Circleville football building off historic season
By: Evan Johnson
Posted on:
CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – When Jay Sharrett took over the program in 2025, Circleville football was in a rough patch. The team had not won more than five games in a season in a decade. They also had only one playoff win, which came in 2007.
That all changed last season, the Tigers went on to win eight games, including an upset over Bloom-Carroll in week 10. This allowed Circleville to host their first-ever home playoff game, and they went on to win their first playoff game at home.
“We really want to push to get those same results; we don’t want to be a one-hit wonder,” said Senior Linebacker Jacob Liston.
The team is also trying to stay humble; while last season was historic, the Tigers don’t want to get ahead of themselves. “We are just trying to stay humble, not get cocky and to hype about it. We need to stay cool, calm and collected,” said Senior Lineman Cayden McGuirk.
In his second summer with the program, coach Sharrett is pleased with the progression the team has made in knowing the playbooks and terminology. “Now 75 percent of our roster knows the offense, defense and special teams,” Sharrett said.
Circleville lost six of their eight all-conference winners from last year. The two returners, running back Ray Ezell and offensive lineman Brayden Brisker, will have big roles this season.
“I have to step up and do more things I didn’t do last year,” said Ezell.
While Circleville football wants to accomplish more than they did last year, the talk of the summer is week one against Chillicothe. A summer of tensions has been rising, leading to a must-see matchup in week one.
“We’ve felt disrespected all summer, they haven’t given us the respect we deserve,” said Brisker. “They are already looking ahead in the schedule.”
Circleville will enter the season as a frontrunner for the conference and will look to string multiple great seasons together.