BLOOMDALE – The biggest question for football at all levels, is there going to be a season in 2020?
Greg Bishop, now in his fourth season as Elmwood’s head football coach, thinks there will be football in
some form.
“How it’s going to look I don’t know,” Bishop said. “We are being optimistic. We want the senior class to
have a last season of football.
“We are doing our part … to make sure there is a season,” he continued. “We are wearing masks, trying to
keep kids separated as much as possible. We are doing smaller groups of station work.”
In addition, the players and coaches are having their temperatures taken and if it’s over a 100, they are
sent home.
“We tell the kids there are things that are out of our control, let’s worry about what we can control,”
Bishop said. “If we focus on that we will be fine.”
On the field, the Royals were 1-9 in Bishop’s first season, then 2-8, and 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the
Northern Buckeye Conference in 2019.
“We are getting kids to buy in and the nice thing is they are getting familiar with our system,” Bishop
said. “We are running a high air-raid type of attack. When the kids get to their second year they just
roll.
“It makes it easier, a lot easier, instead of trying to fine tune things, instead of having to make
wholesale changes … We have a lot of depth, more than we thought we would have,” he continued. “This
year we have some two-way guys, but this is probably the first year we have had the least amount of
two-way players, as of right now.”
The Royals are working with between 55 and 60 players this season, many with experience and every
position is wide open.
“We have had tons of kids in the weight room. We average 50-plus kids in the weight room all summer.
That’s huge,” Bishop said.
Offensively, there are three lineman returning, six receivers, including seniors Daniel Duvall and Josh
Condon, quarterbacks senior Konner Logston and sophomore Hayden Wickard and sophomore running back Mason
Oliver.
Logston, who started his high school career as a freshman, was the NBC top quarterback last season
connecting on 140-of-285 passes for 2,183 yards and 20 touchdowns. Duvall was fourth in the conference
with 25 receptions for 564 yards. Condon was sixth with 24 receptions for 478 yards and he scored six
touchdowns.
Defensively, the Royals return experience with Duvall, Condon and Oliver in the secondary, several
linebackers, including Logston as an outside linebacker, and other players who have seen playing time up
front.
“We’re staying positive, hoping for the best and playing for the worst,” Bishop said.
Elmwood’s first scheduled game is Aug. 28 at North Baltimore.