[ Cameron Knupp | WOUB ]

Phil Faires’ Trimble Tomcats brace for new, tougher competition

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GLOUSTER, Ohio (WOUB) — The Trimble Tomcats come in to the 2022-23 season as the 4-time defending champions of the TVC-Hocking Conference. This year, however, they will have to try and defend their title with a fresh crop of young players.

The Tomcats lose 6 out of their 7 All-State players from last year’s campaign, in which they finished with an overall record of 8-3, and a perfect 4-0 in the TVC-Hocking.

“We’ve got eight returners lost on offense, and nine on defense”, says Trimble Head Coach Phil Faires. We’ve only got three seniors, so were playing a lot of juniors and sophomores. It takes them a while for them to grow up and get used to the speed of the game.”

One of those new pieces will be the new starting quarterback Brandon Burdette. The Junior will step in to lead an inexperienced group of skill position players on offense that has continued to learn how to play in Coach Faires offense throughout the pre-season.

“We went through all the 7-on-7s this year, and I tried to keep reminding myself and my coaches that there isn’t one kid on the field that caught or threw a pass last year”, says Faires. “We’re going to see what they do well, and there’s a good chance it’s going to be different than what those guys did last year.

One thing is for sure, one of the better fan bases in southeast Ohio will be there to cheer on these young Tomcats.

We’ve always had great community support”, says Faires. The kids know they’ve got people behind them.

Trimble will open up the 2022-23 season on the road against Nelsonville-York on Friday, August 19th.