Aug 22, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 3 min read

Bulldogs just may be loaded for bear this year DEEMSTON – Beth-Center moved down to Class A from Class AA this season and it’s coming down loaded for bear.

“No doubt it’s going to help us,” Beth-Center coach Ed Woods said of the move to the Ohio Valley Conference. “We definitely feel we can compete at this level.”

The last two years have been difficult for Beth-Center. It won only one game, but was buoyed by the potential of a freshman class Woods moved to the varsity level his first year as head coach.

“We had to decide whether to have a seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade team back then, or move them up to the varsity to give us better numbers,” Woods said. “The numbers were low at the time so we moved the freshmen up and a few of them got playing time that year.”

Of that original freshman group, 11 are now seniors and are the principal reason for optimism in the district.

“It’s real exciting,” Woods said. “The coaches are excited; the kids are excited. After the scrimmage we had with Carmichaels, people in the community are starting to talk about Beth-center football in a positive way again.”

Beth-Center played Carmichaels, a perennial Class A power, evenly last Sunday, bringing up talk of the old winning days in which Woods played at Beth-Center and then coached at the school under Dom Bartolomucci.

“We had very successful years, so I knew the football fans were out there,” Woods said. “I never thought they were against the program or me, I just feel that people are excited about what they’ve seen after the first scrimmage.”

Carmichaels Coach John Menhart spoke highly of Beth-Center’s size and ability. Woods said his team’s strength is the offensive line and running back George Hilverding, who rushed for over 400 yards in three games last year before a broken ankle ended his season.

“I thought we moved the ball fairly well in the scrimmage, but so did Carmichaels,” Woods said. “After reviewing film, I realize there are a lot of things we need to work on, but I also thought there was more positive than negative and that’s a good sign. Defensively, the kids were very aggressive.”

Every starter returns on both sides of the ball. Beth-Center has lost only a kicker from last year’s 1-9 team.

“We’re definitely much improved from last year. Our kids are bigger, stronger, faster, more confident. They’re working together as a team,” Woods said. “This is the first group I’ve had from start to finish, so it is a special group for me. There are a lot of fond memories of these guys. I got to see them grow from young football players to young men.”