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Home  Sports High School Football Athletic Bears must make up for lack of depth
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Written by Mark Griffin
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Friday, 28 August 2009 11:11 |
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Coach: Matt Harp, fourth year, 7-23
Last Year: 5-5 (4-3, SLL)
Forecast: Experience? Check.
Speed at the skill positions? Check.
Gibsonburg should have both of those intangibles this season, as well as an added bonus.
“Our size and physical strength on the offensive line will be the best we have had in my four years at Gibsonburg,” Harp said. “Our overall team expectations are to get better every day, stay healthy and compete with everyone we play. If we do those things, we could have a very successful 2009 season.”
If the Golden Bears plan to compete with perennial SLL powers Genoa and Eastwood this season, they will have to shore up a few weaknesses during the 2009 season — mainly a lack of depth and inexperience on the offensive and defensive lines.
Jaime Mancha, a junior nose guard, and junior punter Nick Black (honorable mention) are the Bears’ lone returning all-league players. Mancha, an All-SLL second-team performer, is one of seven returning starters on defense.
The other returning defensive starters are senior strong safety Chris Black, inside linebacker Nick Black, senior outside linebacker Avery Potridge, junior free safety Derek Fisher, senior outside linebacker Jordan Binder and senior defensive tackle Joey Morelock, who has been converted to inside linebacker. Binder had seven tackles for a loss last season and Black was among area leaders with four interceptions. Potridge and Fisher each had two interceptions.
Six of Gibsonburg’s eight returning starters on offense are specialists, including senior wideouts Tylor Stahl and Chris Black and junior receiver Derek Fisher. Potridge and Nick Black return at tailback along with senior fullback Jordan Binder.
Last season, Potridge ran for 599 yards on 138 carries (4.3 per carry) and four touchdowns. Binder had 273 yards on 53 carries (5.0) and two touchdowns.
The returning offensive linemen are Morelock and fellow senior Mykel Jahna.Potridge, who will be a four-year letterman, injured his back against Genoa and missed the final four games of the ‘08 season.
He was on pace for 1,000 yards,” Harp said. “He’s a track kid and one of our fastest kids. Being a senior, we expect a lot out of him. We hope he has a big season.”
At 6-0, 180, Binder isn’t the biggest fullback around, but he got plenty of playing time as a junior.
“This year we hope to get him a few more carries,” Harp said. “He will be a three-year letterman and he’s a straight-ahead, hard-nosed kid. And, he catches the ball well out of the backfield.”
Harp said the Bears’ pro-style offense will feature more shotgun formations with two backs this season. In charge of directing that offense will be junior quarterback Brett Diekmen.
Diekman was the backup to honorable mention all-league signal-caller Tony Egbert a year ago.
“Brett is a real good athlete,” Harp said. “He was a first-team All-SLL baseball player as a sophomore. He has a strong arm and he makes good, athletic throws. He’s not the prototypical quarterback we’ve had — he’s only 5-9, 5-10 and 170 pounds — but he’s had two years to play on the jayvee level in our system and now it’s his turn. We expect good things out of him.”
Diekman’s receiving corps will include Chris Black, Fisher, Stahl and juniors Andy Ritter and Vinnie Kirsch. Chris Black (203 yards receiving in 2008) averaged more than 19 yards a catch last year, and Stahl “had some big games at the end of the season,” Harp said. “We had some injuries and he did a nice job for us.”
The Bears were picked by the coaches to finish fourth in the seven-team SLL.
“The league favorites have to be Genoa and Eastwood,” Harp said. “They have played each other for the SLL title the past two seasons and it will stay that way until someone knocks them off.”
This may be Gibsonburg's next to last season competing against many of the same schools in league play. The Northern Buckeye Conference, which begins play in two years, currently includes Eastwood, Rossford, Genoa, Woodmore, Otsego, Lake, and Fostoria, but not Gibsonburg.
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By: Mark Griffin Contact e-mail:
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