Good practices are making a difference for Cortner and Northmont (3-0) this season, and the Thunderbolts hope that success will carry over to the Greater Ohio Western Conference portion of their schedule, which begins Friday at Fairmont. Last year they started 4-0 before losing five straight and finished the regular season 5-5.
“Practice — that’s the number one key,” Cortner said. “We practice way harder with a purpose than last year. I feel like we just came out here and we were trying to get through it, get this done, and we didn’t really take advantage of the two hours we have out here.”
Cortner, a senior and third-year starter, isn’t alone in his assessment of why this season can be better.
“Everybody took practice as this horrible thing,” senior wide receiver Dalin Wilkins said of last year. “This year we’re excited to practice. We’ve got our big group chat and we’re texting every morning, ‘Let’s go,’ ‘Let’s get it,’ ‘Stack days,’ all of that. We’re just more motivated as a team. If it isn’t this year, then when is it?”
The mindset change was evident to Dorian Brew, a junior cornerback and receiver, who isn’t resting on the Division I offers he has from schools like Ohio State and Notre Dame.
“I have seen a lot of maturity from a lot of players from last year to this year,” he said. “I can really see that everybody is taking it more serious and trying to perfect their craft.”
Cortner and Wilkins put on such a display in Friday’s 47-16 victory over Dunbar. Wilkins, who is committed to Eastern Michigan, set a school record and tied a state record with six touchdown receptions that totaled 202 yards. Wilkins is the seventh in Ohio to catch that many touchdowns and the first since 2015. Cortner threw six touchdown passes. The school record belongs to Tyler Horner, who threw eight against Springfield North in 2015.
“That’s a record me and my quarterback have been talking about going for a while,” Wilkins said. “Dunbar was the game to do it the way they’re set up on defense.”
Cortner became the starter in 2021 the season after Cade Rice’s big season when the Thunderbolts finished 8-0. Cortner’s numbers have risen each year, and he is at 59.7 completion percentage this season with 733 yards and 13 touchdowns.
“Games, I can say, have slowed down a lot more,” he said. “I’m more decisive with the ball and knowing where I want to go with what’s the mismatch. Sophomore year being thrown in the fire, I’m not going to say I didn’t have control, but I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time.”
Cortner is on pace to surpass 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, which could put him atop the school’s career lists in most passing categories.
“We got through it together and we bonded over it,” Broering said of Cortner’s learning curve as a sophomore. “He’s a great kid and I love him. He’s playing phenomenal, he understands what we’re trying to do, and he really understands the game. Nothing really surprises him anymore. He learned the hard way.”
The rest of the offense is learning like Cortner had to, and he’s impressed with their progress. There are four new starters on the offensive line, two of them sophomores, and sophomores at running back and other receiver positions. But the defense has a mix of youth and experience led by Works, Brew and an experienced front four of Josiah Belton, Jordan Coleman, Tyler Jones and Ed Jones. They are being coached by new defensive coordinator Eric Gillespie, who came over from Miamisburg and has head coaching experience. Gillespie’s scheme is a 3-4 front instead of the four-man fronts the Thunderbolts have traditionally played.
“He brings a lot of energy to us,” Works said about Gillespie. “He definitely changed the culture of the defense and how close we are with each other.”
Both sides add up so far to the complimentary football every coach wants. Broering likes the progress his team has shown in the first three weeks, but he knows the real test is the next seven weeks.
“I tell everyone this: The league is so good now that we could be as good as we’ve ever been — this team we have right now could be as good as a team that went undefeated or the team that went 10-1 — but we might be five and five,” he said. “Because the league is so good.”
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