Plenty Of New Things Surround Wawasee Football Team
August 15, 2017 at 3:06 p.m.
Plenty Of New Things Surround Wawasee Football Team
By Mark [email protected]
For starters, Warrior Field has new artificial turf, and the Warriors have a new coach.
Mike Eshbach comes to the Syracuse campus from Eastside High School in Butler, where he completed a nine-year run with a 46-49 record but a 39-25 mark over the last six years. Eshbach’s 2014 team won nine games, and there are three Northeast Corner Conference titles mixed in.
Another new will be the quarterback. Graduate Tyler Smith had the controls to the offense each of the last two seasons, and didn’t give up a lot of snaps to backup players in that time. So there’s going to be a bit of an evaluation period early in the season for Eshbach and the Warriors.
“We’ve got two different quarterbacks, both of them played (junior varsity) last year, so there’s not a lot of experience at the varsity level,” Eshbach said. “So we’re going to split time with both of them.
“Aaron Evans is a junior who will probably be more of a running type of a quarterback, while (sophomore) Evan Eshbach (the son of the new head coach) will be, I hate to use the term, but a game manager. They both offer individual abilities, and we’ll try to maximize them the best we can.”
Eshbach has installed a new offense designed to keep opponents off-balance at every opportunity.
“We are a multiple-formation offense. We try not to be in the same formation on two consecutive plays. We might, but ultimately we’re trying to mix that up. It allows us to dictate where guys are going to be, and it’s easier from a preparation standpoint.
“We’ll be in a one-back (formation), and sometimes we’ll be in a no-back, and without giving too much away, primarily we’ll run with one tight end.”
The new Warrior coach wouldn’t say if his squad will be a run-first or a pass-first team.
“We’ll try to be 50-50, and if we read a defense and see they’re giving us the pass, we’ll throw it,” he said. “It won’t be uncommon for us to throw 25 times a game. It just depends on what they’re going to give us.
“If they load the box, we’ll throw. If they’re dropping into coverage, we’ll try to run. It depends on where the numbers are.
There is some experience returning on the offensive side of the ball.
“Alec Rosbrugh is probably going to get the majority of the carries,” said Eshbach. “Keyan Peete will be his backup, and with both guys going both ways they’re going to have to give each other a spell here and there.
“Steven Hauntz will be one receiver, and Jacob Hand the other. Dalton Pearish will be the tight end, with Will Geer backing him up. Dylan Hepler and Evans will see time at receiver, too.”
Defensively, there will be some changes made, primarily to help cover a lack of depth on the line.
“Last year we ran a 3-4, but we didn’t think it fit our personnel what we wanted to accomplish this year,” said Eshbach. “We made some adjustments, but we’re going to be a multiple, four-man front defense. There may be times we get eight guys in the box, and there will be times where we have four (defensive backs) or run with a hybrid DB-linebacker position.
“Our secondary is probably our strength. Hepler is a junior, but it’s his third year of starting. Hand is our second safety, and Zak Linnemeier and LeShaun Morris will get a lot of time back there.”
Eshbach likes what he’s inherited from the players he has, but with 44 on the roster he wishes there were more players to coach. He expressed particular concern with the depth of the line on both sides of the ball. Players will have to go both ways, and the coach said “we’ll have to have guys give each other breaks along the way.
“We have size, we’ve got good kids, we’ve got smart kids; we just don’t have enough of them.”
Wawasee opens its season Friday, hosting Lakeland at 7 p.m. The Warriors will travel to Ligonier and play West Noble on Aug. 25, then open Northern Lakes Conference play Sept. 1 in Middlebury against Northridge.
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For starters, Warrior Field has new artificial turf, and the Warriors have a new coach.
Mike Eshbach comes to the Syracuse campus from Eastside High School in Butler, where he completed a nine-year run with a 46-49 record but a 39-25 mark over the last six years. Eshbach’s 2014 team won nine games, and there are three Northeast Corner Conference titles mixed in.
Another new will be the quarterback. Graduate Tyler Smith had the controls to the offense each of the last two seasons, and didn’t give up a lot of snaps to backup players in that time. So there’s going to be a bit of an evaluation period early in the season for Eshbach and the Warriors.
“We’ve got two different quarterbacks, both of them played (junior varsity) last year, so there’s not a lot of experience at the varsity level,” Eshbach said. “So we’re going to split time with both of them.
“Aaron Evans is a junior who will probably be more of a running type of a quarterback, while (sophomore) Evan Eshbach (the son of the new head coach) will be, I hate to use the term, but a game manager. They both offer individual abilities, and we’ll try to maximize them the best we can.”
Eshbach has installed a new offense designed to keep opponents off-balance at every opportunity.
“We are a multiple-formation offense. We try not to be in the same formation on two consecutive plays. We might, but ultimately we’re trying to mix that up. It allows us to dictate where guys are going to be, and it’s easier from a preparation standpoint.
“We’ll be in a one-back (formation), and sometimes we’ll be in a no-back, and without giving too much away, primarily we’ll run with one tight end.”
The new Warrior coach wouldn’t say if his squad will be a run-first or a pass-first team.
“We’ll try to be 50-50, and if we read a defense and see they’re giving us the pass, we’ll throw it,” he said. “It won’t be uncommon for us to throw 25 times a game. It just depends on what they’re going to give us.
“If they load the box, we’ll throw. If they’re dropping into coverage, we’ll try to run. It depends on where the numbers are.
There is some experience returning on the offensive side of the ball.
“Alec Rosbrugh is probably going to get the majority of the carries,” said Eshbach. “Keyan Peete will be his backup, and with both guys going both ways they’re going to have to give each other a spell here and there.
“Steven Hauntz will be one receiver, and Jacob Hand the other. Dalton Pearish will be the tight end, with Will Geer backing him up. Dylan Hepler and Evans will see time at receiver, too.”
Defensively, there will be some changes made, primarily to help cover a lack of depth on the line.
“Last year we ran a 3-4, but we didn’t think it fit our personnel what we wanted to accomplish this year,” said Eshbach. “We made some adjustments, but we’re going to be a multiple, four-man front defense. There may be times we get eight guys in the box, and there will be times where we have four (defensive backs) or run with a hybrid DB-linebacker position.
“Our secondary is probably our strength. Hepler is a junior, but it’s his third year of starting. Hand is our second safety, and Zak Linnemeier and LeShaun Morris will get a lot of time back there.”
Eshbach likes what he’s inherited from the players he has, but with 44 on the roster he wishes there were more players to coach. He expressed particular concern with the depth of the line on both sides of the ball. Players will have to go both ways, and the coach said “we’ll have to have guys give each other breaks along the way.
“We have size, we’ve got good kids, we’ve got smart kids; we just don’t have enough of them.”
Wawasee opens its season Friday, hosting Lakeland at 7 p.m. The Warriors will travel to Ligonier and play West Noble on Aug. 25, then open Northern Lakes Conference play Sept. 1 in Middlebury against Northridge.
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