High school football preview: Lorain hopes to fit in at new home in GCC

It is a new year and for Lorain High that means a new opportunity as a newcomer in the Greater Cleveland Conference. With the longstanding Lake Erie League dissolving after last season, the Titans went looking for a new conference home and they quickly found one in the GCC. "Oh, yeah, there's definitely going to be a different level of competition that we're going to see, and we're definitely going to be playing some teams that are going to have more kids than we have," Titans coach James Boyeas said. "Ultimately, in terms of how we prepare, it really hasn't changed anything. We believe in what we do offensively, defensively and in terms of the entire program, so we just attack it the same as we did last year." Following a 15-year stretch of being the lone Division I school in the LEL, the Titans join their new conference with Mentor, Strongsville, Medina, Brunswick, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Euclid. Like Lorain at No. 6, Cleveland Heights (No. 9), Strongsville (No. 8) and Mentor (No. 1) were all top-10 seeds in the Division I, Region 1 playoffs last year. Mentor advanced to the regional final. "We're talking daily about how we have to one, control what we can control, and two, play the next play," Boyeas said. "We're always going to look forward and ultimately, if you look at the entire schedule, you could probably get a little bit overwhelmed. But we talk about it all the time. We've just got to be 1-0 this week." In order to drive home the point of focusing strictly on the week of work in front of them, Boyeas added a veteran coach to his staff in Mike Smith. Smith has made stops at the high school, college and professional ranks, including a 30-year tenure at Baldwin Wallace University, as well as stops at Oberlin College (2022-24) and seven seasons with the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League. A retired Lorain City Schools teacher, Smith has been working closely with the Titans' running backs throughout preseason camp. "From our first phone conversation, and then, meeting him after that, he's forgotten more football than I've ever known and he brings a lot of experience and has the ability," Boyeas said. "He knows our kids, he understands our kids. He has the ability to relate to our kids, and ultimately that's the biggest part. When you've got the opportunity to bring somebody in with the level of experience and expertise that Coach Smith has, you'd be dumb not to take him on staff in a heartbeat." While familiar with the players on the roster, Smith is adjusting in his return to the high school game. Smith knows Lorain County football as he coached at Amherst (1979-1982), Elyria West (1983-85), Lorain (1985-89) and Admiral King (1989). "He's a good coach, so he's being way too humble," Smith said of Boyeas' compliment. "I don't know if all the years that you coach means you forgot more stuff than anybody else. Working with Coach Boyeas has been good so far. He's a motivator. He's a hands-on coach. It's been a good experience so far." Smith's reintroduction to the high school game comes at a critical time for the Titans. Not only are they going into a new league, but they are doing so without their top two running backs from last year — Jairo Williams and Ocir Kimble. Williams earned All-Ohio first-team status after rushing for 460 yards on just 59 carries and turning 48 receptions into 1,119 yards with 25 total touchdowns. Kimble earned All-Ohio third-team honors after rushing for 859 yards with nine touchdowns. "We're going to do things similar to the way we did them last year where we're going to use multiple running backs in each game and guys are going to split carries," Boyeas said. "Of course, we're going to ride the hot hand, but we've got Toriano (T.J.) Allen Jr. coming back. Jay'l Diaz, who's a real physical runner, is also coming back. He had a few touchdown runs and a lot of carries last year. "Zion Moore and John Harrison, those two guys are going to be, I think, in our top four. As long as we're staying healthy, guys are going to be carrying the ball for us." Contact Matt Florjancic at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.