Sebastian Becker has waited a lifetime for this moment.
For years, Becker yearned to be a starting running back in Kirtland’s ground-oriented offense.
That year has come. This is the year he’s dreamed of.
Becker and his Kirtland teammates were in action on Aug. 8 in a five-team scrimmage at Wilson Stadium, squaring off for the fall’s first live action against visiting North, Gilmour, Geneva and Ridgewood.
Part of Kirtland’s journey this August is finding who will fill the shoes of departed running backs John Silvestro and Ty Bledsoe. Becker, a senior who earned All-Ohio honors last year on the defensive side of the ball, is ready to throw his hat in the ring for that opportunity.
PHOTOS: Kirtland, Geneva, Gilmour, North football scrimmage, Aug. 8, 2026
It’s one he’s hoped to fill ever since he started watching the Hornets as a kid growing up in Kirtland.
“It’s what I always dreamed of,” Becker said. “I just want to be that guy, make a juke or two and get into the end zone.”
Kirtland played a handful of guys at running back in the first scrimmage of the season. Tommy Caimi, who scored four times on Aug. 8, Zander Perko and Carter Luzar were also among the others to tote the rock behind the Hornets’ veteran line.
“We’ve just gotta make one guy miss to get around them and score,” Caimi said, pointing to the offensive line as the key to success. “They’ve been working hard all season. We knew they’re going to be better than ever.
On a broader scale, if you like teams that run the ball, Wilson Stadium was the place for you on Aug. 8. Four of the five teams in the scrimmage rely heavily on the run game, including:
North ran the ball effectively in a five-team scrimmage at Kirtland on Aug. 8. (Noelle Witherite/For The News-Herald)
• North, which runs a single-wing offense and has to replace 1,000-yard rushers Bray Sandstrom (1,190 yards) and Alex Harris (1,160 yards);
• Geneva, which runs the Wing-T and has to replace Bryce Peet (1,868 yards), Caden Proy (1,100 yards) and Ricky DiPetta (571 yards); and
• Gilmour, which returns leading rusher Nathan Lennon, but has also changed offenses this fall to mirror the running game of Kirtland.
Only Ridgewood, a spread team, deviated from the ground sets on Aug. 8.
“I expected Gilmour to be spread,” Geneva coach Don Shymske said. “I’m pleasantly surprised. I love it.”
A lot of new faces got to run the ball for Geneva in the opening scrimmage, including Owen Davis (536 yards last year), Cooper Dubsky, Brody Hamm and Johnny Dodick.
“You’re not going to replace the all-time leading rusher in the history of the program in a snap of the fingers,” Shymske said of Peet. “We have to accentuate the positive in these guys and figure out what’s going to work best with their skillset.”
While Gilmour does return last year’s leading rusher in Lennon (671 yards), the new offense — the same one head coach Joey Bates ran when he was an All-Ohioan at Kirtland — means there’s a learning curve to get the new sets down pat.
North discovered that learning curve last fall when it first implemented the single-wing offense. This is Year 2 for the sets, and Coach Shawn Dodd hopes a year of familiarity benefits his team.
“I want to see discipline, ball security and competitiveness,” Dodd said. “Last year turnovers killed us. We’ve gotta hold onto the ball. We might have five kids get those yards. It might be a group of them getting those yards instead of two guys last year.
Kirtland opens play Aug. 22 against Cincinnati Taft, while Gilmour (home against Benedictine) and Geneva (at Shaker Heights) open Friday, Aug. 21.