The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Fall Sports Preview Wednesday, August 19, 2015 D-7 FOOTBALL NEW Austin Woodall, Noah Scott and Matthew Hayes. Second row: Colton White, Jimmy Krietemeyer, Kane Osgatharp, Chase Davis, Colton O'Neal, Josh Riley, Jaylon Ow- Jacob Marchino, Te'Marion Fields and Donavin Eaton. Fourth row: Quentin Tharp, Alonzo Barnes, Jake Sisk, Christian Alvey, Zachary Pancake, Jared McCord, Braxton Howald, Assistant Coach Billy Hewig, Head Coach Dustin Powell, Assistant Coach Dave Stephens and Assistant Coach Mike Frazier. Not pictured – Managers Reid Craig, Continued from page D-6 350 W. Main, Petersburg • Next to Double J Collision Call for Carry-Out or Faster Service (812)354-2606 HOURS: Thurs, Fri. and Sat. 5p.m. to 9p.m. • Closed Sunday A FAN FAVORITE Joe Mama's Pizza Pizza • Sandwiches • Salads • Carry-Out Dining Room & Carryout Available! Good Luck CHARGERS 7702 E. SR 356, Otwell 812-354-2496 body can snap the ball, and he came out and we moved him over there and he tried it," Powell said. "He's really taken to the role of center. A smart kid. All of our guys across the front are smart kids. They know what's going on and are very coachable." Sophomore Jacob Sisk will get the starting nod at right guard, Powell said. "He kind of played some running back and a JV play- er," Powell said. "We need- ed to get some depth on the line last year and moved him down and it ended up getting him some time on the field at the varsity level, and actual- ly it was a nice surprise to get that." "He's just a bulldog," Pow- ell added. "He wants to be successful. He's another kid that will ask questions, and make sure that he's do- ing things right, because he wants to do them right." Powell said that sopho- mores Zach Pancake and Alonzo Barnes are currently competing for playing time at right tackle, while sopho- more Te'Marion Fields will battle for playing time on the offensive line. "He was a nice surprise this summer, especially in the competitions that we went to," Powell said. "He's a big boy and he gets after it, and has really, in the last cou- ple of weeks, been a nice sur- prise out on the field as far as effort goes and everything else. He'll get some time, and we'll go from there." On defense, the Chargers' will employ a four-man front, with Sisk and Woodall lining up on the inside while Os- gatharp and Pancake will line up on the outside. Davis, Marchino and ju- nior Josh Riley – backed up by Greer and freshman Brax- ton Rice – will take turns manning the two inside linebacker positions, while O'Neal and Alvey will start at left and right outside line- backer. Owens will start at safe- ty, with junior Jimmy Kri- etemeyer providing back- up, while Scott and Leathco, backed up by Boger and Carl- isle, will line up at the corner- back positions. "We've got some depth that we haven't had in a while, so we're pretty excited about it going in," Powell said. Sophomore Colton White, who was successful on 13 of 16 point-after-touchdown kick attempts while convert- ing two of three field goal tries, will handle the place- kicking duties, while Mc- Cord will again handle kick- offs. "Sometimes people don't think about that special teams side, how important it is, and when you have a guy that can kick it in the end zone or you have a guy that, when you get to the 25 -yard- line and in that you can count on to put it through the up- rights to get something out of the drive, then those are nice weapons to have. They're go- ing to help us out there." Powell said that, as far as punting went, the team was looking at Scott, White and McCord as possibilities, while Owens, O'Neal and Davis – along with Marchi- no, Rice and others – will handle the bulk of the kick return duties. "We've got enough ath- letes that we can put any cou- ple of people back there and get some good things out of it," Powell said. Powell said that, defen- sively, the Chargers' goal is to stop the run. "We're getting ready to go with Bosse here, and they're always very athletic," Powell said. "We've got to keep them inside as much as possible. I think that if we can stop that run and put teams in a situa- tion that maybe they're not as comfortable, then it's going to be better off for us." "We're going to face some teams that they don't care which way you take them," Powell added. "We've got to figure out a way to get them to where they're least com- fortable." While opposing team may bases their defensive strate- gy on stopping Owens this season, Powell feels that, that could be a mistake. "In this offense, it's hard to sit there and say, 'Okay, we're going to key on (Ow- ens),' because the thing that we have really improved on is Aaron's ability to throw the ball," Powell said. "He has really improved there, he's worked hard at it. You throw in Cloe, who has really come on this summer, and Marchi- no, Scott and those kids that can get out and run and catch a ball, I think you're going to have to pick your poison." "We're not necessarily go- ing to chuck the ball 60 yards down the field, but we're go- ing to make teams make some decisions," Powell add- ed. "And if they make a bad decision, we're going to take advantage of it." Powell said that he has been impressed with his play- ers' mentality and their will- ingness to be coached. "What we've tried to instill from the beginning is, we can pat you on the back all day long, but we have to be fun- damentally sound, and some- times when you don't do that one more thing, we're going to let you know about it," Pow- ell said. "And right now what I like is that they are taking that and learning from it and then going out and trying to perform that." "They aren't getting of- fended by being coached," Powell added. "Sometimes that can be difficult, because you may feel like you're get- ting pounded on when, in ac- tuality, we're just trying to make you a better football player. They've been real re- ceptive to that." While the Chargers have not won more than two games since going 3-8 in 2002, Powell said he was not going to publicly announce a goal as far as number of wins this season. "I'm not going to tell any- body that," Powell said. 'But I am going to tell you that we are going to be a lot more competitive than we have been, and I think that, over the course of the last few years, we have been being more competitive." "But, at some point, we've got to get over being more competitive and start win- ning some ballgames," Pow- ell added. "I think that we have the staff that's instilling that and we have the kids that are trying to perform that. So we're excited, and I think the kids are, too." SOCCER Continued from page D-4 in that mode in middle school, also – either play it over the top, between your strikers and the goal- ie, or play it outside, ram it down into the corner and then cross it in," Chad Western said. "Honestly, for a lot of our kids, that's probably what we're better at, so we still have to pick times to do that." "But we also want to play more possession, which is the short passing, swing- ing it all the way around, probing for openings and to have some touch on some passes instead of just always kicking it 30 or 40 yards ahead," Chad Western added. "We're go- ing to have a mixture of the short passing, touch, tiki-taka, possession style, plus we're going to have some smash mouth speed type plays where we're definitely going to use our speed." Chad Western added that the Chargers should have a very strong defense as well. "My philosophy on de- fense is, you can have a lock-down, lights-out goal- ie, but if you don't have a solid defense around them, they're still going to look bad," Chad West- ern said. "So you've got to have a good defense, and we do." "Brayton played a lot last year, especially the sec- ond half of the season," he continued. "Quade played a bunch. He may have a lit- tle bit different role this year, but he'll still be play- ing defense out in the mid- dle. And definitely Cole is a guy that's hard to han- dle, just his size and pow- er. His body build makes him a beast out there for people to deal with. Ka- leb Claridge will be really strong back there, which he played that spot two years ago. Kylan is really good back there." Chad Western said that he hadn't set any goals for this year's team in terms of wins and losses, or, at least any that he wanted to make public. "I don't really know to put a certain number out there," he said. "I definite- ly have a number in mind I'd like to see us be when the regular season ends, and it's definitely over .500 by a little more than a game or two." With the Chargers ad- vancing to the sectional championship game last season – losing to North- east Dubois on penal- ty kicks – and the high school girls' soccer team winning its first-ever sec- tional title last season, Chad Western said that soccer was on the rise in Pike County. "There's no doubt that we are on an up-tick for soccer in our county, as a whole, from the youth all the way through the mid- dle school and the high school," Chad Western said. "It took a while to get all that to come together, but we need that middle school program. I hate it that they cut the funding and we're in that situation, but we're making it work." Chad Western, whose Chargers opened against visiting Tell City on Tues- day. Aug. 18, said that he was "very excited" about the upcoming season. "I went from coaching a middle school team to trying to get us a coach to sitting in the (athletic di- rector's) office and figur- ing out that, 'Heck, may- be I should just coach it,'" Western said. "And that's how it happened. This all happened real quick." "My main thing is we've got to compete every day at practice, every game, and we've got to enjoy it along the way. I want to finish with 27 kids. I want them all to come back the next year. I want them to have a good experience. I want the parents to have fun at every game. We call it a program. It's not just a soccer team."