MOVING UP TO VARSITY … North Central running back Joe Burt carries the ball in a JV game versus Edon last season. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
LAST SEASON: Competed at JV level
HEAD COACH: Scott Thompson (4th season)
RETURNING LETTERWINNERS: “We played only a JV schedule in 2002. We have all starters returning to play in 2022 from last year.”
PROBABLE STARTERS: OFFENSE-Quarterback: Gage Kidston & Quin Burt; Running backs: Cam Laney, Quin Burt, Joe Burt & Connor Gendron; Linemen: Levi Houser, Clayton Douglass, Cohen Meyers, Jake Turner and/or Mario Marmolejo; Receivers: Johnny Hicks, Sam Moore; Tight end: Ethan Beard & Sam Moore
Defense- Linemen: Levi Houser, Clayton Douglass, Cohen Meyers, Jake Turner and/or Mario Marmolejo; Linebackers: Joe Burt and Cam Laney; Outside Linebackers: Connor Gendron, Mario Marmolejo and/or Ethan Beard; Defensive Halfbacks: Sam Moore, Ethan Beard, Johnny Hicks and/or Gage Kidston; Safeties: Quin Burt or Connor Gendron
Special Teams-Place kicker: Cam Laney or Ethan Beard; Kickoff kicker: Cam Laney and/or Cohen Meyers
Punter: Cam Laney and/or Joe Burt; Holder: Gage Kidston, Quin Burt or Tyler Meyers; Long snapper: Jake Turner
STRENGTHS: Running game; play-action passing game; team speed
WEAKNESSES: run defense; tackling; lack of depth
SEASON OUTLOOK: “2021 was our second high school football season and we played only a JV schedule.”
“We finished with a 7-1 record losing only to the Liberty Benton JV football team 26-24. We continued to make much progress in learning football fundamentals, we were very competitive in our games, it was a great learning experience for our players and coaches, and we felt it was a successful second football season for NCHS.”
“The 2021 JV football season was a great preparation for us to enter our first varsity football season in 2022 and the community is anxiously looking forward to our very first “Friday Night Lights”.”
“We finished the season dressing only around 16 players in 2021 and look forward to having more players on the 2022 football team.”
“For the most part, we completed the JV football season with a minimal number of injuries largely in part to our additional year of physical maturity and we benefited from becoming bigger, faster and stronger resulting from our football strength training and conditioning program.”
“We also made improvements to our competitive development from participating in challenging 7 on 7 contests, pre-season scrimmages during 2-a-days and our JV game schedule the past two years.”
“We know that stepping up to the varsity level of play will necessitate our football team improving our performance in all aspects of the game.”
“It will be a challenge for us. The seniors are ready to lead this team into our very first varsity football season.”
“Our running game and play-action passing game should be solid and our spread pistol passing game should be much improved.”
“We must keep penalties, turnovers, and mental mistakes to a minimum. Once again, we will lack depth in all positions so we must keep all our players healthy this season.”
“Overall, our defensive unit as good speed so our pursuit should be a strength.”
“It’s very important for us to continue improving our run defense, our pass rush and secondary pass defense. We must continue to improve our tackling technique and our angles of pursuit.”
“In all, there are several keys for us to have a successful season.
1) “Improve our participation numbers to add depth and competition for positions on our team. We hope to have 20+ players on the high school football team and 17+ players on the junior high football team this season.”
2) “We must remain injury free throughout the season and keep our players healthy. Also, we must continue to improve upon helping all our football candidates to maintain interest, meeting school & team standards as well as promote participation.”
3) “Continue to learn football fundamentals, improve our execution & positively cope with sudden change situations in games.”
4) “Continue to install and learn our offensive, defensive and specialty unit schemes.”
5) “Proper evaluation and position placement of our players.”
6) “Teamwork and togetherness.”
7) “Fill our football coaching vacancies with quality football coaching candidates so we have staff stability and development of our football coaching staff.”
8) “Continued support from the community, parents, football boosters, school district administration, staff, and student body.”
LEAGUE OUTLOOK: Currently not playing in a conference.
ABOUT THEIR SCHEDULE: Season Opener: vs. Woodmore (Aug. 19th)
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com