The 2023 Springfield High School Blue Devils varsity football team opens the season on the road tonight with a game against former Northern Lakes League opponent Maumee. The Panthers left the league this season for the more competitive Northern Buckeye Con-See
ference. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. See story on page 4.
Regardless of wins and losses, the 2023 rendition of the Springfield football program represents a new beginning in several ways, the most notable of which will be pacing up and down the home sidelines.
Following what proved to be a very lean three-year tenure under former Head Coach Jerry Bell, the school district again dipped into the well of coaching talent with Whitmer connections, selecting LaCharles Smith to head the program.
Smith comes to Springfield from Start, where he served as an assistant coach. He also was an assistant coach just down Airport Highway at St. John’s.
The 1995 Whitmer graduate was inducted into the Whitmer Athletic Hall of Fame last year.
Smith takes the reins of a program that won only five games in the past three seasons, a far cry from their peak of three playoff appearances in four seasons from 201518.
That challenge of returning the team to its former glory will begin in an expanded Northern Lakes League, one now comprising 11 teams across five northwest Ohio counties.
The expanded conference features two divisions, the Buckeye and Cardinal. Springfield was officially slated along with the league’s smaller schools in the Cardinal Division, but due to football scheduling complications, the team will be competing in the tougher Buckeye Division both this season and next before swapping spots with Clay.
Because of that affiliation, the Blue Devils’ schedule includes the likes of NLL newcomers
Aug. 18 at Maumee Aug. 25 vs. Rogers Sept. 1 vs. Start Sept. 8 at Bowling Green Sept. 15 vs. Napoleon Sept. 22 at Findlay Sept. 29 at Northview Oct. 6 at Anthony Wayne Oct. 13 vs. Perrysburg Oct. 20 vs. Whitmer
Findlay and Whitmer. Their Cardinal Division opponents will be Bowling Green and Napoleon.
For all the change about to ensue, the Blue Devils do return 19 rostered seniors, including quarterback Will Scott, and a handful of linemen to man the trenches.
The Blue Devils also open with a very familiar opponent in Maumee, now a member of the Northern Buckeye Conference, on August 18, in yet another dramatic change to the area’s football landscape.
Rogers and Start round out the non-league schedule.
