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Colville, Washington |
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 |
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Indians young, inexperienced |
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Wednesday, 03 September 2008 |
Colville will get a stern early test
at Sandpoint on Friday night
BY CHRIS COWBROUGH
S-E Sports Editor
Colville High head football coach Randy Cornwell is the first to concede that he isn’t quite sure what to expect as his Indians make final prepa¬rations for the 2008 season and Friday night’s date in north Idaho against the Sandpoint Bulldogs.
Game time is 7 p.m. against SHS (0-1).
Sandpoint is coming off a 30-26 loss in Coeur d’ Alene last Friday night to Lake City.
In that game, both teams made enough first game mis¬takes to fill four quarter’s worth of video.
LC built a comfortable 23-6 lead in the first half against Class 4A Sandpoint. But the Bulldogs took advan¬tage of a couple of Timber¬wolves’ turnovers deep in their own territory to get back in it.
“We’ll get a tough test from Sandpoint,” figured Cornwell, who isn’t quite sure what to expect from his team on Friday night.
“What we do know is that we are young, small and pretty much untested. There are only five starters return¬ing (from a 9-4 team).”
Question marks
Sixteen letter-winners re¬turn to one of the most inex¬perienced teams Cornwell has been around in his 12 years at the helm at CHS.
“With the exception of that first year here, there is more mystery surrounding this season than any I can remember,” Cornwell said re¬cently. “We have a lot of question marks.”
With Colville’s emergence as one of the Great Northern League football elite, what hasn’t changed is the level of commitment, focus and re¬solve. A tradition of football excellence has been pains¬takingly built and nurtured in recent seasons.
“The last couple of groups we have had through here have been very passionate about football,” Cornwell said.
Cornwell and his veteran staff hopes that continues with a relatively green group this fall.
“I think that these kids are doing a good job of con¬trolling what they have con¬trol over,” the coach said. “We are focused, intense and are working hard.
“These kids expect to do well. I like the idea that our kids expect to be good…they work and play like that.”
This certainly isn’t one of the most imposing physical teams that Cornwell has coached. As far as overall team speed is concerned, this could be one of his quickest outfits, however.
“We don’t have any burn¬ers, but I think we have the ability to play pretty fast,” Cornwell said. “Collectively, we have speed…speed in the line, in the backs and in our receivers.
A solid system
“We are really small on de¬fense, but we have good team speed there and the kids will fly to the ball.”
What that veteran coach¬ing staff has done to ease the transition and level off the learning curve a bit is put a proven system in place.
“I think that we have good systems in place…the kids know the system and can just go out and play,” Corn¬well explained. “That’s a credit to Carp (defensive coach Bill Carpenter) and guys like Bass (coach Tom Bassett) and the kids.”
NEW LOOK
Offensively, the Indians will still line up in their Wing-T sets, but look for Colville to run more out of the shotgun with 6-3, 185-pound junior Jade Dorman at the controls. Dorman is coming off knee surgery (in¬jured ACL in last November’s overtime playoff loss to Oth¬ello) and will get his first start on Friday.
“We’ll do that to take ad¬vantage of a smaller, quicker line…we want to get kids in space and spread defenses out a little,” Cornwell said.
Without that bulk up front, this group won’t pound away inside like recent CHS editions have.
“We’ll be a little more fi¬nesse,” Cornwell said.
Execution on both sides of the ball has been a point of emphasis in pre-season drills.
“We know that our block¬ing and tackling will have to be as sharp as they can be,” Cornwell said.
AT A GLANCE
Backing up Dorman are sophomores Sawyer Bardwell, a 6-3, 175-pounder, and jun¬ior Cody Thew, a 5-10, 160-pounder.
At wingback will be return¬ing starter Kjell Perry, a hard-running 5-9, 165-pound senior. Joining Perry there will be 5-11, 185-pound junior Brock Dotts and 5-10, 160-pound senior Tristan Fox. Also vying for playing time will be 6-foot, 185-pound junior Andrew Walsh.
At fullback will be Dustin Divis, a 5-10, 175-pound sen¬ior; sophomore Blake Sjordal, a 5-10, 170-pounder, and 5-6, 150-pound senior John Fowler.
“We have some strong, quick kids there,” Cornwell said.
In Perry, the Indians have a player who Cornwell says possesses some speed and “runs with rage.” The raging one will also run back punts and kickoffs and be an im¬portant receiver out of the backfield.
The receiving corps is led by senior P.J. Sager (5-7, 150). One of the fastest players on the team, Sager has a knack for the ball and a set of good hands.
In junior Austin Pete (6-foot, 155), Cornwell has a player “who is probably our most competitive kid…he just loves to compete and he’ll make plays for us.”
Jared Fisher, a 5-11, 175-pound junior, and Paul Swan¬son, a 5-10, 165-pound sen¬ior, will also be part of the rotation.
The Indians strengthened the tight end position con¬siderably last week when fullback Casey Cox (5-10, 210 pound junior) was moved out of the backfield.
Also vying for playing time at tight end are 6-foot, 220-pound junior Kramer Carpenter and 5-11, 175-pound junior Cody Wagner.
Up front, there is some quality, but the Indians are thin in numbers. Staying healthy will be a key for this unit.
Beefed up
At center will be junior Ian Nelson, a 6-4, 205-pounder. Nelson has put on 25 pounds of muscle in the off-season “and is physically much stronger this year,” Cornwell said.
At guards will be returning veteran Jesse Luiten, a 6-foot, 195-pound senior and Myles Zerba, a 5-7, 200-pounder who was a valuable back-up last season.
At the tackle positions will be 6-1, 220-pound junior all-conference pick Cruz Thompson and 5-10, 195-pound junior Jordan Ander¬son.
Providing depth will be 5-10, 200-pound junior Joey Medlin and 6-foot, 190-pound Dylan Timmons.
“We aren’t very big there, but we have some kids who can run,” Cornwell said. “We really only have eight linemen, so we are razor thin there. We’re about one in¬jury away there from being a much different team than we expect to be.”
On defense, it’s pretty much the same faces.
Cox, an all-conference cali¬ber linebacker, will an¬chor the middle of what should be a quick-pursuing outfit. Outside will be Dotts, Cody Wagner, Sjordal and Fowler.
In the secondary, Sager an¬chors what should be a solid group. The senior has always had a nose for the ball and will get his share of in¬terceptions. Perry is also an aggressive safety.
At the corners will be Fox, Pete and Swanson.
Backing them up will be Walsh, Bardwell, Cody Thew and Zach Hull, a 5-8, 145-pound sophomore.
Up front—the faces are the same. Carpenter and ei¬ther Anderson or Luiten will be at ends. Thompson and Zerba will rotate with Medlin and Timmons inside.
Anderson returns as the Indians place-kicker. He has added punting to his respon¬sibilities this fall.
The coaching staff, one of the strengths of the CHS football program, consists of Cornwell, Carpenter, Bassett, Mike Jutila, Bob Gumm, John Foulkes and Brad Mad¬dox.
SCHEDULE
Sept. 5—At Sandpoint, 7 p.m.
Sept. 12—At Lakeland, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19—Chewelah at CHS, 7
Sept. 26—At Pullman, 7 p.m.
Oct. 3—At Medical Lake, 7 p.m.
Oct. 10—Cheney at CHS, 7 p.m.
Oct. 17—At West Valley, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24—Clarkston at CHS, 7
Oct. 31—At Riverside, 7 p.m.
Nov. 6—Deer Park at CHS, 7 p.m.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 September 2008 )
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