Friday night, Derek Hoebing put on the jersey he wanted to be wearing all along: No. 89.
For the first two games of the season, he was wearing No. 65, his old jersey from his freshman season when he played on the offensive line. That was his job once again for the first two games this season, but the return of left guard Logan Wright allowed Hoebing to return to tight end.
The Sailors still lost to Amherst, 28-7, their offense sputtered despite Hoebing's return to the position he will play next year at Michigan State, and they're 0-3.
It couldn't get any more disappointing at Vermilion, right?
Not so fast.
Like coach Frank Horvath said after the loss, Vermilion's opponents are a combined 8-0. In fact, all three teams Vermilion lost to in non-conference play could be undefeated next week if Huron beats St. Paul Saturday in a matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in The Morning Journal Power Poll.
Let's see. On top of Huron, which was No. 2 this week, I voted Amherst No. 1 and Clearview will be in the top five after this week.
That's a pretty brutal schedule for this area's standards.
Before the season, I thought Vermilion would finish 6-1 or 5-2 in the conference and go 1-2 in non-conference.
Guess what Vermilion? I'm sticking by my conference prediction: The Sailors will go 6-1 in the West Shore Conference. At worst, they'll be 5-2.
The offense struggled mightily against Amherst, which has a defense that looked lack-luster in the first two games. In Week 3, it was more of Amherst's defense showing up than Vermilion's offense not showing up. Granted, they didn't look good, but there's still plenty of talent on that team to support a defense that is in the upper echelon of the WSC.
I thought to myself, "maybe they need to just go with one quarterback. Platooning Tim Clark and Mike Virgin is too predictable."
With Clark, teams know Vermilion will pass. With Virgin, the Sailors are more apt to running.
Then again, it worked for Ohio State with Joe Germaine and Stanley Jackson one year. Plus, Horvath knows much more about his guys than me or any other run-of-the-mill observer.
The bottom line is the WSC schedule is here, and that bodes well for a Vermilion team that had the toughest non-conference schedule in that conference. Yes, even tougher than Midview's lineup of Warrensville Heights, Amherst and Buckeye.
Because of that, I stick by my prediction. Vermilion will still win six games. Avon's looking like the class of the conference, but Vermilion has been conditioned the best by what its faced.
The realist in me says five, but I'm sticking with six. And I'll argue with anyone on that.