The season hasn’t started and East Ridge coach Mike Martin already is looking for ways to get Makal and Micah Kidd off the field.

“Makal starts on offense and Micah on defense, and both are going to get a lot of reps on both sides of the ball,” said Martin, who is in his first year with the Pioneers after leaving Meigs County. “We have to try and get them off some of the special teams so they can get a break.”

The sophomore twins are unusual. They not only show up for every workout, but they arrive early and stay late. They’re returning starters on the line, although each is 5-foot-10 and weighs in the neighborhood of 190 pounds.

“They were the first two kids I met when I took the job, and they’re impressive youngsters,” Martin said. “They’re good kids — hard-nosed players — and they’ll do anything you ask of them. It is kids like them that you love to coach. I really expect good things from them this year.”

The twins worked at the school this summer and did everything from painting and window-washing to scraping gum off the underside of tables.

“They were supposed to be here at 8 o’clock, and every morning without fail they would come by my office and say hello about 7:40,” East Ridge principal Mark Bean said. “They are role-model citizens. They come from a great family and they have a great mom and dad who are very supportive.

“I might be out of a job if I had a school full of kids like Makal and Micah. The teachers love them because they’re polite and well-mannered and good students. I’d take them home with me in a heartbeat.”

Makal has made only A’s and B’s at East Ridge, while Micah has made A’s and B’s and some C’s.

“I’ll give it to Makal. He is probably the better student,” Micah said. “But we’re not getting any D’s. Our parents are real strict about the grades. If you don’t do what you’re supposed to, they’re going to take something away.”

They are competitive with each other, as one might expect of siblings, but they are the only two who have competed in the “Big Daddy” challenge.

“It was to see who was the toughest, but it was just us and we wrestled for a steak dinner,” Makal said. “I won twice and he won twice.”

They’re split on whether the offensive or defensive unit will be the better one.

“The offense will be better,” Micah said. “The offensive line is much better this year. We’re moving a lot faster, so our running back will be more effective.”

Countered Makal: “The defense is strongest. The main thing in a game for us is to stop the run, and in our scrimmages we have been doing that. We have been more aggressive tackling and hitting.”

Beyond the Kidd twins, East Ridge will depend heavily on senior Gunner Miller, who will be a running back and a receiver on offense and a middle and outside linebacker on defense.

“I’m new to this team and I’m trying to learn the kids, and it seems like every time we go out on the field he shows me a little more,” Martin said of Miller. “I knew he could run, but the other day he showed me some cuts I hadn’t seen him use. As I evaluate players, he shows me something new every time.

“He could be a lot like the (Sam) Eberle kid last year at Notre Dame. We’re going to move him around at several positions and try to get him the ball.”

The big question mark for the Pioneers is at quarterback, and Martin is putting more on Adam Long and Chase Steele, either of whom would be a first-year starter.

“We’ll rotate those guys some,” Martin said. “Chase gives us a different look, but I was in the huddle with them in the spring and part of fall practice. It’s time for them to take over the huddle.”

It may also be time for East Ridge to throw more, which would be a change for the Pioneers and for Martin.

“Every year at Meigs I went in with a goal to run 60 percent of the time and throw 40 percent, and it usually would up 70-30,” Martin said. “Here I honestly think we can go 60-40, and some nights it might even be 50-50. Anybody who knows me from the past won’t believe it’s me out there the way we have been throwing it.”

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