Gilmour Academy Football Coach Keeps Aim Forward

The only place football coach Shawn Dodd can look is up – after all, a 1-9 record the season before tends to have that kind of impact on a person’s psyche.

A coach tries not to dwell on the details of such misery, like an ill-timed injury, a tough schedule or the right break here or there that would’ve changed things for the better.

Dodd and the Lancers just carry onward, getting prepared for the upcoming season with in preparation for their season opener against Beachwood on Aug. 25.

Coming into this season, he’s retained most of last year’s squad, a little humbled but wiser for the experience that disappointment brings.

Dodd, 39, believes he might have a few top-level performers on his squad and he can’t wait to get out there to show everybody in Northeast Ohio.

Coach Dodd, in his second season at Gilmour Academy, sat down briefly with Mayfield-Hillcrest Patch on Tuesday to discuss his team’s prospects for the season and what he expects from his crew.

How is camp going?

We’ve had a great camp. We’ve had a great offseason. The numbers (35 on the roster for Week 1) are good as far as participation. The kids have a great attitude this season.

Who’s standing out in camp right now?

Some of the kids who really stand out are Benoit Mapango, a senior running back-cornerback. He’s been doing a really nice job for us. Two others that really stick out for us would be (Associated Press All-District 2011). He’s a pretty good player. And Parker Berzin. Those are the three who are having a really nice camp so far.

So what are your expectations for this season?

We just take care of Gilmour football. We don’t worry about setting the goals: How many wins or anything like that. We just concentrate on getting better and putting last year behind us. One nice thing is we have a lot of experience because we were so young last year. We used a lot of freshman and sophomores. This year, they’re all back. We lack seniors; we only have two in the program (Mapango and Kevin Sonnhalter). We do have a lot of leadership. Our junior class is really taken control of that. (Junior) Matt Botek, our quarterback, has been a great leader for us.

What happened last year?

Underclassmen and injuries. We didn’t play a single game with our 11 starters. We were missing at least two kids in every game due to injury or illness. And that’s not to make excuses; that’s just what we had. By the time we finished the season, we had two freshman and three sophomores starting on our offensive line. We had to go through some growing pains last year, but like I said, we’ve got a lot of experience and we’ve got everybody back. And not trying to look too far ahead, but we’ve got the whole entire team back next year, too.

What is your favorite food?

Banana bread.