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‘He did so much for kids’
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
South Adams (9-3) at North Miami (9-3), 7 p.m.
(Winner plays LaVille-Pioneer winner in a Class 1A semistate)
The North Miami football team is back in the Class 1A regional, relying on a Flexbone rushing attack, a veteran offensive line and an unheralded defense, according to coach Joe Grant.
Meanwhile, they and the rest of the North Miami community mourn Tim DuBois, who spent 44 years as a teacher and 51 years coaching football and other sports at North Miami. He also spent 10 years as North Miami’s athletic director.
Tonight’s regional against South Adams will be played at the field that was named in his honor in 2019.
DuBois died Sunday just nine days before he was to turn 80. Two days after this game, his visitation will be held at the school from noon-7 p.m. this Sunday.
North Miami coach Joe Grant graduated from the school and is himself the son of a coach. He was asked how DuBois affected him personally.
“Personally, coach DuBois for me, I can go back to being a little kid in kindergarten doing the youth wrestling,” Grant said. “My dad came back. … My dad was in the military and came back, and started helping Coach right away with football and wrestling, and coach DuBois was the head wrestling coach and the o-line coach for football. I remember being around Coach when I was a little kid, and I remember being scared of him. You know, wrestling practice.
“But then you grow up, and I was around him in junior high. He was a guy that taped my ankles every game for me in football even though he wasn’t my football coach. He took the time for me to do those things when he didn’t have to. He was going to go coach at Southwood that week, but by God, he’d stay right up to the end of the day. I’d go down, he’d tape my ankles, and then he’d get on the road.”
Grant then talked about how DuBois dedicated his life to the students at North Miami.
“He did so much for kids,” Grant said. “And he was my teacher. He taught health, strength and conditioning. I’m a teacher now. I teach the same thing he did. He was my German teacher. I took German for years. In all those roles, he held kids accountable, but he always showed you that he cared about you. He would chew you up and down, but then he’d give you a bear hug later, and you would know that he cared about you.”
DuBois later helped out Grant when he took the North Miami coaching job in 2017. He was still a regular at wrestling matches and football games “rain or shine” until recently.
“And then as an adult, he was on my staff,” Grant said. “He was my o-line my first year back at North Miami. I don’t think I’d be where I’m at without Coach there. A lot of coaches on our staff too. I don’t know if a lot of us would be where we’re at in life, not just coaching football, without coach DuBois being there for us. He was a great man. He’s been around. He coached with us until he got real sick. He was at every Thursday practice a couple years ago. Our kids were around him. My own kids knew coach DuBois.
“I just think for years, throughout his career and throughout his life, he just proved he would always be there for his people. He was there for his family, his granddaughter Abby. He went to Peru, and by God, he went to those softball games. He went to everything to support her and to support his kids. It didn’t matter. He was always there for his people.”
Back-to-back sectional champions
North Miami’s sectional title is their sixth in school history, and it also marks the second time they have won back-to-back sectionals. They also claimed a pair of sectionals in 1993-94, and it remains the most successful two-year run in school history. The 1993 team went on to win state, and the 1994 team won the regional before falling to North White in the semistate.
Bob Bridge coached that team, and DuBois was one of his assistants.
This year’s offense, like that 1993-94 offense, is known for its rushing attack. When he is not carrying the ball himself, quarterback Hartley Hoover, an imposing player who weighs over 200 pounds, is giving it to running backs Ryan Meredith and Lake Musall.
“Lake Musall does not avoid contact,” Grant said. “He seeks it out. Ryan Meredith, he’s not afraid of contact, but Ryan, he moves his hips a little bit better. He’ll attack half the man more whereas Lake looks to win the battle of physicality at all times, yards be damned. That’s Lake’s running style, pretty smash mouth, and Meredith is a little more finesse, but both of them do some damage.”
North Miami also has four seniors and junior Logan Smith on its offensive line.
“O-line is really our strength,” Grant said. “Has been all year. I felt like they’ve been playing well all year, but the scary thing is they have gotten better. We’re fortunate. We’ve got four seniors up front and a junior. And if I’m being honest, our junior’s pretty much a senior too. By about Week 4 of his freshman year, Logan … has been starting. He is a very, very good football player. He comes from a very tough family, a good family. His brother (Austin) played for us, played tailback for us a few years ago and rushed for about 1,700 yards in a season. But (Logan) is an o-d-lineman for us, and he’s a heck of a linemen.
“And then we’ve got our seniors – Si Freeman up there, Kamren Whann. Kamren is 270 pounds, and Si Freeman is just so fast. And then you've got Zeph Reshkus is a guy who moved from tight end two years ago for us to o-line, and then we’ve got Jordan Simon, who’s been a three-year offensive lineman for us and an all-state linebacker. Those guys are phenomenal up front. They communicate well, and I tell you what, we’re fortunate to have those guys.”
Grant, who is also the offensive play caller, said having those weapons and that offensive line means that “it’s no secret” as to how they try to move the ball but at the same time “opens the flood gates” for him as a coach.
“We got Meredith on one side and Musall on the other,” Grant said. “You can go any play to the left and any play to the right, and our o-line’s so strong, we feel like we can do the same as well. So, if anything, it’s made us way more balanced. And I’ve got people that ask, ‘Hey, do you try to even out their carries like you do?’ It’s complete dumb luck. … We don’t sit there and try to just feed one guy. We’re going to take what the defense gives us. We’re going to try to exploit people, and our guys are just very unselfish.
“They block for each other. We have a saying for receivers and our backs: ‘no block, no rock.’ If you do not block for other people, you will never touch that football.”
On the other side of the ball, North Miami has cut their defensive scoring average from 32 two years ago to 20 last year to 16 this year. They held Fremont, a team that had scored 40 or more points seven times, to just 121 yards of offense in a 51-7 win in the Sectional 43 final last week.
Brian Raber is the defensive coordinator.
“We’ve played very well at times throughout the year,” Grant said. “We’ve shut some teams out, given up one score. And then you look at other scores where hey, yeah, you gave up 30 points, but three of those scores were on our JV late in the game because we’re trying to get guys experience. We don’t really care about numbers like that. We’re not out there chasing shutouts, so I think our defense has been pretty darn good all year. … Our best game was Fremont, and really our best game has been the last three or four weeks where our kids have been able to be aggressive. … Coach Raber’s done a great job of putting them in a position on defense to go out there and just pin our ears back and go. Our best defensive ball has been the last few weeks.”
Regional rematch
North Miami lost to South Adams 40-21 in last year’s regional in Berne. Now they meet again.
Coach Grant Moser won his sixth sectional in 11 years last week in a 42-14 win over Hagerstown. The Starfires went 1-9 in his first season in 2015, but they have had 10 straight winning seasons since.
Ranked No. 10, South Adams’ three losses this year have been to Marion Local, a four-time defending state champion from Ohio; Class 2A, No. 9 Bluffton; and Class 2A, No. 1 Adams Central, who is undefeated and looking to repeat as state champions.
Grant said they have been watching film of last year’s meeting to help prepare for Friday.
“As coaches, we’ve watched quite a bit just because we feel like there were some things we did last year that we don’t want to do again as far as a play calling standpoint,” Grant said. “We know we’re a different ball team than last year, so we’re not festering on that or anything, but you want to learn from some of your mistakes. And at the end of the day, we want to run what we run. They run what they run. So we’d be crazy not to look at it last year a little bit. They’ve got a lot of their backs back, so they do a lot of the same schemes, but more of watching us to make sure we don’t make some of the same mistakes we made last year.”
Facing South Adams means facing a spread passing attack helmed by senior quarterback Tytus Lehman. Lehman threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns against North Miami last year. He threw six touchdown passes last week against Hagerstown in the Sectional 44 final, and he threw 14 touchdown passes in three sectional games.
Top targets include the senior wide receiving duo of Wesley Summersett and Derek McKean, both of whom have 70 catches. Meanwhile, running back Will Patterson has accounted for 972 yards of total offense – 665 rushing and 307 receiving.
“Strategically, they take their shots, down and distance-wise,” Grant said. “They’ll take their shots deep, but when they need a play, they like to get to the sticks. They like to run their hitches and outs on third down and medium wherever they need it. And they’re good at it. The biggest thing is for us we’ve got to make Lehman uncomfortable. It’s not rocket science. It’s football.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to cover and tackle better than they can complete passes. We can’t let that quarterback scramble around willy-nilly.”
