You may not know how to pronounce Aaron Czesak's last name right now, but according to Bedford football coach Jeff Wood, you will in another month or so.

The successor to Jared Kujawa at quarterback for the Mules, Czesak will be entrusted to run Bedford's unorthodox veer "flexbone" offense and not allow any dropoff in the program's success level.

Bedford accomplished a dream season last year with Kujawa executing the offense to near perfection. The Mules recorded their first undefeated regular season and finished with a school-record 11-1 record.

Now, Czesak has been handed the keys to this powerful offensive machine, and Wood believes the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior is more than ready.

"He's not as fast as Jared, but he has a very good grasp of this offense," Wood said of Czesak, which for the record is pronounced "chess-sock."

"A lot of times we call two plays, and he makes great decisions at the line of scrimmage. He's very heady."

Czesak served as Kujawa's backup last season.

"Jared helped him a lot, because Aaron saw things he had never seen," Wood said. "But Aaron's going to make a name for himself."

Helping Czesak with the adjustment process will be a veteran offensive line, which welcomes back four starters and features five seniors.

Josh Thoma (5-11, 205), Andrew DeVore (6-2, 265), Hunter Hurt (6-3, 275) and Matt Boehm (6-3, 235) return this year. Center Jason Phillips (6-1, 235) is the lone new starter on the line.

"Aaron will have a great offensive line in front of him, and that should really help him," Wood said.

Offensively, the Mules also return senior fullback Bryan Smith (6-1, 235), who runs a 4.85 40-yard dash and registered 100 tackles last season as a middle linebacker.

Wood said he expects the defense to be much improved with the presence of Smith, Austin Swick (5-9, 245), a three-year starter at noseguard who squats 515 pounds and deadlifts 700 pounds, and Tyler Hooven (5-10, 170), a key returning starter at cornerback.

"The last couple years we've given up our points, but our defensive coordinator Jeff Potter is doing a great job of adjusting and I think defensively we could be pretty good," Wood said.

Keeping the Mules motivated, other than the pursuit of a third straight Southeastern Conference Red Division championship, is a nonconference home game with Central Catholic.

"I'm an '86 [Central] alum, so you can bet I'm more than a little fired up for that game," Wood said. "What a great matchup for the fans of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan."

Summerfield (10-1, 7-0 Tri-County Conference) is also coming off its first undefeated regular season in school history and its first TCC championship since 1980.

The Bulldogs have made a dramatic transformation under fourth-year coach Erik Johnson, who has a 26-7 record at the school.

"It's been a gradual process," Johnson said. "To be honest, we probably overachieved the first year [when Summerfield finished 6-4], and I think that kind of lit a fire under the rest of the kids. We had a lot sophomores and juniors that first year, so we had four kids that started as a sophomores who were seniors last year."

The Bulldogs bring back 10 starters and have 12 returning letter winners on its 24-man squad.

Lucas Diver, a 6-4 junior, takes over at quarterback for Mike Hewitt, who became the TCC's all-time leader in touchdown passes.

Part of the line that will be protecting him are seniors Jacob Nowak (6-1, 250) and Travis Hunter (5-9, 180), both third-year starters.

Senior Jason Wilder (5-9, 160) is a multi-threat feature in the offense, while senior Zach Ladd (5-7, 155) anchors the defense at noseguard.

"We have a small senior group, but they're a talented group of eight," Johnson said. "And our junior group is a very deep and talented class themselves. I'm excited to see what a lot of those guys will do because a lot of them will be getting their first varsity start."

Summerfield and Clinton are the preseason favorites in the TCC, but Whiteford may not be far behind.

The Bobcats (5-4, 4-3 TCC) welcome back 15 starters and have 17 seniors on their 30-man squad.

Senior running back Aaron Kellerbauer (6-0, 178) will be the featured option in the offense, the Delaware Wing T, and he also contributes as an all-league performer at defensive back.

Also seeing some carries will be senior running back Kody Baker (5-10, 180), and running the offense is junior quarterback Gabe LaRoy (6-0, 170).

Seniors Dalton Nagle (5-11, 235) and Austin Bischoff (6-1, 225) are expected to anchor the offensive and defensive lines, while junior linebacker George Vergote (5-10, 155) was an all-league performer.

"We've come a long way since last year," said second-year Whiteford coach Matt Garno. "Just the experience of being in the program and the work we've put in in the weight room has made a big difference.

"We've always said we'll only be as good as our seniors, and our weight room attendance in the offseason was through the roof. We were getting around 40-plus per day three days a week, which is big for a program like ours, and that's because of them."

Blissfield (6-4, 3-2 Lenawee County Athletic Association) has qualified for the playoffs seven times under 10th-year coach Ron Estes, and could be poised for another postseason run this year.

Blissfield has just seven starters back but returns 18 letter winners on a 39-man squad.

Senior tailback Josh Knorr (5-11, 185) should see the bulk of the carries in the running game, while senior Garick May (5-7, 145) could also be a scoring threat at kick returner and wide receiver.

The Royals will also count on senior defensive back James Trevino (5-8, 150), junior fullback/linebacker Lee Keinath (6-1, 190), junior tight end/defensive end Zech Bostick (6-3, 270) and junior guard/defensive end Thomas Jackson (6-1, 195).

"I think we have a chance to be pretty good," Estes said. "The quicker we grow up and get some experience, the better we're going to be.

"We have some tough early games, but this is a team if we get it together quickly, we can be a playoff team again. But if it takes a while for us to get it together, because of those critical games early, then we're going to be in trouble."

As for the key to Blissfield's continued success, Estes said consistency is key.

"We've got a system and we've stuck with it," he said. "We know who we are. Some teams change schemes like they change their socks. We have stuck with the same system [Wing T offense, 4-3 defense], and there's a familiarity with that when kids come in."

Erie Mason (1-8, 0-5 LCAA) is hoping to get back to being a perennial postseason contender under first-year coach Mike Duffey, a Monroe High School and Hillsdale College alum.

The Eagles have had three coaches in four years, and in the last five seasons they've won just six games.

Before this recent drought, however, Erie Mason was a distinguished program. The Eagles won the Class C state championship in 1987 and made six playoff appearances from 1997-2003.

"We're trying to make a reconnect with the kids in terms of the history of the program," Duffey said. "It was a pretty decent football school for a lot of years, so we brought back some former players to speak about their time there and get the kids to relate to that and hopefully rekindle some of that."

Duffey has abandoned the spread offense, which the Eagles ran for the last two seasons, and adopted the run-based single wing.

"You have to work with what you've got," he said. "With the single wing, you can do lots of things with that and not have to have the linemen or the wideouts to survive."

Senior quarterback Tyler Bitz (6-6, 170) and senior running back/tight end Dylan Fichtner (6-2, 215) will be the primary threats offensively, with offensive linemen Max Zbikowski (6-3, 220), Chris Massingill (6-3, 240) and Hunter Cole (6-2, 250) paving the way.

Junior linebackers Jesse Oyerbides (5-9, 175) and Chase Burlen (5-10, 185) should anchor the defense.

Contact Zach Silka at: zsilka@theblade.com or 419-724-6084.

First Published August 24, 2011, 4:00 a.m.