In the spring of last year, Westerville North went on a search for the perfect candidate for a new football coach. Stanley Jackson, former Ohio State University quarterback was hired to bring the team to glory. Last year, head coach Mr. Johnson stepped down to spend more time with his family. Johnson would later move to Marion. Westerville North’s record in Johnson’s final year was three and eight. Opening up the spot to the Former Ohio State quarterback.
Westerville North’s Athletic Director, Wes Elifritz was a part of the hiring process.
“We had more than 80 people that were good for the job, we had an opportunity to change the script. But we felt that we had a chance to do something different and bring in guys who have played at the highest level.”
With the new edition of Stanley Jackson and his all-former Ohio State coaching staff, North was able to complete the unimaginable task of beating one of their biggest rivals for the first time in 13 years. They took down Westerville Central High School 21-12 in mid-August. This would be the first time North beat Central since October 19, 2008. The score of that game was 21-17. North has only come close to doing this just last year when they lost 23-20 with just seconds left on the clock.
Jackson had quite the resume that he brought to the table. In his college days with Ohio State, he would regularly alternate starting at quarterback with Joe Germaine. Jackson was also on the Ohio State team that won the 1997 Rose Bowl against the Arizona State Sun Devils. During his tenure with the Buckeyes, he would have 2660 passing yards with 22 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions finishing with a 55% completion rate (Buckeye Rosters). Germaine went on to win MVP (Most Valuable Player) in that game.
After college Jackson would not be drafted into the NFL. He would be drafted into the CFL (Canadian Football League). In that league, he played for the Montreal Alouettes, the Toronto Argonauts, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He would retire in that league. He would have a 54% completion rate during his time in that league. Totaling 900 yards, three touchdowns, and six interceptions.
But only two years after retiring he couldn’t resist the urge to get back into the game, he would go play in the CIFL (Continental Indoor Football League). He went on to play for the Marion Mayhem in the CIFL. Jackson was also a co-owner of the league for a short time. He would play three seasons in the CIFL and would break two records in those three seasons. The two records were the most pass completions in a season with 177 and the other was the most pass attempts with 348 (Stats Crew).
After full-time retirement, he would be a color analyst for the Big Ten Network and also a pregame analyst for Ohio State. He is also on the Ohio State Board of Education.
But now this was Jackson’s first game as head coach of “The New North”, as the team has been dubbed
Since this was his first game, there was a lot of media coverage covering the event. News outlets such as The CW, Local ABC news, and even the Braxton Miller Foundation were at the game. They hosted live streams and sideline interviews.
All of this coverage would be intimidating for anyone else, but not for the coaches and players.
“ No, we do what we do, we ran all of our plays in the preseason. We knew we had good players and we knew we would be good this year” Jackson said.
Jackson followed Vince Lombardi’s philosophy of “We have four plays. I don’t care if they know we are gonna run them,”.
All of this media coverage could also be because of the heartbreaking loss in the dying embers of last year’s game with Westerville Central’s “Hook and ladder” play that would turn out to be a walk-off touchdown for the Westerville Central Warhawks. With Jackson being the father of two players who have been in this program, Ronald Jackson (2025) and Stanley Jackson Jr. (2023). He truly felt the emotions and personal connection to the team.
“Obviously I had two boys on the team. I was in the stands. It was heartbreaking to experience”.
After winning this game, and winning the rest, when Elifritz was questioned about this he stated, “For the first time in a while we have had to turn away stations, we don’t have enough room in the press box” Elifritz said.
With this being a rivalry game the students play a big part. When Elifritz was asked about that he exclaimed “We have great student section leaders this year but obviously the more that you win the more students want to show up, but our students have always played a big part and vital part of football Friday night” Elifritz said.
Westerville North is truly rewriting the script, and rewriting history.
