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Railroaders enter 2026 season focused on discipline, commitment and laying a foundation for the future

By Jim Freeman

BRADFORD — For the Bradford Railroaders, the 2026 football season is about more than what appears in the win column.

It is about building something.

After going winless a season ago and experiencing coaching changes in recent years, Bradford enters the new season under head coach Bill Trevino looking to establish consistency, discipline and a culture players want to be part of.

So far, Trevino sees an encouraging sign.

“They’re buying in,” Trevino said.

That may be a short statement, but for a program trying to change direction, it could be one of the most important developments of the preseason.

That commitment was evident during a recent Bradford practice. Despite having a roster of just 27 players, the Railroaders moved through a crisp, organized workout. Coaches controlled their individual stations, players moved with purpose between drills and there was a noticeable sense of structure throughout the practice.

Trevino spent much of the afternoon actively coaching his team, while members of his staff worked closely with their position groups.

The challenge facing Bradford is significant. With a small roster, many Railroaders will be asked to contribute on both sides of the football, making conditioning, health and depth particularly important as the season progresses.

Bradford does have experience to lean on.

The Railroaders' senior class includes Riley Gardner, Dallan Hewitt, Adam Hudelson, Morgan Hudelson, Bryce Miller, Ross Miller, Daniel Smith-Satterwhite, Johnathan Stewart, Rallie Wirrig and Raiden Wombold.

Wombold is listed at quarterback and free safety, while Bradford also has several other players capable of working under center, including junior Lucas Nicholson, sophomore DeShawn Keels and freshman Cayden Apple.

Bradford's roster also features a sizable junior class, including Gerard Flora, Nicholson, Ethan Osborne, Isaiah Purpus, Doolin Puterbaugh, Fenix Spurgeon and Hurley Spurgeon. Developing those players alongside the team's seniors could be important not only this fall but in creating continuity within the program moving forward.

There are also signs of growth surrounding the program itself.

Bradford's new athletic facility provides the Railroaders with an impressive home for athletics and represents an investment in the school's student-athletes. Now Trevino and his staff are working to build the football program to go along with it.

The Railroaders will have an opportunity to showcase that new direction immediately when they open the season at home Friday, Aug. 21, against Wickliffe.

Opening night will carry some additional significance for Bradford.

The school was selected as a Week 1 winner in T-Mobile's Friday Night 5G Lights competition and will receive $5,000 to support the football program. T-Mobile representatives are scheduled to present the check during halftime of Friday night's game. Bradford will also remain eligible to compete for the competition's $1 million grand prize.

For a football program working to create some momentum, the recognition provides another positive development as the new season begins.

But ultimately, Bradford's progress will be measured on the field — and not necessarily only by wins and losses.

Programs rarely change overnight. They change through expectations, repetition and players deciding they believe in what their coaches are asking them to do.

At Bradford, that process has begun.

And if Trevino's assessment is correct, the most important first step may already be happening.

The Railroaders are buying in.

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The Trojans return seven offensive starters and eight defensive starters from last year’s 7-4 team.

ARCANUM — The Arcanum Trojans have spent weeks competing against one another. Now, they are ready to line up against someone wearing a different uniform.

Head coach Matt Macy said his players are tired of practice and anxious to experience a real game. Macy is equally excited to begin his fifth season leading the Arcanum program.

That anticipation is supported by an experienced roster. The Trojans return seven offensive starters and eight defensive starters from a team that finished 7-4 overall and placed fourth in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference last season.

Macy believes Arcanum has developed into a well-balanced offensive team. Defensively, he has been encouraged by the speed and energy his players have displayed while flying around the football during preseason practices.

The Trojans enter the season with 43 players on the varsity roster, including 10 seniors, seven juniors, 13 sophomores and 13 freshmen.

MACY LEADS EXPERIENCED OFFENSE

Arcanum’s offense will again feature senior running back MJ Macy, who led the WOAC in rushing last season. The 5-foot-9, 195-pound back earned first-team All-WOAC honors and was named second-team All-Southwest District.

He will run behind an offensive line anchored by senior center Isaiah Frazee. The 6-foot, 265-pound Frazee was also a first-team All-WOAC selection last season.

Senior Connor Rogers returns at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds after receiving special mention from the conference.

The Trojans must replace two all-conference offensive linemen and another two-year starter from last season’s team. Junior Mason Kendig is expected to step in at left tackle, while Avery Bowser will take over another opening up front.

“They have some big shoes to fill, but they are coming along great,” Macy said.

Sophomore Weston Schmidt returns at quarterback after completing his first full season as Arcanum’s starter. Despite being only a sophomore, Schmidt brings valuable game experience into the new season.

He will have several proven options available in the passing game.

Junior Talan Stone presents an imposing target at 6-foot-6 and 180 pounds. Stone earned second-team All-WOAC honors last season. Sophomore Raysean Miles, another second-team all-conference selection, also returns at wide receiver.

Senior Bishop Cartwright has moved from quarterback to receiver and is expected to become one of Schmidt’s primary targets. At 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, Cartwright gives Arcanum another experienced and athletic option on the outside.

Arcanum operates primarily from a base I-formation, but Macy described the offense as multiple in the ways it can attack a defense.

With MJ Macy returning in the backfield, Schmidt gaining experience at quarterback and several capable receivers spread across the field, the Trojans believe their balance will make them difficult to defend.

DEFENSE BRINGS SPEED AND VERSATILITY

Frazee and Bowser will also contribute along the defensive line. Senior Colton Pool, a 6-foot-1, 245-pound lineman, is expected to move into a starting role up front.

Hudson Knaus will take over in the middle of Arcanum’s 3-3 stack defense. He will be joined at linebacker by Louie Powers and MJ Macy.

Cartwright returns at cornerback after earning All-WOAC recognition in the secondary. Junior Ross Wagner, a second-team All-WOAC selection, returns at free safety.

Macy believes the defense’s speed, quickness and versatility will be among the team’s greatest strengths. Throughout preseason practice, defenders have consistently shown the ability and willingness to pursue the football as a unit.

The primary point of emphasis will be improving the Trojans’ play on the perimeter and preventing opponents from breaking outside.

“We need to be better on the edges and keeping everything inside,” Macy said.

EXPERIENCED SPECIALISTS RETURN

Arcanum also returns two important contributors on special teams.

Cartwright is back after earning All-WOAC honors as a punter. Sophomore kicker Joey Marshall also returns.

The Trojans must replace an accomplished long snapper, but Macy said several players are capable of handling the responsibility.

Leadership on special teams is expected to come from the experienced players Macy asks to fill those roles.

TROJANS READY TO CHALLENGE WOAC’S BEST

Macy expects Tri-Village, Ansonia and Preble Shawnee to again be among the leading contenders in the WOAC.

Arcanum’s experienced lineup, offensive balance and defensive energy give the Trojans reason to believe they can challenge that group.

The team’s larger approach, however, will be to avoid looking too far ahead. Macy wants his players to concentrate on the opponent directly in front of them, appreciate the experience and continue improving throughout the season.

“Our goals are to go 1-0 each week, focus on each opponent and enjoy the process,” Macy said.

After a long preseason spent practicing against one another, the Trojans are ready to put that approach into action under the Friday night lights.

By Jim Freeman

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Augspurger

The Western Ohio Athletic Conference has named longtime educator, coach and athletic administrator Tony Augspurger as its new commissioner.

Augspurger brings nearly four decades of experience in education and high school athletics to his new role.

Augspurger, who spent 33 years as an English teacher and varsity basketball coach at Twin Valley South, also served 12 years as athletic director at TVS and five years as athletic director at Tri-County North.

After retiring from full-time employment in the summer of 2025, Augspurger now returns to a familiar athletic landscape to lead the 12-member WOAC.

His first official action as commissioner was the conference's athletic directors meeting July 29, although Augspurger began working on the transition with outgoing commissioner Frank Carr in May.

“My first official action as the WOAC commissioner was our AD meeting on Wednesday, July 29th, however, I began working on the transition with former commissioner Frank Carr in May,” Augspurger said. “Frank has worked extremely hard with me to make the changeover as smooth as possible.”

Augspurger succeeds Carr, a former National Trail athletic director who served as the WOAC's first commissioner.

The conference's leadership position traces its roots to longtime Cross County Conference Secretary-Treasurer John Butch, who served the CCC for approximately 30 years and played an instrumental role in helping form the WOAC.

Butch helped the 10 remaining CCC schools join with Dixie and Preble Shawnee to establish the new conference and was instrumental in writing its constitution. Following Butch's retirement, the conference transitioned from the secretary-treasurer position to a commissioner model, expanding the role to include serving as a public face of the conference, working with the media, attending events and presenting championship trophies.

When Carr announced his intention to step away, Augspurger initially began considering the job after several athletic directors jokingly suggested he should take over.

“It actually got me thinking about it since this past year was my first year of actual retirement,” Augspurger said.

After conversations with Carr and a meeting with the conference's hiring committee, Augspurger and conference officials agreed the position would be a good fit.

Augspurger's experience as an athletic director gives him a firsthand understanding of the demands facing the administrators with whom he will now work.

“Being an AD is a time consuming and often frustrating job that has a ton of changeover largely due to some of the logistics of the job,” Augspurger said. “It requires that ADs have somewhat of a teamwork approach with each other especially within a specific conference.”

His familiarity with the conference's athletic directors was among the factors that attracted him to the position.

“One of the biggest reasons that I wanted to take on this challenge was that I knew and have worked with the majority of the ADs in our conference for years and it's a really outstanding group,” he said.

Augspurger also brings a unique perspective to the WOAC because of his long association with its predecessor, the Cross County Conference.

He spent 33 years coaching in the CCC and served as an athletic director within the conference for 12 years. While he was disappointed to see the CCC dissolve, Augspurger believes the WOAC has proven to be an excellent fit for its member schools.

The CCC's breakup came amid concerns about increasing enrollment differences among schools, lengthy travel times and dissatisfaction with a 12-team football conference divided into divisions.

Ten former CCC schools — Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford, Franklin Monroe, Mississinawa Valley, Newton, Tri-County North, Tri-Village, Twin Valley South and National Trail — ultimately joined Dixie and Preble Shawnee to form the WOAC.

“I personally hated to see the conference end, however, after five years of the WOAC's existence, we can say unequivocally that we are off to a phenomenal start,” Augspurger said. “Honestly, I'm so excited to step in and represent the WOAC as our commissioner.”

The geography and relatively similar enrollment of its member schools have helped create natural rivalries while giving schools an opportunity to remain competitive.

The conference's success, however, has extended well beyond WOAC competition.

Four schools — Ansonia, Preble Shawnee, Tri-Village and Twin Valley South — have won football playoff games during the conference's first five seasons. At least two WOAC schools have won a playoff game each year, while Preble Shawnee and Ansonia have each reached regional championship games.

In boys basketball, Tri-Village was state runner-up in 2022 and has won a district championship in each of the conference's first five seasons. Preble Shawnee reached the state Final Four in 2024, while Franklin Monroe won a district championship in 2025.

Tri-Village captured the WOAC's first team state championship in girls basketball in 2023, while Arcanum and Mississinawa Valley have also won district championships.

Mississinawa Valley and Arcanum have captured district volleyball championships, while Newton finished as a regional runner-up in baseball and Arcanum has also earned a baseball district title.

WOAC softball programs have enjoyed significant postseason success as well. Bradford reached the state Final Four in 2022, during the conference's first year of competition, and Tri-Village captured the conference's second team state championship by winning the softball state title in 2025.

Ansonia finished as state runner-up in track, while WOAC athletes have also captured individual state championships. Dixie's Sierra Brinson won a state championship in the discus, Ansonia's Cade Shellhaas won a state pole vault championship and Ansonia's Bennett Lehman captured a cross country state championship before adding state titles in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in track.

“We are just off to an extremely successful start as a conference and are just looking and hoping to grow on that success,” Augspurger said.

One of Augspurger's priorities will be continuing to build pride in the WOAC and encouraging member schools to support one another during nonconference and postseason competition.

He points to the Midwest Athletic Conference as an example of a league whose members have successfully combined intense conference rivalries with a strong collective identity.

“We are a long way from being the MAC, but as a conference we are off to a good start,” Augspurger said. “I'm hoping that we get more with the mindset that out of conference victories and tournament success for WOAC schools benefit all of us. I want to try and encourage that mindset with all of our schools.”

Another change for the conference this year will be how the WOAC handles sports information and promotion.

Dale Barger is stepping away as the conference's sports information director after five years in the role. Augspurger credited Barger with playing an important part in promoting WOAC athletes, teams and accomplishments throughout the conference's early years.

“For five years he's done a great job of bringing all types of positive publicity to our conference, encouraging all the exciting things that happened,” Augspurger said.

Rather than replace Barger with one person, the conference will divide the sports information responsibilities between two individuals.

Eddie Mowen Jr. will cover National Trail, Preble Shawnee, Tri-County North and Twin Valley South in Preble County, along with Dixie and Newton. Jim Freeman will cover the conference's six Darke County schools — Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford, Franklin Monroe, Mississinawa Valley and Tri-Village.

Augspurger said the decision reflects both the amount of work involved in covering a 12-school conference and a desire to increase the exposure received by its athletes and teams.

“In discussing replacing him, we decided that it just made more sense to try to make that a two-person job rather than a one-person job because there's an awful lot to it,” Augspurger said.

“It's about bringing more publicity to our conference,” he added. “We're really looking forward to it because it was such a time-consuming job. We're really looking forward to trying to do it with two different people handling that.”

Augspurger said he does not anticipate major structural changes to the WOAC. Although other schools have expressed interest in the conference, expansion is not currently something league officials are seriously considering.

The WOAC currently has 10 football-playing members and 12 overall members, a format that allows the conference to operate without divisions.

“We know divisions have worked in some conferences and that they prefer that but we love being a ten-team football and 12 team overall conference,” Augspurger said.

Augspurger said he is looking forward to using the experience gained during his decades as a teacher, coach and athletic director to serve the conference in a different capacity.

“I'm excited to bring my experience to the WOAC and work with the ADs and other administrators in a slightly different capacity to continue to make our conference the very best it can be,” Augspurger said.

RICHMOND, INDIANA — Arcanum's Luke Stephens fired a 1-under-par 69 to earn medalist honors during the Western Ohio Athletic Conference Golf Preview at the Richmond Elks Country Club on Wednesday, July 29.

Stephens was the only golfer to finish under par. National Trail junior Josh Brubaker was runner-up with a 78, while Tri-Village junior Kohen Burns tied for third after shooting 80. Mississinawa Valley senior Jaxin Beanblossom also tied for third with an 80. Ansonia junior Ryder Sanders placed fifth with an 81, and Newton sophomore Gabriel Morse was sixth with an 82.

Arcanum also received rounds of 83 from junior Kaiden Hickey, 88 from senior Cohen Etherington, 89 from junior Cooper Tegtmeyer, 90 from senior Aiden Carlisle and 103 from junior Kale Kramer.

National Trail was paced by Brubaker's 78. Junior Wyatt Gebhart tied for 13th with an 87, junior Christian Rutan tied for 18th with a 90, freshman Gavyn Guthrie tied for 23rd with a 92, senior Charlie Cummings tied for 28th with a 96 and junior Lane Gebhart tied for 32nd with a 98.

Tri-Village's Burns led the Patriots with an 80. Sophomore Reggie Osborne tied for 10th with an 85, junior Brecken Gray tied for 18th with a 90, freshman Caleb Brinley tied for 25th with a 93, freshman Lincoln Dill tied for 38th with a 103 and senior Evan Duncan placed 54th with a 112.

Newton was led by Morse's 82. Freshman Slater Garber tied for seventh with an 83, senior Alec Schaurer tied for 10th with an 85, junior Atley Rapp tied for 45th with a 106, junior Will Weber was 51st with a 109 and sophomore Colt Brewer placed 58th with a 117.

Mississinawa Valley was led by Beanblossom's 80. Sophomore Bentley Manning tied for 18th with a 90, sophomore Casen Gower was 22nd with a 91, sophomore Cade Seubert tied for 28th with a 96, sophomore Cole Hanes was 50th with a 108 and sophomore Gavin Rehmert placed 52nd with a 110.

Preble Shawnee senior Gage Powers finished ninth with an 84. Junior William Gulley tied for 13th with an 87, freshmen Mason Moore and Brantley Cross tied for 32nd with 98s, junior Grant Buell was 36th with a 101 and junior Blaine Singleton tied for 38th with a 103.

Ansonia's Sanders led the Tigers with an 81. Sophomore Owen Kaiser placed 27th with a 95, sophomore Sam Evers tied for 28th with a 96, senior Bennett Lehman tied for 32nd with a 98, sophomore Landyn Kaiser tied for 48th with a 107 and junior Conner Riffle tied for 62nd with a 127.

Bradford was led by senior Treyton Sloan, who tied for 23rd with a 92. Junior Bronson Schnurpel was 31st with a 97, freshman Colby Hansen tied for 43rd with a 104, junior Brendan Hansen was 53rd with a 11.

Dixie was paced by sophomore Trace Huffman, who tied for 25th with a 93. Freshman Corbin Evans was 44th with a 105, senior Prestyn Hardin tied for 48th with a 107, freshman Liam Pennington tied for 55th with a 113, senior Garrett Williams was 59th with a 121 and junior Troy Rich tied for 62nd with a 127.

Franklin Monroe's top finishers were senior Reed Brumbaugh and senior Nathan Fenstermaker, who tied for 45th with rounds of 106. Junior Evan Klosterman tied for 55th with a 113, freshman Tristan Gilbert was 57th with a 115, freshman Max Sullivan placed 64th with a 140 and sophomore Dominic Bartolotta withdrew.

Tri-County North was led by junior Jack Puchalski, who placed 37th with a 102. Sophomore DJ Adkins tied for 38th with a 103, freshmen Landen Hans and Garrett Brown tied for 60th with rounds of 124.

Twin Valley South was led by Senior Parker Howard, who tied for 12th with an 86, sophomore Blake Mowell tied for 16th with an 89 and senior Trenton Ray tied for 38th with a 103.

RICHMOND, INDIANA — Tri-Village sophomore Lyla Brewer earned medalist honors with an 84 and led the Patriots during the Western Ohio Athletic Conference Girls Golf Preview at Beechwood Golf Course on Wednesday, July 29.

Brewer topped the field by 14 strokes, while teammate Kash Mead, a junior, finished second with a 98. Arcanum senior Adalyn Paul placed third with a 101, followed by teammate Sadie Waldo, a sophomore, with a 102. Arcanum juniors Brynn Byers and Brooklynne Eley tied for fifth with rounds of 105.

Tri-Village also received a 108 from sophomore Taytum Gray, who finished seventh overall. Sophomore Abby Hampton placed ninth with a 117, senior Kaylie Lytle tied for 12th with a 126 and senior Addie Pipenger finished 18th with a 130.

Arcanum rounded out its scoring with sophomore Olivia King, who placed 23rd with a 148. Freshman Chloe Rieman also competed for the Trojans.

Ansonia was led by freshman Layla Fullerton, who placed eighth with a 116. Junior Natalie Midlam finished 10th with a 122, senior Emma Brown was 11th with a 125, senior London Reichert placed 17th with a 129 and senior Sloane Gariety finished 24th with a 149.

National Trail was paced by freshman Maddie Browning, senior Ella Porter and senior Adley O'Conner, who tied for 14th after each carded a 128. Senior Allison Snyder added a 133 to place 19th.

Franklin Monroe sophomore Caroline Knight tied for 12th with a 126 to lead the Jets. Sophomore Keira Fenstermaker placed 20th with a 135, senior Anneliese English was 21st after completing 17 holes at 68-over par, freshman Adey Shellabarger finished 22nd with a 143 and freshman Raelin Fugate placed 25th with a 152.