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TORONTO -- The Toronto football team had high expectations for the 2022 season.
Unfortunately, the Red Knights came up short of reaching their lofty goals this year.
"We don't make any excuses," Toronto (6-5) head coach Josh Franke said. "Honestly, we did not make at as far as we would have liked. We had much higher expectations and aspirations this year. We wanted to go multiple rounds in the playoffs. Obviously, that did not happen. We wanted to compete for an OVAC championship. Obviously, that did not happen.
"Those are going to be our goals going forward. Our goals are not going to change. We want to have a winning record. We want to make the playoffs. We want to have a home game. We want to win multiple playoff games.
"That is we are going to stress to the kids. That is what is going to motivate us in the offseason.
"We want to take that next step with our program. We want to win multiple playoff games and compete for a regional title."
Toronto's season came to an end Friday night against Lucas in the first round of the Ohio Division VII Region 25 playoffs. The Cubs – the No. 10 seed – defeated No. 7 seed Toronto, 35-26, at Clarke Hinkle Field.
The visitors from Richland County led, 28-14, however, the Knights battled back and pulled within 28-26, though, that is as close as the hosts got as a game-tying 2-point conversion was unsuccessful as was the ensuing onside kick.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the hosts from Jefferson County.
"Absolutely, it was," Franke said. "It is the nature of a head coach to go back and watch the film. You second guess yourself. You wish you did some things differently. You wish you called a different play. You wish you responded differently.
"I'm extremely proud of the these guys fought back. It is extremely hard when you are down by 14 points, but we ended up being a 2-point conversion away from tying the game. I could not ask for more.
"We went on an impressive 99-yard drive to put us in that position. I couldn't be more proud of our offense and of Zeb for leading that 99-yard drive.
"We only had two seniors. That tells me how strong of a group we will have returning next year. The experience they got this year will pay dividends in the future."
The Red Knights won seven games on the field, however, Toronto had to forfeit its Week 10 victory against rival Catholic Central due to the use of an ineligible player.
Toronto did not have a big roster this season.
"We had 28 total," Franke said.
The good news in that department for Toronto is that the Red Knights will be returning nearly the whole team next year as this year's team only had two seniors – Zane Kinsey and Max Silverthorn.
Kinsey and Silverthorn will be difficult to replace.
"Absolutely," Franke said. "They will both end up playing college football at the D2 level or even higher.
"Zane is a once in a generation talent. You cannot replace Zane.
"Max is a four-year guy for us. Just size up front on the line was a big help to us. He's a 4.0 student. He's highly intelligent. His size on the line was a big factor for us on the offensive line.
"It is something we say every year. We don't know how we are going to replace these two guys, but it always seems like we find a way.
"Whoever steps in at tailback is going to have big shoes to fill.
"We have some younger guys who got experience who can fill in Max's shoes."
With only two seniors on the roster, many underclassmen – including some freshmen – gained valuable experience this season
"Absolutely," Franke said "At one point we started five freshmen during our injury stint. They got a lot of experience especially against Edison and Barnesville, and those were two undefeated teams. It was a case of trial by fire. They gained a lot of valuable experience.
"Landon Jaworski earned himself a starting spot at linebacker. He really played well the last five or six games.
"We had Heath Thomas on the defensive line. I think he's going to be really good.
"Caden McGrath played at cornerback. He's another freshmen. He played cornerback when Zane was out. He got a lot of experience. He's probably going to replace Zane at cornerback next year."