Ohio Dominican zips from winless to 10-0

Editors: Edited by USA TODAY
By GREG DOHMANN
USA TODAY
Something special is going on in college football in Columbus, Ohio,
and it has nothing to do with Buckeyes.
A perfect regular season might put Ohio State in the Bowl Championship
Series title game, but the Buckeyes might not be the first team in
town to achieve that milestone this season.

Meet the Ohio Dominican Panthers, 10-0 and No. 3 in the NAIA rankings.
And this from a school of a little more than 3,000 students that
didn't have football until 2004.

The Panthers struggled with 0-10 and 3-7 records their first two
seasons before improving to 7-3 last year. Even with that turnaround,
the team's No. 17 ranking in last fall's final poll left them just
outside the 16-team NAIA playoffs.

With one game remaining, Ohio Dominican has clinched a share of the
Mid-States Football Association title and a spot in the playoffs.

Coach Dale Carlson was familiar with starting programs from scratch
before he came to Columbus. He was head coach at Tri-State (Ind.) when
the school started its program in 1995. When Carlson accepted the job
at Ohio Dominican, it had a lot to do with location.

"I came from Indiana, where basketball is king. In Ohio, football is
king," Carlson said. "Being in a city that is football-crazy to begin
with and has great high school programs was a definite advantage."

After being on the wrong end of blowouts in its first two years, Ohio
Dominican is delivering the offensive onslaughts this season,
averaging 50 points.

"It started last year when we started to win some games," Carlson
said. "We felt that we had a decent football team. Our players really
responded and did everything we asked them to do in the offseason. We
felt like we had the pieces in place."

Junior quarterback Cris Reisert has thrown for 4,290 yards this
season, most in NAIA, and 43 touchdowns.
While he is not one of the 22 players left from the winless inaugural
season, Reisert appreciates the growth of the program in such a short
period.

"It's hard when you're down and you're not winning," Reisert said.
"But every kid in this program believed that someday there would be
success. We have a chance to do something special."

With a win Saturday vs. 23rd-ranked Malone (Ohio) (7-3), Ohio
Dominican will ensure itself a high seed for the NAIA playoffs.

"It would be unbelievable for us, especially for the 22 seniors,"
Reisert said. "They came in when we were at the bottom of the totem
pole. They persevered. If we could do something in the playoffs, it
would just be incredible."