BCT-08-29-2013

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Cover Story For the first time, all of the football teams from Bureau County will play within the same conference with the expansion of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. Huddling up on the eve of the 2013 season are Hall’s Nathan Tonozzi (from left), Bureau Valley’s Martin McMahon, Princeton’s Caleb Dickens and LaMoille’s Garrett Anderson. St. Bede representative was unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances.

BCR cover photo by Kevin Hieronymus

2 Lead Story 2B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

A Bureau County affair Three Rivers brings all area prep teams together

By Kevin Hieronymus khieronymus@bcrnews.com

The 2013 area prep football season promises to be one of many changes. For the first time, all Bureau County football teams will all be under one umbrella, all playing in the same conference.

From the old days of the bigger schools like Hall and Princeton playing in the North Central Illinois Conference and the small schools like DePue, LaMoille, Malden, Manlius, Walnut, Tiskilwa and Ohio, in the Little Eight or Black Hawk conferences, they will all be one.

All five Bureau County football teams — Bureau Valley, Hall, Princeton, St. Bede and Amboy/ LaMoille — will be playing out of the new Three Rivers Athletic Conference, aka the TRAC. “I think it’s a really good, good conference.”

St. Bede coach John Bellino said. “It’s always been one of the best football conferences in the state of Illinois and I think we’ve added to it. It’s a very powerful conference.

Hall coach Randy Tieman said the Three Rivers should continue to be a good fit for the Red Devils.

“We’ve played Rockridge, Sherrard and Orion in the past. I’m looking forward to playing those (new) teams,” he said. “The conference will stay strong, plus you get the three crossover games each year. If you are fortunate to make the playoffs you’re going to be ready.”

“This is definitely an elite small school football conference and every week will be a challenge.

“I think it’s a really good, good conference. It’s always been one of the best football conferences in the state of Illinois and I think we’ve added to it.

It’s a very powerful conference.”

John Bellino, St. Bede coach There are no gimmes here,” first-year Rockridge coach Sam Graves said.

The history The TRAC-8 was formed in 1975 with eight charter members including Amboy, Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Prophetstown, Riverdale, Savanna and Sterling Newman. In 1999, Three Rivers football gave way to the Big Rivers Conference with the merging of the Three Rivers and Tri-County Conference teams, including Bureau Valley, LaMoille/DePue/Ohio, Ottawa Marquette, River Valley and St. Bede.

Divisional play was held for the first five seasons of the Big Rivers, including the Illinois and

Mississippi divisions.

The Three Rivers football league this year reemerged thanks to expansion that brought in Princeton, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard from the West Central Conference. Hall joined the Big Rivers in 2012.

With expansion, divisional play was reinstated this year, forming North and South divisions with Interstate 80 serving as the boundary line.

The bulk of the original Big Rivers teams — Amboy/LaMoille, Bureau Valley, Erie/Prophetstown, Fulton, Morrison, Newman and Riverdale — form the North Division. Newcomers Princeton, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard were paired with Hall, St. Bede and

Kewanee to form the Three Rivers South.

While other sports in the Three Rivers will explore a switch from north-south to east-west divisions in the 2014-15 school year to cut down on travel, plans call for football to remain in a north-south format.

The rivalries The best part of the Three Rivers for area fans will be seeing old rivalries renewed and new ones created.

Princeton and Kewanee will reunite on the gridiron in Week 5 on Sept.

27. The longtime rivals last played in the fog on Sept. 25, 2009, with the Tigers winning 23-0.

The Tigers also won the teams’ first meeting in

1897 34-4 and played consecutively for 90 years until the Boilermakers departed for the Big Rivers in 2010.

The Tigers and archrival Hall will meet once again (Week 9, Oct. 25) after taking the last year off when Hall got a jumpstart joining the Three Rivers. Likewise, Hall will meet up with Kewanee once again on Oct. 18, having played each year in the NCIC from 19812011.

Hall’s entry in the Big Rivers a year ago brought about the first meeting with neighbor St. Bede since 1992. That game created a buzz in the Illinois Valley that hasn’t been seen for years.

See Cover story Page 9B

Over the years Three Rivers Conference champions (*Denotes Big Rivers) 1975 - Fulton 7-0 1976 - Fulton 7-0 1977 - Newman 7-0 1978 - Fulton 7-0 1979 - Amboy 7-0 1980 - Amboy 7-0 1981 - Fulton/Morrison 6-1 1982 - Fulton/Morrison/Riverdale 6-1 1983 - Amboy 7-0 1984 - Amboy 7-0 1985 - Amboy 7-0 1986 - Amboy 7-0 1987 - Morrison 7-0 1988 - Prophetstown 7-0 1989 - Newman 7-0 1990 - Morrison 7-0 1991 - Fulton 7-0 1992 - Fulton/Morrison 6-1 1993 - Newman 7-0 1994 - Newman 7-0 1995 - Newman 7-0 1996 - Newman 7-0 1997 - Newman 7-0 1998 - Morrison 7-0 *1999 - St. Bede 5-0, Newman 5-0 *2000 - Amboy 5-0, Fulton 5-0 *2001 - St. Bede 5-0, Fulton 5-0 *2002 - Bureau Valley, Eureka, St. Bede 3-1; Fulton 4-1 *2003 - Bureau Valley 4-0, Amboy, Newman 4-1 *2004 - Bureau Valley 9-0 *2005 - Bureau Valley 9-0 *2006 - Bureau Valley 9-0 *2007 - Morrison 9-0 *2008 - Bureau Valley 8-1 *2009 - Morrison 9-0 *2010 - Newman 9-0 *2011 - Newman/Morrison 8-1 *2012 - Newman 9-0

Three Rivers State football champions • Amboy (1984 2A) • Bureau Valley (2005 3A) • Fulton (1976 2A) • Fulton (1991 2A) • Morrison (2009 2A)* • Morrison (2011 2A)* • Sterling Newman (1990 1A) • Sterling Newman (1994 1A) • Sterling Newman (2004 2A)* • Sterling Newman (2010 2A)* * Participating in the Big Rivers Conference

Timeline of Three Rivers Conference football 1975

The Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC-8) was formed including eight charter members: Amboy Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Prophetstown Riverdale, Savannna and Sterling Newman.

1999

Three Rivers dropped football with its schools forming the football-only Big Rivers Conference with the merger of the Tri-County schools: Bureau Valley, Bradford/Henry/Midland, Eureka, Ottawa Marquette and St. Bede. Savanna left for the Northwest Upstate Illini.

2001

Erie co-ops with neighbor Prophetstown, opening a return for Amboy on the Mississippi Division. Former Tri-County member LaMoille/DePue/Ohio, which had played as an independent, fills the vacancy in the Illinois side. The Bradford school district dissolves, leaving Henry and Midland to pick up newcomer LowpointWashburn. St. Bede (10-3, 5-0) wins its second Illinois Division title in three years; Fulton (11-1, 5-0) repeats in the Mississippi.

2002

LaMoille/DePue loses Ohio in its co-op, and will play only a JV schedule.

Remaining schools scramble to fill that opening on their schedule. Bureau Valley (9-2, 3-1) breaks through for its first division title while Fulton (7-3, 4-1) threepeats in the Mississippi.

2003

Amboy picks up co-op with LaMoille while DePue players join forces with River Valley in Midland. The Illinois Division has just five teams again — Bureau Valley, Eureka, Ottawa Marquette, River Valley (Henry/Midland/Lowpoint-Washburn/ DePue) and St. Bede. The Storm (8-2, 4-0) defends its title in the Illinois while Newman (10-2, 4-1) takes the Mississippi crown.

2004

Eureka departs for the Corn Belt Conference. River Valley, the largest co-op in the state (697 football enrollment), informs the league just prior to the season it will not be able to field a varsity team.

Each team takes a 1-0 forfeit. Bureau Valley comes out on top of the league

once again at 9-0 on the way to a state runner-up finish.

2005

River Valley returns to the gridiron, but wins just one game, defeating Riverdale 12-6 in Week 6. Bureau Valley runs the table again in league play and returns to the state finals once again. This time the Storm reigns victoriously in 3A, defeating Tolono Unity 34-7 to finish 14-0 under first-year head coach Dave Moore.

2006

Bureau Valley wins its fifth straight Big Rivers championship, going 9-0 in league play. The Storm’s bid for a third straight trip to the state finals ends at Plano, where they fell to the Reapers 49-7 in the 3A semifinals.

2007

The Morrison Mustangs stop Bureau Valley’s stronghold in the Big Rivers, winning its first BRC league title at 9-0.

2008

Bureau Valley returns to the top of the Big Rivers standings at 9-0. The Storm survive a 4 OT thriller over Morrison in

the playoffs, before falling to Elmhurst Immaculate Conception in the 3A quarterfinals.

2009

The Morrison Mustangs stampede the conference for their second league title in three years and finish 14-0 as the 3A state champions.

2010

Kewanee becomes the first new member of the Big Rivers since the Conference was formed in 1999, after decades of playing in the North Central Illinois Conference. The Boilers replace the River Valley co-op, which joined the Lincoln Trail Conference.

2012

On Jan. 12, 2012, Princeton and St. Bede are voted into the Three Rivers along with Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard of the West Central Conference. Hall plays its first season in the Big Rivers.

2013

Football returns to the Three Rivers with divisional play due to league expansion and dissolution of Big Rivers football.

3 Princeton Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013 • Football Preview 2013 • 3B

Princeton High School Nickname: Tigers

2013 Roster No. Player Yr. Ht./Wt. Pos 2 Michael Camp Jr. 6-0/165 WR/DB 3 Levi Bates So. 5-11/155 E/B 4 Eric Bibula So. 5-9/145 RB/DB 5 Jacob Reinhardt So. 5-9/160 QB/DB 6 Devin Fields So. 5-8/150 RB/DB 7 Jett Wedekind So. 5-9/180 RB/DB 8 Austin Rossler So. 5-10/175 RB/LB 9 *Caleb Dickens Sr. 5-10/15 QB/DB 10 Zach Friel Jr. 6-0/170 RB/LB 12 Jack Bays So. 5-9/160 QB/DB 16 *Dylan Williams Sr. 6-1/210 TE/LB 20 Ryan Grieff Sr. 6-3/265 E/DB 21 Andrew Kaler Sr. 6-0/190 na 22 Jacob Smith So. 5-10/160 RB/LB 25 Chris Layton Sr. 6-3/225 E/LB 28 *Logan Wilde Sr. 5-9/180 RB/LB 30 Luke Marselle So. 6-2/165 RB/DB 34 Turner Jamison Sr. 6-1/190 RB/LB 36 Trevor Bickett Jr. 6-0/160 RB/DL 50 Jacob Mazzarisi Sr. 6-0/200 OL/LB 51 *Doug Frazier Sr. 5-11/215 OL/DL 52 *Collin Hasbrook Sr. 5-10/190 OL/DL 55 *Jordan Sissel Sr. 6-3/270 OL/DL 56 Kyle Odell Jr. 5-11/200 OL/DL 58 Skye Behrends So. 6-0/160 OL/LB 60 Griffin Orr So. 5-11/215 OL/DL 63 Derek Debruhl So. 5-9/160 OL/DL 65 Skyler Spencer Jr. 5-9/175 OL/DL 66 Levi Piper So. 5-9/150 OL/DL 69 Denver Wyatt So. 5-11/200 OL/DL 72 *Matt Gibson Sr. 6-0/215 OL/DL 74 Chaz Williams So. 5-9/155 OL/DL 77 Tyler Clark Jr. 6-1/230 OL/DL 78 Dillon Wetzel So. 5-9/185 OL/DL 79 Nick Borg So. 6-5/290 OL/DL 84 Dustin Fultz So. 5-10/155 E/DL 88 Luke Hoffman So 6-1/170 E/DB * Returning lettermen Fast Facts Home field: Bryant Field.

Head coach: Jesse Snyder (2nd year, 0-9).

Staff: Dan Foes, Rob Jensen, Steve Amy, Randy Swinford, Tim Ciesielski.

Last year: 0-9 (0-8 West Central).

Enrollment: 581.

Colors: Blue and white.

Class: 4A. Conference: 3 Rivers Jesse South.

Snyder Last playoff appearance: 2003, first round.

On the radio: WZOE 1490 AM. 2013 Schedule Date H/A Opponent (2012 record) Time Aug. 30 A Morrison (6-4) 7:30 Sept. 6 H Newman (12-1) 7:30 Sept. 1 H Sherrard (4-5)* 7:30 Sept. 20 H St. Bede (7-3)* 7:30 Sept. 27 A Kewanee (1-8)* 7:45 Oct. 4 H Fulton (4-5) 7:30 Oct. 11 A Orion (6-5)* 7:30 Oct. 18 A Rockridge (7-3)* 7:30 Oct. 25 A Hall (1-8)* 7:00 *Three Rivers South Division game

BCR photo/Mike Vaughn

Meet the Tigers The Princeton Tigers will travel to Morrison to kick off the 2013 season. Team members are (front row, from left) Denver Wyatt, Luke Marselle, Austin Rossler, Jack Bays, Skyler Spencer, Eric Bibula and Jake Reinhardt; (second row) Dustin Fultz, Turner Jamison, Kyle Odell, Trevor Bickett, Caleb Dickens, Derek Debruhl, Devin Fields, Collin Hasbrook, Logan Wilde and manager Erika Williams; (third row) coach Dan Foes, coach Jesse Snyder, coach Rob Jensen, Jett Wedekind, Jacob Smith, Dillon Wetzel, coach Steve Amy, coach Randy Swinford and coach Tim Ciesielski; (fourth row) Tyler Clark, Andrew Kaler, Luke Hoffman, Nick Borg, Chris Layton, Jordan Sissel, Chaz Williams, Ryan Grieff, Dylan Williams, and Zach Friel; and (back row) Levi Bates, Levi Piper, Jacob Mazzarisi, Skye Behrends, Michael Camp, Matt Gibson, Griffin Orr, Doug Frazier and J.J. Vaccaro.

Tigers building the walls

By Jeff Schlesinger

BY THE NUMBERS

sports@bcrnews.com

CLASS

PRINCETON — The Princeton Tigers have nowhere to go but up after a winless season last year. However, that could be a tall task as they start the season against two strong state playoff teams from last year and enter a conference where they will face teams they haven’t fared well against in the past.

Nevertheless, the squad is confident that this will be a turn around year.

“Last year we were building a foundation,” said senior captain Logan Wilde. “This year we’re putting up the walls.”

Second year head coach Jesse Snyder continues to preach hard work and discipline.

“The biggest thing we have to do every day is continue to keep our attitudes high, and work discipline,” he said. “You work your tail off every single snap, every single practice, and wins will start to take care of themselves.”

Not only will the Tigers be facing a difficult schedule, but they will often be doing so with a young squad. Though there is a solid core of 13 seniors to anchor the squad, the fact that there is only six juniors means that there needs to be sophomores to step up and fill key roles.

Senior captain Caleb Dickens thinks the mix is advantageous.

Must See Games 3 of them: Newman (perennial 3 Rivers power), St. Bede (new rivalry) and Hall (renewing an old rivalry).

4A

NUMBER OF RETURNING LETTERMEN

7

NUMBER OF RETURNING STARTERS

6 off 6 def

LAST SEASON'S RECORD

0-9

LAST SEASON'S CONFERENCE RECORD

0-8 (West Central)

PRINCETON TIGERS Conference: Three Rivers South 4PLAYERS to watch TO WATCH

Caleb Dickens

Matt Gibson

Logan Wilde

Dylan Williams

“We have a lot of seniors who are returning that’ll be good leaders,” he said, “and a lot of sophomores that will step up and fly around in their positions,” he said.

Wilde said his worries have

See Tigers Page 10B

AT A GLANCE

BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus

Tiger coach Jesse Snyder looks for leadership from senior quarterback Caleb Dickens (left).

Go Tigers!

Have A Great Season!

Have a Great Season Tigers!

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4 Bureau Valley 4B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Bureau Valley High School Nickname: Storm 2013 Roster No. Player Yr. 1 Blake Balensiefen Jr. 2 Payton Shipp Jr. 6 *Jake Smith Sr. 7 *Parker Neuhalfen Jr. 9 *Tommy Johnston Jr. 12 Ryan Lootens Sr. 16 *Colby Wittig Sr. 22 Will Konneck So. 24 Joe Fisher Sr. 25 *Jacob Pogliano So. 30 *Bryan Arteberry Sr. 32 Jerimiah Blackert Sr. 34 Blaine Peterson Jr. 42 *Tucker Schoff Sr. 44 *Josh Mead Jr. 51 *Martin McMahon Sr. 54 *Andrew Jacobs Sr. 55 Chase Pierce Jr. 56 Thomas Jarigese Sr. 58 Gage Smith Jr. 62 *Justin Buckman Sr. 63 Jaysen Trussen Jr. 66 Tyler Gonigam Jr. 68 Riza Mirtoski Jr. 70 Drew Fordham So. 74 *David Miller Sr. 75 Chris Shynk Jr. 77 Kyle Hughes Sr. 84 Leonard Winnich Sr. 88 Alex Johnson Jr. * Returning lettermen

Ht./Wt. Pos. 5-9/175 E/DB 6-3/175 E/LB 6-0/165 E/DB 6-1/165 QB/DB 6-2/205 RB/DB 5-11/145 E/DB 6-0/190 RB/LB 5-7/150 RB/DB 6-0/155 E/DB 5-7/145 RB/DB 6-0/190 RB/DB 5-9/170 RB/DB 6-0/175 RB/DB 5-9/175 RB/DB 6-0/195 RB/LB 5-11/195 OL/DL 5-9/200 OL/LB 5-9/165 OL/LB 5-7/175 OL/LB 5-11/205 OL/LB 6-0/220 OL/DL 5-10/240 OL/DL 5-11/170 OL/DL 6-0/200 OL/DL 6-0/200 OL/DL 6-5/215 OL/DL 5-9/255 OL/DL 5-9/250 OL/DL 6-6/205 E/DL 5-10/160 E/DB

Fast Facts Home field: Storm Stadium.

Head coach: Jeff Ohlson (sixth year, 29-21).

Staff: Craig Johnson, Brad Doty, Aaron Jackson, Jason Smith, Nate Swanson, Alex Coppejans.

Last year: 4-5 (4-5 BRC).

School enrollment: 335.

Colors: Columbia and navy.

Class: 2-3A Conference: 3 Rivers North.

Last playoff appearance: Jeff Ohlson 2010, 3A first round.

On the radio: WZOE 98.8 FM. 2013 Schedule Date H/A Opponent (2012 record) Time Aug. 30 H Hall (1-8) 7:30 Sept. 6 A St. Bede (7-3) 7:30 Sept. 13 A *Newman (12-1) 7:30 Sept. 20 A Kewanee (1-8) 7:45 Sept. 27 H *Erie/Prophetstown (5-5) 7:30 Oct. 4 A *Morrison (6-4) 7:30 Oct. 11 H Amboy (9-3) 7:30 Oct. 18 A Riverdale (1-8) 7:30 Oct. 2 H Fulton (4-5) 7:30 *Three Rivers North Division game Must See Game Oct. 11 vs. Amboy: All of the Storm’s games against traditional powers are on the road with the exception of the Clippers, who venture to Manlius for a Week 7 matchup.

BV Conference affiliations Independent - 1995-97 Tri-County Conference - 1998 Big Rivers Conference - 1999-2012 Three Rivers Conference - 2013

Photo contributed

Meet the 2013 Storm The Bureau Valley Storm will open the 2013 season at home Friday against Hall. Team members are (front row, from left): Jeremiah Blackert, Jayson Trussen, Tucker Schoff, Will Konneck, Alex Johnson, Thomas Jargiese and Jacob Pogliano; (second row) manager Paul Donovan, assistant coach Nate Swanson, assistant coach Jason Smith, assistant coach Craig Johnson, head coach Jeff Ohlson, assistant coach Alex Coppejans, assistant coach Aaron Jackson, assistant coach Brad Doty and manager Michael Eastwood; (third row) Joe Fisher, Chris Shynk, Josh Mead, Andrew Jacobs, Blake Balensiefen, Tyler Gonigam, Chase Pierce and Kyle Hughes; (fourth row) Gage Smith, Dylan Martin, Jake Smith, Parker Neuhalfen, Bryan Arteberry, Drew Fordham, Colby Wittig and Blaine Peterson; (and back row) Ryan Lootens, Riza Mirtoski, Martin McMahon, Payton Shipp, David Miller, Lennard Winnich, Tommy Johnston, Garrett Jackson and Justin Buckman.

Storm putting all the pieces together

By Brent Jamison

BY THE NUMBERS

sports@bcrnews.com

CLASS

MANLIUS — There are a lot of good pieces in the Bureau Valley football puzzle. Now, it’s a matter of putting them all together.

The Storm will return a good core of their skills players from last year’s team that missed the playoffs by one game and figure to be competitive in the newly re-aligned and always challenging Three Rivers Conference.

“If we all play to our best potential together it will be a great season,” said junior running back Tommy Johnston. “We have a lot of good talent, it will be a matter of combining it.”

In fact, it won’t take long for the Storm to find out where they stand as a team this year. The first four games will be a true measuring stick as they start the season at home against Hall and then have a three-game road trip at St. Bede, Sterling Newman and Kewanee.

“We have a tough three-game road trip but every game is going to be a bear,” said BV coach Jeff Ohlson, who enters his sixth year as head coach. “In those first four games, two of those teams made the playoffs, and one of them is the defending conference champion in Sterling Newman.

We’ve got to line up and take care of business. We’ll find out a lot about ourselves Friday night after we play Hall. We’ll find out what kind of team we will be.

“It will be a great test. It will show if we are really ready to play the legitimate teams in our tough

Good Luck BV!

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NUMBER OF RETURNING LETTERMEN

2-3A

12

NUMBER OF RETURNING STARTERS

6 off 5 def

LAST SEASON'S RECORD

LAST SEASON'S CONFERENCE RECORD

4-5

4-5

BUREAU VALLEY STORM Conference: Three Rivers North conference.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH AT A GLANCE Six starters return on the offen4 to sive side of the ball, highlighted

by Johnston (226 yards rushing, 141 yards receiving), wide-out Jake Smith (29.6 yards per catch) and junior quarterback Parker Neuhalfen.

Neuhalfen was football’s version of a utility player last year.

He started the season at running Justin back, was one of the team’s leadBuckman ing receivers, returned kicks on special teams and ended the season as the team’s starting quarterback. He combined for nearly 800 all-purpose yards and was third in the area in scoring.

This year, he will be the team’s starting quarterback from day one.

Parker “He came in last year in the Neuhalfen first game of the year for us when we had to change quarterbacks due to some cramping issues and BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus he came in and had a 17-play drive for a touchdown that went Quarterback Parker Neuhalfen about 70 yards,” said Ohlson. and the Storm will take a pass “We knew he was capable then, on the Three Rivers North. and he came out and had a pretty good end of the year for us at quarterback.”

Ohlson says the Storm have installed a few new things on

watch

Tommy Johnston

Jake Smith

Have A Great Season!

See Storm Page 12B

Go BV Storm!

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5 Hall Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013 • Football Preview 2013 • 5B

Hall High School Nickname: Red Devils 2013 Roster No Player Yr. Ht./Wt. Pos. 1 Drew Pullam So. 6-0/150 RB/DB 2 Charlie Albert Jr. 5-6/145 RB/DB 3 Aaron Rybarck Jr. 5-9/160 E/DB 4 Matt Krolak So. 5-7/165 K 6 Christian Hieden So. 5-10/160 RB/DB 7 Julian Barroso Jr. 5-9/145 RB/DB 9 Chris Hammonds So. 5-6/160 WB/DB 10 Taggert Venegas Sr. 5-10/155 QB/DB 20 Brendan Bertrand Jr. 56/120 RB/DB 22 *Tyler Taber Jr. 5-7/150 WB/DB 23 Jake Merkel Jr. 5-11/175 TB/SS 24 Collin Aimone Sr. 5-9/145 RB/FS 25 Patrick Einhaus So. 5-7/140 RB/DB 32 A.J. Gaeta Jr. 5-9/160 FB/LB 33 *Blake Lunn Sr. 5-8/160 FB/ILB 34 Lionel Perez Jr. 5-9/195 RB/DB 35 Tyler Turpen Jr. 5-7/170 RB/DB 36 Cole Elliott Jr. 5-10/165 RB/DB 41 *Grant Garland Sr. 5-10/155 SE/CB 42 *Aaron Kerr Sr. 6-0/220 FB/LB 44 *Jacob Byczynski Sr. 5-9/195 RB/LB 50 *Jimmy Tipton Sr. 5-9/160 G/LB 52 Marcos Marroquin Jr. 5-7/205 OL/DT 53 *Michael Yuvan Sr. 6-0/215 G/DE 54 *Nathan Tonozzi Sr. 5-10/205 G/LB 63 Jared Puenta So. 5-10/200 OL/DL 65 *Trevor Urbanski Sr. 5-11/235 T/DT 72 Trevor Case Jr. 6-1/220 T/DT 73 Marco Guiterriez Jr. 5-10/220 Ol/DL 75 Ephraim Yanez Jr. 5-7/220 OL/DL 76 Nick Kolanowski Jr. 5-10/215 OL/DL 77 Dolton Booth So. 5-11/220 OL/DL 78 Brandon Simpson Jr. 5-7/210 OL/DL 79 Evan Kiphart So. 5-9/215 OL/DL 80 *Matt Briddick Sr. 6-5/210 TE/DE 85 *Zach Urbanski Sr. 6-0/175 TE/DB * Returning lettermen Fast Facts Home field: Nesti Stadium.

Head coach: Randy Tieman (second year, 1-8).

Staff: Mike Filippini, Joe Furlan, Nick Hanck, Pete Kasperski, Steve Smith, Brian Green, Ryan Ferrari, Adam Meyer, Joe Rue. Randy Last year: 1-8 (1-7 West Central).

Tieman Enrollment: 384.

Colors: Red and white.

Probable class: 2A. Conference: Three Rivers South.

Last playoff appearance: 2008, first round.

On the radio: WAJK, 99.3 FM. 2013 Schedule Date H/A Opponent (2012 record) Aug. 30 A Bureau Valley (4-5) Sept. 6 H E/P (5-5) Sept. 13 A Amboy (9-3) Sept. 20 A Orion (6-5)* Sept. 27 H Rockridge (7-3)* Oct. 4 A Sherrard (4-5)* Oct. 11 H St. Bede (7-3)* Oct. 18 H Kewanee (1-8)* Oct. 25 H Princeton (0-9)* *Three Rivers South Division game Hall Conference affiliations NCIC - 1941-2009 West Central - 2010-12 Three Rivers Conference - 2013

Time 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:00

BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus

Meet the Red Devils The Hall Red Devils will kick off the 2013 football season Friday at Bureau Valley. Team members are (front row, from left) Matt Briddick, Grant Garland, Collin Aimone, Taggart Venegas, A.J. Gaeta, Marcos Marroquin, Chris Hammonds, Tyler Taber, Tyler Turpen, Ephraim Yanez, Marco Guiterriez, Brandon Simpson and Trevor Case; and (back row) Lionel Perez, Zach Urbanski, Jimmy Tipton, Aaron Rybarck, James Hall, Aaron Kerr, Jacob Byczynski, Blake Lunn, Nathan Tonozzi, Trevor Urbanski, Julian Barroso, Michael Yuvan, Nick Kolanowski and Jake Merkel. Not pictured are Brendon Bertrand and Charlie Albert.

Hall seniors looking to put it all together

By Kevin Hieronymus

BY THE NUMBERS

khieronymus@bcrnews.com

SPRING VALLEY — A year ago, the Hall Red Devils and rookie coach Randy Tieman came in with a lot of hype as they entered the Big Rivers Conference with much success at the underclass level. Those plans didn’t go so well, the Red Devils dropping their first seven games on the way to an 1-8 finish.

Will this be the year the Hall senior class puts it all together at the varsity level?

“We hope so, but we don’t want to get off like we did last year,” Tieman said. “They got a lot of smoke blown at them. They didn’t live up to it, I think these kids are more focused in just playing football and not listening to what everybody’s saying, trying to get better each week, and that’s our goal right now.”

Tieman said the Red Devils will be better prepared for their second go-around in the Three Rivers, formerly the Big Rivers.

“We hope we’ve made the adjustments. We saw how teams played last year. It was a learning experience for us, for our kids,” Tieman said. “We think we’ll be better off than last year, we’ll be farther along this year as far as preparation as we were last year.”

Senior captain Nathan Tonozzi said the Red Devils had a tough start in 2012 following the tragic death of teammate Daniel Lule on the first day of practice. He said they are coming together as a team and “should be a good year.”

The senior class is down to 11 original members, which has left them thin on the line.

“We’re down to (11) seniors, so we’ve lost some kids, so we’ve lost kids along the way. But we haven’t worried about that.

We’ve worried about the kids who are here, who want to play and get those kids ready and go from there,” Tieman said.

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NUMBER OF RETURNING LETTERMEN

CLASS

2A

NUMBER OF RETURNING STARTERS

11

6 off 4 def

LAST SEASON'S RECORD

LAST SEASON'S CONFERENCE RECORD

1-7

1-8

West Central

HALL RED DEVILS Conference: Three Rivers South on his feet this year, Tieman PLAYERS TO WATCH AT Asaid, GLANCE4 to watch

BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus

Senior quarterback Taggert Venegas has been a fast learner and turned into a fast leader.

“After our first five linemen, we’re pretty thin. Coach Smith’s put in a lot of overtime and trying to get everybody up to speed. Our first five guys can play, we know that, but in case of injury, we’ve got to have somebody ready.”

Three-year starter Trevor Urbanski (5-11, 235) anchors the offensive line at right tackle.

Another senior stalwart, Nathan Tonozzi (5-10, 205) settles in at center, a little lighter and quicker

after wrestling last year. Senor Michael Yuvan (6-0, 200) slides from tackle to left guard with junior Trevor Case (6-1, 220) stepping in at left tackle and senior Jimmy Tipton (5-9, 190) at right guard.

While some players may not have come out, Hall gains a big boost from senior quarterback Taggert Venegas, who transferred to Hall from neighbor St. Bede for the spring semester. He was the starting quarterback for the Bruins playoff team last year.

Tonozzi and Tieman said Venegas has proven to be a good team leader right away.

“He’s picked up our offense quickly,” Tieman said. “He’s a good kid. He asks a lot of questions, he’s there to learn and he leads by example.”

Senior lineman Nathan Tonozzi and Tieman said Venegas has proven to be a good team leader right away.

Where 2013 graduate Landon Piccatto (956 yards, 12 TDs in

See Red Devils Page 11B

Good Luck Hall Red Devils!!

300 Capitol Building Springfield, Illinois 62706 (217) 782-0140

FRANK J. MAUTINO

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - 76th Representative District District Office - Spring Valley 221 E. St. Paul St. • (815) 664-2717

Jacob Byczynski

Nathan Tonozzi

Trevor Urbanski

Taggert Venegas

6 St. Bede 6B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

St. Bede Academy

Nickname: Bruins 2013 Roster No. Player Yr. Ht./Wt. Pos. 1 Connor MacDavitt Sr. 5-11/140 End 2 Braidy Shipp So. 5-10/165 Back 3 *Justin Shaw Jr. 5-9/190 Back 4 *Jack Brady Jr. 5-11/160 Back 7 Bryant Eustice Fr. 5-8/145 Back 8 Juan Flores So. 5-6/130 Back 10 *Matt Szcepaniak Jr. 5-9/135 End 11 Nick Needs So. 6-2/190 End 20 John Dose Fr. 5-11/170 Back 24 Baylee Hopps So. 5-10/165 Back 25 *Sam Halm Jr. 6-0/185 Back 27 Fermin Sajuan Sr. 5-7/160 End 32 Andre Hurr Jr. 5-8/165 Back 33 Dexter Baker Jr. 5-8/160 OL/DL 36 Brady Booker Fr. 6-2/180 End 42 Sam Bennett Sr. 6-3/175 End 43 Joey Acosta Fr. 5-8/195 Back 45 *Michael Bellino Sr. 6-5/240 Back 46 Joe Arriaga So. 5-10/210 End 52 Dakotah Baker Jr. 5-8/195 OL/DL 54 Spencer Barnes Jr. 5-10/165 OL/DL 55 Brandon Edens Jr. 5-8/265 OL/DL 60 Derek Scarpaci Fr. 5-9/225 OL/DL 65 Jack Shields Jr. 5-9/260 OL/DL 66 John Barnes So. 6-4/295 OL/DL 71 *Michael Slingsby Sr. 6-0/320 OL/DL 74 Michael Manning Fr. 6-0/240 OL/DL 75 Josh Nelson Jr. 6-1/200 OL/DL 76 Brandon Glynn Jr. 6-1/215 OL/DL 77 Andrew Pyszka So. 6-6/225 OL/DL * Returning lettermen FAST FACTS Home field: Saint Bede Academy.

Head coach: John Bellino (34th year, 165-152).

Staff: Mark Siebert, Jim Eustice, Nate Boudreau, Mike Bima, Ryan Milus, Mike Rosploch.

Last year: 7-3 (7-2 BRC).

School Enrollment: 468.6.

Colors: Green and white.

John Conference: Big Rivers.

Bellino Class: 2-3A. Last playoff appearance: 2012, 3A first round.

On the radio: WSOG 88.1 2013 Schedule Date H/A Opponent (2012 record) Aug. 30 A Amboy (9-3) Sept. 6 H Bureau Valley (4-5) Sept. 13 H Kewanee (1-8)* Sept. 20 A Princeton (0-9)* Sept. 27 A Riverdale (1-8) Oct. 5 H Rockridge (7-3)* Oct. 11 A Hall (1-8)* Oct. 18 H Orion (6-5)* Oct. 25 H Sherrard (4-5)* *Three Rivers South Division game

Time 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 2:00 7:00 7:30 7:30

Must-See Game Oct. 11: Bruins make the short trip from the Academy to Hall for the second straight year back. They had not met for 20 years prior to their 2012 encounter.

Did you know?

St. Bede will play Princeton in football for the very first time this year.

St. BeDe Conference affiliations Bruins have played in the Illinois Valley, Corn Belt, Private School League, Tri-County, Big Rivers, Three Rivers.

St. Bede’s Big Rivers championships 1999, 2001

Photo contributed

Meet the Bruins The St. Bede Bruins will open the 2013 football season at Amboy Friday night. Team members are (front row, from left) Derrick Scarpaci, Baylee Hopps, Justin Shaw, Matt Szczepaniak, Jack Shields, Braidy Shipp and Brandon Edens; (second row) Joe Arriaga, Jack Brady, Sam Halm, Michael Slingsby, Michael Manning, Jonathon Dose, Connor MacDavitt and Spencer Barnes; (third row) Josh Elnicki, Juan Flores, Dakotah Baker, Bryant Eustice, Dexter Baker, Fermin Sajuan, Joey Acosta, Andre Hurr and Brandon Hanson; and (back row) Josh Nelson, Brandon Glynn, Sam Bennett, Michael Bellino, Andrew Pyszka, John Barnes, Nick Needs and Brady Booker.

The young and the restless

By Kevin Hieronymus

BY THE NUMBERS

khieronymus@bcrnews.com

The senior class of 2013 at St. Bede Academy was a highly successful one in football, basketball and baseball alike. On the gridiron, it played a big part in the 2011 state quarterfinal run as juniors and led the Bruins to a second playoff appearance and a 7-3 record last year.

Graduation claimed those seniors, leaving an incredible void behind at the Academy.

Coupled with a current senior class of just five deep with only two returning starters, and the transfer of another who would have returned at quarterback, veteran coach John Bellino is facing one of his biggest rebuilding projects in his 35 years at St. Bede.

“I’ve told my coaching staff, I’ve gone through some years where we’ve had four or five even six seniors, but they were players, and we had a good junior class coming up right behind them that filled the spots. This is really the first time we’re moving down our roster to the sophomore level,” he said.

“The seniors were a large part of our success last year, but we just didn’t have a big junior class. And so this year our seniors are very small in number and it’s hurting us. We’re having to reach down into our lower levels and bring up some kids and they’re going to have to grow very, very quickly at this level.”

St. Bede lists seven sophomores and six freshmen on its varsity roster.

Bellino can count his returning starters on offense with only two fingers and only needs to call them by one first name — Michael.

Michael Bellino, the third of three sons to play for their father’s Bruins, returns for his third year of varsity ball, an allconference pick at end and linebacker. This year, the younger

CLASS

NUMBER OF RETURNING LETTERMEN

2-3A

6

NUMBER OF RETURNING STARTERS

LAST SEASON'S RECORD

LAST SEASON'S CONFERENCE RECORD

7-3

2 off 3 def

7-2 BRC

ST. BEDE BRUINS Conference: Three Rivers South 4 to watch AT A GLANCE

PLAYERS TO WATCH

BCR file photo

St. Bede senior Michael Bellino shifts from his normal tight end position to wing back with the hope to get him the ball a little more and still utilize his blocking.

Bellino (6-5, 240) will back off from his normal tight end position to wing back with the hope to get him the ball a little more and still utilize his blocking.

Classmate Michael Slingsby (6-0, 320) is being targeted to make the move from center to guard to better anchor the offensive line. He was a second team all-conference selection in the Big Rivers.

“They’ve been great players for us for two years and we look for big things out of them this year,” John Bellino said.

The only returning start-

ers in camp are juniors Justin Shaw and Sam Halm on the defensive side. Shaw will also play tailback with Halm at wide receiver.

“We’re going to look at them for leadership even though they’re juniors. They’ve been in the program, they know what’s it’s been like on Friday night.

They’re going to have to carry us.”

The Bruins lost quarterback Taggert Venegas, who transferred to neighboring Hall during the past school year, where

See Bruins Page 9B

Michael Bellino

Jack Brady

Justin Shaw

Michael Slingsby

“I’ve told my coaching staff, I’ve gone through some years where we’ve had four or five even six seniors, but they were players, and we had a good junior class coming up right behind them that filled the spots. This is really the first time we’re moving down our roster to the sophomore level.”

John Bellino St. Bede head coach

7 Amboy/LaMoille Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013 • Football Preview 2013 • 7B

Amboy/LaMoille Co-op Nickname: Clippers 2013 Roster No. Player Yr. 1 *Jordan Ernst Sr. 3 *James Jones Sr. 4 *Jason Bontz Sr. 5 *Clayton North Sr. 6 Tristen Dickey Sr. 7 Dallas Appleman So. 10 *Damon Quest Sr. 12 Canaan Ross Sr. 21 Skyelar Zimmerly Sr. 22 Chris Jones Sr. 23 *Cory Shaw Sr. 24 *Garrett Anderson Sr. 25 Walker Howell Jr. 26 Liam Ohlendorf Jr. 28 Collin Doege Jr. 31 Caleb Moore Jr. 32 Will Crownhart Jr. 33 Nate King Jr. 37 *Garrett Gerdes Sr. 40 Ryan Leffleman Jr. 52 Hunter Varga Jr. 54 Levi McCoy Jr. 62 *Garrett Liebing Sr. 63 *Emmitt Hicks Sr. 64 *Kevin Skoff Sr. 66 Kyle Kemmerer Sr. 70 Nate Rinard Sr. 74 Tyler Dempsey Sr. 77 Coleton Pohl Sr. 85 Broc Sorrells Sr. * Returning lettermen

Ht./Wt. Pos 6-2/195 WR/DE 6-1/185 FB/LB 5-7/170 RB/LB 6-1/175 WR/DE 5-7/125 WR/DB 5-11/190 RB/LB 5-10/185 WR/DB 6-0/200 QB/DE 5-8/145 OL/LB 5-6/165 FB/LB 5-7/135 WR/DB 5-10/155 WR/DB 5-7/140 WR/DB 6-0/150 QB/DB 5-7/130 WR/DB 5-8/145 WR/DB 6-0/155 RB/DB 6-3/200 TE/DE 5-10/155 RB/DB 6-0/185 TE/DE 6-0/220 OL/DL 5-8/180 OL/DL 6-2/245 OL/DL 6-2/230 OL/DL 5-9/150 OL/LB 6-0/185 OL/DL 5-11/195 OL/DL 6-3/245 OL/DL 6-2/230 OL/DL 5-10/175 WR/DB

Time 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30

Must See Game Oct. 25 vs. Newman: The Clippers will save their best for last, facing Sterling Newman on Oct. 25 in the regular season finale in a potential winner takes all battle in the TRAC North.

Amboy’s Big Rivers championships 2000 Amboy in IHSA state finals 1979 (2A) - 2nd 1980 (2A) - 2nd 1984 (2A) - 1st

Meet the Clippers The Amboy/LaMoille Clippers will set sail for the 2013 season at the Harbor Friday in Amboy against St. Bede. Team members are (front row, from left) manager Justin Hart, Skyelar Zimmerly, Jason Bontz, Tristen Dickey, Collin Doege, Walker Howell and manager Hayden Montavon; (second row) Kyle Kemmerer, Liam Ohlendorf, Chris Jones, Caleb Moore, Jason Benhoff, Levi McCoy, Cory Shaw and Garrett Anderson; (third row) Dallas Appleman, Kevin Skoff, Hunter Varga, Dristen Beetz, Broc Sorrells, Garrett Gerdes, Aaron Hubbell; (fourth row) Nate Rinard, Will Crownhart, Damon Quest, Ryan Leffelman, James Jones and Canaan Ross; (fifth row) Garrett Liebing, Jordan Ernst, Tyler Dempsey, Nate King, Emmitt Hicks, Clayton North and Coleton Pohl; and (back row) head coach Gary Jones and assistants Jeramey Wittenauer, Andrew Full, Dennis Nauman, Scott Payne and George Schwamberger.

Clippers putting some air beneath their sail

By Brian Weidman

BY THE NUMBERS

Shaw Media Service CLASS

Fast Facts Home field: The Harbor, Amboy High School.

Head coach: Gary Jones (19th year, 119-87).

Staff: George Schwamberger, Jeramey Wittenauer, Dennis Nauman, Andrew Full, Scott Payne.

Last year: 9-3 (7-2 Big Rivers).

Enrollment: 343.

Colors: Red and black.

Class: 2A. Conference: Three Rivers Gary North.

Jones Last playoff appearance: 2012, second round.

On the radio: WRCV 101.7 FM. 2013 Schedule Date H/A Opponent (2012 record) Aug. 30 H St. Bede (7-3) Sept. 6 A Sherrard (4-5) Sept. 1 H Hall (1-8) Sept. 20 A Riverdale (1-8)* Sept. 27 H Morrison (6-4)* Oct. 4 H E/P (5-5)* Oct. 11 A Bureau Valley (4-5)* Oct. 18 A Fulton (4-5)* Oct. 25 H Newman (12-1)* *Three Rivers North Division game

Photo courtesy Kip Cheek/Mendota Reporter

NUMBER OF RETURNING LETTERMEN

NUMBER OF RETURNING

LAST SEASON'S RECORD

LAST SEASON'S

STARTERS CONFERENCE RECORD AMBOY — Amboy has been the area’s high school version of Tailback U for the past decade or so, with a bevy of speedy backs willing and able to carry the offensive load.

This season, the Clippers will be sporting a different offensive look. There isn’t the workhorse back around as there has been in to get past ‘em That’s all we want to do is get A bet-GLANCE the past, but the possibility is still enough speed PLAYERS TOand WATCH AT 4 to watch use that, too. I think it will work ter at football. That’s our whole there for offensive fireworks. out pretty well.” goal.”

Jordan Ernst, a 6-foot-2, 195Amboy is coming off a 9-3 seaSenior Canaan Ross (6-0, 200) pound senior, is moving from tight end to wide receiver this season son, and was hit hard by gradua- looks to start at quarterback, takto help Football bolster theGuide Amboy8/29/13 pass- tion, especially in its skills posi- ing over for Tyson Powers, who is BCR: ing game.

He caught six passes for tion, but Ernst doesn’t expect the now playing football at Augustana.

Size: 2 col. x 4” Jason Bontz (66 yards) is the 110 yards and two touchdowns team to skip a beat in 2013. He Black & White last season, and also helped clear was among a large group of play- leading returning rusher as the Proof: the path denise.ward@central-bank.com for graduated tailbacks ers that lifted weights six days a Clippers look to replace the Garrett Jason Spencer Johnson and Cooper Nel- week all summer, missing only departed Johnson and Nelson.

Anderson Bontz Sunday, and is strong and confi- Other offensive contributors will son. be seniors Damon Quest and “Last year at tight end, I got to dent heading into this season.

“You’ve got kids waiting out James Jones with sophomore Dalhelp out blocking and was a big part of the running game,” Ernst here hours at a time just to get las Appleman stepping in at fullsaid. “I caught some passes, and in that weight room,” Ernst said. back.

Ernst is also moving on defense, they saw I had some ability, so “Everyone just wants to get in now they’re giving me a shot at there and get better. Everyone’s going from defensive end to outdoing the best they can to bulk up wide receiver.”

Jordan Canaan See Clippers Page 10B “Our goal is try to get him the and get bigger, better and faster.

Ernst Ross ball out there, let him run with it and see what he can get,” Amboy coach Gary Jones said.

“He’s a pretty goodsized kid, and he’ll go up and get the ball.”

Ernst’s size and speed can create some favorable matchups on the outside the offense can exploit. The benefit will be two-fold: a downfield threat to make life miserable for small defenLocally Owned Dealership For More Than 70 Years sive backs, and to create space to benefit the running game that will still be the staple of the offense.

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AMBOY/LAMOILLE CLIPPERS Conference: Three Rivers North

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8 Runover 8B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Scouting the area Three Rivers North The holdover teams from the Big Rivers form the North Division in the renewed Three Rivers format.

Erie/Prophetstown (5-5, 5-4): The Panthers tasted the playoffs last year for the first time in 10 years, bowing out to Big Rivers rival Newman 21-6. Now they want seconds.

To make it back, the Prophets must replace all-state RB Zach Inskeep, who coach Chuck Milem calls his best player he’s ever coached. Third-year starting QB Ethan Howard (594 yards passing, 327 rushing) and senior HB Nick Williams (422 rushing, 257 receving) will do their best to get them back there.

Fulton (4-5, 4-5): Senior QB Ethan Jones (452 yards passing) and senior 6-1, 200 DE Jake Willging lead the Steamers as three-year starters. The Steamers also bring back senior RB Austin Regenwether (792 yards rushing). Fulton seeks its first playoff bid in six years.

Morrison (6-4, 6-3): The Mustangs made their ninth straight playoff appearance, falling to Aledo Mercer County in the 2A playoffs opener. However, eighth-year coach Cory Bielema says a lack of numbers will challenge their depth this year. They have just 14 upperclassmen in camp. Some of the sophomores figure to play large roles for Morrison. Top returning players are Ryan Mayberry (SE/DB) and Tom Kohl (6-1, 200; OL/DL), two of just six returning lettermen.

Morrison looks for big things from sophomores Joe Brackemyer (QB) and Andy Bird (RB)/LB) in its offense.

The Mustangs have quite a tradition to uphold. Morrison has made nine straight trips to the playoffs.

“I think we can still shoot for the playoffs,” Kohl said. “It’s going to be really big to start off well.”

Riverdale (1-8, 1-8): After a breakout year in 2011 at 6-4 to reach the playoffs, the Rams had a reversal of fortune, falling to 1-8 last year. New coach Mike Goodwin has a good start getting

the Rams back there with surplus of more than 20 kids in the program than last year.

“We have a lot of new players out for football for the first time this year so we look to improve every week and develop our program. Our kids work very hard and will continue to get better every week,” said Goodwin, who has been head coach at Camp Point Central, Eureka, Clinton and Decatur Eisenhower.

The Rams build around senior running backs Terry White and Nate Rocker.

Sterling Newman (12-1, 9-0): The Comets won the last Big Rivers Conference championship in 2012 and reached the 2A state semifinals. The Comets will look to reload to make another state run, having lost 17 of their 22 starters, including 10 of 11 on defense.

“It seems like a whole new team,” said senior A.J. Sharp, who returns at quarterback (320 yards), “but it’s coming along great so far. We have a lot of guys stepping up and showing that they can lead the way for us.”

Veteran coach Mike Pappocia is not overly concerned, knowing those players got good experience in back-up roles last year.

“We have some good experience that maybe doesn’t show up on the depth chart. And these kids understand that it’s their time now. We could be as good as we were last year, even though a lot of the names might not be as familiar,” Papoccia said.

“We’ve got a lot of juniors and seniors who have really grown up, physically and maturity-wise, and we’re optimistic that they learned a lot from the group ahead of them.”

RB Jake Snow rushed for 600 yards.

Three Rivers South Kewanee, Hall and St. Bede join the four newbies from expansion — Princeton, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard — to form the South Division.

“This is a great 2A conference and should prepare us all for the playoffs. As long as we all make it out in one piece,” Orion coach

Chip Fuller said.

Kewanee (1-8, 1-8): There’s a new sheriff in town for the Boilermakers with former assistant Tyler Nichols taking over as head coach for Chris Waca, who resigned after four years. Waca is on staff at Plano.

Nichols said the Boilermakers “look to stay disciplined and compete each week.” They return 11 lettermen with six starters back on both sides of the ball, including seniors David Washburn (QB/ DB), Ryan Hicks (FB/LB) and Jared Nimrick (TE/LB).

Orion (6-5): The Chargers bring back six starters on both sides of the ball from last year’s playoff team. Of the 12, five were all-conference players in the West Central - senior QB Blake Matson (1700 yards passing, 12 TDs), senior WR/DB Cody Hutcherson (16 receptions, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, 11 TFLs, 3 sacks), senior OL/DL Nic Johnson, senior RB/ DB Jacob DeVolder (3 INTs), and junior OL/DB Carson Bloomberg.

“We should be really good as a whole. We will be much improved from last year on defense and on offense. If we can stay healthy we can make a good run at this conference title,” Fuller said. “We have some great senior leadership. And I honestly if you have a good senior class it gives you a great chance to win. We are very excited to get this season started.”

Orion has exited the playoffs in the second round each of the past two years by new conference foes. Amboy/LaMoille beat the Chargers 43-18 last year and Newman bumped off Orion 47-36 in 2011.

Rockridge (7-3): Sam Graves succeeds Jason Kirby as the Rockets coach. Kirby had a 21-9 record in three years at Rockridge, leading the Rockets to the playoffs in all three seasons.

He resigned to become head coach at Canton.

Graves, who coincidently is a graduate of Canton, was the Rockridge defensive coordinator for three years under Kirby.

The Rockets return five starters on offense and four on

2012 area football standings Big Rivers

Newman St. Bede Amboy-LaMoille Morrison Erie-Prophetstown Bureau Valley Fulton Hall Kewanee Riverdale

Conf.

9-0 8-1 7-2 6-4 5-4 3-6 2-7 2-7 0-9

Three Rivers North Amboy-LaMoille (9-3) Bureau Valley (4-5) Erie-Prophetstown (5-4) Fulton (4-5) Morrison (6-4) Riverdale (1-8) Sterling Newman (12-1) BCR projected order of finish: 1. Newman; 2. Bureau Valley; 3. Amboy; 4. Morrison; 5.

Erie/Prophetstown; 6. Fulton; 7. Riverdale.

Total 9-2 8-3 8-3 7-3 6-5 4-5 3-6 2-7 0-9

PF 232 360 278 376 295 223 225 297 73

PA 182 207 201 179 318 274 226 301 354

Total 14-0 10-2 10-3 6-3 5-5 3-6 2-7 2-7 0-9

PF 580 390 489 307 246 211 128 106 84

PA 107 218 259 178 294 285 288 284 383

Three Rivers South Hall (1-8) Kewanee (1-8) Orion (6-5) Princeton (0-9) Rockridge (7-3) Sherrard (4-5) St. Bede (7-3) BCR projected order of finish: 1. Orion; 2. Rockridge; 3. Hall; 4. Sherrard; 5. St. Bede; 6. Princeton; 7. Kewanee.

Notes: The Three Rivers has reemerged as a football league, replacing the Big Rivers with the expansion of Princeton, Orion, Riverdale and Sherrard from the West Central Conference.

Big Northern West Byron (7-3, 5-1) Mendota (2-7, 1-5) Oregon (2-7, 1-5) Rock Falls (3-6, 1-5) Rockford Lutheran (9-2, 5-1) Stillman Valley (7-4, 4-2) Winnebago (9-3, 4-2)

Northern Illinois Big 12 Dixon (0-9, 0-5)

Geneseo (6-5, 3-2) LaSalle-Peru (3-6, 2-3) Ottawa (11-1, 5-0) Sterling (6-4, 4-1) Streator (1-8, 1-4)

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Conf.

7-1 6-2 6-2 6-2 5-3 3-5 2-6 1-7 0-8

Teams are listed alphabetically with 2012 records

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9 Run Over Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Bruins

From Page 6B Taking over behind center for the Bruins will be junior Jack Brady, who like Venegas a year ago, faces his first taste of varsity ball.

“He’s never taken a snap as a varsity quarterback. Anything can happen on Friday night,” Bellino said. “That’s always a difficult thing. As a junior, they’re going to make some mistakes. As a senior dominated team, you can maybe overcome that. Right now we don’t have that. We only have the two seniors who have played and they’re going to have to be leaders and we’re going to have to hope the junior doesn’t make too many mistakes.”

Connor MacDavitt (end) is the only other senior returner in camp.

Candidates to join Slingsby on the line include juniors Josh Nelson (6-1, 200), Brandon

Edens (5-8, 265) and Jack Shields (5-9, 180) and sophomore John Barnes (6-4, 295).

Other players vying for starting roles on defense are juniors Andre Hurr and Dakota Baker. Hurr will also see time at fullback.

Like any season and game, Bellino said it always comes down to avoiding mistakes and how well the Bruins offensive and defensive lines play.

“If they can give us a little room, we feel Justin Shaw can run. Defensively, they’ve got to get in the way and make some tackles,” he said.

“We’re going to be very, very young. We’re fortunate we have two (crossover) games early, they do count obviously.

Amboy has a lot of people back and are very talented. We’ll be able to get a measuring stick and see how we can progress.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com

BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus

Randy Tieman prepares for his second season at the helm of Hall football as the Red Devils venture into the Three Rivers Athletic Conference playing out of the South Division.

Red Devils From Page 5B

2012) was the workhorse for the Red Devils the past two years, Hall will have a deeper stable of backs to carry the ball.

“We think we can come at you from more angles this year. We’ve got five or six kids who can run the ball real well,” Tieman said.

Senior Jake Byczynski (5-9, 195) and Jake Merkel will line up at tailback. A.J. Gaeta starts out at fullback with senior Aaron Kerr (254 yards) working his way back into the rotation after missing the summer session. Blake Lunn will also compete for the fullback.

Three players will rotate at wingback: senior Collin Aimone, junior Tyler Taber and sophomore Chris Hammonds.

Zach Urbanski and Grant Garland will play split end with Matt Briddick turning at tight end.

Defensively, Hall lines up with Briddick and Case

at end and Trevor Urbanski and Marcos Marroquin at tackle. Linebackers include Tonozzi, Tipton, Kerr, Zach Urbanski, Yuvan and Lunn. In the backfield, Hammonds, Garland and Taber will see time at cornerback with Merkel (strong) and Gaeta (free) handling the safety positions.

Sophomore Matt Krolak, a soccer player, will handle the place-kicking duties with Gaeta and Aimone serving as punters.

The Red Devils will open the season Friday at Hall and Tieman said they should be ready to go.

“I think they’ve done a good job in the offseason as far as hitting the weightroom and conditioning themselves. They put the work in and I think they’re ready to get after it,” he said. “I think good things can happen to these kids if they get after it.”

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013 • Football Preview 2013 • 9B

Cover story

From Page 2B A similar experience will play out when Princeton and St. Bede meet on the gridiron for the first time in Week 4 on Sept.

20. Future crossover games with Bureau Valley, whom Princeton last played in the mid-’90s, will be sure to be a main event throughout Bureau County.

The Tigers will also begin new rivalries with Morrison and Sterling Newman, whom they have not played in decades.

The champions State champions play here.

The Three/Big Rivers is known for its top-flight football, producing 10 champions in league history.

Fulton was the first to hoist the state championship trophy, winning the 2A title in a six-class system in 1976. The Steamers won in 2A again in 1991.

Sterling Newman has claimed four state crowns, most recently in 2010. The Comets also were crowned state champions in 1990, 1994 and 2004.

Other state champions produced from the Three/Big Rivers include Amboy (1984, 2A), Bureau Valley (2005, 3A) and Morrison (2009, 2011, 2A).

League teams have also made five other title-game appearances, taking home runner-up finishes.

Hall (1995, 2001) and Rockridge (1994) won state titles playing under previous conference alliances.

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Past area football conferences Conferences are shown with the years fielding area schools.

Much of this information came from illinoishsglorydays.com Big Rivers (1999-12): The conference was formed in 1999 with the merger of the TriCounty and Tri-County playing divisional play through 2003.

Blackhawk (1934-1989): Walnut joined the league in 1942, replacing Geneseo, and after one year ran off 11 straight championships. Manlius joined the Blackhawk in 1958 along with Dunlap, Buda Western and Wyanet joined in 1968.

Corn Belt Conference (198494): St. Bede played here for 10 years having played independently, including an “Illinois Valley” type schedule.

Indian Valley (1976-94): All of the smaller Bureau County area schools played here, including charter members Annawan, Atkinson, Bradford, Buda Western, DePue, LaMoille, Manlius, Tampico, Tiskilwa and Walnut in 1974. Ohio and Wyanet joined the league in 1978 and divisional play was started a year later. Co-ops reduced the league to six teams in 1989.

Little Six/Eight (1921-75): The six charter members in 1921 were Buda, Bureau Township, Manlius, Ohio, Sheffield and Walnut in 1921. The league’s origin was 8-man football. Ohio was replaced by Neponset in 1926.

It became known as the Little 8 with the addition of Tiskilwa and Wyanet in 1928 and LaMoille

and Malden joined later. Bureau Township dropped football in 1955 as did Malden in 1965 and Neponset in 1975, the final year of the conference. Walnut (‘52) and Manlius (‘58) both moved back to the Blackhawk by the late ‘50s. Buda Western was formed with the consolidation of Buda and Sheffield in 1961, the same year Annawan and Tampico joined the conference.

Private School League (199597): St. Bede spent three years in the suburban conference prior to going to the Tri-County.

NCIC (1939-2010): Princeton joined the then 10-year-old NCIC in 1939 and Hall followed three years later. Both joined the West Central in 2010 with Hall going to the Big Rivers in 2012.

Three Rivers (2013): The Three Rivers Athletic Conference was formed in 1975 with eight charter members. It gave way to the Big Rivers for football in 1999, resurrecting this fall with the conference expansion which will call for divisional play.

Tri-County (1998): Bureau Valley, St. Bede, LaMoille/ DePue/Ohio played for the one season before BV and SBA merged with the Three Rivers teams to form the Big Rivers.

West Central (2010-12): Hall and Princeton went west after the collapse of the grand old NCIC, Hall for two years, PHS for three. The conference was formed in 1969.

— Kevin Hieronymus

10 Runover 10B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Tigers

From Page 3B

BCR file photo

Taggert Venegas has taken over at quarterback at Hall High School, after playing for and transferring from neighbor and rival St. Bede Academy.

2013 All-BCR Preseason Football Team Quarterbacks Parker Neuhalfen - BV (6-1/165, jr.)

Taggert Venegas - Hall (5-10/155, sr.)

Running backs

Jacob Byczynski - Hall (5-9/195, sr.)

Tommy Johnston - BV (6-2/205, jr.)

Tucker Schoff - BV (5-9/175, sr.)

Justin Shaw - St. Bede (5-9/190, jr.)

Logan Wilde - Princeton (5-0/180, sr.)

Ends/receivers

Michael Bellino - St. Bede (6-5/240, sr.)

Matt Briddick - Hall (6-5/210, sr.)

Jordan Ernst - A/L (6-2/195, sr.)

Dylan Williams - Princeton (6-1/210, sr.)

Linemen (offense & defense)

Justin Buckman - BV (6-0/220, sr.)

Andrew Jacobs - BV (5-11/195, sr.)

Garrett Liebing - A/L (6-2, 245, sr.)

Martin McMahon - BV (5-11/195, sr.)

Michael Slingsby - St. Bede (6-0/320, sr.)

Nathan Tonozzi - Hall (5-10/205, sr.)

Trevor Urbanski - Hall (5-11/235, sr.)

Linebackers

Bryan Arteberry - BV (6-0/190, sr.)

Jacob Byczynski - Hall (5-9/195, sr.)

Tommy Johnston - BV (6-2/205, jr.)

Nathan Tonozzi - Hall (5-10/205, sr.)

Defensive backs

Caleb Dickens - Princeton (5-10/165, sr.)

Parker Neuhalfen - BV (6-1/165, jr.)

Tucker Schoff - BV (5-9/175, sr.)

Clippers

From Page 7B

side linebacker – again, to take advantage of his agility and free him up from tangling with offensive tackles. Other defensive players include Garrett Liebing and Aaron Hubbell.

Senior Garret Anderson is the lone LaMoille representative for the Clippers varsity team. LaMoille also sends sophomores Patrick Smith and Clay Stuepfert and freshman George Stuepfert and Max Lucas into the co-op mix.

The season kicks off Friday at the Harbor, where the Clippers will host St. Bede, a Three Rivers crossover contest now that the conference has split into two divisions.

The Clippers have qualified for the playoffs in 11 of the past 13 seasons, including quarterfinal appearances in 2006, 2007 and 2012. They finished 9-3 each of those seasons.

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Wilde said his worries have been put to rest.

“Quite a group of guys this year,” he said. “We’re pulling up a bunch of sophomores but they’re holding up their end really well. I was worried about it at the first practice, but these kids are coming up and they’re straight up studs.”

Jett Wedekind and Jacob Reinhardt are the only two sophomores who will be playing full time at varsity at this point.

Wedekind, who ran the ball very well during the Blue and White scrimmage, will be part of the running back rotation along with seniors Wilde and J.J. Vaccaro and junior Zach Friel.

Reinhardt is in the quarterback mix with Dickens. Though Snyder did not tip his hand on whether the two would be sharing time or if he hoped one would claim the job as a sole starter, his senior captain is supportive.

“Jake’s a good quarterback,” Dickens said. “He’ll step up and do a great job. We’ll be sharing snaps.

I think it’s a good double threat. It gets us both a break because we’ll both be playing on defense. I’m all for it. He’ll do a lot of good things.”

At the Blue and White scrimmage, when Reinhardt lined up at quarterback, Dickens slid over to the wing while Reinhardt moved outside to wide receiver when Dickens took the snaps. Watching this unfold should be an intriguing part of the Tigers’ season and a confounding part of Snyder’s job.

The Tiger defense was an on again off again story last year and will be seeking consistent performances in 2013.

Dickens believes it may be the best defense Princeton has seen in some time.

“Our defense, we have seven or eight kids coming back,” he said.

“Defensively I think we’ll be better than we have been in several years. Dylan Williams, he’s going to be a key to our defense at linebacker.”

Princeton definitely has enough athletes at the skilled positions to

BCR photo/Mike Vaughn

Junior running back Trevor Bickett and the Princeton Tigers brace for the first dose of Three Rivers Conference this season. be competitive. But their success will more than likely hinge on the play of their lines which have been disappointing in recent years.

Returning linemen include seniors Doug Frazier (5-11, 215), Collin Hasbrook (5-10/190), Jordan Sissel (6-3, 270) and Matt Gibson (6-0, 215).

“We work a ton on (line) technique every day,” Snyder said.

“They worked their tails off in the weight room this summer.

The biggest thing is we gotta continue to work on our steps on the offensive line and controlling the gap and pursuing down the line of scrimmage on the defensive line.”

The Tigers have an incredibly difficult start to what they hope will be a bounce back season for the program. They begin on the road against Morrison, which is just two years removed from a state championship and was eliminated in the playoffs last year by the eventual state champ. They follow that up with a home contest against Sterling Newman, a state semifinalist last year.

Dickens sees these games as a motivator “Knowing that we’re going against two state caliber teams

right off the bat is enough motivation to keep us going,” he said.

“They’re going to come in here or we’re going to go over there and they think they’ll just walk all over us. I think we have the group of guys to change things around. Morrison doesn’t know what’s coming.”

Wilde, who claims he is a whole different guy when he gets on the football field, says it is the responsibility of the captains to keep the team going no matter what comes along.

“You (the seniors) have to be like the flame that keeps the wood burning,” he said. “If anybody goes down you can’t have the fire go out. You have to light the flame under them and get them up. As captain, me and Caleb (Dickens) and (Matt) Gibson and Collin Hasbrook, we have to push for the extra two steps.”

“We’re going to come out and we’re going to compete as hard as we can,” added Snyder. “That’s all we can do. To me that’s what it’s about. It’s about coming out and competing no matter who you play.”

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11 Run Over Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013 • Football Preview 2013 • 11B

Keep Up To Date On All The Football News and Highlights . . .

12B • Football Preview 2013 • Thursday, August 29, 2013

Bureau County Republican • bcrnews.com

2013 area master football schedule Keys: +Three Rivers South Conference game; ++Three Rivers North Conference game; *Lincoln Trail Conference game; **Big Northern Illinois West game; &Northern Illinois Big 12 West game.

WEEK 1 Aug. 30 St. Bede at Amboy/LaMoille Sherrard at Riverdale Kewanee at Erie-Prophetstown Orion at Fulton Hall at Bureau Valley Princeton at Morrison Rockridge at Sterling Newman *Annawan/Wethersfield at Oneida Mid-County Lincoln Way North at LaSallePeru Marengo at Mendota WEEK 2 Sept. 6 Bureau Valley at St. Bede Erie-Prophetstown at Hall Morrison at Orion Amboy/LaMoille at Sherrard Fulton at Kewanee Riverdale at Rockridge Sterling Newman at Princeton *Annawan/Wethersfield at Cambridge Ridgewood LaSalle-Peru at Washington Rockford Christian at Mendota WEEK 3 Sept. 13 ++Fulton at Morrison ++Newman at Bureau Valley ++Riverdale at ErieProphetstown Amboy/LaMoille at Hall +Kewanee at St. Bede +Sherrard at Princeton +Rockridge at Orion *Stark County at Annawan/ Wethersfield

Rochelle at LaSalle-Peru **Winnebago at Mendota WEEK 4 Sept. 20 ++Amboy/LaMoille at Riverdale ++Fulton at Erie-Prophetstown ++Morrison at Newman Bureau Valley at Kewanee +Hall at Orion +Sherrard at Rockridge +St. Bede at Princeton *Annawan/Wethersfield at Biggsville West Central LaSalle-Peru at Yorkville **Mendota at Stillman Valley WEEK 5 Sept. 27 ++Erie-Prophetstown at Bureau Valley ++Morrison at Amboy/LaMoille ++Newman at Fulton St. Bede at Riverdale +Rockridge at Hall +Princeton at Kewanee +Orion at Sherrard *Sciota West Prairie at Annawan/Wethersfield &LaSalle-Peru at Sterling **Mendota at RichmondBurton WEEK 6 Oct. 4 ++Erie-Prophetstown at Amboy/LaMoille ++Bureau Valley at Morrison ++ Riverdale at Newman Fulton at Princeton +Hall at Sherrard +Orion at Kewanee *Annawan/Wethersfield at Monmouth United &Dixon at LaSalle-Peru **Rockford Lutheran at Mendota

Oct. 5 +Rockridge at St. Bede (SBA Homecoming) WEEK 7 Oct. 11 ++Newman at ErieProphetstown ++Amboy/LaMoille at Bureau Valley ++Riverdale at Fulton Rockridge at Morrison +Princeton at Orion +Sherrard at Kewanee +St. Bede at Hall *River Valley at Annawan/ Wethersfield &Streator at LaSalle-Peru **Mendota at Rock Falls WEEK 8 Oct. 18 ++Fulton at Amboy/LaMoille ++Bureau Valley at Riverdale ++Erie-Prophetstown at Morrison Newman at Sherrard +Kewanee at Hall +Orion at St. Bede ++Princeton at *Annawan/Wethersfield at Princeville &LaSalle-Peru at Ottawa **Mendota at Oregon WEEK 9 Oct. 25 ++Fulton at Bureau Valley ++Morrison at Riverdale ++Newman at Amboy/LaMoille Erie/Prophetstown at Orion +Princeton at Hall +Kewanee at Rockridge +Sherrard at St. Bede *Mercer County at Annawan/ Wethersfield &Geneseo at LaSalle-Peru **Byron at Mendota

“We hope to compete for the conference title with Stark County and Mercer County also being favorites. It should be very competitive again this year.”

• Brandon Johnston, Annawan/Wethersfield coach

Scouting

From Page 8B defense. Graves said they will “need a lot of young guys to be consistent quick.”

Seniors Dalton McManus (6-1/195, FB/LB) and Darren Southwell (HB/S, 6-3/210) are gaining interest from D2 schools and lower level D1s, Graves said.

They combined for nearly 2,000 yards rushing and 190 tackles.

Southwell is competing for the Rockets’ starting QB job.

“At this point, I honestly don’t know where to place us in the new conference. I think Orion and St. Bede will be towards the top of our side of the conference. Sherrard could be much improved also and be involved towards the top. This is definitely an elite small school football conference and every week will be a challenge. There are no “gimmes” here,” Graves said.

Sherrard (4-5): The Tigers look to get over the hump and into the playoffs this season after going 4-5 in each of the past three years. They might just have the firepower to make it.

Coach Brett Lee turns to their experience of four returning, three-year starters including QB Clayton Bjustrom, who broke the school’s passing records last

season. Also back in the fold are running backs Jake Kissner and Dwight Swartz, Ben Corlett, a twoway lineman, and Lucas Boraas, a tight end and linebacker. In addition, the Tigers return four men across the offensive line and 16 starters in all.

“We head into this fall with a handful of returning starters on both sides. We will look to Lucas Boraas, Dwight Swartz, Nathan Kelly, and Jake Kissner to do most of our heavy lifting,” coach Brett Lee said.

In terms of the TRAC, Lee said, “We are really excited to be a part of a conference with such a rich football history and look forward to generating some new rivalries.

Both divisions should be really competitive and help prepare those who qualify for week 10.”

Others Annawan/Wethersfield (10-1, 8-2): The Titans finished second in the Lincoln Trail last year behind Aledo Mercer County.

They reached the 2A quarterfinals, bowing out to Clifton Central 48-27, which then lost to Mercer County in the semifinals.

Fifth-year coach Brandon Johnson returns 16 lettermen with five starters on both sides of the ball. Top returners include

Tucker Schoff and the Bureau Valley Storm will take a run at the Three Rivers North Division after conference realignment due to expansion.

seniors Micam Smith, a first team LTC running back/linebacker, Jordan Morey, a second team LTC lineman/linebacker, Ben Foster, a second LTC two-way lineman, and Andrew Graminski. Johnston is also looking for contributions from juniors Tanner Nichols (WR/ DB) and Wes Spivey (TE/DL).

“We hope to compete for the conference title with Stark County and Mercer County also being favorites. It should be very competitive again this year,” Johnston said.

LaSalle-Peru (3-6, 2-6): The Cavs return a total of 12 starters for sixth-year coach Joe Sassano.

“We hope to be much improved from last season. We’re looking to make a run at the conference title and a playoff spot,” Sassano said.

Mendota (2-7, 1-5): The Trojans prepare for their second season in the Big Northern West after departing the West Central via the NCIC. Second-year head coach Brock Sondgeroth, formerly at LaMoille, says he feels more comfortable this season than last with the experience the team and the coaching staff gained last year in the Big Northern. The Trojans return four starters on the offensive line and three in the backfield.

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BCR photo/ Phyllis Fargher

Storm

From Page 4B offense this year that Neuhalfen has had to learn, but he had enough reps last year at quarterback on the sophomore and varsity level that he already felt comfortable coming in.

There will be some familiar faces blocking on the line again this year with Andrew Jacobs, Justin Buckman and Martin McMahon returning. That group of seniors will try to open holes for Josh Mead and Tucker Schoff, who look to be significant contributors in the running game.

Defensively, the Storm will return five starters, including Buckman (DL), Schoff (DB), Mead (LB) and Johnston (LB). Bryan

Arteberry, who has had two straight seasons end early due to injury, will return to linebacker.

McMahon (DL), Neuhalfen (DB), Colby Wittig (LB) and Garrett Jackson (DL) will be starters for the first time on defense, but figure to be key players on that side of the ball.

Notes: Ohlson has an overall record of 29-21 in five years as head coach.

Despite the conference re-alignment, the Storm will play the exact teams they did last year, just in a different order. The Storm are in the North Division and Hall, St. Bede and Kewanee will be considered crossover games from the South Division.

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