How do you follow up your most successful season in well over a decade? That’s the question that faces this year’s Oberlin football team after the 2001 Yeomen ended the longest losing streak in any level of football, set an Oberlin record for total offensive yards and equaled in one year Oberlin’s win total for a decade in the ’90s.
The answer, they hope, is with even more success.
“I’d be disappointed if we didn’t double our win total,” head coach Jeff Ramsey said.
The 2002 Yeomen should have the tools to do it. The team graduated seven seniors last year, including defensive leaders Sam Hobi and Tim Salazar and punter Bob Montag. While these losses will be felt, there is no question that this year’s team is much more experienced.
Last year the team was made up almost entirely of sophomores and first-years. Those players now all have a year of college football under their belts. This added experience should be most apparent on offense as several of last year’s key contributors will be entering their second year of college ball.
Among these sophomores is quarterback Ryan Squatrito, who won the starting job last year and appears to be the favorite to start this year. Squatrito averaged 141 yards per game and threw seven touchdowns last season as the signal-caller. Squatrito’s biggest competition will be senior Chris Moffatt, who was the starter in 2000.
“[Squatrito is] a tremendous talent,” Ramsey said. “He’s got a nice arm, a nice delivery, a nice touch, a great mind. It’ll be a great battle between he and Chris Moffatt.”
Other key sophomores on offense are receivers Scott Barker and Zach Lewis and running back Travis Oman. Barker had 31 catches and six touchdowns, while Lewis had 23 receptions, including four touchdowns. Oman rushed for three touchdowns and racked up 741 yards last year — 209 of which came in Oberlin’s rout of Kenyon to end the 44-game losing streak.
Oman will have competition, though, from transfer student Mike Hill.
“We’re still trying to decide if [Hill is] going to start as running back,” Ramsey said. “He’s done a great job.”
Defensive players to watch include junior defensive back Quammie Semper, who was second in the North Coast Athletic Conference in interceptions last year with five, and defensive lineman Jesus Juarez, who had three sacks last year. The two will captain the team along with junior offensive lineman Andrew Roebuck.

This season will be Ramsey’s fourth as Head Coach and the 2002 Yeomen team will consist entirely of his recruits. In his tenure, Ramsey has slowly but surely been building up the football program. If the team finds success this season, the work will finally have paid off.