2026 Football Preview: Portsmouth West Senators

WEST PORTSMOUTH — Call them unusual. Call them strange. Call them an oddity. But in the end, you’ll call the Portsmouth West Senators snot-knocker football.

In a world where everyone runs the spread even if they don’t have the athletes to do it, West is an oddity because they like to line up and run the football at opponents as they pound away and try to rattle your helmets.

“We hang our hat on it. There’s no secret that we’re going to run the football,” said West veteran head coach Todd Gilliland.

“We see more spread than ever before. It used to be the spread team it was the anomaly on your schedule. Now, we tend to be the anomaly because we still get under center. It does help a little bit.”

West was 6-6 last season and 4-2 in the Southern Ohio Conference. The Senators had some key losses but Gilliland said there are a lot of veterans back including running back and Southeast Ohio Division 6 All-District Co-Offensive Player of the Year in Anthony Bishop.

“Anthony has been a main cog in the machine since he was a freshman. He’s played a lot of football and made a lot of big plays for us throughout the years,” Gilliland said of the 5-8, 195-pound senior who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season.

But Bishop is not the only talented skill player the Senators will look toward this season. Senior running back Braden Adkins (5-7, 170), senior wingback Gunnar Shonkwiler (5-8, 175) and sophomore Westyn Ratcliff (5-9, 176) all return.

“We’ve got a lot of other guys who have played a lot of football for us as well. Braden Adkins and Gunnar Shonkwiler are seniors who have started for three years for us. Westyn Ratcliff is coming off a really nice freshman year. We’re looking for more and bigger things from him,” said Gilliland.

Graduation claimed starting quarterback Brody Hall, but looking to step in and fill that position is senior Carter Keyser (5-10, 180).

“Carter Keyser is a senior who is going to be playing quarterback for us. He missed last season because of a knee injury. He would have been in the battle for the quarterback position last year,” said Gilliland.

Overall, the West coach is very happy with the number of skilled players who will be available and interchangeable.

“There’s a lot of different guys we can use. It is probably the deepest we’ve been at the skill position since I’ve been here,” said Gilliland.

“Maybe there’s not that one guy, but we have a lot of guys we can put in different positions and take advantage of matchups.”

If the Senators plan to run the ball, they’ll need to have a solid offensive line. Gilliland believes West has the players and the size to establish the running game.

Senior Ben Sparks (6-1, 300), Max Newsome (6-0, 240) and Lane Potters (6-2, 290) all return. Looking to fill out the open slots are sophomore Jace Lore (5-11, 285) and Noah Mount (6-3, 310).

“We’ve got a couple seniors up front who have been with us for a while. Ben Sparks is going to play a tackle. He’s been a three-year starter for us who has played well for us. Max Newsome is the center and Lane Potters will be at a guard position. He played tackle last year for us and we’re going to move him down to guard,” said Gilliland.

“We’ve got some good leadership there. We’re going to put a couple young guys with them. Jace Lore, a sophomore, is going to play guard and Noah Mount might be the other tackle. We’re going to be big up front. We’ll have two 300-pounder and we’ll go 300 at both tackles, one guard will go 290, the other guard 260 and the center 240. So, it’s a really good size for the size school we are. We want to drive people off the ball.”

Gilliland said with the skills of the backfield and the size and experience of the line, West should be able to control the line of scrimmage.

“With the backs we have, we want to set them up. Anthony is as good as anybody setting up the block and making people miss,” said Gilliland. “If we can just get our guys to get body on body and give our backs some time to make things happen, we feel like we can be successful.”

There will be another anomaly on the defensive side. Gilliland is planning to lighten the line play and look to the athleticism of his players to cover the field.

“What we’re excited about is we may not put a lineman on the field for the first time since I’ve been here. We feel like we’re going to be pretty athletic on the defensive side of the ball,” said Gilliland.

“We return eight starters this year. Our whole defensive backfield is back. We kind of shifted some guys where we’re hoping to play Anthony Bishop back at safety again. He was playing outside linebacker last year and we’re taking somewhat of a banging off of him.”

Ratcliff was in the secondary last season and should be in the mix at outside linebacker. Seniors Zane Pitts (5-10, 200) and Tilton Rapp are expected to play on the inside and sophomore Sawyer Staggs (5-10, 175) looks to be a candidate on the outside.

The secondary will have Adkins, Shonkwiler and Bishop.

“Our corners Braden Adkins and Gunnar Shonkwiler are back from last year. Sawyer Staggs is one of those new guys as a sophomore who stepped in and had a really good offseason and we’re looking for really big things from him. We’ve got Tilton Rapp back in the middle of the defense. He’ll be a three-year starter for us,” said Gilliland.

West would like to zero in on another inside linebacker but the defensive line looks to be set with seniors Zane Pitts (5-10, 200) and Austin Ramsey (6-1, 230) and junior Braxton Kammer (6-1, 205).

“We’re looking at who’s going to fill that other middle linebacker spot. We’ve got a couple of guys in mind. We don’t know for sure yet,” said Gilliland.

“The front three is Austin Ramsey who is a three-year guy there and plays a nice defensive tackle. Zane Pitts played nose guard last year. And we’ve got Braxton Kammer back off the basketball team. He played as a freshman and he’s a big body kid who is physical. And we have a bunch of those big guys who can come in and spell those other guys.”

There’s been a lot of teams moving up and down in the Ohio High School Athletic Association computer playoff divisions and region assignments. What makes it more interesting for West is league members Lucasville Valley, Minford and Northwest are dropping down into Division 6.

“Every game is critical, especially once we get into the league the back half of the year. Dropping to 12 teams in the playoffs instead of 16, you do have to win some games. Going 5-5 doesn’t guarantee anything now. It’ll make things a little more exciting when you’re playing for the league plus playing for a playoff position as well. It does make it a little more interesting,” said Gilliland.