The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Fall Sports Preview Wednesday, August 16, 2017 E-7 FOOTBALL Brandon Long, Adam Wilkison and Jake Sisk. Second row: Cody Davis, Ethan Rembe, Al Evans, Josh McHargue, Levi McCarter and Tyce Sorgius. Third row: Jayden Gor- Randy Powell, Connor O'Neal, Ian Allen, Clint Boger and Mario Fields. Fifth row: Zach Pancake, Silas Goff, Judah Leathco, Lane Doades and Christian Alvey. Sixth Frazier and Assistant Coach Travis Frazier. Andy Heuring photo PRESENT Continued from page E-6 CHARGE! Leave the repairs to us! DOUBLE J COLLISION CENTER 350 W. Main, Petersburg (Hwy. 57, south of Petersburg) Good Luck to all Pike Central Teams Open Mon.-Fri. 8-5 • 812-354-9670 625 N. Ninth St., Petersburg Phone: 812-354-8776 Wishing all Pike Central Chargers the best of luck this season. Go CharGers! the situation. "I think a lot of high school coaches get caught up in the x's and o's, and, you know, to me, that doesn't matter," Mattingly said. "When the game is on the line, you're going to a kid. You're not going to a play. You're going, 'I want this guy with the ball in his hands. I want to get the ball to this guy.'" "When there's a big play to be made and we've got to have a big play, I'm not thinking, 'Oh, this is the coverage they run.' I'm think- ing, 'I want to ball to this guy,' and however we get it to him, we get it to him," Matting- ly continued. "A good line I've always lived by is 'think players, not plays.' That's kind of my philosophy." On the defensive line, Goff and Vinnedge will compete for playing time at nose tackle, while Pancake, Sorgius and Vickers will see action at the defensive tackle spots. Also expected to see action at defensive end are Doades, Vickers and junior Braxton Rice, while senior Jake Sisk will start at mid- dle linebacker, where he will be flanked by Allen, Doades, and Mario Fields. "He's got to make every tackle," Matting- ly said of Sisk. "He's a great kid, a great lead- er, but we've got to find out if he can real- ly be that guy. He's got to be the guy who makes 20 tackles a game, and he can't miss a tackle, because if he does, it's not going to be pretty. So he's got to be just a straight-up player. I think he can be. He's not there yet, but I think he'll get there." The defensive backfield will be led by O'Neal, who will start at ranger. "He's like a free safety," Mattingly said. "He's done a real good job at that spot. He's young. We've got to get his eyes to the right spot. We've got to get him identifying for- mations. He learns quickly, so he's some- one that I don't worry about at that spot, be- cause I know that he'll pick up things real- ly quickly. And he's athletic enough to get to where we need him." Among those expected to see action at defensive back are Boger, Leathco, Long, Powell and Wilkison. "I feel like we've got five guys who can stop you on a pass route," Mattingly said. "Those guys really do some good things in pass coverage. We need to keep getting bet- ter, but those guys have really come on and have done a good job." Mattingly said that his defensive philos- ophy was simple – stop the run. "The three things that we try to do every week is we try to stop your six best plays, we try to take away your best runner, and we try to take away your best receiver," Mat- tingly said. "Those are the three things we need to do on defense every week. And if they beat us another way, they beat us an- other way. It's pretty simple to me – find out what a team does well and then take it away from them, make them dong some- thing they don't want to do." Mattingly described the Chargers' de- fensive alignment as an "odd-front defense" that will look to contain the other team's of- fense, especially in the running game. "If they run outside, we want to force them to run in(side)," Mattingly said. "If they try to run off tackle, then we want to force them out(side). Everything in our de- fense is based on that." On special teams, Benson will handle the Chargers' placekicking duties, while Rice – who will also see action on kickoffs – will serve as the punter. "Christian is just a fantastic kid," Matting- ly said. "He goes to soccer practice and runs around, probably 50 miles there or whatever they do at soccer, and after that, he comes out and kicks for us. He's the last one there. He's kicking. He's really just soared, he's really just taken off in his ability to kick a football." "Braxton's a real good kickoff guy, a very good punter," Mattingly added. "He's got a very strong leg." Returning kicks for the Chargers will be Boger, Mario Fields and O'Neal, Matting- ly said. Special teams' play, Mattingly said, has been an area of emphasis for the Chargers. "Special teams are real important," Mat- tingly said. "That is a chance for guys to have an extremely vital role that aren't of- fensive or defensive starters. And our spe- cial teams will be key. The two teams that we just pound into the dirt are our two cover- age teams – kickoff and punt. We rep those every day, just trying to get a feel, because it's so, so hard to cover kicks in high school. It's one of those things that one breakdown can cost you in a big way." "We don't do anything fancy on special teams," Mattingly added. "We work on cov- ering kicks and punts. I'm a big directional guy. By putting the ball in certain areas of the field on a scrimmage kick or a free kick, you're going to be able to dictate where the runner goes, basically, so you don't have to cover as much of the field. We work on it ev- ery day in practice." Mattingly said that Mike Frazier will serve as assistant head coach, as well as coach the linebackers and tight ends. "He has been here for over a decade as a coach," Mattingly said. "He loves the game. He was a professional athlete – a bull rider – for a long time. So he brings a competi- tive spirit to our staff that is very welcome, very helpful." Frazier's son, Travis, a former quarter- back at PCHS, is joining the coaching staff and will coach the team's running backs and defensive backs. "He was at Evansville North, part of their junior program for a while," Mattingly said. "We got him back to us, and he's really start- ing to come into his own. A great, young guy, full of energy, you know, and happy just being around the kids." Also returning as an assistant coach is an- other former PCHS quarterback, J.J. How- ald. "He's a very knowledgeable guy, another young, fiery guy that can relate to our play- ers," Mattingly said. In addition, Tony McHargue will assist Mattingly with coaching the linemen. "He served in the United States Army for 18 years and served in Iraq, so he is a veter- an of the Iraq war," Mattingly said. "He's just a great dude to have around to encourage the kids. The stuff that he's been through and experienced relates really well to what we're trying to do." While Mattingly expects that his team will be ready when it opens the season on Friday, Aug. 18, at Evansville Bosse, it will be just one more step in the Chargers' de- velopment. "I've always said you never really know what type of team you've got until Week Three or Week Four," Mattingly said. "You've got to play three or four games to get into football shape. I don't care how long you practice or what you do – you have to play the games. That's why the NFL has a month of preseason (games), right? Be- cause it takes that long. And, even then, they're not really ready. So the only real way to get to know what team you've got is to go play a full game." Mattingly said that it way too early to be- gin thinking about the sectional tourna- ment, which gets underway on Friday, Oct. 20. "I look at it as a three-part season – you've got the non-conference, you've got the con- ference, and then you've got the postsea- son," Mattingly said. "Obviously, every team in the state wants to have postseason suc- cess but, right now, that's so far away that it's not even on the radar. So many things are going to happen. I mean, you're a totally different team at that time of the year than you are now. You never know where the sea- son's going to take you. It's never the same."