John Raffel
Sports Scene
Shepherd football is back.
The Bluejays have started out 3-2 and are looking at possibly their first playoff season since 2005. Shepherd struggled with 1-8 records for five straight season before going 2-7 last year.
The only two losses have been to Alma and Freeland, both should be playoff teams this season. Victories have been 54-6 over Gladwin, 47-19 over Midland Bullock Creek and 40-20 over Carrollton.
The Gladwin victory, “was a good start for us,” Shepherd coach Nathan Ferency said. “We were coming off 2-7 and 1-8 records the last couple of years. It was nice to come out with a win. Then we lost to Alma, a 3-1 school, which lost a close score to fifth-ranked Freeland. We played well against Alma. We just didn’t make enough plays. But we thought we played well enough for about three quarters to win the game.”
But other tough opponents are coming up with the likes of Freeland and Ithaca.
“We’re moving forward with our program to build a winning season,” Ferency said. “If we can eliminate mental mistakes, eliminate mental errors and play well, I think we can play with anybody.”
In past seasons, Shepherd has been a run-oriented team.
Blake Opdycke is a first-team conference running back leading the attack for the Jays.
“He’s having an excellent season so far,” Ferency said. “The real story this year is our quarterback has gotten better and we’re able to throw the ball more than we have in the past. We’re 50-50 so we’re pretty balanced offensively right now. That’s proven to help us by getting defenses out of the box and open up running lanes for Blake. We’re getting some yards in the air with some good receivers.”
Shepherd’s quarterback is senior Joey Yuncker. Among his favorite receivers is junior Johnny Lynch, who has caught five touchdown passes. Cole Fitzpatrick is a strong possession receiver and has caught two touchdowns.
Leading the defense is AJ Pardy, who is leading the team in tackles, while Opdycke has two interceptions and a lot of tackles.
“Blake is a workhorse on both sides of the ball,” Ferency said.
Shepherd entered the season with the goal of making the playoffs. The need is for a 5-4 record to be eligible and a 6-3 mark to automatically qualify.
“We think that goal is attainable,” Ferency said “We’re on the outside looking in for the conference race. We need some help. We’ll just take care of it one week at a time.”