John Raffel
Sports Scene
Brad Gross is starting his second season as Beal City’s football coach, and the Aggies could again prove to be a state power.
It’s a team that has made 16 straight playoff appearances and is likely do so again.
The Aggies were 8-1 during the regular season last year, but had an unusually early exit from the state playoffs after only two games, falling 48-13 to eventual state champion Muskegon Catholic Central in the district finals.
“I thought we had a successful year,” Gross said. “We only lost two games. I think you learn new things every year. There’s things that maybe you want to do maybe differently. We lost to the eventual state champions, so you can’t be too disappointed.”
As usual, the Aggies graduated a lot of seniors, but have many returning players ready for their last season.
“I consider us predominately a pretty young team,” Gross said. “The guys don’t have a ton of varsity experience. We might go through a few learning curves here and there. I think we have the athletes to do some good things. We have to keep getting better every day.”
Gross expects to have speed and athleticism.
“We have some fast guys and I think our offensive and defensive line will be a strength,” he said. “We have some guys up front that can play. We have a little bit of depth this year. I got off the phone with somebody from (Mount Pleasant) Sacred Heart. They have 30 guys in their program, Varsity and JV; we have 60. The numbers alone will help us in the long run.”
Top returning players include Kyle Yuncker at running back, Tristan Smith as an offensive lineman and Dale Farrell as an offensive lineman and inside linebacker.
The regular season schedule is challenging: The Aggies start off with old rivals Sacred Heart and Clare, then go into the Highland Conference five-week schedule and end with two larger school non-conference rivals Morley Stanwood and Chippewa Hills.
“We’re looking at our schedule as probably being as tough as it could be,” Ross said. “The Highland Conference will be highly competitive. A lot of teams will be right there. A lot of teams have a lot of people back. Sacred Heart is a rival game in week one. Clare is always a good test. Last year we beat them in overtime. That was a great game. (Morley Stanwood and Chippewa Hills) are two quality opponents at the end of the season.
“If we can get through our schedule and stay healthy and make the playoffs, that’s our goal and we’ll see what happens from there.”