Some Things To Think About As H.S. Football Begins
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Roger Grossman-
We are standing on the doorstep of the 2018 football season.
What’s behind that door?
I have no earthly idea.
More than any year I can remember, the local football squads seem to have a lot more questions than answers heading into their Week 1 matchups. Part of that is just the nature of high school sports. There are no contracts, so there are no contract extensions. Seniors graduate and move on and rosters churn like the waters on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
It’s part of what makes high school sports more interesting, in my opinion. Coaches are required to rebuild, reorganize and retool. Players are challenged to do more and be more because they are now a year older and more experienced.
The Times-Union is using the sports section this week to preview the area teams, and doing their usual fantastic job.
So, as we sit just hours from the opening kickoff of the season, I want to pose some of those questions teams are facing.
Does Bart Curtis hold the secret to a sectional championship at Warsaw?
Curtis certainly has proven one thing to this point – he’s capable of getting kids’ full and undivided attention and keeping it. He’d done that everywhere else he has coached, so no one should be totally surprised.
The Tigers took him seriously in the spring when he told them that they had a fresh start with him and every position was open for them to win IF they did exactly what he told them and worked harder than they ever had.
The Tigers have certainly improved in their quest to learn and perfect the Curtis model of offense, which is meant to take smaller offensive linemen and misdirection to throw defenses off balance. It’s not a big-play offense, so 10-15 play drives are commonplace and can wear out even the most athletic of opponents. It takes focus, discipline and timing, which doesn’t happen overnight.
Curtis admitted on the Tiger Talk radio program Saturday that he has a hard time accepting people telling him he can’t do something.
That has served him well and will continue to do so.
Will 2018 mark the beginning of Tippecanoe Valley’s return to prominence?
It’s been a rough few years for the folks from Tippecanoe Valley. It’s been since 2013 that the Vikings finished .500 (5-5) and 2012 since they had a winning record. Add to that the fact Valley changed coaches five times over the last five seasons and now have a new athletic director. It’s easy to see that what Valley needs most is some stability.
Coach Stephen Moriarty missed the last few games of last season, so any renaissance must start with him. “Mo” must learn from last season, and then prove that he is the leader that Valley needs.
Will Whitko rebound from a winless season in 2017?
You’d have to be pretty heartless not to feel bad for the Wildcats, who last year not only went 0-10, but were rarely ever competitive. Only twice did they manage to score more than eight points in a game. The Wildcats definitely have one thing going for them – it’s a new year.
Can Triton duplicate last year’s eight-win season?
There aren’t too many eight-win seasons in the history of Triton football. Last year was marked with triumph and tragedy. The thrill of a 4-1 start turned to grief with the loss of Cameron Scarberry in an automobile crash in mid-September. The Trojans finished 8-4 and lost to LaVille in the sectional final.
Can Wawasee stay healthy?
Before quarterback Evan Eshbach got hurt last season, the Wawasee offense looked sharp. But his injury, combined with a bunch of others led to a three-win season and a lot of disappointment. If the Warriors stay healthy they have a chance to make a splash in what should be a very evenly-matched Northern Lakes Conference race.
Take all those schools and all those scenarios and see what they have in common.
All the teams we mentioned (and those from the area that we didn’t) have hope in the midst of the unknown. If you think you have a chance, you are more inclined to invest more to reach your goals. The NLC and TRC should be wide open, and that makes for fun conference races and means every week is important.
Another thing in common is expectations. Every team and every community has expectations. Some think their team could be headed to Indy at Thanksgiving time, while others expect the worst. But like elections and the stock market, expectations can be the worst enemy of any enterprise. Expect too much and you could be disappointed, expect too little and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy more often than not.
Lastly, don’t be fooled by what happens on Friday. Good or bad, it’s only one game and a very small sample size.
Be sure of this, though – it’s going to be interesting, and interesting is fun.
