Leppla has West Holmes football team working hard this summer
First-year West Holmes football coach Keaton Leppla has been busy this summer preparing his team for what they hope will be another successful season on the gridiron.
West Holmes has been busy this summer preparing for the upcoming football season.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of time and work,” first-year coach Keaton Leppla said. “We’re hoping those results will pay off.”
A typical June week featured four days of workouts. The players split into three groups and rotated between 30-minute speed, lifting and power groups.
A highlight of those June workouts was when the program’s leadership group members presented to their teammates what the program’s pillars are and what they mean to them.
“We’ve done a lot of work, but we’ve also spent some time getting to know each other and building that rapport, not only between me and the players, but me and the staff and then the team as a whole,” Leppla said. “I feel like we’re in a really good place. We’re coming together really well as a team.”
The workouts progressed to more standard-type practices and seven-on-seven competitions against other schools once the calendar flipped to July. Implementing offensive and defensive schemes and getting a ton of reps doing them is a key focus of July practices.
“It’s always good to have competition,” Leppla said about seven-on-sevens. “Competition breeds success, so we want our kids to be able to compete all the time. It’s also nice to compete against somebody in an opposite-color jersey. We’re kind of just looking in those days to make sure we got kids in the right spot (and) make sure that we’re executing (and) kind of find our rhythm of where our bread and butter is going to be with this team. What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses?
“It also allows us before camp to get a gauge on what specific areas we need to work on. (We can see that) these specific concepts are going to be really good for us or maybe these aren’t as good and tweak them a little bit.”
The Knights lost their offensive play caller when Zach Gardner stepped down as head coach this past offseason. Leppla said it won’t be groundbreaking with what they do differently on offense this season compared to previous years.
The seven-on-seven competitions give the coaching staff a better chance to evaluate what changes they want to make on both sides of the ball compared to what they can glean from standard practices.
“When we get into the seven-on-sevens, there’s going to be a little bit of rough draft,” Leppla said. “We’re going to let our kids compete. We’re going to let our kids perform in these seven-on-sevens and kind of tailor it to what we see there and what we are currently seeing in our practices. We’re going to be spread, but we’re going to run the football. Defensively, we’re going to be aggressive.
“That’s where we’re at right now. We could talk in a month, and it could be different. The thing for me is I’m not going to force kids into a mold. We as coaches are going to mold around what our kids are good at. That’s the biggest thing. We want to put our kids in a position to succeed, and we’re not going to force them into something that we want to be. We’re going to force them into what’s going to give our team and each individual the most success.”
Leppla said figuring out the logistics with some of the program’s back-end stuff has taken some time.
“I think the biggest thing is just getting into systems for not only myself and the athletic department, but creating systems for me and our coaches and just providing clear expectations on what I expect from our players, what I expect from our coaches, what our players expect from me (and) what our coaches expect from me,” he said. “Just building everything right now, building the program that we want to have and all the stuff that we’re working out to make it a smooth transition, not only for me, but for our kids and for our staff as well as administration within the school.”
West Holmes has reached the regional semifinals the past four seasons including a state semifinals berth in 2021. After winning three consecutive Ohio Cardinal Conference titles, the Knights came up short last year of making it a four-peat.
Returning to the top of the OCC standings and making another lengthy postseason run remain the program’s standard.
“We’re excited,” Leppla said. “I think I’ve said it before, but I don’t take (being head coach at my alma mater) lightly. Our kids and our coaches are busting their tails because it’s important to us. The community’s been great. The administration has been great. It’s been great. It’s been an easy transition for me. We’re excited, but we’re hungry.
“We want that success, and we have lofty goals, and we’re taking the right steps to achieve those goals. We feel like we’re in a really good spot. We’re going to keep moving forward and keep grinding away, and then next thing you know it’s going to be (the start of the) season. We’re excited, but there’s a sense of urgency that we have work to do.”