Howland, Columbiana and Salem bucking trends with 2-0 starts
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Brian Jones has admitted his first three seasons as the Howland head football coach were tough. While rebuilding the "foundation" after taking over a program that had gone 4-16 over the previous two years, the Tigers endured a winless campaign in 2023, a 1-9 season in 2024 and a 2-8 record last year.
Entering Week 3 of his fourth season, though, Jones has his Tigers off to the program's best start since 2014 and with an opportunity tonight to match the combined win total of the last three years.
For Jones, the newfound success is proof that hard work, in fact, does pay off.
"It's so important because that's kind of something we've been preaching to our kids for three years now... [that] you'll see the fruit of your labor," Jones said. "I couldn't be more proud of the kids so far, and I'm happy for them. They deserve everything that they're getting right now. By no means are we a finished product on the field. We have a long way to go, but I think we're starting to turn the corner in terms of seeing success and buying into the process of not being results-oriented but being process-oriented."
To reach 2-0, Howland had to get past rival Niles, which it did for the third year in a row. Then, the Tigers had to defeat Hubbard, something no Howland team had been able to do since 2017. But the 2026 Tigers, despite not being sure what to expect of the Eagles after their Week 1 loss to Brookfield, adapted and closed out a 34-26 win last Friday.
"They graduated a great senior class. They had a lot of guys there, and that obviously changes their roster a little bit," Jones said. "But the game has moved up in the year too. We played them, I think, Week 4 or 5 last year, and Week 2 this year. So I think we had a little momentum coming off the opening-week win.
"Credit to them; they showed us something different on tape, and even on defense, they had a different structure. So for us, it was more so just trying to make adjustments and trying to stay ahead and give our kids the best chance. We didn't play a clean game, there's no question about that. We had turnovers, but our kids just stayed the course. They were able to weather some storms. We were able to get up early, and that helped us."
Howland had initially been slated to travel to East Cleveland to take on its Week 3 opponent Shaw, but Jones said the game recently became a third straight home game for the Tigers, who won't leave town until next week's contest vs. West Branch in Beloit.
The additional home game gives the Howland fan base just another chance to support the surging program and, with a win, provide a boost as students begin class next week.
"I think anybody will tell you: When you win football games, everything's a little bit better around the community, around the school," Jones said. "That puts a pep in everybody's step. The community's been behind us. The community's been great. We've received a lot of support, and we have in the years that we didn't win a lot of games. The community's been behind us, and program-wide, our junior high is off to a 2-0 start, JV has one win and one tie. So we're seeing the effects program-wide, seven through 12, and that's electrified the community and hopefully, that will continue."
A NOT-SO-GREAT GREAT START
A fifth of the high school football regular season has passed, and Howland isn't the only local team proudly boasting a 2-0 record going into Week 3.
But not all 2-0 records are created equally, and Columbiana head coach Bob Spaite, despite leading his Clippers to their first 2-0 start since 2011, isn't as pleased as he likely thought he would be given the record.
"I'm not sure how great it is," Spaite said of his team's start to the 2026 season.
Fifteen years ago, Columbiana, led by Spaite in his 18th season as head coach, started the year by winning its first six games as part of an 8-3 campaign.
Since then, the Clippers had slipped up in one, or as was the case each of the past four years, both of their first two contests. The season opener vs. Lowellville had been a particular source of pain, as Spaite's team lost to the Rockets five years in a row, including a one-point overtime defeat in 2023.
Things have gone better this season.
In Week 1, the Clippers returned to Columbiana from their road trip in Lowellville with a 27-24 win, marking their first season-opening victory since 2016. The following week, Columbiana grinded out a 20-6 away win vs. Mathews.
So what was the difference this year, compared to the previous 14? Spaite is wondering that himself.
"I think we practiced just as hard last year and the year before and year before that when we went 0-2," Spaite said. "If I had the answers, I certainly would have solved it. I don't know that we've done anything different this year, but we've been horribly slow getting out of the gate for the last 10 years at least. We struggle the first half of the season. We always finished strong. Even the year we were 0-7, we won the last three. So I don't know exactly what we've done differently. I wish I knew. If I knew, I'd bottle it and sell it."
One thing Spaite is sure of is that his offense did not perform up to standard in Week 1.
After taking a commanding lead vs. Lowellville, the Clippers' offense fell apart in the second half, and it nearly cost them the game.
"Offensively, we just struggled. We struggled mightily," Spaite said. "We've been horribly, horribly inconsistent. ... The only thing we've been able to hang our hat on is our power game. Woody Hayes is smiling, because we're atrocious throwing the football.
"We were completely out of sync, and I have no idea why. [Eventually] we got in a situation where we just said, 'To heck with it. We'll go and mash it up.' And we were able to salvage that."
After a frustrating offensive showing in Week 1, Columbiana had to essentially shrink its playbook during its win vs. Mathews. During the game, starting quarterback Hayes McCoy suffered a high-ankle sprain, and with backup Ethan Lehnerd already out with an injury he picked up against Lowellville, Spaite turned to Carter Griffith, a sophomore who serves as the Clippers' junior varsity quarterback.
Spaite praised Griffith for "managing the game" as the Clippers relied on their running game and defense to come back from an early deficit against the Mustangs.
Heading into Week 3 against Western Reserve, Spaite said Lehnerd will start at quarterback, while Griffith will serve as his backup. McCoy, who Spaite said has "improved greatly," will be available to play as an emergency quarterback.
"I think he could go, but I'm hoping that's not going to be the case. I'm hoping we don't have any more injuries that way," Spaite said. "So the plan is, like I said, with Ethan Lehnerd in, we're the same offense we were -- just as inconsistent as it's been, we're the same offense we were coming into the season."
THE FIGHTING QUAKERS
A fellow veteran area coach, Ron Johnson has also led his team to a 2-0 start to the season.
About 10 miles northwest of Columbiana, Johnson's Salem Quakers, who had begun 0-2 each of the past three seasons, earned back-to-back 21-17 wins against 2025 playoff teams in the first two weeks. First, Salem took down Poland, a perennial regional title contender, and then the Quakers held on to defeat Canfield, which won its first nine games last season.
While the results may have been a shock to many around the Mahoning Valley, Johnson and his team are not surprised.
"They worked really hard. They know they're a good football team," Johnson said. "They've got the results that they desired, and now they're very confident and excited to get the opportunity to play again."
Johnson, whose team came up big in each of the three phases and on fourth down last week vs. Canfield, said a key to the Quakers' success has been blocking out the outside noise and focusing not so much on their opponent, but themselves every Friday.
"We only worried about ourselves. We only controlled what we could control. And we tried to become the best football team that we could be," Johnson said. "Whoever lined up across from us, we just had to do our best to beat them. And we've been extremely violent. We've been extremely efficient. And I think that's paid off for us."
While much of the second win proved that the little things -- the inches of a football game -- matter, the victory over Poland, which had beaten Salem by at least three scores the past three years, was all about the big things.
"We eliminated big plays," Johnson said of the Poland matchup. "I mean, last year I think they had six touchdowns of 50 yards or more. This year, they didn't have 50 yards of offense, it was a big difference, and our defense played exceptionally well."
Tonight, Salem will be back at home for a meeting with East Liverpool, which is experiencing its first 2-0 start since 2023. If the Quakers manage to win again, it would be their first 3-0 start in four years.