2026 Football Preview: Sciotoville East Tartans

SCIOTOVILLE — On paper, the Sciotoville East Tartans have some positive pieces this season.

But East coach Adam Bailey knows nothing has been won on paper. And the paper doesn’t include injuries or unexpected obstacles.

The Tartans’ program went 1-8 last year including 1-5 in the Southern Ohio Conference-1 race. But Bailey preferred to speak of the positive with caution. 

“We return a decent group of kids. We’ve got six seniors and five of them have played the last couple of years, started and played both ways. So, we do have some kids with experience,” said Bailey.

“We’re really balanced with our groups and grades. We do bring back some kids who have played and will step into big roles this year. They have to play important roles for us to be successful, But those unexpected variables can railroad a lot of things.”

One player the Tartans return is senior running back Lindon Williams.

“Lindon Williams is a player we’re going to lean on a lot. He probably has the most experience running the ball,” said Bailey.

But there are other standout players to pair with Williams and make for a deep backfield.

“Bobby Bryant ran the ball a little bit for us last year. Levi Boyd is another junior that ran the ball some for us. Those guys at least at the beginning of the year will get the bulk of the touches.

Sophomore Tanner Baughman is back at the quarterback position which is another plus.

“Hopefully, with the year of experience, just being a year older, he’ll be bigger, stronger, he’ll be able to help a little more carrying the ball and doing different things for us offensively,” said Bailey.

“Throughout the year, we’ll be trying to win the line of scrimmage. We’ll sprinkle in a pass to keep them honest."

The offensive line will come from senior Leon McKinney who has been a three-year starter and is expected to play up front with senior Brayden Bradley who is a three-year starter, junior Chasen Maddix, or freshman Aiden Hufferd (6-3, 275).

The tight end figures to be sophomore Landon Clark.

“For a small Division 7 school, I think we have decent size up front. We start two seniors, two juniors and a freshman. They’ve all got decent size. The freshman is 6-3, 6-4, probably 270, 285. He has a chance to be a good one,” said Bailey.

“Hopefully, throughout the year we can win the line of scrimmage. We’ll stay on the ground and pound. We might throw a little bit more than we did last year or the year before. But realistically, we’re most suited to run the ball.”

A lot of the offensive linemen will flip to the defensive side. Bradley will be an end

Anchoring the defense will be McKinney at middle linebacker.

“We’re looking for those two (McKinney and Bradley) to have good years.”

Williams will be an outside linebacker with Bryant flanked on the right.

Boyd will play linebacker and possibly cornerback. We have a handful of kids who are new to football, so we hope to get them ready by the middle of the season.”

The prime candidates for the secondary are Williams, Boyd and Baughman.

“Hopefully, playing against (passing teams) will get us more improved,” said Bailey, referring to all the passing teams the Tartans faced last year.

“That’s something we worked on a lot because that’s the trend of what teams have done. Hopefully, we’ll be able to handle it a little better. We do have some experience back there.”

Williams will handle the kicking duties again.

In the Southern Ohio Conference, Bailey sees Symmes Valley and Eastern as the teams to beat once again.

“Symmes Valley returns a ton and they were extremely athletic last year when they were young. When you look at what Eastern has done the last few years they have some kids left over from the teams that won the league a couple of years in a row,” said Bailey

“Notre Dame has a talented group of athletes in their skilled spots. Green has some young kids but they’ve got some good, young athletes. It’s just a matter of how quick they get acclimated to high school football.”