John Raffel
Sports Scene
It’s beginning to look a lot like a hugely successful season for the Alma Panthers.
It’s a 4-1 start for the Panthers, who appear poised to make another playoff appearance.
Victories over Birch Run, Shepherd, Swan Valley and Bullock Creek have sparked the team the first half of the schedule. The only blemish was a 12-6 loss to Freeland that has Alma 3-1 in the TVC.
“I’m pretty happy so far,” Coach Dan Falor said. “We have a core of seniors, five of them have been with us for three years. We have that senior leadership now. All five of them play on both sides of the ball at different times. That’s been a key to our success.”
Ryan Cornejo is a linebacker and tight end while Anthony Humm is a running back and defensive back, Konnor Vedrobe a receiver and defensive back, and Troy Bastien, and Tristan Villalobis are two-way linemen
“Ryan is kind of the motor of the team,” Falor said. “He’s a high energy guy. He flies around on defense. He’s one of the best linebackers in the league. He makes some big plays and gets the guys pumped up. He’s that motor guy for us.” Bastien, Falor said, “Is probably the biggest kid on the field, at 6-4, 280, most games. He commands a presence, especially on D. He’s a tough matchup for most teams we’ve see this year. He physically dominates people.”
Falor also added that Villalobis “is one of those undersized O-line, D-line guys. He’s just a positive kid. He’s one of those leaders that says the right things at the right time. He never really makes any major mistakes. He’s solid as our center. We’re in shot gun a good chunk of the game. We rarely have any bad snaps. He’s a solid, good teammate.”
After five games, Drew Humm is 62-of-87 for 761 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Anthony Humm leads the rushing attack with 690 yards, followed by Brec Alward with 119. Vedrobe had 22 catches for 274 yards.
“Konnor is a big play threat out there as a receiver,” Falor said. “I think most teams when they’re scheming up defensively are always putting up their best defensive backs. Sometimes we saw some double coverage so far this year. Defensively, he’s a solid player all around.
Cornejo leads the defense with 61 tackles, followed by Anthony Humm with 31.
“I like to pursue to the ball and fly around,” Cornejo, a wide receiver and linebacker said. “If I can bring some energy to the team, that helps a lot.”
“Anthony Humm is the type of guy who will give us everything he’s got every game,” Falor said. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen. The kids see that and the hard work he puts in. You know you’re going to get everything out of him every game.”
Falor is excited to see what this team might be able to accomplish before the season ends.
“If we play the way we’re capable of, we hope to be right in the mix for the league title.” he said. “Losing to Freeland in a close one, we’ll need a little bit of help for that league title. It’s a tough league. Freeland still has to play their games. Last year, we made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011. It was really the goal of our team, now that we got back there, to be a playoff team year in and year out. If we play the way we’re capable of, we’ll definitely be back in the playoffs and hopefully make some noise there.”
“We usually have a really good attitude at practice,” Cornejo added. “We’re trying to achieve what our next goal is. We’re trying to make it to playoffs again.”
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