Lorain football head coach Dave McFarland is setting the bar high for his Titans in 2016.

The Titans went 5-5 in 2015, but now McFarland and company are thinking playoffs.

Some would say that is a lofty goal for a school that just went .500 and plays a tough schedule, but McFarland is confident in this group, who have been winning together for the last two years.

“It started with our freshman class (two years ago), who are juniors now. They went undefeated,” McFarland said. “We kept them all together and when they were sophomores they went 9-1. So we do have high expectations because they’ve learned to win. They expect to win.”

Lorain plays in the Lake Erie League, which includes Cleveland Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, and Shaw.

That leaves six non-conference games on the schedule and Lorain will face some tough opponents outside of the LEL, including Elyria, Midview, and Sandusky, all of which will be played on the road.

In 2015, Lorain went 2-2 against conference opponents, defeating Shaw and Maple Heights, but losing its final two games of the season to Bedford and Cleveland Heights.

The blowout wins over Shaw and Maple Heights, along with the fact that each of Lorain’s two losses against LEL opponents were by six points, should give the Titans plenty of confidence to believe they can win the conference.

Coach McFarland touched on last year’s experience, in which the team was somewhat undermanned, but still fought hard and kept games competitive.  “Last year we were really young and our senior class was only about five kids, so we kind of took our lumps a little bit,” McFarland stated.

“But this year we’ve got a nice senior class coming in, even though they didn’t get to play for a freshman team (three years ago),” the coach added.

Lorain starts out the 2016 season on the road against two tough teams who made the playoffs in 2015: Elyria and Midview. The Titans end the season against Maple Heights, Bedford, and Cleveland Heights, providing a challenging start to the season along with a difficult end.

Although McFarland has high hopes for his program this Fall, it could be the start of bigger and better things to come in 2017.

Key Players to Watch

Davion Dower: Jr. QB, (6-2, 200) started as a sophomore.

Carlos Chavis: Sr. RB,SS (5-10, 193) lead back RB trio

Zion Cross: Jr. WR/RB (5-10, 157) Won State Championship in 100-Meter Dash

Naz Bohannon: Sr. WR/OLB (6-6, 218) Highly-touted basketball star

Sly Worthy: Sr. OL/DL (6-0, 285)

Brandin Sturgill: Sr. OLB (5-11, 190)

Aaron Huff: Sr. MLB (6-1, 205)

2016 Lorain Titans Varsity Football Schedule

Aug. 26 at Midview 7 p.m.

Sept. 3 at Elyria (2 p.m.)

Sept. 9 Toledo Scott 7 p.m.

Sept. 16 Garfield Heights 7 p.m.

Sept. 23 at Warrensville Heights* 7 p.m.

Sept. 30 Shaw* 7 p.m.

Oct. 7 at Sandusky 7 p.m.

Oct. 14 at Maple Heights* 7 p.m.

Oct. 21 Bedford* 7 p.m.

Oct. 29 at Cleveland Heights* 7 p.m.

*denotes conference game*

For more information on the 2016 Lorain Titans football program, listen to Coach McFarland’s interview with WEOL 930 AM below: