Although the season wasn't as successful as they anticipated, the 22 seniors on the Thomas Worthington High School football team are hopeful 2009 will mark the year that the program took a big step forward.

With a 5-5 overall record, the Cardinals snapped a streak of nine consecutive losing seasons and came within one victory of the program's third winning season since 1989. Thomas tied Upper Arlington and Worthington Kilbourne with a 2-3 record in the OCC-Central Division, behind Dublin Coffman (5-0) and Hilliard Davidson (4-1), and ahead of Hilliard Darby (0-5).

"We played well enough to win a lot of games, and probably lost some games that we could have won," coach Scott Gordon said. "Obviously, (our record) represents an improvement and going forward should be looked at as an average year. We now know how to win and should be able to handle it to the point that we can feel comfortable with eight- and nine-win seasons in the future."

Thomas opened with a 35-28 win over Division IV opponent Jonathan Alder before losing to Olentangy Liberty 34-13. A 32-0 shutout of Hilliard Bradley in week three gave the Cardinals some momentum heading into a showdown with Upper Arlington.

Senior quarterback Sam Bohon powered the offense to 336 yards of offense as the Cardinals beat UA 17-9, the first Thomas victory in the series in 19 meetings.

"That really set the school on fire," Bohon said. "Beating them was one of the best feelings I've ever had and it really got people believing in us."

The defense struggled against their next three opponents, however. Thomas lost to Davidson 62-0 and Coffman 48-3 and fell to New Albany 26-23 in double overtime on homecoming.

Back-to-back wins over Hilliard Darby (13-7) and Watkins Memorial (17-0) preceded a 28-13 loss to Worthington Kilbourne to close the season.

Bohon, who owns every passing record in program history, graduates along with wide receivers Justin Grubb and Colin Lisi. Running backs Justin Dugan, Nate Easley and Eric Garris, at trio that accounted for 75 percent of the rushing attack this year, also graduate.

Despite those losses, the offense returns some key playmakers. Four of five starting lineman -- Michael Allison, Shane Fullerton, Nick Sharick and William Spernoga -- are eligible to return, as are running back Eric Monfort, wide receivers Colin Carter and tight end Jordan Cowgill.

Junior John Chadwell and sophomore Austin Kaiser will compete for the quarterback job next season. Eric Monfort also could see time in the Wildcat formation that was used with varying success this year.

On defense, Thomas loses five starters, including backs Easley and Justin Grubb, linebacker Sam Adams and lineman Staten Brady, JP May.

Linebackers Michael Johns, Mike Pisching and Antonio Williams are all expected back, along with defensive end Tyler Meisse. Mark Chadwell, Chris Boyd and Nana Kyeremeh return in the secondary.

Kyle Dineen, a sophomore who Gordon says can make field goals of 50 yards, replaces kicker Jake Szabo and punter Josh Perger.

"With other teams in our league, there's an institutional gap where the expectations are such that they're going to win close games," Gordon said. "They have offseason expectations and that results in actions that are carried out by the players. With us, the talent the gap is closing and it's just a matter to get more players to be a part of our process."