GREENVILLE – The Beamsville Christian Church, located six miles north of Greenville on U.S. Route 127, hosted the Greenville Senior High School Green Wave football team for a Week 10 pre-game meal prepared by the ladies of the congregation.
“All of our team meals have been donated this year by the goodwill of the people within the Greenville community,” said Greenville head football coach Steve Channell. “It is well appreciated by me and our entire football program.”
Church member Nick Wills said the congregation enjoys supporting the community and the local athletes.
“We do this for the community, we do it for the kids,” Wills said. “We started this about six years ago. It’s a relaxed atmosphere away from the school and football complex. It’s nice for them to come out here. It’s a small church, but we know how to feed people. The ladies of the church come out and cook the meals—and they make all the desserts too.”
Before the meal begins, the seniors are the first to go through the line, followed by the juniors, sophomores, freshmen, and finally the coaching staff. However, before anyone is permitted to eat, players must first correctly answer a series of sports trivia questions posed by Coach Channell.
Channell, a veteran head coach known for turning around struggling football programs, took time to reflect on his first season leading the Green Wave—a program that entered 2025 on a 22-game losing streak.
“The outpouring of support this season has been great,” Channell said. “We’ve been trying to overcome several years of not having a lot of success.”
The Green Wave managed three wins this season, highlighted by reclaiming the Little Brown Jug with a victory over Sidney.
“That was a big shot in the arm for everybody,” Channell said. “At the end of the season, we’ve faced three of the strongest teams in the league, so we’ve had to deal with that while competing to the best of our ability.”
Greenville’s final three 2025 opponents—Tippecanoe (9-0), Troy (7-2 with losses to Middletown and Tippecanoe), and Xenia (7-2 with losses to Troy and Tippecanoe)—enter Week 10 with a combined 23-4 record.
“But as a whole, I would call the season a success from where we were last March when I was hired to where we are now at the end of October,” said Channell. “I think a lot of progress has been made.”
“Sometimes you don’t see that on the scoreboard,” he added. “Although if you look, you can see that we’ve been competitive in numerous games and actually winning three.”
Channell emphasized that continuing the rebuild depends on increasing participation.
“The challenge moving forward is to keep recruiting numbers out of the hallways of the high school, getting more kids to play,” he said. “Like I’ve stated many times, it’s a numbers game.”
He noted that Greenville competes as a mid-range Division III school, while teams like Troy, Xenia, and Butler are Division I or II.
“We’re a mid-range division three, so numbers are a huge, huge factor over the course of a 10-game season, depth becomes a challenge,” Channell said. “When you start having some injuries and the bumps with some bruises that are natural, then it just really eats into your depth, and then that’s when it becomes very challenging. The biggest obstacle to the continuation of this turnaround is numbers. We need more kids playing—pure and simple.”
The Green Wave roster featured 17 seniors to start the season, a remarkable number given the program’s struggles in recent years.
Seniors included in the opening day MVL roster include: David Conway, Gabe Rammel, Owen Shaffer, Aiden Manix, Wyatt Hissong, John Barr, Ryan Dixon, Jeffrey Boltin, Wyatt Thacker, Wyatt Warner, Landon Noble, Logan Kimmel, Michael Thompson, Jaxon Wombolt, DeAndre Jones, Laine Flora, James Brush, Kaden Maxwell, and Bo Melton.
“They did everything,” said Channell. “When you look out on the field, the senior class has been the backbone of our team this year. They’re going to be sorely missed next year because they occupied 70 to 80 percent of the 22 positions between offense and defense.”
“For those kids to still be here after going 2-28 since their freshman year—that’s a compliment to them,” he continued. “I’ve told them many times how much I respect them as a class for sticking with it.”
Channell said he knew what he was taking on when he accepted the job.
“I realized when I took the position that it would be a challenge,” he said. “Every day I have to understand the magnitude of that challenge—and it is a big one. Not everybody is built for that. I feel that I am built for that challenge.”
“Has it been frustrating at times? Absolutely. I’m not used to this,” Channell admitted. “But it’s also rewarding to take a down program and turn it around. That’s what drives my focus and energy—doing everything I possibly can to turn this program around. This year is year one of that process.”
