Varsity Football Halted in Post Season
November 25, 2008
Unable to obtain success in the postseason, the Wildcats’ football season came to an early end this year with four wins and five losses. Fortunately, according to Head Coach Bryan Wells, several players had record breaking performances and the team itself had valuable, intangible triumphs.Even if the team did not grasp playoff glory, they still apparently put on a good show. “They had a few games that were just great, exciting football games and unfortunately came out a little short sometimes. You’re not going to be able to look back on the season and say it wasn’t exciting,” said Wells.
Difficulty defending against passes and injured running backs were two areas that Wells saw as detrimental to the team’s performance. Throughout the season, Wells said that he played six or seven different running backs. “While all those guys were fine running backs, you usually have one or two guys that, when healthy, are so much better than everyone else,” said Wells.
Wells admits that the team did not capture as many wins as desired, but he feels that the team had other, intangible successes. Among them was uniting a group of relative strangers into a tight-nit team. Wells said, “To get those 90 guys to come together and begin to play like a team and respect each other is a big endeavor every year. I feel that by the end of the year we were successful in that.” Along with unifying the players, Wells mentioned that he hopes he also managed to shape the young men on his team for the better.
Adding to the team’s success, some individual players had record setting performances. Pat Keeley set several single season records with his 132 tackles, 98 solo tackles, and three blocked kicks. Quarterback Alex Lincoln had set records in pass attempts, pass completions, touchdowns, and yardage. Catching many of those passes was Conner Yearian, who set a record of eleven touchdown receptions.
Record setters are not the only factor in a winning football season. Other players that do not receive as much notoriety as the stars of the team are just as crucial. Wells mentioned many other players such as Mike Camire, Scott Doering, Chris Dawson, Tim Schlosser, Nate Pena, Donovan Moreno, Kaelin Harvey, Grant Duckwall, and Will Radostits as players that put their best effort into the games and did not always receive much admiration. “All those guys are necessary for us to be successful or even to compete. Its fun watching every year to see who those guys might be,” said Wells.
With so many of those valuable players being seniors, the juniors and sophomores must fill in the void next year. Leading the newcomers will be quarterback Joey Ippolito who is currently a junior. Although he looks to be the likely candidate for the job, sever sophomores are also vying for the position.
Preparation for next season has already begun in the weight rooms. Football players not involved in a sport must attend the 5:45 a.m. lifting program fours days a week that lasts until the end of the school year. Another focus will be unifying the 120 juniors and sophomores that have had little to no previous contact.
The team will need all the early preparation possible to confront next season’s challenging schedule. Wells said that the upcoming season will be the toughest schedule in Neuqua’s history. “If we go out and are successful with the schedule we’re going to have next year, that would take us to elite status,” said Wells. Apparently, seven of the teams on the schedule made it to the playoffs this season, and many of the teams won seven or more games. Wells wrapped up his discussion of next season by saying, “To make a prediction, I don’t know . . . we’ll see where we go. It’ll be fun.”
By Jonathan Oskvarek, news & web editor
