New coach, familiar conference for Mikes
By Chris Dugan
Sports editor
dugan@observer-reporter.com
CARMICHAELS – One thing you have to like about Ron Gallagher is the guy has impeccable timing.
Gallagher is the new head coach at Carmichaels – he’s only the 10th head coach for the Mikes since 1923 – and he will be calling the shots during a season in which the Mikes move back to their longtime home in the Class A Tri-County South Conference after two agonizing years in the rugged Class 2A Century Conference.
It is a move that brings a smile of relief and a touch of optimism from Gallagher and his players.
“I don’t like making excuses, but Carmichaels was the smallest school in Double-A in the state,” Gallagher said. “It wasn’t even close. What’s good about being back at Class A is the kids know all the kids we’re going to play. Even the fanbases know one another.
“The last two years, for some of the games we played here, it seemed like there were only parents at the game. I was an assistant coach at Jefferson-Morgan for about 10 years before I came here, and when Carmichaels played at Jefferson there wasn’t a seat to found in the bleachers. There were people standing all around the perimeter of the field, and I think even a few people watched from the cemetery behind one end zone.”
Carmichaels will open the season Sept. 11 at home against Jefferson-Morgan. Though the second-most played series involving local teams, the Mikes and Rockets did not meet the past two years while Carmichaels was in Class 2A.
The Mikes will enter that game a more experienced group than they were the last two years, when they went 4-5 in 2019 and 2-7 in 2018. Carmichaels won the final three games of last season to carry some momentum into this year.
“In Year 1 in Double-A, we took a beating,” Gallagher admitted. “But in Year 2, we improved.”
That improvement should continue this season. Gallagher expects the Mikes to contend for the conference championship in what is a wide-open Tri-County South.
What Gallagher likes most about his team is its senior leadership. He talks in glowing terms about players like running back Bailey Jones, H-back Hunter Voithofer and lineman Nate Swaney.
Jones rushed for 866 yards as a junior and scored 17 touchdowns.
“He’s put the time in at the weight room. He’s gotten bigger and faster,” Gallagher said.
Voithofer doubles as the Mikes’ inside linebacker, and Gallagher points out that the senior “held his own at Double-A. He played very well. When teams beat our defense, it was on the outside, not inside where Hunter was.”
Swaney is a 6-4, 280-pound bulldozer of a blocker. He anchors the offensive line, which might be asked to do more pass blocking this season. That’s because of junior quarterback Trenton Carter, who replaces productive Kevin Kelly.
“Kevin was an athletic quarterback and Trenton is not far off,” Gallagher said. “He can really throw the football. I think we’re going to throw the ball more this year. We ran the ball a lot last year. I’d like to have a balanced pass-run ratio. That would be different. But in Class A you have to run the football, so you might see some old-school football, too.”
The Mikes will have to improve on defense after allowing more than 35 points per game a year ago. Jones, who plays outside linebacker, is confident that will happen.
“We have more weapons on defense,” he said. “Defense wins games and our defense has a lot of experience and a lot of people coming back.”
They also are familiar with Gallagher’s style of defense. He was the Mikes’ defensive coordinator for the past three years.
Though Gallagher expects the Mikes to have a shot at finishing at the top of the conference standings, he knows nothing is certain, especially in these trying times.
“We’re just looking at one game at a time, try to win the week and go 1-0 every week,” he said. “In a COVID world, you don’t know how long you have this season, so we just want to get better every practice.”
That’s a mantra echoed by Voithofer.
“Every game you have to fight so hard and compete … there is no slacking off, even in practice,” he says. “Our standard is try to win every game. I like our offense and our defense. We can run the ball and also spread it out. Our defense is physical.”
After two difficult years, this might be a turnaround season for the Mikes while in their old conference.
“Our guys have been thirsting for this,” Gallagher said.