my kid, again

[Trilby]

Here's my boy again!

Coach, football standout score one more shot at win
Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:14 AM
By Tom Reed

The Columbus Dispatch

COURTESY of TAYLOR HITZFIELD
Taylor Hitzfield of Fredericktown, picking up yardage against Danville

Taylor Hitzfield is spending his summer stocking shelves, lugging patio stones and loading 40-pound bags of mulch into customers' cars at a home-improvement store in Mount Vernon.

Who needs offseason conditioning with a job like that?

"It requires a lot of lifting and carrying heavy items," said Hitzfield, a recent graduate of Fredericktown High School. "But I don't mind it."

His work ethic wasn't one of his strongest qualities until he began playing for Freddies football coach Luke Beal. Nobody doubted the teen's potential, but Beal wondered aloud whether the tight end was willing to try.

"I was pretty lazy as a freshman," Hitzfield said.

He and Beal have experienced much together in helping to turn around the Freddies' program.

They will enjoy one more game, Saturday in Ohio Stadium: Player and coach will represent Fredericktown on the South squad in the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association North-South Classic.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound grad can't think of a better way to cap his high-school career before joining the University of Toledo football team as a preferred walk-on.

Hitzfield could become the first student-athlete from the small Knox County school to play Division I football since the 1980s, Beal said.

"Ollie Cline played for Ohio State, but that was in the mid-1940s," he said, also noting that Fredericktown's Earl Bechtel played for OSU in the 1950s.

"We haven't had a lot of Division I players."

Four years ago, Hitzfield didn't seem like a prime candidate. During his freshman season, he skipped practice to attend a Cincinnati Bengals game on a Monday night. The Freddies were mired in a 1-9 season and playing six freshmen on a roster of just 35 kids.

The next day, the coach -- trying to change the culture of a program that hadn't produced a winning season since 1990 -- called out Hitzfield in front of his teammates.

Hitzfield showed initiative his sophomore year, when the Freddies improved to 6-4, and took greater strides the next summer.

"He made a huge transformation," said Beal, 36. "He became a hard worker and leader."

Fredericktown made the playoffs after the 2006 and '07 seasons. With Hitzfield playing tight end and defensive end, the Freddies went 10-3 last season and reached the Division V regional finals.

The co-captain caught 41 passes for 566 yards and eight touchdowns, and recorded eight sacks and 54 tackles.

"Taylor was part of the most competitive group of seniors I've ever been around," said Beal, who will coach defensive ends in the North-South game. "These guys played with so much chemistry and helped set the foundation for our program."

The Freddies have more than 50 kids out for football. Hitzfield is pleased for his coach, who came under fire four years ago for the program's struggles.

Beal's teaching ability goes beyond the X's and O's of a playbook, Hitzfield said.

"I had him for government and economics. He is a smart guy on and off the football field."

treed@dispatch.com