Defense should be improved this season for McLouth

New Oak Grove football coach Pete Carpino knew that his new school is widely known for its strong wrestling teams, and that was OK with him.

“We’re not big,” he said, referring to the physical makeup of the Panthers. “But this is a big wrestling school, and a lot of these kids are quick and tough. We have very high expectations here. I think we have a chance to be very good.”

Experience shouldn’t be an issue for the Panthers. Twenty-three senior players return, led by Colby Reinbold, a 6-foot, 230-pound center, and Adam Hightower, an all-state cornerback.

The offense is led by Bryan Salley, a third-year starter at quarterback.

“He has a lot of experience,” Carpino said. “He understands the game. The kids really respect him. He’s not big, but he’s tough.”

Another senior, Tyler Russell, returns at fullback. The rest of the backfield time probably will be shared by juniors -- Derrick Smith, Trevor Myer and Jacob Brandt.

“We’ll be predominantly a two-back offense,” Carpino said. “But we’ll spread the field, too. We want to try to keep as good a balance as we can.”

Carpino will try to continue a strong football tradition by long-time coach Brad Gaines. Last season, the Panthers finished with an 8-2 record in third place in the Missouri Valley River Conferene.

“I’m excited about the opportunities here,” said Carpino, who previously was an assistant to Kelly Donohoe at Blue Springs. “It’s a great challenge. But the kids here know how to compete. They’ve always taken football very seriously here.

“I can’t think of a better situation to be in as a coach.”

One word can best describe Northeast’s upcoming football season: Improvement.

During coach Matthew Pyle’s first season, the Vikings went through “Football 101,” learning the fundamentals of the game.

“It was rough,” he said. “We were just not getting it.”

Now, in Pyle’s eyes, Northeast has made a 180-degree shift.

Last season, in which the Vikings finished with a 3-5 record, players needed repeated repititions to work through simple off-tackle plays. Now …

“We ran it so often, we usually knock out that same play after five reps and we move on,” Pyle said, snapping his fingers to stress the rapid learning. “They’re clearly ahead of where they were last year.”

The improvement just didn’t start during two-a-day practice sessions. Pyle also implemented an off-season conditioning program.

“For most programs that’s not very important,” Pyle said, “but for Northeast, it’s impressive.”

A loyal group of 20 players attended the after-school sessions throughout the months, even without the heavy-handed influence by coaches. Besides building core strength, the program has boosted Pyle’s popularity among players.

“He came in and turned (the team) around,” junior quarterback Steven Bingham said.

Pyle believes that the overall improvement will reflect on Friday nights, including playoffs.

“They don’t realize where we were a year ago,” he said. “Anybody can jump in there and win that district. Hickman Mills is of course the favorite, but if we do our job and progress like we’re supposed, I feel like we can contest for that district title.”

With the speed North Kansas City has, there could not have been a better time to install artificial turf on their football field than now.

“It’s exciting,” coach Chad Valadez said. “This was already the best stadium in the city, now it just looks 35 years newer.”

Hopefully the new look will fit in well with the new-look Hornets. They plan on spreading the ball out, hoping to beat opponents to the outside.

With two strong quarterback candidates, the Hornets should do well regardless of who is playing.

Junior David Parker possesses the ability to run out of the pocket and create plays. Nate Biggs, also a junior, has more of a drop back style which could bode well in their new air attack.

Though Valadez plans on naming a starter, both will see action.

“They are both good quarterbacks,” Valadez said. “They are completely different, but they are a lot alike, too.”

The biggest strength for the Hornets could be the guys blocking for Parker or Biggs.

The offensive line suffered only one key loss from last season, Jayson Palmgren, now at the University of Missouri.

“I feel like we are really going to have a cohesive unit up there,” Valadez said.

Lineman Shane Gibson agreed. “Everyone up there really knows what is going on with each other, which helps,” he said.

The Hornets’ new offense will be tested early. They play Liberty on Friday night at William Jewell College in Liberty.

To try and compare this Harrisonville football team with the Wildcats’ Missouri class 3 state championship team of a year ago is practically impossible.

That’s because much of the starting squad from last season graduated, leaving only eight returning starters.

A lack of experience for the Wildcats isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however.

“We are replacing so many kids that it is kind of exciting that we have to go back to the drawing board and may go back to some of the basics,” Coach Fred Bouchard said.

Whether they run a basic offense or a complex one, the Wildcats will have a veteran running the offense.

Senior Sean Ransburg is back for his second year as quarterback and third year as an offensive starter.

He has already verbally committed to the University of Kansas, following in the footsteps of Kelly Donohoe, a former Harrisonville quarterback who now is the head coach at Blue Springs High School.

“That helps quite a bit when you have a quarterback like Sean back,” Bouchard said. “We have the bookend defensive ends back, too.”

Defensively the Wildcats have to find replacements for Zach Livingston and Zach Zaroor, each of whom played in 56 high school games, along with Michael Keck, who now is at the University of Missouri.

Finding players to replace those three is not easy, but Bouchard thinks he has the players to step up.

“Last year when you had eight returning starters on defense it was kind of a given that we would do well,” he said. “This year we have a lot of kids still competing for playing time. That will just make those guys competing better.”

This might be the first time in the Raymore-Peculiar football dynasty that there isn’t that one marquee player among all the Panthers.

But don’t let their lack of star power fool you, these Panthers still think they can win some football games.

“This is probably the hardest working team I’ve seen in my four years here,” quarterback Gabe Crumpley said. “We are losing some talent, but we are gaining some with the seniors.”

The 2007 seniors are a group that doesn’t know how to end a football season any other way than with a state championship.

With three Missouri state football titles to their credit, this team is a little less experienced than some of its predecessors.

“We are going to be young on both sides of the football,” coach Tom Kruse said. The Panthers return six starters on offense and five on defense.

While a good portion of their team is back, they still have to find a way to replace all-state running back Derrick Washington.

“We have 44 touchdowns from one individual that we have to replace,” Kruse said. “We aren’t going to ask one person to do that, but we will have several who will share the load.”

The Panthers also know they are the target.

“We know what task lies ahead of us,” Kruse said. “The expectations are extremely high as they should be.”

The high expectations revolve around a fourth-straight trip to the Class 5 state championships. Their schedule this year will have them prepared for just about any opponent they could run into in the playoffs.

Included on the schedule are games against Class 5 semifinalist Park Hill, Class 6 state champion Blue Springs South and Class 6 semifinalist Jefferson City.

Van Horn football coach Greg Smith believes the Falcons are finally taking on his personality. For starters, they’re getting to know Smith better, now that he can devote more time on the practice field.

When speaking about the season a year ago, players pictured a disruptive atmosphere while Smith was pursuing a master’s degree. Peace ruled the practices with Smith in attendance, but infighting devoured the team when he was away inside a classroom. The Falcons finished with an 1-8 record.

“When coach was here, we really didn’t have anybody arguing,” senior Kyle Cantu said. “Last year, we really didn’t work together as a team.”

Master’s degree now earned, Smith returns full-time with a revamped coaching staff, and players notice the difference.

“We have a different atmosphere,” Cantu said. “We’re senior-strong. By having strong seniors, we’re going to pass it on to the young guys.”

The five senior captains, who include Cantu, took on the responsibility of calling teammates, reminding them about practice. Also, they have adopted leadership roles by displaying confidence. When asked about Lincoln Prep’s three consecutive Interscholastic League championships, senior receiver Phillip Wallace muttered: “That’s a wrap.”

Smith laughed.

“They get (the confidence) from me,” he said. “I’m greedy.”

Besides contending for a league title, Smith is also greedy for a district championship.

“Everybody’s looking at Central,” he said, “but that’s good because they’ll keep overlooking Van Horn.”

When a football team loses eight starters to graduation on both offense and defense, a natural reaction might be to approach the football season with some trepidation.

But Grain Valley coach Forrest Rovello just won’t feel shaky about the Eagles’ talent.

“We had a good team last year,” he said of the team that qualified for the Missouri Class 3 playoffs and finished with a 10-2 record. “These kids are untested, but we have some kids that if they step up, we’ll be all right.

“To be honest, I feel pretty good about our football team right now.”

One of the main reasons for Rovello’s optimism is an experienced backfield led by senior fullback Cody Fogle, who gained 8.7 yards per carry.

Billy Creason, another senior, should split time in the backfield with Fogle.

The Eagles also return quarterback James Gagliardi, a 6-foot-4, 192-pound third-year starter who completed 58 percent of the few passes he threw last season.

“He’ll throw more this year,” Rovello said. “We’re going to try to spread the ball out some more, have some fun.”

Rovello said he feels his defense will be equally “salty.” Creason and Fogle will be outside linebackers.

Trace Goade is just a sophomore, but at 5-11, 223, Rovello said he has “all the tools” to be a fine middle linebacker. Gagliardi also will play again in the secondary.

“Up front, it will be tough to replace Alex Ellis at end,” Rovello said, “but we’ve got Michael Moore and Brad McDowell on the line. They should be pretty good.”

The Ruskin football teams that new coach Charles Lee, Jr., remembers are quite different from the teams of today.

Through his high school years at Rockhurst, it seemed like every playoff round started with a tough game against Ruskin.

“Oh man, they had fabulous players,” Lee recalled. “They really had good football teams.”

That was more than 16 years ago, and recently Ruskin has struggled, having won only five games in the last three seasons. However, this team of Eagles starts fresh with an energetic coach committed to resurrecting Ruskin football.

“The main thing is to bring a winning attitude to the program,” Lee said. “Just to bring back the pride of the football program that it once had.”

Lee follows his father, who coached at the former Southwest High in the 1960s before moving to the University of Texas. Lee praised his father for recruiting Hall of Famer Earl Cambell to Texas. So it begs the question: What’s more challenging, landing Earl Campbell or turning around Ruskin?

“It just takes a lot of hard work in both situations,” Lee said. “I’m just excited about the opportunity.”

Lee believes he has the talent available. Providing senior experience are running back Lonnel Jones, quarterback Jamaal Davis, receiver Glen White, offensive linemen Charles Cleve, Terry Johnson and Ryan Kirkendoll and defensive end William Johnson.

Often, one unit can take a football team’s record from glossy to spotty.

For the 3-6 McLouth Bulldogs in 2006, the unit was its defense.

The offense, led by Delaware Valley League all-purpose yardage leader Trevor Keling, averaged more than 21 points a game, good for fifth in the conference. The defense, however, gave up more than 288 yards of total offense a game, second worst in the Delaware League.

“We needed to tackle better,” McLouth coach Harry Hester said of his 2006 Bulldogs. “Defense should be much improved.”

Senior linebacker Ryan Smith, a 2006 all-league honorable mention defender, will lead a unit that returns seven starters. He should get help in the linebacking corps from junior Derrick Crouse. A senior-laden defensive line consists of Jesse Snyder, Brian Kabus, David Buckley and Dustin Summers.

McLouth, despite the graduation of Keling, has eight players who started at least one game in 2006 returning. Senior quarterback Mark Stewart finished fourth in passing yards and sixth in total offense in the league last season. Smith and junior Skyler Terry will fill the void left by Keling as they run behind a solid line that includes seniors Snyder, Kabus and sophomore Sheldon Mills.

The Bulldogs will need all units to elevate their play because their 2007 schedule includes four league games against 2006 playoff teams as well as a road game Oct. 19 against defending Class 3A champion Silver Lake.

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