Horn: SJJ football ready to continue climb in 2026

By Doug Haidet

TOLEDO – If Joe Horn was looking for the easy road, he took a wrong turn.

When he landed his first football head coaching job nearly one year ago at St. John’s Jesuit, Horn walked into a program that was trying to dig out from a 1-9 finish in 2024.

Doing so while playing in one of the premier football conferences in the country – the Detroit-based Catholic High School League – was like scaling a wall while wearing rollerskates.

“It can be tough on the mind when you’re going through some really tough opponents,” Horn said. “We felt like we were a playoff-caliber team this year and unfortunately the (computer) points didn’t match up for us to make it in.

“This league really sets you up (for playoff success). If you’re able to win it, you have a chance to win state. It’s probably an easier path to win a state championship than it is to win our conference.”

By season’s end, the Titans had secured a 5-5 record, snapping a run of four consecutive losing campaigns. When they beat the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in Week 10 by a 52-28 count – the most points in a St. John’s home game in 20 years – the Titans still had a chance to squeeze into the newly formatted 12-team playoffs.

Instead, Toledo Start leapfrogged them for the final spot in Division II, Region 6 with a rout of Woodward the next day.

For Horn, the season was still a success. St. John’s notched signature wins over playoff teams Toledo St. Francis de Sales (29-21) and Brother Rice (24-17) out of Michigan.

The Titans also finished with 253 points on the year – nearly 100 more than they had one season earlier. Horn said it was good to see his uptempo approach on offense pay such quick dividends.

The roughest three losses on the schedule for St. John’s came to three teams that could all be state champions this year.

Detroit Catholic Central (14-0) captured Michigan’s Division I crown Sunday at the Detroit Lions’ Ford Field while Division II Orchard Lake St. Mary (11-2) claimed its 10^th Michigan state championship at the same site last Friday.

Toledo Central Catholic (11-4), meanwhile, plays Bishop Watterson in a bid for its sixth state title this Friday in Ohio’s Division III championship.

“We kind of learned about the team and our guys as the season went on, for sure,” Horn said. “I think our offense at the end was way different than it was at the beginning.

“We were able to do some stuff against teams that we play out of conference … but once we got into our conference, we had to adjust a little bit and become a little more pass-heavy.”

Horn said the pass game under quarterback Coy Hamic was one aspect of the team that rose to the challenge.

The 6-5, 200-pound senior took over the offense full-time for the first time and thrived, finishing 121-of-178 passing for 1,682 yards and 10 touchdowns.

A multi-sport standout, Hamic broke the school record for single-season completion rate (68%) and eventually was named first-team All-Catholic in the CHSL.

“Coy was an extremely special player – one of the most talented quarterbacks I’ve ever been around,” Horn said. “He ended up being more talented than I could have ever imagined and he really carried us through a lot of games.”

The coach felt Hamic’s breakout came in the Titans’ Week 5 win over de Sales, when he finished 13-of-20 for 251 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.

Horn said the senior’s big send-off season could end up landing him with a college program.

“I do think he’s probably close to some Division II offers or some FCS offers,” Horn said. “There’s a lot of buzz around him and a lot of people talking about him.”

St. John’s also will graduate major talent in a few others aiming to play on Saturdays.

Linebacker Ha-Sean Lamb (6-2, 205) is committed to NCAA Division II Ohio Dominican while right tackle Richard Hamernik (6-6, 305) has Division II offers to Ohio Dominican, Lake Erie and Thomas More.

Cornerback Miguel McCord (6-2, 170), meanwhile, recently had a gameday visit to FCS program Colgate, and linebacker Cooper Binkowski (5-11, 190) has offers to Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster and Rio Grande.

All-League senior slot receiver Karter Washington (5-8, 160) also left his mark on the offense this fall (41-545-1 receiving).

Horn said missing core performers like those – and losing the bulk of his secondary to graduation – will have a major impact on the 2026 Titans, but he feels some critical building blocks remain.

In the trenches, St. John’s featured four sophomores and a junior on both sides. Horn expects big things out of them a year from now.

The Titans also will return their top two running backs in juniors RJ Mays (82-536-8) and Sam Harshman (87-395-3).

Both of them missed different points in the season due to injury, but Mays had one of the biggest nights in SJJ history in Week 10, setting a school record with 306 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 29 carries against UD Jesuit.

That duo also was important in the receiving game – combining for six scores through the air – and will be joined by fellow junior returners Zack Ziemke (21-297 receiving), Lonzo Rivers (8-329-1), Brandon Pratt (11-218-2) and Kayden Zoeller (9-166-2).

The speedy Pratt was a regional champ last spring in the 100-meter dash and also returned two kickoffs for scores this fall.

Considering Horn’s style on the offensive side of the ball, it’s a big deal that so many experienced pass-catchers will be back in the mix.

“We went into some of those games swinging (this year) – I wasn’t trying to manage the clock to keep it low-scoring or anything like that,” he said. “We were throwing the ball all over the place in some of those first halves.

“I didn’t do our defense any favors, but I knew in a lot of those games we were going to have to score a lot to give ourselves a chance.”

There will be a summer competition to decide who will be the quarterback to replace Hamic.

Maumee transfer Keaton McCullough (5-10, 191) will be a senior next year and will battle for the position against sophomores Colin Graham (5-10, 170) and Ben Howell (5-10, 155).

“These guys are really motivated to work in the weight room and to develop their bodies to not just compete regionally, but compete in our conference,” Horn said of his team.

The 2026 schedule could be even tougher, as Divine Child – which won a Division IV state title last Friday in Michigan – replaces UD Jesuit (0-9 this season).

If Toledo Central Catholic wins this Friday, the Titans will face four defending state champions next year.

But after a season getting acclimated, Horn said those are the challenges he wants the players in his program to crave.

It has been more than two decades since St. John’s made its lone Final Four appearance in 2003. And with an 8-18 all-time record in the postseason – and only two of those playoff wins coming since 2010 – the coach wants the climb to continue.

“We’re excited for those measuring sticks every single week and it taught us a ton this year,” Horn said. “We know we’re good, but we get to see what greatness is on a weekly basis.”