The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1402699
C-4 Wednesday, August 18, 2021 The Press-Dispatch Chargers looking to kick back up with defense By Matthew Haycraft Pike Central football had a rough '20 -'21 season with 0 -8 overall and a 0 -4 PAC re- cord, making them 6th in the conference. In the last confer- ence game of the '20 -'21 sea- son, they put up a fight, but were still unsuccessful against North Posey, losing the game at 58 -15. The team looked pret- ty thin then, only 19 players during the last season game against North Posey. Previous head coach Dave Stephens said they lost a lot of the team due to COVID quarantine, injuries or academic ineligibility. Fast forward to the section- al game, the team played the Washington Hatchets and lost the game 50 -0. Coach Ste- phens attributed this to quar- antine, injuries and academ- ics as well. This time adding the weather was harsh, and they lost three more players who went on fall break instead of playing sectionals. "We need to have a good off season in the weight room to be successful," stated Ste- phens. Whether the loss was due to one of these problems and if they carry into this season or not, only time will tell. During last season, Lars Utterback had two pass touch- downs and three rush touch- downs; Quade Morton had one interception touchdown; Wyatt Frasure had two rush touchdowns; Julian Gish had one reception touchdown and one kickoff return touchdown; Stephen Kreig had one re- ception touchdown; and Jag- ger Dent had one rush touch- down. This year's team has a new head coach, Kelly Brashear, and two returning seniors, Wyatt Frasure and Samuel Coleman. Coleman, in his junior year, played as a middle lineback- er for the Chargers. This sea- son, he will be playing in the fullback or defen- sive lineman posi- tions. Frasure, in the previous sea- son, played run- ning back and had a 104-yard game in the last conference game of the season. This year, he will be playing halfback or linebacker. "This is the first or second time he has hit 100 yards rushing for us, he's our guy. He is the one we want to put our offense through and it was nice to see him get north of the 100 -yard mark with 104-yards. I think he kind of set an example of what we can do and what we have the ability to do," stated Ste- phens about Frasure. Brashear said, "Wyatt Fra- ser has played all the way through. Literally, all the way up, he is going to be one of our captains, and does a fantastic job of helping the other kids, especially a lot of these new kids coming in that really ei- ther haven't played a whole lot or haven't played at all. He's doing a nice job of try- ing to help teach a lot of the younger kids. He is a phenom- enal athlete, has great speed. We're still working on his catch, but he's gonna be one of those guys that probably gets the ball 15 times. (He's) one of our kids that we're go- ing to look to for a lot of lead- ership." Coach Brashear has coached for 20 years, nine of those as an assistant at Lin- coln and 11 as head coach at Washington. Even though he has been out of coaching for six years, he still has that fire for coaching and to help the kids become football players, young men and good people in society. When asked about the new players to the sport he acquired this year, Coach Brashear said, "They're work- ing hard and they're learning, but it's a big learning curve for them. Some of them have never played and so this is all brand new to them. So it's gonna take them an entire season to start learning the game, and feeling comfort- able on the field." Frasure commented, "There's actually a decent amount of young kids this year, and they want to play football. They're excited, you know, and this coach has a really good understanding of the young kids. He tries to get them as many reps as he can, but I see this season going de- cently well, compared to pre- vious seasons. It just seems like (last year) it's one on a downhill slope. This year, I really think it'll kick back up." According to Coach Brashear, the team got start- ed late because he was a late hire. So the team had to play catch up as much as they could in the weight room this spring and the players have worked hard in the weight room. "We have a long way to go there," stated Coach Brashear. He commented that in the offseason, the team will be getting right back in the weight room after Christmas. He hopes that will pay big div- idends going into next year. The players are very coach- able, according to Brashear. He stated the coaches have tried to make things fun for them, and he thinks they are all having a good time play- ing, practicing and learning a whole new system on offense and defense. When talking to Coach Brashear about the team's progress, he said, during the Team Camp the Chargers had July 19 through the 23, the team did a nice job of work- ing hard and learning. They did a lot of drills they weren't used to doing, so they start- ed to improve and began to understand. "Again, we have a long way to go, but they're starting to understand their individual positions and what to do and how to do it. We're working the heck out of tech- nique, and try to teach them kind of on the fly. We've been real happy with the kids that have been here as far as their work ethic, their coachabil- ity and their willingness to learn." Brashear, wrapped up the team's goals/expectations, "You always have the goal of winning football games, but we also want to put our- selves in a position to be able to win some football games. You know we can't afford to give up 40 to 50 points, be- cause we're probably not go- ing to be a team that scores that many points. So we're re- ally focusing hard on our de- fense and then our offense. If we're going to be in football games and give ourselves a position to win, then we have to be able to play some de- fense and get stops." Pictured above is the 2020-21 Pike Central football team. They are, front row (l to r): Justin Leeds, Isaac Marchino, Corey Goeppner, Samuel Coleman, Wyatt Frasure, Jagar Howald and Chris Nicholson; third row: Trinten Richardson, Paul Thompson, Braden Schultheis, Jace Himsel, Caden Fausnaugh, Ethan Mann and Justin Spinks; back row: VARSITY FOOTBALL ❚ Friday, Aug. 27 – Tecumseh – 7:30 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Friday, Sept. 3 – South Spencer – 7:30 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Friday, Sept. 10 – Southridge – 7:30 p.m. at Southridge ❚ Friday, Sept. 17 – Washington – 7 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Friday, Sept. 24 – North Knox – 7 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Friday, Oct. 1 – Tell City – 7:30 p.m. at Tell City ❚ Friday, Oct. 8 – Forest Park – 7:30 p.m. at Forest Park ❚ Friday, Oct. 15 – North Posey – 7:30 p.m. at Pike Central Wyatt Frasure Samuel Coleman Morgan Sallee If we're going to be in football games and give ourselves a position to win. Then we have to be able to play some defense and get stops." - Coach Kelly Brashear