The sun hadn\u2019t been up for very long at Harry E. Winters Stadium on July 27 when members of the South football team emerged from the locker room and headed out to the turf for an early morning workout.<\/p>\n
As early as it was \u2014 and it\u2019s still July \u2014 one might expect feet to be dragging, eyes to be barely open and motivation low.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the case this summer as the Rebels gear up for the 2026 season. There\u2019s a new league to attack. There\u2019s a new division of playoff football to embark upon. And there\u2019s recent history that needs to be turned around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first year in our new conference,\u201d senior quarterback Luke Jensen said. \u201cThere\u2019s some blood to be taken. We\u2019ve got to go out and do our thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
South enters the Chagrin Valley Conference this season after the disbanding of the former Western Reserve Conference. Additionally, the Rebels are in Division III, Region 9 this season, dropping down enrollment-wise from the Division II, Region 5 home they\u2019ve been part of ever since the OHSAA expanded to seven divisions.<\/p>\n
![\"Trent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TNH-L-SouthLift-01.jpg\")
Trent Chmura of South is cheered on by teammates during a lifting workout July 27. The Rebel football team is looking to win its first league title since 2014 this fall and will do so in the new-look Chagrin Valley Conference. (John Kampf\/The News-Herald)<\/p>\n
A lot is new this season for Coach Matt Duffy\u2019s squad, including new faces on the team such as Wickliffe transfer Elijah Fitch in the backfield. What isn\u2019t new is the drive to succeed and work ethic, which was on display early on July 27.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new challenge,\u201d junior Josh Jensen said of the tasks at hand this season in a new conference and new playoff division, \u201cbut it\u2019s not something we\u2019re not build for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rebel roster is bent on turning things around this season. From 2008 to 2014 in the now-defunct Premier Athletic Conference, South went 59-17 (.776) overall and a gaudy 41-2 in league play. The Rebels notched undefeated league titles in six of the seven seasons over that span.<\/p>\n
But from 2015 to 2025, a span of 11 seasons, the Rebels went 42-72 (.368) overall with a 23-45 (.338) mark in PAC and WRC action.<\/p>\n
The Rebels hope to hang a conference championship banner this fall, something they haven\u2019t done since the 2014 season when South was in the PAC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to give a cliche, but one step at a time each day,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little while since we won a conference title.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason for that, Duffy pointed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conference we\u2019ve been in , it seems like there was always someone,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were a couple of years with state titles with Chardon and Kenston, Riverside had some crazy good years, and we just couldn\u2019t get over the hump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is this the year South gets over that hump?<\/p>\n
The answer to that question will be revealed over the next few months. But Duffy and his staff like the hand they have been dealt as full workout practices in pads come later this week.<\/p>\n
Luke Jensen is back for another year as the Rebels\u2019 starting quarterback, Josh Jensen, Christian Santone and Anthony Mock are among a talented receiving unit, and the guys in the trenches \u2014 such as Scotty Balash, Aiden Ernst and Owen Willis \u2014 are eager to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n
The addition of Fitch, a 1,000-yard rusher last year as a freshman running back at Wickliffe, adds another dimension.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some guys,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cWe definitely feel from a skill standpoint we\u2019ve got some guys who can throw it and have a number of pretty fast kids who can catch the ball. We have some new kids at running back, but feel good about what we\u2019ve seen in workouts and camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Josh Jensen confidently of the task in front of the team: \u201cWe\u2019re in control of our own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
South opens the season Aug. 21 at Cuyahoga Falls. Between now and then, the Rebels plan on putting in the work to turn the clock back to the type of success they had from 2008 to 2014. That means no shortcuts \u2014 no dragging feet when the whistle blows to start the 7:15 a.m. workouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good about our team,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cI like our guys. It\u2019s 7 a.m. and there\u2019s a big crew here. They\u2019re working hard, so we\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun hadn\u2019t been up for very long at Harry E. Winters Stadium on July 27 when members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,34956,401106,3914,12293,401107,85],"class_list":["post-827746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-hs-football","tag-latest-headlines","tag-ohio","tag-south-rebels","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}