Jackson County Patriots Semi-Pro Football

[billcox]

http://www.thetelegramnews.com/main.asp ... leID=19114

10/18/2013 9:15:00 AM
Jackson County Patriots to debut in 2014
New semi-pro football team to play at Wellston's C.H. Jones Field

This is the official symbol and logo of Jackson County’s new semi-pro football team, the Jackson County Patriots. The team will begin play in the spring of 2014 with C.H. Jones Field in Wellston serving as the venue for home games.


PETE WILSON
Executive Editor


Arguably, football has been Jackson County's most popular spectator sport for many years and literally thousands of young men have participated in the sport.

The local communities rally behind their high school teams. Then many of those same fans move from the bleachers Friday night to the sofa later in the weekend to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday and either the Browns or Bengals Sunday.

Now it's time to make room for one more favorite team as the Jackson County Patriots are being organized as a local semi-pro team which will be playing their inaugural season staring the spring of 2014 at the Wellston High School football field as a member of the Northern Frontier Football League.

Jackson area resident and Wellston High School alumnus Keith Denny and long-time friend and business associate Mike Arnold of Columbus are the co-owners of the Jackson County Patriots and they have been working hard in recent months to transform their dream into reality. Arnold brings to the venture football-coaching experience at his high school alma mater, Troy High School, near Dayton.

Denny, a 1976 Wellston High School graduate who played football for the Golden Rockets, believes the local support will be there to make the Patriots a success from all necessary aspects -- the team's organization, the potential player pool, the hosting Wellston City School District, and from the greater community, and the potential fan base.

"I think it will be a win/win thing for the community and I think they will support it," Denny told The Telegram in an interview this week. "I think people like watching football and it will give a lot of other people a second chance to play football."

The owners have already hired a general manager to run the organization and a head coach to direct the team. Players will not be paid, but all men 18 years of age or older, are eligible to try out. A tryout session is scheduled for Saturday, November 9, at the Wellston High School practice field.

A key development in moving the project forward was achieved when the co-owners received the enthusiastic support and full cooperation of Wellston City School District officials to allow the team to use the district's facilities at C.H. Jones Field on South Pennsylvania Avenue for its games as well as the adjacent practice field for practices.

The Jackson County Patriots will basically rent the facilities and the owners and school officials have worked out an agreement to fully cover the costs of that use. Both sides are excited and appreciative about the cooperative effort and the opportunity for mutual benefits.

"I called (Wellston School Board President) Terry Gill back in August and later I talked to (Athletic Director) Jeff Hendershott, the superintendent (Karen Boch), and another school board member (Jamie Johnston) and they have all bent over backwards to help us." Denny recounted.

Gill, who graduated from WHS with Denny, is absolutely thrilled with Wellston City Schools bringing the Jackson County Patriots to Wellston.

"Anything we can do to bring something to our area is good," Gill told The Telegram. "It will bring people to our community, who will have a chance to eat at our restaurants and buy gasoline here. We want to support the team in any way we can. I'm really excited about this."

In addition to the rental-fee revenue for the district, the WHS football program will also benefit as its support organization, the Big W Club, will sell concessions at Patriot games and carry out other game-related functions.

Gill said there should be very little conflict with school activities as the Patriots' season begins in April and ends before the start of the high school season.

Players, Coaches, League And More

The owners and management expect to draw their players mainly from Jackson and Vinton Counties, but there are no geographic boundaries that define or restrict participation. The only rule for participation is that players must be at least 18 years of age as of April 1, 2014. There is no restriction regarding a maximum age.

Denny is expecting to have a 50-man roster and dress 45 players for games. Both he and Arnold feel there will be no problem attracting a pool of prospective players.

"We expect to get people back into football who love football," Denny commented. "This will be a second opportunity for them to play and we expect to focus on those from Wellston, Jackson, Oak Hill, and Vinton County." The team colors will be yellow and black and a Revolutionary War-style patriot will be the team's symbol and logo.

Arnold added, "You almost never get over it," he said of the experience of being on a football team. "You miss the team camaraderie."

Gill also likes the aspect of providing former Wellston High School athletes and others from the area with an "outlet" for them to enjoy themselves and still utilize their athletic abilities. There are many outstanding high school football players who never have the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.

Prospective players need to report for the tryout session Saturday, November 9, at the WHS practice field. Registration will begin at 11 a.m. and the tryouts will begin at noon.

The Jackson County Patriots will not compensate players, which is consistent with the current national template for semi-pro football. Denny explained the chief reason for this is that players lose their college-playing eligibility if they are paid to play.


The owners, General Manager Derrick Ervin, head coach Dan Polcyn II and assistant coaches are expected to be present for the tryouts. Paul Polcyn will serve as the team's defensive coordinator and John Nicholson of Jackson is to serve as the line coach.

Ervin is from Columbus, but has family connections to Wellston. He has several years of experience with semi-pro football. Polcyn, who resides in the Oak Hill area, has coaching experience, including several years of experience coaching the semi-pro Kentucky Warriors.

The Jackson County Patriots expect to formally be accepted as a new member of the Northern Frontier Football League when league officials conduct their annual meeting in January.

Currently, the league is composed of 16 teams in four divisions. Although no final decisions have been made, Denny expects the Patriots to play in the River City Division, which is currently composed of the Kentucky Warriors, the River City Raiders, the Southern Ohio Spartans, and the CC Grizzlies.

The 10-game regular season begins in April or May and will end in August with post-season competition to follow. Denny says home games for the Patriots will be played Saturdays, starting at 7:30 p.m. with a single-game admission price of $5. National Football League (NFL) rules will be in force.

"Things come together very quickly, but we still have a lot of work to do." Denny summarized. "We want to provide a quality product and we want to have an organization and a team with class and also a winning team."

Denny and Arnold both say "a love of the game" is what spurred their desire to start and own a semi-pro football team in Jackson County. While they have made a significant financial investment to get the team launched, Denny indicated his personal goal is not to make money, but instead to be involved in and challenged by an interesting project, which also provides a benefit to the community.

"If any money is to be made, we'll share it with the Wellston people and give it back to the community in some way," Denny said.

Very soon, the Jackson County Patriots will be on the march.

[billcox]

On Saturday November 9th the Jackson County Patriots had 38 players show up for the initial talent evaluation. Outstanding turnout and a fair amount of talent. The next talent evaluation day will be Saturday December 7th at noon at the wellston high school football field.

[C-Bolt]

Hope they have better luck then the Nelsonville Devildogs did,they never even got to first base

[EasternDspy]

Will the play the Parkersburg and Williamstown teams?

[Regulator]

I can't see this working. No pay, no insurance. A wannabe ,glory day player ,gets hurt , then what??

It will look like a biddy league game with grown ups!

[billcox]

I can't see this working. No pay, no insurance. A wannabe ,glory day player ,gets hurt , then what??

It will look like a biddy league game with grown ups!

I'm sorry sir but you are wrong. While there are some "rag tag" organizations out there, the majority of semi-pro teams are well ran organizations with some very talented players who are playing a high level of football.

As you stated they do not get paid. There is a reason for that! Many of the players aspire to move on to the college level and compensating them would strip them of their eligibility.

[billcox]

Will the play the Parkersburg and Williamstown teams?

2014 schedule

4-26 Darke County Wolves
5-3 @Southern Ohio Spartans
5-10 Columbus War Eagles
5-17 Central Ohio Spartans
5-24 OFF
5-31 Mid Ohio Valley Falcons
6-7 @Zanesville River Monsters
6-14 @Lancaster Sabers
6-21 Miami Valley Warriors
6-28 @Mansfield Mauraders
7-5 OFF
7-12 Lancaster Sabers
7-19 Zanesville River Monsters
7-26 @Mid Ohio Valley Falcons

[NYBuckeye96]

Hope they have better luck then the Nelsonville Devildogs did,they never even got to first base

I was just wondering what ever happened to that? One day they announce the team will form and then you never heard anything on the subject ever again.

[C-Bolt]

I followed them on their facebook page and there just wasn't any interest around here.The coach kept giving dates for people to show up and organize and then maybe 2 or 3 would come, so finally he just said the heck with it and gave up.

[Regulator]

Can we please quit calling this "Semi-Pro" !!! It's guys that want to continue to play a game they love but could not continue on to the next level.


What happens if a player gets a concussion and starts dealing with post concussion syndrome and blames this organization. Then what? Just seems to be too much liability.

Good luck!!

[boogerred]

well, if there are any people that wanted to play for the devil dawgs, I imagine that the Patriots would be willing to take them.

[ManitouDan]

Its a beer league for ex jocks . be real .