High School Football Spotlight: Ryan Sayer, Head Football Coach Northland High School

1-As a fan I loved the Saturday afternoon city league games as well as the Thursday night games. As a coach how did you feel about them?

For the Saturday and Thursday games, I really do not have an opinion toward what day we play. My thing with my team is any time any place. As long as we get to play football games it is a blessing, especially with us being in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. If you told us we were playing on Monday I would still be happy!

2-Looking ahead to the 2021 season do you think it will be back to the old norm?

For the 2021 season, I do not believe we will be completely back to normal. I believe there will still be some stipulations but I am hoping we are back to normal. I think high school football is very important not only for our football players but also for the fans, staff, band, and student body. It was very upsetting that the people who wanted to come to the games were not allowed to unless you got a ticket from a player on the team. It is hard telling people no they can’t come when they want to support the program.

3-Where do you think the state finals should be held?

I think the state finals should rotate from year to year. There are so many amazing stadiums in the state of Ohio and I think it would be great to see the state finals at a different location each year for Ohio to show off all the amazing High School stadiums that we have.

4-Will we ever see any city league teams from other areas of the state on the Northland schedule?

I believe there is a chance that we could play some other city league schools from different areas. I cannot predict which teams will have open dates in the future.

5- How special was it having a city league tourney this past season and do you think it will continue?

I feel like the city league tournament was an amazing idea and I believe that it should be continued for years to come. Even if we do something where we start the city league tournament with a winners bracket and losers bracket week 4 or 5 of the regular season and then once you are knocked out of the brackets you can just schedule other city league teams to fill the rest of the season. I truly hope they keep the tournament and find a way to continue it.

6- If you were not coaching football would you be coaching another sport?

If I was not coaching football I have no clue what I would be doing, football has been my life since I was 6 years old. But, if I had to choose another sport to coach it would be baseball for sure. I played baseball and football my entire life.

7-What do you think can be done to get numbers up in the city as football goes?

I think if we started to create middle school teams that would be very important. You see all the OCC schools have middle school programs and that is so important because then you can run your system at the lower levels and have them coming into high school with a good idea of what is being done at the high school level. This would also get the kids to have a little more pride in the program with them being in it for 6 years rather than just 4. Then once we get the numbers up at that level and we get more students at the high school level we can all have freshman and JV rosters which just provides way more opportunities for each student-athlete.

8-Who is the best player you ever coached?

Jack Sawyer is most definitely the best football player that I have ever coached. That is why he was ranked the #1 player in the entire country and is going to Ohio State University. He was special on so many different levels. He was elite at everything he did!

9-Special team play is such a huge part of the game. How often do you guys practice them?

EVERYDAY. Special teams are the most important part of the game. They have a chance to create huge momentum shifts. For the guys on my team, if they want to start on offense or defense they have to start on at least once special team. Special teams win and lose football games.

10- What got you into coaching?

My drive and passion to inspire young people and provide them with life lessons through football. I learned everything I know about being a man through football and coaching is the best way to give back to the game after it has given me so much! I knew I wanted to coach high school football and make an impact on many young lives since I graduated high school.