HAMILTON — The Hamilton High School football team is becoming an established program for winning. It was evident by a successful 2023 season that included Big Blue’s first-ever postseason victory.
Now, Hamilton coach Arvie Crouch says it goes a little deeper than that.
“When you’re dealing with some kids that we have to deal with, that’s a battle,” Crouch said. “They just don’t understand. I’ve always said that you have to learn how to win. Not only to just get the W’s, you have to learn how to act. We’re trying to develop a program that’s a winning program. So far so good.
“The key for us is just being humble,” Crouch added. “We’re not used to winning around here, to be honest. We had to deal with some stuff during the offseason about just being humble, being urgent and not taking anything for granted.”
Crouch is entering year three at Hamilton, which has gone 11-12 under his watch. The Big Blue knocked off Sycamore 13-10 to record their first playoff win in school history last season.
Hamilton — which has reached the playoffs each of the last five seasons — went 7-2 in the Greater Miami Conference, marking its best conference finish since going 5-2 in 2010.
“We don’t play around,” Crouch said. “I’m old school. I’ve got my expectations, but I’ve got a great staff that holds them accountable, too. We’re just trying to do things right and teach our kids the right way in a crazy world.
“But we’re in the GMC. It ain’t no joke. Everybody else is working hard. Everybody else has got dudes. It’s all about execution and discipline and being humble.”
Crouch compared and contrasted Hamilton’s last-second loss to then-unbeaten Princeton and the kickoff return victory against Sycamore a season ago.
“It’s one of those where we’re on the fence,” Crouch said. “But I think we’re way above average as far as talent and strength — as far as physical strength and stuff like that with our kids now.
“What I try to point out to the kids last year is that we could have been 6-4, but we could have been 10-0. It’s one of them little tiny factors that we’ve got to control. And we didn’t control them sometimes — whether it’s lack of experience.”
Senior Antonio Mathis Jr. is back at quarterback. He threw for a GMC second-best 1,557 yards. His favorite receiver is senior R.J. Shepherd, who has 52 career receptions for 622 yards and eight touchdowns.
Senior wide receiver Cairon Navey is back after logging second team All-GMC honors last season. He had 28 catches for 352 yards as a junior. Conner Stephens, a junior, has the kicking game on lock.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior lineman and Iowa State commit Trey Verdon has 147 total tackles and 15.5 sacks in his career.
Senior Carter Isaacs returns in the secondary and was named first team All-GMC last season. He has 138 tackles and an interception in his career.
Junior linebacker C.J. Bryant is back after getting second team All-GMC honors. Also returning is junior lineman Mason Holbrook, who had 54 tackles last season. Senior linebacker Gracen Goldsmith will help anchor the Big Blue defense by manning the middle once again.
“We’re hungry, very hungry,” Goldsmith said. “We’ve got to keep our foot on the gas. We can’t get too comfortable. We need to play every game like it’s our last. I feel like a lot of the time, we just get too comfortable. We all need to put our foot on the gas. No brakes at all.”
Other players to keep an eye on for the Big Blue are seniors Noah King (WR/DB) and Xavier Burnett (OL), juniors Robbie Flack (OL), Jayden Lewis (WR/DB) and Jordan Bryant (WR/DB) and sophomore Elijah Jones (WR/DB). King, a shutdown corner and transfer from Fairfield who has 21 career catches and six touchdowns, recently committed to Kansas State.
“I don’t know,” Crouch said of what kind of fingerprint Big Blue will have in 2024. “We’ve got a big stretch at the beginning of the year that is really going to test us. So, we’ve got to be ready to roll.”
Hamilton opens things up with city rival Badin at Fairfield on Aug. 24, then travels to Lakota West for Week 2, hosts Lakota West in Week 3 and heads to Mason in Week 4.
“We can’t take any breaks. There’s no breathers,” Crouch said. “We’re trying to create a state championship atmosphere around here, and our expectations are just that — win a state championship, win a GMC championship. That takes no weeks off.“In Region 4 in the state of Ohio, Division I, it’s one of the best regions in the country. We’ve got to be ready to roll, and I think we are. I think they are. They’re working their tails off.”
2024 HAMILTON BIG BLUE SCHEDULE
