Brandewie Excited For First ‘Normal’ Season At Manchester
August 18, 2021 at 12:34 a.m.
Brandewie Excited For First ‘Normal’ Season At Manchester
By Anthony Anderson-
“It was a little chaotic,” Brandewie reflected last week of 2020. “You had to spray things down and keep kids in their position groups. COVID added some layers as we tried to prepare for the season, and during the season.”
As for year two now?
“It’s been very different — good different,” Brandewie said. “We’re going to go into the season with twice as many practices after we had to shut down all of July (in 2020) when we had some positive tests. We are just so much further ahead.”
This time around, Brandewie also has a deeper familiarity with his players just from coaching them last season.
A Manchester assistant from 2016 to 2018, he returned to the program in April 2020 after a year away and with the pandemic already under way.
“Year one, we did a lot of figuring out what we did well, what we did poorly, where we could improve,” Brandewie said. “Now we hope we’ve got more kids in the best positions to do well. That’s just part of a continuing evaluation. We evaluate the kids each game and we evaluate ourselves as coaches.”
Brandewie likes what he sees when he evaluates what he has back from last fall’s club that finished 2-8 overall, 2-6 in the Three Rivers Conference.
That includes seven individuals who started or had starter-like reps on offense and six on defense. Four players profile as two-way returning starters.
Among the impact guys back are seniors Dylan Stroud, who earned All-TRC honors at safety to go with plenty of action at wide receiver; Seth Gaerte, who received an all-league nod at receiver and started at cornerback; and prolific running back Braxton Ream.
Ream’s hard-luck 2020 included missing three games with a pair of shoulder injuries and then missing the Squires’ 16-12 sectional loss to Wabash as the only player on the team who happened to be sidelined that week in the wake of contact tracing.
“He’s healthy and ready to roll,” Brandewie said of Ream, whose 928 rushing yards, 6.6 average and 11 touchdowns came in the equivalent of less than five full games. “He’s had a really good offseason, getting stronger, getting faster, and he’s one of several seniors we have who are fantastic leaders.”
Stroud and Gaerte fit that billing as well, according to Brandewie.
“Dylan’s one of the grittiest, scrappiest kids I’ve ever been around, and it’s contagious for the rest of our guys,” Brandewie said. “He’s a wrestler and he plays safety like a wrestler. He gives us a swagger on the back end.”
Stroud paced Manchester last year in solo tackles (41), total tackles (116) and interceptions (four) to go with a pair of fumble recoveries. On the offensive side, he caught 27 passes for 258 yards and a TD.
Gaerte was the Squires’ premier receiver with 46 catches, 937 yards, a 20.4 average and 11 TDs, all-team-leading figures. Defensively, he added a pair of picks at cornerback and 19 solo tackles, third on the team.
“He played five games with a club on his hand,” Brandewie said of the broken thumb Gaerte sustained in Week 5, “so I’m pretty excited to see what he can do without it again.”
Throwing to Gaerte and others will be yet another returning starter in quarterback Brock Casper. As a sophomore last fall, Casper completed 115-of-233 passes for 1,738 yards with 16 TDs against 12 interceptions.
“He’s made one of the bigger jumps on our team, and it’s to be expected,” Brandewie said. “Last year was a lot for a sophomore to handle and he played really well at times. As a junior, his poise and command have elevated pretty substantially.”
Returning to dual starting roles are junior Caden Miller at tight end and outside linebacker, and junior Harrison Sturtsman at offensive tackle and defensive end.
Seniors Josiah Hackworth, who was in on 59 tackles in 2020, and Dominic Lincoln are back at inside linebacker and safety, respectively, and junior Mavern Smith at offensive tackle.
Hackworth’s also penciled in at fullback. Junior Zavier Sell and sophomore Preston Duffy are favorites to earn offensive guard duties, while senior Justin Hall and junior Bryce Mugford are battling for starting center.
Defensively, senior Trevor Dill is slotted for nose tackle, Smith and Sell will rotate at end, Hall’s at outside linebacker, Duffy and Jordan Ayers are inside linebacker hopefuls, and junior Memphis Wood is at cornerback.
Senior AJ Fortman returns after handling most of the kicking and punting duties last season.
The Squires, scheduled to be on the road for five of their first seven games, open with a league contest Friday at North Miami.
“There’s an expectation,” Brandewie said of Manchester being improved in 2021. “I don’t want to put a number on those expectations, but based on the level of work in the offseason, I think our players deserve to be excited.”
“It was a little chaotic,” Brandewie reflected last week of 2020. “You had to spray things down and keep kids in their position groups. COVID added some layers as we tried to prepare for the season, and during the season.”
As for year two now?
“It’s been very different — good different,” Brandewie said. “We’re going to go into the season with twice as many practices after we had to shut down all of July (in 2020) when we had some positive tests. We are just so much further ahead.”
This time around, Brandewie also has a deeper familiarity with his players just from coaching them last season.
A Manchester assistant from 2016 to 2018, he returned to the program in April 2020 after a year away and with the pandemic already under way.
“Year one, we did a lot of figuring out what we did well, what we did poorly, where we could improve,” Brandewie said. “Now we hope we’ve got more kids in the best positions to do well. That’s just part of a continuing evaluation. We evaluate the kids each game and we evaluate ourselves as coaches.”
Brandewie likes what he sees when he evaluates what he has back from last fall’s club that finished 2-8 overall, 2-6 in the Three Rivers Conference.
That includes seven individuals who started or had starter-like reps on offense and six on defense. Four players profile as two-way returning starters.
Among the impact guys back are seniors Dylan Stroud, who earned All-TRC honors at safety to go with plenty of action at wide receiver; Seth Gaerte, who received an all-league nod at receiver and started at cornerback; and prolific running back Braxton Ream.
Ream’s hard-luck 2020 included missing three games with a pair of shoulder injuries and then missing the Squires’ 16-12 sectional loss to Wabash as the only player on the team who happened to be sidelined that week in the wake of contact tracing.
“He’s healthy and ready to roll,” Brandewie said of Ream, whose 928 rushing yards, 6.6 average and 11 touchdowns came in the equivalent of less than five full games. “He’s had a really good offseason, getting stronger, getting faster, and he’s one of several seniors we have who are fantastic leaders.”
Stroud and Gaerte fit that billing as well, according to Brandewie.
“Dylan’s one of the grittiest, scrappiest kids I’ve ever been around, and it’s contagious for the rest of our guys,” Brandewie said. “He’s a wrestler and he plays safety like a wrestler. He gives us a swagger on the back end.”
Stroud paced Manchester last year in solo tackles (41), total tackles (116) and interceptions (four) to go with a pair of fumble recoveries. On the offensive side, he caught 27 passes for 258 yards and a TD.
Gaerte was the Squires’ premier receiver with 46 catches, 937 yards, a 20.4 average and 11 TDs, all-team-leading figures. Defensively, he added a pair of picks at cornerback and 19 solo tackles, third on the team.
“He played five games with a club on his hand,” Brandewie said of the broken thumb Gaerte sustained in Week 5, “so I’m pretty excited to see what he can do without it again.”
Throwing to Gaerte and others will be yet another returning starter in quarterback Brock Casper. As a sophomore last fall, Casper completed 115-of-233 passes for 1,738 yards with 16 TDs against 12 interceptions.
“He’s made one of the bigger jumps on our team, and it’s to be expected,” Brandewie said. “Last year was a lot for a sophomore to handle and he played really well at times. As a junior, his poise and command have elevated pretty substantially.”
Returning to dual starting roles are junior Caden Miller at tight end and outside linebacker, and junior Harrison Sturtsman at offensive tackle and defensive end.
Seniors Josiah Hackworth, who was in on 59 tackles in 2020, and Dominic Lincoln are back at inside linebacker and safety, respectively, and junior Mavern Smith at offensive tackle.
Hackworth’s also penciled in at fullback. Junior Zavier Sell and sophomore Preston Duffy are favorites to earn offensive guard duties, while senior Justin Hall and junior Bryce Mugford are battling for starting center.
Defensively, senior Trevor Dill is slotted for nose tackle, Smith and Sell will rotate at end, Hall’s at outside linebacker, Duffy and Jordan Ayers are inside linebacker hopefuls, and junior Memphis Wood is at cornerback.
Senior AJ Fortman returns after handling most of the kicking and punting duties last season.
The Squires, scheduled to be on the road for five of their first seven games, open with a league contest Friday at North Miami.
“There’s an expectation,” Brandewie said of Manchester being improved in 2021. “I don’t want to put a number on those expectations, but based on the level of work in the offseason, I think our players deserve to be excited.”
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