By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The last thing St. Henry High School principal Grant Brannen did before heading home on Tuesday was walk outside to the athletic stadium and get a glimpse of history in the making.
On the green synthetic turf field, there were 17 boys wearing bright red jerseys and white helmets going through the first day of spring practice for the first football team at the Catholic high school in Erlanger.
“There’s always going to be some bumps along the way, but the St. Henry community is excited about it and in 2025 we’ll open up with Friday Night Lights,” Brannen said, referring to when high school varsity football games are traditionally played.
St. Henry will actually launch its football program with a junior varsity schedule next August. That gives head coach Tim Odom and his assistants 16 months to build a team with players who have no previous high school football experience.
“Our secret sauce here is the kids are just fantastic,” Odom said. “They’re smart and their school spirit is tremendous. Our kids are going to be able to do things other teams can’t because they have athletic intelligence, so we’re pretty excited.”
Unlike most junior varsity teams, St. Henry will have three seniors in the lineup next season. Odom said opponents they’ll face are okay with that since none of those older players have previous high school experience.
The senior-to-be with the most experience is Preston Gumz, who played football in the eighth-grade before coming to St. Henry. Two others — Gavin Armbruster and Parker Richmond — said they’re newcomers to the sport.
“I have all this energy pent up and I want to use it playing football,” said Armbruster, who was previously on the track team. “This is the only full-contact sport that St. Henry provides and I can’t wait. I’m itching to get out there and play.”
St. Henry hired Odom to start the football program because of his resume. He was an all-state offensive lineman at Cincinnati Moeller High School and went on to play at Ohio State.
Odom began his head coaching career at Simon Kenton and then went to Glen Este in Ohio. His last year on a football coaching staff was 2009. That’s when he left education and started his own business.
The 60-year-old mentor was glad to be back on the field Tuesday, running the first spring football practice session in the 91-year history of St. Henry, the largest co-ed Catholic high school in Northern Kentucky.
“We’re just trying to teach them a little bit of Xs and Os (formations) and a little bit of fundamentals, but mostly how to be a football player,” Odom said of the off-season workouts that will continue until May 10.
When next school year begins, Odom expects to have more than 60 players on the roster, including 24 incoming freshmen who participated in St. Henry’s middle school football program this past fall.
On Wednesday nights, St. Henry hosts grade school flag football leagues for more than 300 students in grades 1-8 who are possible prospects for the fledgling high school program.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” said R.J. Riegler, St. Henry’s director of football operations. “Kids here are getting to do something that’s never been done before and taking a lot of pride in that.”
Odom said there would have been more players at Tuesday’s practice session, but some of them are involved in baseball, track, lacrosse and AAU basketball during the spring.
Armbruster was glad to be among the players taking part in one of the first steps to creating a Crusaders’ football program.
“Probably the thing we’ve got to learn most is technique,” Armbruster said. “This is the first time we’re ever going to play football because a lot of us our newbies. So we’ve got to get that first layer of technique down and then start making plays and start winning games.”