossing) headline the 2023 offensive line. Other returning letter winners include seniors Hunter King (Canal Winchester), Mike Ludrosky (North Royalton/Padua Franciscan) and Josh Andrews (Brook Park/Berea-Midpark), junior Alex Harris (Whitestown, Ind./Bishop Chatard) and sophomore Evan Gomez (Farmington, N.M.).

On special teams, punter Jonmichael Elliott (Richmond, Va./Clover Hill) returns after playing all 10 games a year ago and recording 60 punts for 2,260 yards (37.7 average). The team will turn to a new kicker following the graduation of Dom DiFalco, who ranks 11th all-time at ONU with 181 career points.

The Polar Bears open their 2023 season on Sept. 2 at No. 24 Alma (Mich.), which is coming off an 11-1 campaign that ended in the second round of the NCAA playoffs. That contest is followed by a three-game home stand against Capital, Heidelberg and Baldwin Wallace. Northern then has a road game at Mount Union, a bye week and games at John Carroll and Muskingum before closing the season hosting Marietta and Otterbein and traveling to Wilmington.