LUCAS — Taylor Iceman is coaching likes it’s 2015.

After an unprecedented run that included six straight Mid-Buckeye Conference championships, Iceman’s Lucas Cubs are in the midst of a rebuild. The roster boasts as many freshman as seniors — two apiece.

“I was blessed for a long time. We’ve had a lot of good players and a lot of good teams,” said Iceman, who inherited a program that had fallen on hard times in 2015. “We’ve had to sort of start over. We spend a lot more time working on fundamentals and other things we haven’t had to work on in a long time.

“Those first few years we had to do that.”

Before Iceman’s arrival, Lucas had won just 10 games in the previous five seasons combined. That woeful stretch included back-to-back winless seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

In his first season in charge, Iceman piloted the Cubs to seven wins. Lucas won 14 games the following year, the most since 2001.

Lucas improved to 15-9 in 2017-18, setting the table for the most successful stretch in program history.

From 2018-19 to 2023-24, the Cubs were a combined 123-31 with six MBC crowns. Lucas lost just two MBC games during that remarkable stretch and the 2019–20 team was preparing for a Division IV regional championship game when the season was shut down because of the pandemic. 

“Lucas has been the standard for a long time,” Mansfield Christian coach Cary Craner said earlier this season. “The rest of us have been trying to get to where they were.”

The biggest challenge for Iceman this season has been participation. There are 12 players in the entire high school program.

“The biggest thing this year is the numbers. We’ve never had that issue before,” Iceman said. “We’ve had 25 or 30 in the high school program up until this year.

“It’s a completely different approach. It’s hard to improve in practice.”

The Cubs are 3-15 as the regular season enters the home stretch. While a seventh straight MBC title is out of the question, Iceman is looking to the postseason.

Lucas will host St. Peter’s, a team the Cubs swept in MBC play, in a Division VII sectional semifinal game at 7 p.m. Feb. 18.

“Our district is not as strong this year as it has been in the past. We’re trying to stay positive and get some things figured out and give ourselves a chance,” Iceman said. “It’s hard to not win when you are used to winning.

“Its tough to go from where we were to where we are this quickly. We’ve just got to figure it out.”