Clay Schulte repeats as Sandusky Bay’s top player

For the second year in a row, Oak Harbor senior Clay Schulte has been named the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division's Most Outstanding Performer.
        He was named to the first team offense as a running back and the first team defense as a linebacker.
        Schulte talked about what it meant to earn that special distinction for the second time.
        "It means a lot," he said. "We have a great conference and a lot of great players, and for them to unanimously pick me, it lets me know all of my hard work has paid off."
        Schulte says he loves the game of football.
        "I just love the physicality of it. I love playing. I can't really describe it," he said. "There's nothing like being on the field before the whole town playing football."
        Schulte's statistics speak for itself. He has carried the ball 114 times for 1,015 yards and 23 touchdowns and caught 29 passes for 490 yards and eight touchdowns.
        In the 41-7 victory over Beachwood in the first round of the Division V playoffs, Schulte carried the ball 17 times for 82 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 35 yards.
        Any good running back knows it takes a great offensive line to open holes, and that certainly has been the case with the Rockets this season. Currently, Aiden Hall is filling in for Ronnie Gonzalez at center, and reserves Egan Bolander and Blake Dewitz have played a role in replacing injured teammates. Will Dowling and Reese Laughlin are the starting guards and Gabe Dowling and Parker Smith are the starting tackles.
        "Clay has excellent vision as a running back and always runs hard. You rarely see him tackled by one defender," said Oak Harbor coach Mike May. "He is also an excellent receiver. That makes him hard to defend because we can split him out in spread formations and he causes stress for opposing defenses."
        On defense, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Schulte has made 121 tackles.
        "Clay is the toughest football player I have ever coached and he also has the best instincts of any linebacker that I've ever been around. He is a tackling machine," said May. "He has school records in nearly every defensive category (in) our record (book). That is quite an accomplishment when you think of all the great defensive players that have come through this program."
        It's been quite a season for the Rockets, who were 11-0 heading into Friday’s Division V regional semifinal with Eastwood (11-0). Oak Harbor has won all of its games by at least 19 points and allowed more than 14 points in a game just once.
        Schulte's efforts have earned him a spot among the Oak Harbor football greats, players like Chad Schwartz, Roger Hamilton, Josh Osborne and Mark Konieczny.
        Schulte’s success can be traced back to his work ethic.
        "Clay is a three-sport athlete, which contributes greatly to the quality of football player he is. Even though he is in other sports, Clay still is committed to lifting all year," said May. "During the summer, he did extra workouts on his own at the stadium."
        One of the most impressive things about Schulte is the fact that he rarely takes a break.
        "Clay rarely comes off the field since he is a starter on offense and defense. He is also on nearly every special team," said May. "Clay never wants to come off the field.
        "He plays just as hard in the fourth quarter as he does in the first quarter. I have never seen him take a play off in practice or in a game for as long as I have known him. It seems like he never gets tired."
        Schulte comes from an athletic family. His father, Scott, the team's offensive coordinator, had a tremendous career as a running back in both high school and college. Schulte's sister, Hannah, had a fantastic soccer season, scoring 30 goals for a team that won the Bay Division and advanced to the Division II regional finals.
        Scott Schulte played football at Delphos St. John's and was named the D-V Offensive Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year in 1989. He led the Blue Jays to their first Midwest Athletic Conference title in 1989 and helped turn the program around. In fact, before winning that championship, there was talk that the program might be shut down, but that league title was a precursor for what was to come as St. John's has won six state championships since then.
        Scott then went on to an incredible collegiate career at Hillsdale College in Michigan. He graduated as the program’s all-time leading rusher with 4,495 yards and set a single-season school record of 1,582 yards rushing yards in 1992. He led the Chargers to the GLIAC championship that year, was the league's Player of the Year twice and was a two-time All-American. For his efforts, Scott was the youngest person to be inducted into the Hillsdale College Hall of Fame.
        Scott made it to the final cut with the Miami Dolphins in 1994 and had a tryout with the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1995 before retiring.