2023-Post season interview with Head Coach Greg Bonifay Stebbins High School

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Name Greg Bonifay

School Stebbins High School

Position Head Football Coach

1 Heading into the 2022 season what was the one thing that worried you the most?
We had graduated some players at a few key positions both offensively and defensively. With that being said, you are always worried about how well any player replacing those positions will perform

2 How hard was it on you, the staff, and the players with the week one game against Aiken not being played? Also, why wasn't it played?
Week 1 was a situation that I had never experienced. We were scheduled to play Aiken in Cincinnati at an early afternoon start time. We get down there and before the game we have some thunderstorms roll through causing us to delay our start time. We finally started around 7:00. We were able to play the entire first half, and get through warm-ups after halftime. Right before the 2nd half kickoff, there was some lightning that occurred way off in the distance. The Refs blew the whistle and ran to their locker room. Before we knew it, they had left the stadium and we were unable to complete the game. I felt like both sides were extremely frustrated. We were up two scores and had held them to negative total yards in the first half.

3 After not playing in week one you guys got off to a hot start with two straight wins. Then a three-game losing streak. What was the biggest reason for this other than the stiffer competition?
During the first half of our Aiken game, our starting QB broke his hand and really missed the rest of the season minus a couple of games. We had to move some players around and put our returning All-State WR at the QB Position. So we had a few growing pains as we were facing some great competition.

4 During the 2022 season Stebbins had just three home games. What were the reasons for this?
We struggled to replace our Week 1 game after Northwestern dropped us, and eventually found Aiken, but they had to play us at their place, causing us to start out with only 4 home games. Then the Tuesday night before our Thursday Night Lights game against Butler, we had some electrical issues that just couldn’t get fixed in time for our game, so we had to move the game to Butler. This was a crazy situation since it was our Homecomings Game. I will say that I was proud of our athletic director during this week, as he did everything he could to get our lights and scoreboard fixed, but the parts just could not be found.

5 What Was the toughest part of the 2022 season?
We faced all kinds of adversity during the season. By the halfway point in the season, we were down our original starting QB, which caused us to move, in my opinion, one of the best WR in the area. Then the fact that we were on the road so much, made us feel like we were never at home. I felt like we let 2 or 3 games kind of slip away that would have changed the entire outcome of our season.

6 What was the best part of the 2022 season?
Our players at Stebbins are great kids. They took each setback in stride and I feel did a great job of making things happen. The best part of being here at Stebbins is the kids each and every year.

7 What was the biggest lesson you hope your team learned from the 2022 season?
In order to play hard, you have to practice hard. We at times feel we can go out and perform on game night without working hard all the time.

8 Can you tell the readers what seniors from last year's team will be heading to college to play ball and also which colleges are they headed to?
This year, Adrian Norton has already signed with Akron.
Damir Dewberry and Caydon Caudill will be somewhere, they just haven’t decided on where that will be.

9 During the 2022 season you guys had problems scoring. What was a few of the biggest reason for this?
We did have some growing pains after having to move some players around. Taking away an all-state WR and moving him to QB affects your passing game. We also lost another one of our playmakers for the 2nd half of the season, taking away another passing threat. We di average 23 points a game in league play.

10 You guys ended the regular season losing to Piqua then losing to them the following week in the playoffs. How hard was it getting the team up for the rematch and how hard was it facing them again, so soon?
I felt our kids were up for the rematch in week 11. During the season finale, we were right in that game, in fact were had all the momentum going in at half time of that game. Our kids played hard and we had opportunities to win Week 10, which made them excited to play them again, knowing that they can be successful. Piqua did a great job game planning for us in week 11, and came out and won the battle of the line of scrimmage, making it very difficult for us in that game.

[VetteMan]

Name Greg Bonifay

School Stebbins High School

Position Head Football Coach

1 Heading into the 2022 season what was the one thing that worried you the most?
We had graduated some players at a few key positions both offensively and defensively. With that being said, you are always worried about how well any player replacing those positions will perform

2 How hard was it on you, the staff, and the players with the week one game against Aiken not being played? Also, why wasn't it played?
Week 1 was a situation that I had never experienced. We were scheduled to play Aiken in Cincinnati at an early afternoon start time. We get down there and before the game we have some thunderstorms roll through causing us to delay our start time. We finally started around 7:00. We were able to play the entire first half, and get through warm-ups after halftime. Right before the 2nd half kickoff, there was some lightning that occurred way off in the distance. The Refs blew the whistle and ran to their locker room. Before we knew it, they had left the stadium and we were unable to complete the game. I felt like both sides were extremely frustrated. We were up two scores and had held them to negative total yards in the first half.

3 After not playing in week one you guys got off to a hot start with two straight wins. Then a three-game losing streak. What was the biggest reason for this other than the stiffer competition?
During the first half of our Aiken game, our starting QB broke his hand and really missed the rest of the season minus a couple of games. We had to move some players around and put our returning All-State WR at the QB Position. So we had a few growing pains as we were facing some great competition.

4 During the 2022 season Stebbins had just three home games. What were the reasons for this?
We struggled to replace our Week 1 game after Northwestern dropped us, and eventually found Aiken, but they had to play us at their place, causing us to start out with only 4 home games. Then the Tuesday night before our Thursday Night Lights game against Butler, we had some electrical issues that just couldn’t get fixed in time for our game, so we had to move the game to Butler. This was a crazy situation since it was our Homecomings Game. I will say that I was proud of our athletic director during this week, as he did everything he could to get our lights and scoreboard fixed, but the parts just could not be found.

5 What Was the toughest part of the 2022 season?
We faced all kinds of adversity during the season. By the halfway point in the season, we were down our original starting QB, which caused us to move, in my opinion, one of the best WR in the area. Then the fact that we were on the road so much, made us feel like we were never at home. I felt like we let 2 or 3 games kind of slip away that would have changed the entire outcome of our season.

6 What was the best part of the 2022 season?
Our players at Stebbins are great kids. They took each setback in stride and I feel did a great job of making things happen. The best part of being here at Stebbins is the kids each and every year.

7 What was the biggest lesson you hope your team learned from the 2022 season?
In order to play hard, you have to practice hard. We at times feel we can go out and perform on game night without working hard all the time.

8 Can you tell the readers what seniors from last year's team will be heading to college to play ball and also which colleges are they headed to?
This year, Adrian Norton has already signed with Akron.
Damir Dewberry and Caydon Caudill will be somewhere, they just haven’t decided on where that will be.

9 During the 2022 season you guys had problems scoring. What was a few of the biggest reason for this?
We did have some growing pains after having to move some players around. Taking away an all-state WR and moving him to QB affects your passing game. We also lost another one of our playmakers for the 2nd half of the season, taking away another passing threat. We di average 23 points a game in league play.

10 You guys ended the regular season losing to Piqua then losing to them the following week in the playoffs. How hard was it getting the team up for the rematch and how hard was it facing them again, so soon?
I felt our kids were up for the rematch in week 11. During the season finale, we were right in that game, in fact were had all the momentum going in at half time of that game. Our kids played hard and we had opportunities to win Week 10, which made them excited to play them again, knowing that they can be successful. Piqua did a great job game planning for us in week 11, and came out and won the battle of the line of scrimmage, making it very difficult for us in that game.

Do you believe it was a matter of the Offical's being upset that they had been at the game site for probably 7/8 hours, being that the game had been scheduled for an early afternoon start? I understand the delay any time that lighting has been spotted, and the fact that the game cannot resume for probably at least a half hour even if things clear up. What I don't understand is why the Offical's would not meet with both Coaches, and then determine if the game would be able to resume?

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Good questions.