Cameron Snider threw 6,839 yards and 80 touchdowns in four seasons – both Bethel-Tate school records. Clermont Sun file photo.
Senior Nolan Darnell set a Bethel-Tate record for career tackles with 359; he returned four fumbles for touchdowns this season and was named Southern Buckeye Conference National Division Defensive Player of the Year. Clermont Sun file photo.
Bethel-Tate High School football team photo. Photo provided.
Two of the best players in Bethel-Tate High School football history completed their seasons earlier this month. One averaged 12.4 yards per completion; the other, 55 yards per touchdown run.
The first, logically, is a quarterback. The second, naturally, is a linebacker.
Yes, linebacker.
Seniors Cameron Snider and Nolan Darnell wrote their names in Tiger record books, leading Bethel-Tate to a 7-5 season that ended in a second-round loss to Valley View in the Division V Region 20 playoffs. Snider threw for 2,374 yards (191-for-369) and 30 touchdowns in 2023; for his career, Snider was 510-for-972, for a school-record 6,839 yards and 80 touchdowns.
Twice, Snider threw five touchdown passes in a game (Sept. 15 vs. Batavia and Oct. 27 vs. Blanchester in the playoffs). He also scored 20 rushing touchdowns – eight this season. He was responsible for 640 points in four years.
Darnell is Bethel-Tate’s career leader in tackles with 359 and first in quarterback sacks, 28.5. In his final season, Darnell returned four fumbles for touchdowns, averaging 55 yards on each, one reason he was selected Southern Buckeye Conference Athletic and Academic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, he also carried 99 times for 573 yards and three touchdowns, and caught 12 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown.
Snider and Darnell, and 10 other seniors, may not be with the Tigers in body in 2024, but their presence will be felt, eight-year head coach Jeff Essig, the winningest coach in school history, said.
“The great thing is our younger players see what it takes to be successful. The group of seniors we lose are leaving here as one of the best groups to ever play,” Essig said. “They leave here with making the playoffs three out of their four years along with being (SBAAC National Division) champs for that same amount. They will go down in history as the class with the only playoff wins so far. They had a league record of 16-3 over their four years.”
Bethel-Tate won three playoff games in 2020 and one in 2021 the Tigers are 28-15 overall since 2020.
“Our season should be considered a success. We felt we let a few games that we should have won get by us, but looking back we feel that we still achieved our goals,” Essig said. “Our defense scored eight touchdowns, which was far and away the best in the conference. On offense we really spread the ball around. We had no 1,000-yard receivers, but we still threw for 2,463 yards and 30 receiving touchdowns.
“Our keys to success had to be our defense’s ability to score points when our offense was not as consistent as we would have liked. We had 12 really great seniors leading this team with a lot of experience. It gave our younger players a good model to look up to.”
Senior leadership was crucial early, after the Tigers lost three of their first four games – to New Richmond 40-35, Woodward 12-7 and Miami Trace 34-20; the only win was in week two, 18-14 at Bishop Brossart. The turnaround began Sept. 15 vs. Batavia, a 46-14 win; the Tigers would lose only two more games – Oct. 6 at Blanchester, 54-33, and to Valley View, while handing Williamsburg its only regular-season loss Oct. 13, 22-20. Bethel-Tate avenged the Blanchester loss with a 35-20 playoff win.
“Our springboard game had to be the Batavia game. We had just lost to a good Miami Trace team 34-20 and our kids knew we were better than our 1-3 record at the time,” Essig said. “Our team had a great week of practice and played one of the best games of the season against Batavia. Cameron Snider had one of his best games of the season throwing for 5 touchdowns and 278 yards. Our defense had four takeaways and six sacks.
“The other most obvious moment had to be when we beat the then undefeated No. 1-ranked Williamsburg. We played a great first half offensively and in the second half when our offense was struggling, our defense held and got us the win.”
The Senior Night win over Williamsburg, which clinched a share of the SBAAC National Division title with the Wildcats and Blanchester, was a highlight for Darnell.
“No one expected us to win. Our stadium was full. Our team played great, and it was an awesome feeling to celebrate with them on the field after the game,” he said.
Darnell is the grandson of Bethel-Tate defensive coordinator Randy Hospelhorn and was like a second defensive coach on the field, Essig said.
“He was immersed in our defense for most of his life. He understands the game and situational football more than anyone we have ever coached,” Essig said. “His leadership was what made our defense one of the best in the league over the past four seasons.”
“Coach Hospelhorn had great defensive game plans. When we executed his plans, the defense was very successful,” Darnell said, referring to his grandfather as “Coach.”
There were other family connections during Darnell’s career that made it special. His dad was his eighth-grade coach, and that team was the first middle school squad to go undefeated. “I also loved playing linebacker next to my brother my sophomore year. We won the league that year, also. I will remember the great teammates that I had, the team meals, senior meal on Mondays at Coach Essig’s house, shutout sundaes, playing seven-vs.-sevens in the summer, and walking out on the field on Friday nights.”
A member of Bethel-Tate’s chapter of the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society, Darnell is considering majoring in construction management in college.
Essig mentioned three other seniors and their contributions to the Tigers’ success. Wide receiver/defensive back/kick returner Waylon Morris caught 49 passes for 774 yards and 11 touchdowns, and intercepted six passes. Defensive back/kick returner Will Rapp had 43 tackles, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries and six interceptions; he returned two of the fumbles and two of the interceptions for touchdowns. Wide receiver/defensive end/defensive back Jordan Essig, a three-year starter, threw the game-winning two-point conversion vs. Williamsburg and showed “great leadership” with the younger players.”
Several returning players will look to build on their 20223 seasons. Sophomore wide receiver/defensive back/kick returner Troy Harris, the team’s leading receiver with 37 catches for 853 yards, 1,804 all-purpose yards, and 13 touchdowns. Junior defensive end/defensive lineman/running back Talon Armacost created difficulties for both opposing offenses and defenses after battling back from an injury and a house fire.
Junior defensive back/linebacker Joe Kilgore had a breakout year with 68 tackles, six sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception.
“He really bought in to getting better, he worked hard and had a complete body change. He went from playing defensive line to playing our hybrid DB/LB position on defense. He really took his off-season training and nutrition seriously and it paid off in big ways this past season,” Essig said.
Bethel-Tate seniors
Nolan Darnell, Jordan Essig, Keith Hounshell, Ben Houston, Brenden Jobe, Waylon Morris, Nick Mills, Connor Murray, Will Rapp, Levi Schultian, Cameron Snider, David Williams.