Clinton’s Tschirhart wins Lenawee County Boys’ Football Player of the Year award
CLINTON – Whenever an athlete changes teams, there’s usually an adjustment period where both parties acclimate to each other.
For Clinton’s Ryan Tschirhart, there really wasn’t much going on from Lenawee’s Christian Boys’ Football team to Clinton’s after his family moved to Clinton between the 2020 and 2021 school years.
“It was something that I expected to be very, very difficult,” he said. “I thought it would be a really tough transition leaving everything I knew because I was in the LCS from K-10. I thought it would be a tough transition, but from the moment I set foot in Clinton, I was accepted by the coaching staff, my teammates and everyone.
Stepping into his first full-time high school starting role on the newly renamed Redwolves in 2021 in the Lenawee County Athletic Association, Tschirhart found himself as a frontline scoring threat to head coach Marla Erickson, as the teams had to game plan to stop Tschirhart.
“(Ryan) was phenomenal. Coming from LCS to play for Clinton, we play differently and have a different style (from LCS), but he really fit in with the team and they accepted him like family,” Erickson said, “this is how I build my program. He took them that way too and they synced well. He knows he needs Brandon Mannlein, his defenders, midfielders and outside strikers to play, so he’s a good team player.
Although teams had to try and slow him down, for most of the season it didn’t work out much as he was the only player to break the 20-goal plateau in Lenawee County in 2021, totaling 30 goals for the Redwolves in their 19 games played this season.
For his efforts in 2021, Tschirhart was named this year’s Lenawee County Boys’ Football Player of the Year, as selected by the Daily Telegram Sports Team.
“It’s amazing because there are so many deserving people that it could have happened any way,” Tschirhart said. “There’s so much great talent in this county, a ton of great people. I knew playing in the LCAA was going to be tough and there would be no easy games or guaranteed wins.
Entering this year, Tschirhart struggled with a quad injury, but once he got going, the talent he had shown through.
He scored multiple goals in games against Blissfield, Columbia Central, Ida, Leslie, Monroe Jefferson, Onsted, Three Rivers and Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, with his most impressive performance of the year coming in the regular season finale against the Wildcats that ended in a 5 -3 victory for the Redwolves.
Tschirhart scored all five goals for a season-best performance, including a hat-trick in the opening 10 minutes and scored four goals in the first half before adding a second-half insurance goal for make it 5-0 before Clinton holds off Onsted. rally late.
With a season under his belt with Clinton as a full-time starter, as well as the team he has around him returning, the potential for another solid season for Tschirhart and the Redwolves is a very realistic possibility.
“We’re picking up a lot of guys who are key to our success and I’m really excited to see how our freshmen develop,” Tschirhart said. “I think this year playing together and playing together at a high level will, overall, really benefit us next year and hopefully we can have a run. We all would have hoped for a little more success this year given the success we had in the regular season, but it’s just something we’ve learned that will push us to be more motivated for next season.
All-County Teams
first team
Ryan Tschirhart, Clinton
Brennen Goodrow, Onsted
Jacob Buchanan, Onsted
Aiden Smith, Adrian
Joey Spagnoli, Adrian
Jack Stamats, LCS
Cameron Kendall, Adrian
Sam EricksonClinton
Jacob McKelvey, LCS
Ryan Sommel, Tecumseh
TJ Rutter, LCS
second team
Alex Brevoort, Blissfield
Merrik Gibson, Clinton
Cooper Adams, LCS
Alex Slaviero, Onsted
Samson SchaffnerClinton
Wyatt, Malinczak, Onsted
Lincoln Lipinski, Onsted
Christian Orta, LCS
Max Hampel, Clinton
Brady McKelvey, LCS
Brandon Mannlein, Clinton
Honorable Mention
Brady Hanosh, Adrian
Gary KemererAdrien
Bryce Holland, Blissfield
Asher Fernandes, LCS
Carter Smith, LCS
Jaxon Niese, LCS
Jaxson Vincent, Onsted
