All Football, All The Time

All football, all the time

By MICHAEL S. BURICH, Assistant Sports Editor
POSTED: June 24, 2009

COLUMBIANA - Columbiana's Brian Warchol has a goal of fitting as much football as he can in this summer before he departs for the Army on Sept. 8.

The former Columbiana High School running back has split time between the Crestview Renegades minor league team and practices for Friday's Penn-Ohio Stateline Classic at Geneva College's Reeves Field.

"I practice almost everyday for the Renegades and now I've got this, so I've been running a lot," said Warchol, who ran for 1,571 yards as a senior, the second-most in Columbiana history. "It's tough. My first priority is to the Penn-Ohio Game. I try to make it both, but I'm concentrating on the Penn-Ohio practices right now."

He said the Renegades practices aren't overly demanding, but doing so is still hard work.

"We try to take it easy in those practices because we don't have the numbers, but conditioning wise we run a lot to try to keep everyone in shape," Warchol said.

The day after the Penn-Ohio Game, Warchol plans to be in uniform for the Renegades game at Cuyahoga County.

"I'm planning on playing in both," Warchol said. "It's just like in high school when you had a freshmen game on Thursday, the varsity game on Friday and sometimes a jayvee game Saturday morning. I'm actually looking forward to it. I enjoy playing football."

Warchol, who has rushed for 217 yards and scored three touchdowns in four games for the Renegades, said he has enjoyed his time on a football field again.

"It has been a lot of fun," Warchol said. "It has definitely been a lot different than high school. The guys are a lot bigger and more experienced. The intensity is still very high."

Being a Columbiana guy in Crestview territory did seem strange at first though.

"Seeing the locker room for the first time was really weird," Warchol said. "We've all come together, though."

Warchol plans to be a military police officer in the Army. He also has his sights on flight school, but has not ruled out a return to the football field.

"It's really fun. It's something to do for the summer. Hopefully, I can come back and play next year," Warchol said.