PREVIEWING MATOACA
PATRICK KANE/PROGRESS-INDEX PHOTO
The 2013 Matoaca High School football team hopes to find itself in postseason contention.
Warriors look to push tempo with playmakers BY COURT WILLS STAFF WRITER
CHESTERFIELD — For longtime Matoaca football coach Pat Manuel, not much has changed over this past offseason except one thing — conditioning, conditioning and more conditioning. “The biggest thing this offseason was that we lacked in strength and my conditioning coach in Keith Chisolm did an unbelievable job getting these guys into shape and to be faster,” Manuel said. “It took a while to get there but we are going to play much more up-tempo than usual.” Similar to last year, the Warriors have good numbers for depth and experience but it will be a matter of staying healthy and improving upon each game.
“We’re real pleased with the progress we’ve made. We have a few more playmakers on this team and our defense has worked real hard,” Manuel said. “We played a lot of guys last year that were able to get experience and getting that game experience has been a valuable asset.” Offensively, Matoaca returns four of the five starting lineman with having at least two years of experience up front. Tackle Ardell Christian and center Joseph Cheetham will be leading the way for the Warriors. Senior Khalil Coleman who will be playing a variety of positions for the Warriors will take the place of quarterback and will be primary play caller. Due to injuries last year, Coleman was asked upon to take leadership and gained a great deal of experience.
“Khalil is kind of slash player he does a little bit of everything for us. He is definitely one of our biggest playmakers,” Manuel said. One of the Coleman’s biggest offensive weapons will be in junior Trevion Armstrong who is 6-4 and 210 pounds for the Warriors. With Armstrong’s long and lean build along with his speed and flexibility he expected to make big time plays down the stretch. Along with Coleman, Armstrong is getting a lot of college looks including James Madison, Old Dominion, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke and Wake Forest. “Anytime you can have that experience and depth it can Please see MATOACA, Page 12
The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Sunday, September 1, 2013 PI_PROGINDEX/SPECIAL_SECTION/PAGES [M11] | 08/29/13
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