Waverly Tigers 5 Year Turnaround

[football87]

Just want to give credit to Coach Crabtree and spotlight what the Tigers were able to accomplish these past 5 seasons. They turned the corner in 2016 going 9-2, producing 6 shutouts. 5 years later they go toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in the state in the regional quarterfinals.

2011: 3-7
2012: 2-8
2013: 3-7
2014: 3-7
2015: 5-5

2016: 9-2
2017: 7-4
2018: 9-2
2019: 9-3
2020: 8-1

The players that came through these past 5 years were simply talented. Maybe Smurray and others can help me out with the records broken by players in these last few years. There is so much to name but I just want to highlight a few.

Some players that were downright dogs and won't be forgotten in Waverly football history. Feel free to spotlight some more, I know I definitely missed some. Also several more that still have seasons left so I won't include yet.

QB Hadyn' Shanks '21 (records?) (Undecided)
QB Clayton Howell '18
WR Easton Wolf '19 (records?) (Southern Illinois)
RB Payton Shoemaker '20 (records?) (Indiana Wesleyan)
WR Phoenix Wolf '21 (Undecided)
RB Drew Harris '17
RB Drew Kritzwiser '18 (Ohio Northern)
TE Tariq Gilbert '17(Marshall, Tiffin)
WR/CB Cobe Marquez '19(Ohio Dominican)
WR/CB Cade Marquez '17
OL Macayne Bock '19 (Lake Erie)
OL Gunnar Robinson '18
OL Andrew Welch '21
TE/LB Zeke Brown '21 (Undecided)

[MasterOfNone]

Very impressive what Coach Crabtree has been able to do in his time so far as head coach. He has surrounded himself with a great coaching staff and they have dedicated countless hours into making this program successful. He has created a culture that has produced success and he has found a way to get the kids to be all in every single season. Their strength and conditioning program is excellent, any kid who chooses to be apart of this program and has the dedication will absolutely improve their physical shape.

Waverly has been blessed with many talented players over the past few seasons, which some have been listed in the first post. The players have put in the work and it has shown on the field. Even some kids that may not have the raw or natural talent can become good players if they choose to do so and that goes back to Crabtree and his staff laying the foundation to make that possible.

Having an athletic friendly Board of Education and big time support from the community has been huge for this program as well. Waverly has been able to transform its football facilities from one of the worst in the area to one of the nicer ones. The BoE isn't afraid to put money into the athletic programs and the community is very supportive financially and emotionally. The school is continuously looking for ways to make improvements to all facilities and there are some very nice upgrades coming to the football stadium, hopefully soon.

[mlittle]

Agree with everything stated. Congrats to tiger town

[FANOSPORTS]

Waverly probably hasn't seen this level of enthusiasm since Coach Hawhee in his 32 years there in different sports from the late 40's thru the 70's with a State title in baseball and many appearances and titles in big games in basketball over the years. My grandpa played for the Tigers back in the leather helmet days and I still have some family down that way. Congrats on the recent success !!!

[oldschoolqb13]

Very true....great job by Crabby and as somebody else stated, a lot of credit goes to his assistants as well. He has had basically the same staff for many years and it's certainly paying dividends.

[football87]

Very impressive what Coach Crabtree has been able to do in his time so far as head coach. He has surrounded himself with a great coaching staff and they have dedicated countless hours into making this program successful. He has created a culture that has produced success and he has found a way to get the kids to be all in every single season. Their strength and conditioning program is excellent, any kid who chooses to be apart of this program and has the dedication will absolutely improve their physical shape.

Waverly has been blessed with many talented players over the past few seasons, which some have been listed in the first post. The players have put in the work and it has shown on the field. Even some kids that may not have the raw or natural talent can become good players if they choose to do so and that goes back to Crabtree and his staff laying the foundation to make that possible.

Having an athletic friendly Board of Education and big time support from the community has been huge for this program as well. Waverly has been able to transform its football facilities from one of the worst in the area to one of the nicer ones. The BoE isn't afraid to put money into the athletic programs and the community is very supportive financially and emotionally. The school is continuously looking for ways to make improvements to all facilities and there are some very nice upgrades coming to the football stadium, hopefully soon.

100% agree. The culture change is what started all this, and man the assistant coaches put in crazy amounts of work. Just proud of how things have turned.

[BigBlueNation]

They have done a great job.

[smurray]

Zeke Brown career defensive highlights

[farmer]

Good that everyone is working together. Understanding that good teams also have support their off field team. Great for Waverly. Now if other schools can do the same.

I remember a school brought in a new coach things were going improving a lot from the year before. They lost the first game. Then before leaving the field had some mad parents trying to tell him what to do. They learned real quick who was in charge. That season was a big turn around. Then the next year in the playoffs. Again multiple years after that. The parents and community got behind the program. The buy in is tough at some schools at the first time everything does not go right.

[SWHITE2002]

Waverly has done well lately

Now they have to try to keep it going. They are gonna start seeing a substantial dropoff in talent this year and next after the current juniors graduate

The classes from current 7th through sophomore are short on numbers and talent compared to what they've had lately at the HS level

[toast]

In order to be successful you have to check a lot of boxes...starting with the head coach and his staff. They've done a fantastic job. They put in an incredible amount of time and their knowledge of the game is second to none in southern Ohio.

Another box that needs to be checked is "School Board". Waverly is fortunate to have a Board of Education that understands the importance of athletics to the community and to academics. There are numerous studies that confirm that student athletes perform better academically as a result of being involved in athletics. Some of the studies actually show the entire student body benefits academically from strong athletic programs!

Part of the equation for success is having up to date athletic facilities. Waverly has went from some of the worst to some of the best athletic facilities in Southern Ohio in a short period of time. And more are coming. Money well invested! There will always be up and downs concerning success in sports. That's a given. The turn around over the last five years for the football program is pretty amazing.

[football87]

In order to be successful you have to check a lot of boxes...starting with the head coach and his staff. They've done a fantastic job. They put in an incredible amount of time and their knowledge of the game is second to none in southern Ohio.

Another box that needs to be checked is "School Board". Waverly is fortunate to have a Board of Education that understands the importance of athletics to the community and to academics. There are numerous studies that confirm that student athletes perform better academically as a result of being involved in athletics. Some of the studies actually show the entire student body benefits academically from strong athletic programs!

Part of the equation for success is having up to date athletic facilities. Waverly has went from some of the worst to some of the best athletic facilities in Southern Ohio in a short period of time. And more are coming. Money well invested! There will always be up and downs concerning success in sports. That's a given. The turn around over the last five years for the football program is pretty amazing.

Exactly. Men's basketball is right there too, having several convo visits and winning seasons the last few years. Softball has won a district championship, both track and field teams were very solid, womens soccer.. the list goes on and it shows that the investment pays off. Hopefully they can keep this thing going because it really does bring the community together which is so important these days.

[Kicker.]

Crabtree has done an excellent job with the tiger program and no better person to represent it. Along with all of the other position coaches and athletic director.

[smurray]

[smurray]

Will Futhey Junior Season

[smurray]

[Shoedaddy]

Just want to give credit to Coach Crabtree and spotlight what the Tigers were able to accomplish these past 5 seasons. They turned the corner in 2016 going 9-2, producing 6 shutouts. 5 years later they go toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in the state in the regional quarterfinals.

2011: 3-7
2012: 2-8
2013: 3-7
2014: 3-7
2015: 5-5

2016: 9-2
2017: 7-4
2018: 9-2
2019: 9-3
2020: 8-1

The players that came through these past 5 years were simply talented. Maybe Smurray and others can help me out with the records broken by players in these last few years. There is so much to name but I just want to highlight a few.

Some players that were downright dogs and won't be forgotten in Waverly football history. Feel free to spotlight some more, I know I definitely missed some. Also several more that still have seasons left so I won't include yet.

QB Hadyn' Shanks '21 (records?) (Undecided)
QB Clayton Howell '18
WR Easton Wolf '19 (records?) (Southern Illinois)
RB Payton Shoemaker '20 (records?) (Indiana Wesleyan)
WR Phoenix Wolf '21 (Undecided)
RB Drew Harris '17
RB Drew Kritzwiser '18 (Ohio Northern)
TE Tariq Gilbert '17(Marshall, Tiffin)
WR/CB Cobe Marquez '19(Ohio Dominican)
WR/CB Cade Marquez '17
OL Macayne Bock '19 (Lake Erie)
OL Gunnar Robinson '18
OL Andrew Welch '21
TE/LB Zeke Brown '21 (Undecided)

Payton has the record for rushing yards in a season at 2,387 34 rushing tds probably a record too. 36 total tds on season. 16 career interceptions (6 at Chilli his sophomore year). Not sure about career tds, career all-purpose, and career yards rushing? He has to be tied for longest Ko return at 99. smurray should update the record books on for Waverly

Staff puts in an incredible amount of time and always give the credit to the kids! Their players love playing for them.

[transplant]

Who are some of the assistants? How long have they been there? Any of them wanting to be a head coach someday? Glad to see local schools have success. Def makes for a better league when more teams are competative.

[transplant]

Who are some of the assistants? How long have they been there? Any of them wanting to be a head coach someday? Glad to see local schools have success. Def makes for a better league when more teams are competative.

[MasterOfNone]

Who are some of the assistants? How long have they been there? Any of them wanting to be a head coach someday? Glad to see local schools have success. Def makes for a better league when more teams are competative.

F. Marquez and J. Boiln have been assisting with Waverly football for 10+ years I would say. Probably a lot more than just 10 but I have no idea of an exact number. I know Marquez was at Huntington for a little while at some point.

Z. Smith and D. Sand have been around for at least 6+ years.

T. Rowe maybe 2-3 years.

J. Knight started helping out right after he graduated in some shape or form, so that’s been about 8 years or so.

They had J. Belt help more this year so this was sorta his first year being just Varsity.

And they have a number of guys who help when they are doing the Jr. High.

Crabtree has put together a staff that is young for the most part and very enthusiastic and energetic. As a member of the staff you are expected to put tons of hours in, especially during season. No days off. Think they even meet 3-5 hours on Sunday’s.

As far as any current staff member wanting to be a head coach someday, I don’t know the answer to that. I wouldn’t be shocked if Coach Knight had aspirations of possibly wanting to run a program one day, because he was raised around coaching with his father. But I also know he is the definition of a Waverly Tiger and idk how interested he is in coaching elsewhere, at least at the HS level. I wouldn’t be shocked if Crabby ever decided to step away that Knight wouldn’t be interested if he was around. But again I have no idea on any of the individual coaches future plans. Im sure they are enjoying where they are.