The Press-Dispatch
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E-6 Fall Sports Preview Wednesday, August 16, 2017 The Press-Dispatch One of the things we did at the end of the year last year was just kind of check-out with each player." -Head Coach Dustin Powell CHARGERS Pictured above is the Pike Central High School football team. The members of the team are, first row (l to r): Aiden Mullins, Luke Vinnedge, Tyler Vickers, Brandon don, Hunter Kunz, Nick Charkosky, James Hughes, Lars Brinkman-Utterback, Colton Gideon and Te'Marion Fields. Fourth row: Brandon Goeppner, Braxton Rice, Randy row: Athletic Trainer Aubree Block, Manager Keevon Owens, Alonzo Barnes, Head Coach Erik Mattingly, Assistant Coach J.J. Howald, Assistant Coach Mike Frazier See PRESENT on E-7 For your homecare needs, call American Nursing Care! 812-354-2121 Visit us at: www.americannursingcare.com We have what no other homecare company has... Our People Medicare/Medicaid/Most Insurances accepted Joint Commission accredited/Celebrating over 30 years • RNs & LPNs • erapists • Home Health Aides • Homemakers When you need exceptional homecare professionals, all it takes is one call to American Nursing Care. No matter when you call you will speak with an experienced associate who can help you with your homecare needs. "Caring you can count on." SERVING THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: Therapy Services Physical erapy Occupational erapy Speech erapy Medical Social Service Pike, Gibson, Knox, Daviess, Dubois, Spencer, Warrick, Vanderburgh and Posey. Mattingly: Squad staying focused on the present By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Last year, the Pike Central High School football team had its most successful season since 1990, going 4-6 and tying for fourth place in the Pocket Athletic Conference at 3-4 with wins over Forest Park, North Posey and Tell City. However, after the Chargers lost 11 play- ers to graduation this past spring, first-year head coach Erik Mattingly – who teaches history at PCHS – wants this year's squad to stay focused on the present. "This will be a totally different team than last year, good or bad," said Mattingly, who previously served as an assistant coach for 12 years – eight at Boonville, from where he graduated in 2004, and four at Class 5A Mc- Cutcheon, including the last two as offen- sive coordinator. "I'm not interested in last year and I know these kids aren't. We're in- terested in the 2017 Chargers and what we can do on a weekly basis." "I think it's good that people are excited about the season," Mattingly added. "I know I am and we're ready to get going." A fter being hired in April, Mattingly spent the summer getting to know his team – which includes 12 seniors, 11 of whom are returning from last year's squad. "It was good this summer," Mattingly said. "I got to know most of the seniors, most of the core players. A lot of these kids have to work, so we don't have the luxury of having a mandatory weight program like some of these high schools have really gone to. You can't put that type of hardship on the kid or their family to do that. We had 20, 25 through the summer, and then the kids that we knew were going to play, they showed up at that first practice, ready to go." "We gave them a lot of opportunity over the summer, but I'm not so sure we don't do too much in the summer with sports any- how," Mattingly added. "You've got baseball all summer. You've got basketball. You've got wrestling going on. We're coming to football weights and football conditioning four times a week. But they did a good job with it. I was happy with the effort over the course of the summer." Mattingly said that the Chargers will be- gin the season with a total of 33 players, in- cluding junior placekicker Christian Ben- son, who will also play on the soccer team this fall. "We've got 33 that can help us in some way, so I've been real happy with that," Mat- tingly said. "There's not going to be any- body that doesn't have some type of role on Friday night." The team's strength, Mattingly said, will be its offensive and defensive lines. "Our success will basically be deter- mined by what those guys can do," Mat- tingly said. "The offensive line is going to be pretty good. That's a pretty good unit. We've still got a lot of work to do, but we're going to be good there, and the defensive line is going to be real strong." "If we can stop the run and get some pass rush with our defensive linemen, we're go- ing to be okay on defense" Mattingly added. "And if we can get downhill and cover up the fronts of the defense with our offensive line, then we're going to be just fine. The whole system is just kind of designed around the line. I'm a line coach at heart, so everything we do is kind of geared toward putting the game on those guys' shoulders. When that's successful, and we don't turn the ball over, we're going to be alright." At offensive center, seniors Te'Marion Fields and Silas Goff – who received All- PAC honorable mention accolades at the position last season – are battling for the starting nod, while seniors Jacob Sisk and Tyler Vickers will start at the guard posi- tions. "They're going to be two really good pulling guards," Mattingly said of Sisk and Vickers. Vying for playing time at offensive tackle will be Goff, seniors Tyce Sorgius and Luke Vinnedge, and freshman Josh McHargue, according to Mattingly. In addition, senior Zach Pancake – who missed last season due to injury – will see action at both offensive tackle and at tight end. "He didn't play last year, but he's back, looking strong, looking good," Mattingly said of Pancake. Also returning from an injury is senior Christian Alvey, who was sidelined with a torn ACL midway through last season. Alvey, who completed one of four passes for six yards and a touchdown while rush- ing for 81 yards on 14 carries – a 5.8 yard per carry average – will start at quarterback, where he will be backed up by seniors Clint Boger and Adam Wilkison. "Alvey's going to be great at quarterback," Mattingly said. "Boger can do anything of- fensively – he can throw, he can catch, he can run. Wilkison's a speedster. He can do a lot offensively." Mattingly said that he was especially ex- cited about having Alvey taking the bulk of the snaps behind center. "He's going to get the ball a lot," Mat- tingly said. "He's almost like a triple-option quarterback – a fullback guy playing quar- terback. He's a physical runner. We can't tackle him in practice. We've tried. He'll just run you over. So I love that about him." The offensive backfield, meanwhile, will feature seniors Brandon Long, juniors Lane Doades, Judah Leathco and Randy Powell, sophomores Ian Allen, Marion Fields and Connor O'Neal. "We've got a bunch of dudes that will car- ry the ball," Mattingly said. "There's going to be nine, 10, 12 guys that are getting offen- sive carries a game, so we're probably not going to have that 1,500 -, 1,000 -yard rush- er. But we're going to, hopefully, have a lot of guys with 300, 400, 500 yards. We're re- ally going to spread it around. A lot of guys will get the ball on offense." Mattingly described this year's Chargers as a "run-heavy" team. "We're going to be an easy team to scout but we're going to be a hard team to rep- licate in practice," Mattingly said. "Teams are going to have to figure out a way to rep- licate our offense with their scout team. 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