COLONY — Armed with a new coach, the Crest Lancers began implementing a new offensive scheme at Wednesday’s first day of football camp.
Coach Rod Stottlemire said he also has plans to install a new defensive scheme.
Stottlemire said he liked how the team handled the first day of camp.
“It wasn’t completely new to everybody, and we have a pretty good nucleus of boys,” Stottlemire said. “I feel good about it. I grew up around the Three Rivers League. I’ve been coaching for 36 or so years. I’m glad to be back home again.”
Stottlemire comes to Crest by way of Oskaloosa, where he served as the Oskaloosa High School Bears defensive coordinator along with several other coaching duties outside of the gridiron.
Stottlemire is familiar with eight-man football while attending Central Heights and began his coaching career in eight-man programs.
“I’ve been coaching defense for the last 27 years. I always heard the joke — What’s the difference between 11-man and eight-man? It’s the same as 11-man. Just take three mistakes off of the field. — That may make 11-man guys mad, but football is football.”
Stottlemire replaces Coach Nick McAnulty, who had coached the Lancers since 2018 before departing from the program.
Crest senior quarterback Lane Yocham said the transition from Coach McAnulty to Coach Stottlemire has been smooth. The similarities in their schemes allowed the Lancers to hit the ground running in their first day of camp, and he hopes they continue that pace throughout the week.
“It went really well, and I’m excited we’re getting the young guys involved and getting them going,” Yocham said. “The transition of having a new coach is going to be a little bit of an adjustment, but nothing we can’t handle.”
The Lancers return from a rough 1-9 campaign in 2025. After a 48-28 victory over Yates Center in week one, Crest fell in its next eight consecutive games after a slew of catastrophic injuries had them diving deep into their reserves.
“It will be tough, but the guys we have, have been playing together for a while,” Yocham said. “Coach Stottlemire is smart and he’ll get us through it. We’re going to work hard in practice and get better. It’s an adjustment, but we’re keeping some stuff in (from last year), so it’s not completely new.”
With his familiarity to the Three Rivers League, Coach Stottlemire knows winning a TRL title is no small feat.
The 2026 season also brings two new programs to the League in Southeast Cherokee and Erie dropping down from 11-man to eight-man football.
“I feel good about our skill players, and our linemen are going to get there,” Stottlemire said. “We’re going to get a little bit better every day. We’ll be a lot better two or three weeks from now and much better in October.”
