Saginaw Valley League North
Name: Saginaw
Nickname: Trojans
Coach: Don Durrett
2012 record: 4-5
Players lost: Darius Price
Players returning: Keyon Addison, Darrion Buckner, Steven Roberts, Raymond Bady
Coach’s comment: “We just want to be competitive right now. We’ll be competitive with a commitment from the players. We want them to make sure they understand that hard work pays off.”
Name: Heritage
Nickname: Hawks
Coach: Don Maloney
2012 record: 4-5
Players lost: Dan Sproull, Zach Vega, Kyle Telder, Michael Buchanan, Marcus Wright, Marquin Evans
Players returning: Steven VanTiflin, Blake Carmichael, Anthony Whyte, Adam Degroat, Austin Tyree, Thomas Bugenske, Brian Cole, Jalen Young, J.J. Honemann, Chris Yarn, Cooper Phibbs
Coach’s comment: “I think we have a strong junior class coming up, and our seniors have the experience. With that combination, expectations are pretty high. Our goals are winning the Saginaw County and competing for the Saginaw Valley League title. Every year it seems to go to Midland, and we have to play Midland High on their home field. That’s a tough task. We’re looking at being competitive and playing for a league title.”
Name: Arthur Hill
Nickname: Lumberjacks
Coach: Fred Townsend
2012 record: 1-8
Players lost: Nicholas Trigg
Players returning: Omar Canales, Anthony DeBardalaben, Lawrence Gordon, Jamar Hardy, Ecka Henderson, Sylvester Lawson, Darrion Robinson
Coach’s comment: “The big thing is getting our guys to focus on us and getting improvement every day and every week. Our goal is 1-0. Get ready for game one. We will worry every week about going 1-0. Our focus is short term to long term. Build in short term to get long term goals. The league will be a challenge each week. We can be a very consistent team. We may be able to surprise some teams with what we can do. But it’s not about opponents. It’s about us. Making sure our players understand our system and what we are doing.”
Name: Midland
Nickname: Chemics
Coach: Eric Methner
2012 record: 11-1
Players lost: Steve Elmer, Alec Johnson, Travis Patten, Alex Goodwin, Tyler Sauve, Terrence Thomas
Players returning: Jacob Dostal, Austin Rapanos, Michael Alexander, Will Williams, Alex Lorenz, Austen Irrer, Tanner Gross, Matt McInerney, Brad Belson, Andy Russell, Azariah Porter-Koning, Tanner Diment, Ben Luzar, Nate Fisher, Zach Stirn, Alex Welter
Coach’s comment: “A lot of our kids are new starters who are seniors; they’ve waited their turn and they’re excited to leave their mark. I like our chemistry. We’ve been focused on getting better and better every day. We have young guys looking to make an immediate impact. Everybody goes through some regrouping, and we had a lot of tight games where starters played a majority of the games. The long playoff run helped, because we got extended time with them. A lot of new guys come from the scout teams, and we had terrific scout teams last year. We were able to give our guys good looks all season. We’ve got good players who are excited to put their own stamp on the program.”
Name: Midland Dow
Nickname: Chargers
Coach: Jason Watkins
2012 record: 5-4
Players lost: Lucas Bourelle, Gavin Groszek, Rob Rogowski, Donny Doughty
Players returning: Travis McNally, Brennan Miller, Caleb Richard, Chase McNamara, Wes Meyers
Coach’s comment: “We’ve got a lot of guys that were part-time players and on the junior varsity. We were 5-4 last year and this is my fifth year as head coach. Twice we were 5-4, we were 9-2 and 3-6. Even the 9-2 year, we left one game on the table that we should have gotten. We’re not satisfied with that. We want to be in the playoffs annually, and we have goals beyond that. I think we’re in good position this year. We might need a few breaks, and we all have to come together, stay healthy, and execute. If we do that, we can make some noise.”
Name: Mount Pleasant
Nickname: Oilers
Coach: Jason McIntyre
2012 record: 2-7
Players lost: Antonio Povinelli, Jaime Hoyt, Matt Keller, Cory Williams
Players returning: Michael Tweh, Erik Belco, Robert Backus, Joe Genia, Jonny Clark, Keith Odykirk, Isaac Parks, Max Heeke, Austin Ferguson, Tyler Jackson, Zach Rogers, Ray MacGillivray, Shane Seeyle
Coach’s comment: “We return a great deal of experience off a team that dealt with a wide range of adversity last season. Our leaders are hungry to experience the success many of our previous teams had and have a lot of experience to build upon in trying to accomplish these goals. The expectations within our program are high, however, we face one of the most difficult schedules our school has ever had. We open with DeWitt and Flint Powers Catholic before we even start our always-tough league schedule. I think with the strong core of 27 seniors we have, we can deal with the adversities we are sure to face. I expect us to be better and more athletic on defense this year and more balanced on offense.”
Name: Bay City Western
Nickname: Warriors
Coach: Bruce Mann
2012 record: 8-2
Players lost: Joe Ivan, Charles Proctor, Andrew Mudd, Jason Meyers, John Metz, Cameron Roth
Players returning: Nathan Droptiny, Jake Hernandez
Coach’s comment: “We will be young. We don’t have a lot of returners, and it’s a challenge learning the system at the varsity level both offensively and defensively. Speed will be an issue for us. We’ll have some skill on outside at receivers, and we can run, but we won’t be fast. With all 11 starters gone on defense, it’ll be a challenge to make some plays on that side of the ball.”
Name: Bay City Central
Nickname: Wolves
Coach: Morley Fraser
2012 record: 4-5
Players lost: Austin Jones, Tommy Jacobs
Players returning: Russell Brown, Stone Manczak, Andre Houston, Logan Rabideau, Alyn Mativia, Chris Jacobs, Nic Schabel, Josh Billette, T.Q. Rutledge, Davon Jackson
Coach’s comment: “We think offensively we should be good. We’ve got lots of linemen back, and we have our running back and quarterback back as well. Our defense is pretty young, so the offense has to play well to let us catch up. I think the league is open, and I think we can be in the mix. I don’t see anybody going undefeated.”