SportsAugust 20, 2015
Football preview: Senior led Kelly team ready for second varsity season
The Hawks wrapped up their inaugural varsity campaign with a 4-6 record and a 63-14, opening-round loss to Caruthersville in the Class 2 District 1 playoffs.
High school football has evolved over the years into a commitment that begins following the last game of one season and continues through opening night of the next when preparation collides with execution. This introduction and team breakdown are part of the Southeast Missourian high school football preview, which examines how teams spent the year preparing for Friday night's season openers.
Remember the offseason?
High school football teams across the country take the field for three to four months every year, but as the product has grown in popularity over time, preparation has redefined the rest of the year.
From the last game of the season to the start of opening night, high school football players hardly ever stop working.
It's a process that begins in the weight room and ends on the field, and Central coach Nathan Norman is one of many people who understands the demands of the yearlong grind.
"It's so demanding now for a high school student," said Norman, who guided the Tigers to their first-ever Class 4 state championship appearance last season. "You're asking a lot for them to be involved with a sport like that because it's year-round, and that's tough."
A 1996 graduate of Jackson High School, Norman helped lead the Indians to a pair of state title game appearances before competing at the college level with Arkansas. Bob Sink and Van Hitt both coached Norman in high school and now serve as assistant coaches on his current staff.
"We'll all tell you that it's definitely changed," Norman said. "We were encouraged to weight lift, condition and train, and we did. I feel like that aspect of it probably hasn't changed as much as the number of practices, obviously. I remember when I was in high school, you got two weeks to practice, and that was it."
Jackson coach Brent Eckley began his coaching career in 1995 at Hickman Mills High School, where he coached quarterbacks for two years before serving three years as offensive coordinator at Warrensburg High School. Eckley landed his first head coaching job in 2000 at Montgomery County High School before moving on to Union High School in 2005, and he amassed a 101-32 record during his time at the two schools.
Eckley has seen the demands of high school football evolve over the years and believes there have been a number of factors that have contributed to it.
"I think sometimes as a coach, you want to try to control as much as you can," he said. "You want to have an influence on as many things as possible. I think that's what happens is in us trying to make sure our team is as well prepared as they can be, we'll spend as much time in the offseason as we can getting them ready for their season so things move smoother."
There's also a demand that's required from coaches, one that Perryville coach Mike Wojtczuk understands.
"It's a grind, but you've got to love the game," Wojtczuk said. "It's like my dad told me a long time ago, 'If you find a job you love, then you never have to work another day for the rest of your life.' Being a football coach is like that."
As for the players, focus and commitment go hand in hand.
Teams tend to carry the mindset that games are won in the offseason, and execution is only a part of the arduous process of high school football.
"It's very important that they buy in and want to be a part of it," Norman said. "It's easy to give up on something that you don't invest much time in. That aspect of it helps. If we've got a kid who makes it with the football program, they're dedicated because they have to be. There are just too many days they're required to be here.
"It's got to mean something to them."
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Kelly Hawks Preview
BENTON, Mo. -- For the first time since taking over the Kelly football program less than two months ago, Lance Powers has finally been given the opportunity to catch his breath.
Kenneth Riedinger resigned as the Hawks' coach on July 2, and Powers was named interim coach a week later, taking over a program that was preparing for only its second season at the varsity level.
"It was a whirlwind there for a while, but it's settling down," Powers said. "We're starting to kind of settle into a routine and a little bit of a groove, so that helps out a lot. I'm very fortunate to have a good coaching staff, and that makes it a lot easier for me."
Powers was the offensive coordinator for Kelly last year when the Hawks wrapped up their inaugural varsity campaign with a 4-6 record and a 63-14, opening-round loss to Caruthersville in the Class 2 District 1 playoffs.
Kelly enters the season with 15 seniors on its roster, and Powers believes that experience can carry his team a long way.
"We are senior-heavy this year, which is a plus for my first year," he said. "We've got experience. We got a lot of time in the saddle now, a lot of the seniors do, because when we were playing JV, a lot of those kids played a lot those first two years as freshmen and sophomores. They stepped up this past season as juniors."
Spring
On top of coaching track and field at Kelly, Riedinger was actively involved with his team's offseason weight training program.
Riedinger taught weight lifting during the first, second, fifth and seventh hours of the school day. It's a year-long program called "BFS," designed to make players bigger, faster and stronger.
"Any time you're bigger, faster, stronger in football, it helps," Riedinger said. "When you move a little bit to the contact, it helps you. Being faster helps you, and the weight room also adds some confidence that you know you've worked hard enough to be successful."
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The BFS program focuses primarily on building strength and size through parallel squats, bench press and power clean, among others. As for speed and agility, players run sprints several times a week and perform the dot drill in the BFS program, while also focusing on a healthy nutritional regimen.
Riedinger believes football is the ultimate team sport and said it's important for his players to work together in developing workout routines.
"It's the only sport that you can't do by yourself," Riedinger said.. "You can go coast-to-coast in basketball, hit a home run in baseball and with track, you're on your own, too. But we literally have to depend on 10 other guys to get a job done."
Summer
After Riedinger resigned Powers stepped in as the interim coach and immediately got to work preparing the team for August.
"We've got a long way to go as far as getting everything ready, and Coach [Ryan] Adams has things he wants to install and change. So we've got a lot of learning still to do," Powers said in early July. "It's nothing really basic. There's a lot to pick up between now and August 21 when we step on the field against East Prairie."
The Hawks competed in 7-on-7s with Central and Scott City and also held a lock-in at the end of July to encourage team bonding.
Powers understands the importance of taking advantage of summer practices. The Hawks initially took to the field at the start of June.
"That stuff just keeps going all summer long up until dead week," Powers said. "As far as the drills we're doing, we're just doing a lot of basic install. We've got some of the freshmen coming in now. We're letting them get used to some of the verbiage and formations. We changed a couple things up, and there are some things they're going to have to adjust to."
Offense
Kyle Fitzgerald returns at quarterback for Kelly after completing 68 of his 141 pass attempts for 992 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season.
Powers has been pleased with the development of freshman quarterback Christian Worley and said Fitzgerald has made great strides as he enters his junior season.
"Kyle will be our starter. ... He can do great things out there for us, and that's what we want," Powers said. "He can also control the game really well, and as long as he limits his mistakes, we're in good shape."
The Hawks return their three leading rushers from last year in seniors Ethan Faries, Maurice Davis and Matthew Burford. Faries had a team-leading 764 yards and eight touchdowns on 137 carries last season while Davis and Burford combined for 501 yards and six touchdowns on 67 carries. Powers said Faries and Burford will lead the way but also anticipates using Davis in the backfield.
Seniors Brian Frala and Jeremiah Bain are competing for the starting job at fullback.
After claiming a state championship in the 100-meter dash at the Class 2 State Track and Field Championships in May, Davis returns to lead the Hawks' receiving corps. He'll be joined by Jacob Black, a 6-foot-3 senior who started every game last year at defensive end but will see an increased role on offense this season.
"We moved him out there, and he's looking good in practice," Powers said. "He's working on his hands a little bit more. We expect big things out of him, too."
Senior Aaron Graham returns at tight end, and Powers is hoping a fruitful offseason can help Graham emerge as a threat in the passing game.
"Our tight end is a very good athlete, a very good player," Powers said. "... He had a great summer in 7-on-7s. He caught a lot of balls, built a good rapport with his quarterback, which is very important to us."
Kelly also returns seniors Zach Hahs and Drew Keen as well as junior Austin Eskew on the offensive line. Sophomore Dylan Sanders, junior Shane Goering and senior Brad Henderson are other options on the offensive line, which will be headed by new offensive and defensive line coach Paul McGuire.
Defense
Black and Graham combined for 129 tackles last season and are the Hawks' top returning tacklers. They'll start at defensive end while Henderson, Eskew and Goering will contribute at defensive tackle.
Hahs will play middle linebacker, senior Bryan Rogers will start at strongside linebacker and Burford will get the nod at weakside linebacker.
Powers has been pleased with the leadership he's seen from Rogers, Hahs and Black.
"Those guys were really dedicated to the weight room, and then they're out there on the field pushing the team to get better and improve every day," Powers said. "We had two weeks in July where it seemed like we were going 7-on-7 a lot, so when we picked up and fully took over July 12, we went hard all the way until the day before dead week."
Davis, Frala and Faries will be joined by senior Aaron Birk and Noah Logeman in the secondary.
The Hawks roster features 39 players, which Powers said could be an issue. He said he plans to field a JV squad and is doing everything in his power to make it happen.
"Our biggest weakness is obviously depth. We'll struggle there," Powers said. "As long as we can stay healthy, we'll be in good shape. We went through the injury bug last year, and it kind of caught up with us a little bit in certain positions. ... I can't complain about the kids that we've got. They're there, and they're working. We're getting everything out of them that we can, but we just wish we could've had more kids."
Special teams
Graham is expected to resume kicking duties for Kelly.
Davis will return as the team's primary return specialist.
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