Waite beginning another quest for City League title

Waite finished off the 2019 season with three straight Toledo City League wins — 44-0 over Scott, 16-10 over Bowsher and 38-14 over Rogers.

They were the only three wins of the season, but first-year coach Aaron Peacock hopes to ride the momentum into 2020.

Peacock, a 1998 Waite graduate who played under longtime coach Charlie Delker, was the wide receivers coach and head junior varsity coach under Brian Lee.

“So, I’ve been around the program for a while, plus I’m an east side guy,” Peacock said. “I know the struggles that they go through, and I want them to be successful, so we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to make them successful.

“Practices have been going well. We don’t have too many injuries — we have one significant injury, but all-in-all we’ve been looking good. These guys are working hard and I’m going to expect some good things from them this season.”

Peacock believes he has the talent to make a run at a City title.

“We have a lot of young guys who are talented. We’ve still got a good corps of seniors who came in from last year,” Peacock said. 

“Some of them, like Nikolas Heslet, got some significant playing time. He was the No. 2 receiver in all the City League, but he’s going back to quarterback this year. We’re loaded with sophomores who are just exceptional. We’ve got a big offensive line that I think averages about 260 pounds or better, so we’ve got a line that can actually protect us and I think we can run the ball pretty well this year.”

At wide receiver last year, Heslet caught 24 passes for 606 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 25.3 yards per catch. That was fourth best among the 10 football teams in the Eastern Maumee Bay community, earning him honorable mention Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press honors.

“Nikolas Heslet is going to be the leader of the team,” Peacock said. 

Heslet will be leading a spread offense that hopes to get plenty of athletes a chance to show what they can do on the football field.

“We’re going to keep it all wide open,” Peacock said. “We’ve got a couple athletes who can take it to the house, so we want to get them in open space and let them do what they do best.”

Leading the line on both sides of the ball is senior Markeith Woodmore, who may line up at nose tackle, or any one of two other positions on defense. It depends on where he is needed.

“At defensive tackle, end, and guard, Markeith Woodmore is going to be a force in the City League, to be honest. He’s a wrecking crew at 6-foot-1, 285. He’s nimble and plays basketball, so he’s got good feet.”

“Senior wide receiver Makye Moore is also going to be a force in the City League. Morell Jordan, a senior tight end — we expect a lot of big things out of him. He’s been the leader since day one and since he stepped into the role of senior this year, and I’m confident with those guys that they are going to take the program to something special this year,” added Peacock.

Continuing the Boose family line is junior Jayven Boose, who was an HM All-Press selection at defensive back as a sophomore last year. This year, he will contribute at cornerback, wide receiver and may play some quarterback.

It has been a bumpy ride for the Waite team, weight lifting last winter, getting off to two-a-days in early August, and then hearing the football season was canceled. 

“It was interesting,” Peacock said. “We came out in February, we were lifting strong, had to stop, and then we came back and got it going again, but had to stop again. It was kind of tough, but I told them to hold on and things are going to work out, and they actually did for us. They are out here, and we’ve got good numbers.”

But now the season is back, and Waite has a five-game City League schedule that begins this upcoming Friday at Rogers, kickoff at 6 p.m.

“I think they are excited about it,” Peacock said. “Honestly, with all of the stopping and starting it was tough, so for us to have a game next week these guys are really ecstatic about it and they are ready to play football.”