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Never Forget 31-0
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Amelia will attempt to break its three-year, 30-game losing streak against Walnut Hills tonight
Amelia High School has lost 30 consecutive football games, dating to October 2002. The Barons' long-suffering seniors get one last chance tonight against Walnut Hills, with legitimate hopes of ending one of the longest losing streaks in Ohio history.
Amelia and Walnut Hills both take 0-9 records into their season finale, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at Amelia's Clermont County campus stadium.
"If we win," Amelia senior linebacker Zach Sheppard said, "we might tear down the goalposts. I'd probably cry, too."
Amelia and Walnut Hills, both Fort Ancient Valley Conference Buckeye Division teams, each see this as a rare chance for victory. In Amelia's case, the hunger pangs are greater. While Walnut Hills itself carries a 15-game losing streak, the Eagles did win one game in each of the 2003 and '04 seasons - both times over Amelia.
"Everyone is tired of hearing the same old routine," Amelia senior flanker Gary Rudd said. "We go to school every Monday after losing, and people say, 'Wow, why are you guys so bad?' Well, nobody wants to win more than us. We want that so much."
The last time Amelia won a varsity football game was Oct. 18, 2002, a 27-20 win over Northwest. Since then, the Barons not only have lost, but lost big, with 30 straight defeats by an average score of 42-3.
Rob Kiefer, Amelia's first-year head coach, is young (33), energetic and vows to right the ship. Amelia's losing streak is tied for 14th-longest in Ohio history, and the school is within shouting distance of the Cincinnati prep football record of 45 straight winless games by Taft (1977-82). The state record is 64 by Youngstown North.
"I've had a lot of people tell me I shouldn't take this job, but the thing that swung me was when I met these seniors," Kiefer said. "They just keep coming back and working hard, day after day. There's not a group of kids that deserves to win a game more than these kids do."
Kiefer, a graduate of Dayton (Ky.) High School, began his coaching career as an assistant at Dayton and then Simon Kenton. More recently, he spent the past few years as an assistant at Glen Este, Amelia's sister school in the West Clermont Local School District.
Kiefer, with close-cropped hair and goatee, doesn't look much older than his players. He is dressed in the school colors - royal blue and white - with his white T-shirt bearing the words "Amelia Football" in blue letters. Kiefer issues instructions with a firm but gentle hand.
"Come on, guys," Kiefer said as Amelia ran a punt-team drill. "Let's do it right. Everybody concentrate on doing their job."
"Do your job" is also the well-documented theme of this year's Cincinnati Bengals (5-2 record) under Marvin Lewis. And if Kiefer sounds somewhat like Lewis, it's because more than one person has compared Kiefer's job to what the Bengals' coach is doing.
"Our new coach wants to do what Marvin Lewis did, and that's change a whole perception of losing," said Amelia booster Brian Gillespie, a former Barons quarterback (class of 1989). "We're excited about Coach Kiefer, but I think people realize it's going to take time."
Returning Amelia back to its winning ways of the 1990s won't be easy.
Between 1994 and 1998, Amelia recorded a composite 36-14 won-lost record.
A few things happened since then:
Mike Hall, Amelia's head football coach in 1992-97, resigned to spend more time with family. Amelia had a 36-24 record under Hall, who remains at the school as a teacher.
Tougher competition. Five years ago, Amelia moved from the old Queen City Conference American Division to the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Buckeye Division. Facing some stronger teams such as Mason, Anderson and Winton Woods, Amelia has a 3-56 composite won-lost record since 2000. Not to mention, 3-66 since 1999.
Small Schools setup. West Clermont schools went to a new Small Schools setup. Amelia and Glen Este both now split their high school campuses into five Small Schools apiece.
Students get to choose their Small School when they're in the eighth grade. Geography plays only a small role, as Amelia is 3 miles east of Glen Este.
Yet, there has been talk in the West Clermont district that most of the good athletes choose Glen Este, which has been winning big lately, while Amelia struggles. Glen Este, which beat Amelia 42-0 last week, is 8-1 this year and probably headed to the Ohio Division I playoffs.
The talk is not true, both schools say.
"There's no recruiting going on, or anything like that," Amelia athletic director Ken Kesselring said. "(Glen Este coach) Zak Taylor is an Amelia grad, and I know he's not going to do anything to hurt us. We just need to get better."
The players
Rudd, who wants to attend Northern Kentucky University and study to be a lawyer, said he's learned more about life from football than he might in any courtroom. At 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, he's tough and lean and wears some dark beard stubble.
"They say losing builds character, and I guess it does," he said.
Then Rudd, taking a break during a practice, gets a tad upset as he talks about why Amelia continues to lose.
"When we lose, we just accept it," Rudd said. "We give up one or two touchdowns, and our heads go down. Many people say it's like we've accepted losing, and I don't like that.''
Sheppard, like Rudd a relatively undersized player for Division I high school football (5-foot-8, 160 pounds), also sports the beginning of a goatee. Football players like to be perceived as macho, and Sheppard - the middle linebacker - is one of several Amelia tough guys.
There just aren't enough.
"To be honest, we have maybe 10 good players on the team," Sheppard said. "Everybody else is just filling a spot."
Yet, these seniors have kept coming back.
"It's because we're a family out here, and we're not going to give up on it," Chris Berndt said.
Berndt, a 6-foot-2, 270-pound senior offensive tackle, is a big man with red hair who speaks softly. He has a quiet dignity that lets the 0-30 streak roll off his back, at least outwardly.
"You've got to want to be here," Berndt said.
The coach
Kiefer knows people wonder if he, too, will leave the job quickly.
After Hall left, Jay Miller was the Amelia coach in 1998-99 and had a 6-14 record.
Then came Randy Hubbard in 2000-02 (record: 3-27).
Then came Kesselring in 2003-04 (record: 0-20). Kesselring doubled as the school's athletic director and opted to de-stress his schedule by just being AD this year.
Enter Kiefer, who is installing the Wing-T offense used so successfully by Glen Este coach Taylor. Taylor, a 1984 Amelia grad, twice tried to get the Amelia head coaching job in the past decade.
Kiefer said the Amelia job is the hardest thing he's ever done. Just setting up an offseason weight program was tough.
"Last January, I come in, and we've got only two kids that could bench-press over 200 pounds," Kiefer said. "At Glen Este, we had 10 kids that could press at least 300 pounds. That's the kind of thing that puts you in a deep hole right away."
There are good moments for his team, such as when Amelia scores. That doesn't happen often; this year's team has been outscored 323-26.
It's an anxious time in the West Clermont district, where a Nov. 8 bond issue could bring, among other things, renovated stadiums to both Amelia and Glen Este. That's why some have laughingly suggested not tearing down the goalposts if Amelia wins tonight, for there's a chance there might not be new ones next year.
"I know they tried to tear them down the last time we won," Sheppard said. "I think the cops got in the way. Since we haven't won a game in three years, maybe they'd let us do it this time.
"I wonder what that would be like."
Amelia will attempt to break its three-year, 30-game losing streak against Walnut Hills tonight
Amelia High School has lost 30 consecutive football games, dating to October 2002. The Barons' long-suffering seniors get one last chance tonight against Walnut Hills, with legitimate hopes of ending one of the longest losing streaks in Ohio history.
Amelia and Walnut Hills both take 0-9 records into their season finale, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at Amelia's Clermont County campus stadium.
"If we win," Amelia senior linebacker Zach Sheppard said, "we might tear down the goalposts. I'd probably cry, too."
Amelia and Walnut Hills, both Fort Ancient Valley Conference Buckeye Division teams, each see this as a rare chance for victory. In Amelia's case, the hunger pangs are greater. While Walnut Hills itself carries a 15-game losing streak, the Eagles did win one game in each of the 2003 and '04 seasons - both times over Amelia.
"Everyone is tired of hearing the same old routine," Amelia senior flanker Gary Rudd said. "We go to school every Monday after losing, and people say, 'Wow, why are you guys so bad?' Well, nobody wants to win more than us. We want that so much."
The last time Amelia won a varsity football game was Oct. 18, 2002, a 27-20 win over Northwest. Since then, the Barons not only have lost, but lost big, with 30 straight defeats by an average score of 42-3.
Rob Kiefer, Amelia's first-year head coach, is young (33), energetic and vows to right the ship. Amelia's losing streak is tied for 14th-longest in Ohio history, and the school is within shouting distance of the Cincinnati prep football record of 45 straight winless games by Taft (1977-82). The state record is 64 by Youngstown North.
"I've had a lot of people tell me I shouldn't take this job, but the thing that swung me was when I met these seniors," Kiefer said. "They just keep coming back and working hard, day after day. There's not a group of kids that deserves to win a game more than these kids do."
Kiefer, a graduate of Dayton (Ky.) High School, began his coaching career as an assistant at Dayton and then Simon Kenton. More recently, he spent the past few years as an assistant at Glen Este, Amelia's sister school in the West Clermont Local School District.
Kiefer, with close-cropped hair and goatee, doesn't look much older than his players. He is dressed in the school colors - royal blue and white - with his white T-shirt bearing the words "Amelia Football" in blue letters. Kiefer issues instructions with a firm but gentle hand.
"Come on, guys," Kiefer said as Amelia ran a punt-team drill. "Let's do it right. Everybody concentrate on doing their job."
"Do your job" is also the well-documented theme of this year's Cincinnati Bengals (5-2 record) under Marvin Lewis. And if Kiefer sounds somewhat like Lewis, it's because more than one person has compared Kiefer's job to what the Bengals' coach is doing.
"Our new coach wants to do what Marvin Lewis did, and that's change a whole perception of losing," said Amelia booster Brian Gillespie, a former Barons quarterback (class of 1989). "We're excited about Coach Kiefer, but I think people realize it's going to take time."
Returning Amelia back to its winning ways of the 1990s won't be easy.
Between 1994 and 1998, Amelia recorded a composite 36-14 won-lost record.
A few things happened since then:
Mike Hall, Amelia's head football coach in 1992-97, resigned to spend more time with family. Amelia had a 36-24 record under Hall, who remains at the school as a teacher.
Tougher competition. Five years ago, Amelia moved from the old Queen City Conference American Division to the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Buckeye Division. Facing some stronger teams such as Mason, Anderson and Winton Woods, Amelia has a 3-56 composite won-lost record since 2000. Not to mention, 3-66 since 1999.
Small Schools setup. West Clermont schools went to a new Small Schools setup. Amelia and Glen Este both now split their high school campuses into five Small Schools apiece.
Students get to choose their Small School when they're in the eighth grade. Geography plays only a small role, as Amelia is 3 miles east of Glen Este.
Yet, there has been talk in the West Clermont district that most of the good athletes choose Glen Este, which has been winning big lately, while Amelia struggles. Glen Este, which beat Amelia 42-0 last week, is 8-1 this year and probably headed to the Ohio Division I playoffs.
The talk is not true, both schools say.
"There's no recruiting going on, or anything like that," Amelia athletic director Ken Kesselring said. "(Glen Este coach) Zak Taylor is an Amelia grad, and I know he's not going to do anything to hurt us. We just need to get better."
The players
Rudd, who wants to attend Northern Kentucky University and study to be a lawyer, said he's learned more about life from football than he might in any courtroom. At 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, he's tough and lean and wears some dark beard stubble.
"They say losing builds character, and I guess it does," he said.
Then Rudd, taking a break during a practice, gets a tad upset as he talks about why Amelia continues to lose.
"When we lose, we just accept it," Rudd said. "We give up one or two touchdowns, and our heads go down. Many people say it's like we've accepted losing, and I don't like that.''
Sheppard, like Rudd a relatively undersized player for Division I high school football (5-foot-8, 160 pounds), also sports the beginning of a goatee. Football players like to be perceived as macho, and Sheppard - the middle linebacker - is one of several Amelia tough guys.
There just aren't enough.
"To be honest, we have maybe 10 good players on the team," Sheppard said. "Everybody else is just filling a spot."
Yet, these seniors have kept coming back.
"It's because we're a family out here, and we're not going to give up on it," Chris Berndt said.
Berndt, a 6-foot-2, 270-pound senior offensive tackle, is a big man with red hair who speaks softly. He has a quiet dignity that lets the 0-30 streak roll off his back, at least outwardly.
"You've got to want to be here," Berndt said.
The coach
Kiefer knows people wonder if he, too, will leave the job quickly.
After Hall left, Jay Miller was the Amelia coach in 1998-99 and had a 6-14 record.
Then came Randy Hubbard in 2000-02 (record: 3-27).
Then came Kesselring in 2003-04 (record: 0-20). Kesselring doubled as the school's athletic director and opted to de-stress his schedule by just being AD this year.
Enter Kiefer, who is installing the Wing-T offense used so successfully by Glen Este coach Taylor. Taylor, a 1984 Amelia grad, twice tried to get the Amelia head coaching job in the past decade.
Kiefer said the Amelia job is the hardest thing he's ever done. Just setting up an offseason weight program was tough.
"Last January, I come in, and we've got only two kids that could bench-press over 200 pounds," Kiefer said. "At Glen Este, we had 10 kids that could press at least 300 pounds. That's the kind of thing that puts you in a deep hole right away."
There are good moments for his team, such as when Amelia scores. That doesn't happen often; this year's team has been outscored 323-26.
It's an anxious time in the West Clermont district, where a Nov. 8 bond issue could bring, among other things, renovated stadiums to both Amelia and Glen Este. That's why some have laughingly suggested not tearing down the goalposts if Amelia wins tonight, for there's a chance there might not be new ones next year.
"I know they tried to tear them down the last time we won," Sheppard said. "I think the cops got in the way. Since we haven't won a game in three years, maybe they'd let us do it this time.
"I wonder what that would be like."
