Warriors Hope To Avoid Injuries This Year
August 14, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.
Warriors Hope To Avoid Injuries This Year
By Dale [email protected]
The players are more familiar with head coach Mike Eshbach and have a full year in the second-year skipper’s system.
The players, Eshbach said, are much stronger than they were a year ago after committing themselves in the weight room.
Eshbach likes what he sees, but admits the concern is staying healthy and injury free, something the Warriors struggled with in his first season in Syracuse.
“As far as the weight room goes, we’ve made huge strides. I think player for player, pound for pound, we’re stronger than what we were a year ago,”said Eshbach, whose team was 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the Northern Lakes Conference last season.
“Coming into two-a-days in the summer, the first year you’re teaching everything as if it’s a foreign language to them. At this point (this year), instead of starting at step 1, we can sort of start at step 3 or 4. Now it’s not so much installing the concepts, but tweaking them, and getting them to understand more of the foundation, and this year we can continue to build a little bit more.”
A number of injuries, particularly at the quarterback position, hurt the Warriors last year.
Aaron Evans, Evan Eshbach, Jacob Hand, Parker Young and Alec Rosbrugh all took snaps from the center.
The goal is to stay injury free this season, and the plan is for Eshbach, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior, to be the team’s signal caller.
“Sometimes you just get the hand you’re dealt, and unfortunately last year we had some injuries that were just devastating,” said the coach. “You’re just not going to be successful when you’re playing four or five quarterbacks.
“At some point you’ve got to move the chains. We’re praying that we don’t have injuries like we did last year. Hopefully there’s some stability there. I really like this team with our No. 1s, I think that we’ve got guys in good positions, and we’ve got athletic guys, and smart guys. We’re working on that foundation, and hopefully we’ll be able to get first downs, get some tempo and control the clock.”
Those tasked with protecting the younger Eshbach include Isaiah Tipping, Damien Rodriguez, Hagen Slusher, Justin Castro and Austin LaJoice.
Josh Slabaugh and Dylan Hepler are slotted as receivers, while Steven Hauntz and R.J. Wright are expected to see time at the tight end position.
Evans, Keyan Peete, Levi Brown and Jesse Landeros will get reps at running back.
“We run the spread, one back, multiple formations ... we want our formation guys to get whatever mismatches they can,” said Eshbach.
“You know, 20 years ago football coaches would do it and they were always trying to outnumber somebody. A lot of times they did it with a fullback, or a tightend, or whatever. We do it with multiple sets. It’ll change from week to week, but we try to balance it up and have a good percentage of passes versus the run.
“Our goal is to play fast, but we’ve got to get first downs, control the clock, and control the tempo.”
Up front on the defensive side of the ball, playing in what Eshbach described as a “stack” defense, will be Tipping, Rodriguez, Slusher and Castro.
Linebackers figure to be Evans, Brown and Peete, while Jon Konieczny, Hepler, Gabe Moore and LaShaun Morris could see time in the secondary.
The Warriors open the season Friday with a trip to LaGrange to play the Lakeland Lakers.
Wawasee hosts West Noble in Week 2, and then opens Northern Lakes Conference play on Aug. 31 by hosting defending champion Northridge.
“You look at what Northridge did last year, and I really felt like – this isn’t a crack on them – I don’t know if they were the most talented team. There were some teams that were equally as talented, but what made them such a great team through the conference is they were really steady,” said Eshbach. “They didn’t ride that roller coaster and have all those ups and downs.
“I think there’s parody, I think there’s balance. They had a great senior class that did wonders for them and sort of kept the ship level, if you wanna call it that. That’s what we’re hoping for. We feel like if we don’t have injuries, and our seniors can keep us level, I think we’re going to be more than competitive. That’s what we’re preaching everyday.”
The players are more familiar with head coach Mike Eshbach and have a full year in the second-year skipper’s system.
The players, Eshbach said, are much stronger than they were a year ago after committing themselves in the weight room.
Eshbach likes what he sees, but admits the concern is staying healthy and injury free, something the Warriors struggled with in his first season in Syracuse.
“As far as the weight room goes, we’ve made huge strides. I think player for player, pound for pound, we’re stronger than what we were a year ago,”said Eshbach, whose team was 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the Northern Lakes Conference last season.
“Coming into two-a-days in the summer, the first year you’re teaching everything as if it’s a foreign language to them. At this point (this year), instead of starting at step 1, we can sort of start at step 3 or 4. Now it’s not so much installing the concepts, but tweaking them, and getting them to understand more of the foundation, and this year we can continue to build a little bit more.”
A number of injuries, particularly at the quarterback position, hurt the Warriors last year.
Aaron Evans, Evan Eshbach, Jacob Hand, Parker Young and Alec Rosbrugh all took snaps from the center.
The goal is to stay injury free this season, and the plan is for Eshbach, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior, to be the team’s signal caller.
“Sometimes you just get the hand you’re dealt, and unfortunately last year we had some injuries that were just devastating,” said the coach. “You’re just not going to be successful when you’re playing four or five quarterbacks.
“At some point you’ve got to move the chains. We’re praying that we don’t have injuries like we did last year. Hopefully there’s some stability there. I really like this team with our No. 1s, I think that we’ve got guys in good positions, and we’ve got athletic guys, and smart guys. We’re working on that foundation, and hopefully we’ll be able to get first downs, get some tempo and control the clock.”
Those tasked with protecting the younger Eshbach include Isaiah Tipping, Damien Rodriguez, Hagen Slusher, Justin Castro and Austin LaJoice.
Josh Slabaugh and Dylan Hepler are slotted as receivers, while Steven Hauntz and R.J. Wright are expected to see time at the tight end position.
Evans, Keyan Peete, Levi Brown and Jesse Landeros will get reps at running back.
“We run the spread, one back, multiple formations ... we want our formation guys to get whatever mismatches they can,” said Eshbach.
“You know, 20 years ago football coaches would do it and they were always trying to outnumber somebody. A lot of times they did it with a fullback, or a tightend, or whatever. We do it with multiple sets. It’ll change from week to week, but we try to balance it up and have a good percentage of passes versus the run.
“Our goal is to play fast, but we’ve got to get first downs, control the clock, and control the tempo.”
Up front on the defensive side of the ball, playing in what Eshbach described as a “stack” defense, will be Tipping, Rodriguez, Slusher and Castro.
Linebackers figure to be Evans, Brown and Peete, while Jon Konieczny, Hepler, Gabe Moore and LaShaun Morris could see time in the secondary.
The Warriors open the season Friday with a trip to LaGrange to play the Lakeland Lakers.
Wawasee hosts West Noble in Week 2, and then opens Northern Lakes Conference play on Aug. 31 by hosting defending champion Northridge.
“You look at what Northridge did last year, and I really felt like – this isn’t a crack on them – I don’t know if they were the most talented team. There were some teams that were equally as talented, but what made them such a great team through the conference is they were really steady,” said Eshbach. “They didn’t ride that roller coaster and have all those ups and downs.
“I think there’s parody, I think there’s balance. They had a great senior class that did wonders for them and sort of kept the ship level, if you wanna call it that. That’s what we’re hoping for. We feel like if we don’t have injuries, and our seniors can keep us level, I think we’re going to be more than competitive. That’s what we’re preaching everyday.”
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