[Stardust]

Last season, powered by Mr. Football finalist Miles Simpson, the Simon Kenton offense posted scores like Tiger Woods at the local municipal golf course - 63, 62, 56, 56.

This year, Simpson is gone and the Pioneers' strength will move to the other side of the ball.

"We've got eight starters coming back on defense," said coach Jeff Marksberry. "I told them at the beginning of the year that they had to be what our offense was to us last year. We have to be that good."

Simon Kenton will face a stiff challenge right away when it opens the season Saturday in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown against Middletown - a team that scored 39 points a game last season en route to a 10-2 record and a blowout playoff win over Moeller. For a Simon Kenton program that has grown in leaps and bounds the last two years, the game offers the opportunity to take another step - beating a name program from Greater Cincinnati.

"I grew up in Independence and my whole family went to Simon Kenton," said senior Austin Baldwin. "So I've really seen it grow my whole life. We used to schedule small 1A schools to get some wins. Now we're playing Middletown - a team that has beaten some of the elite teams in Ohio. It shows how far we've come."

Baldwin, the Pioneers' leading tackler last year, is part of one of the area's best linebacking trios. Baldwin and seniors Parker Deters and Bo Lockard are the inside linebackers in the Pioneers' 3-5 defense. Three years ago, Simon Kenton coaches switched from a five-man front to the new scheme. The move paid dividends, helping the Pioneers to the 2008 state finals and 2009 state semifinals.

"It's a change in philosophy," said Marksberry. "We're going to be offensive defensively. We're going to go after people and attack, instead of just leaning on them and trying to read and then running to the football. Now we're a downhill blitz team. We want to put pressure on that opposing offense and make them make mistakes. It's about what we're going to do to them, not what they're going to try to do to us."

Or, as Lockard said: "It's pretty simple. We want to play faster and more physical than the other team."

That might be difficult against Middletown, traditionally one of the most athletic teams in the area. The Middies lost most of their top players from last year, but coach Jason Krause said this year's team has more speed and athleticism.

Simon Kenton has played similar teams with mixed results the last two years. In 2008, it upset Male to reach the state finals, then lost to Trinity. Last year the Pioneers' lone regular-season loss was to Henry Clay. They rebounded, thanks in large part to the state's third most potent offense (47 ppg), to beat Butler and DuPont Manual in the playoffs before bowing out to eventual Class 6A state champion St. Xavier.
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"That was the whole reason we took this game," said Marksberry. "We feel like we still have an opportunity to make a deep run in the playoffs. That speed and athleticism is what we've seen in the postseason. Those are athletic teams, the ones we're going to have to beat in the postseason. So we hope this helps us."

The Pioneers are beginning to reap some of the benefits from their recent success. They're playing a high-profile opponent. They're now the only Northern Kentucky program with a flagship radio station broadcasting all its games, WQRT-AM (1160). Marksberry has a weekly radio show. A cameraman follows their practices as part of a season-long highlight video. The school has a new fieldhouse near the recently renovated football stadium.

"It great," said Deters. "It feels like the start of something."