Tri Valley West
School: Breckenridge
Nickname: Huskies
2011 record: 2-7
Head coach: Mel Skillman (1st year)
Key losses:
Key returnees: Wayde Sanligal, Mitch Miller, Mason Christianson, Jared Bugbee
Coach’s comment: “We go shotgun and throw it all over the place, so its a little different. Wayde is only a sophomore, but he is really tall and can catch everything. They’re coming along very well. They’re learning all of the things to teach like you have to come to practice on time and all those things that looked like optional suggestions last year. We’ve got some kids that are there all the time and work hard. We’ve got some size; that makes a very big difference.”
School: Carrollton
Nickname: Cavaliers
2011 record: 7-3
Head coach: Greg Wasmer (5th year)
Key losses: Cameron Goschke, Justin Fabin, Ray Flores
Key returnees: Derrick Nash, Roman Mathews, Kyle Rivette, Dom Williams, Mike O’Dell, Colin Justice, Gabe Hernandez
Coach’s comment: “We open with Laker – they’re a much improved team. We had a good summer; we’re hoping that we can get off on the right foot. We’ve got what we feel is a pretty tough schedule in our league. Ithaca looks just as good as they have been. The championship goes through Ithaca.”
School: Ithaca
Nickname: Yellowjackets
2011 record: 14-0 (Division 6 state champions)
Head coach: Terry Hessbrook (9th year)
Key losses: Garrett Miniard, David Brown, Charles Schnetzler
Key returnees: Travis Smith, Zach Allen, Markes Gadlen, Jared Evers, Bradley Martyn, Jordan Hessbrook
Coach’s comment: “We are very excited to get back on the practice field. Our players have been working very hard this off-season, and you can feel the excitement in our community about the upcoming season.”
School: Merrill
Nickname: Vandals
2011 record: 5-5
Head coach: John Streeter (9th year)
Key losses: Kyle Tack, Zach Kitzmiller
Key returnees: Devin Danowski, Reed Ott, Austin Coty, Cody Mellon, Derek Good, Jordan Garchow
Coach’s comment: “Losing only five seniors from last year’s team, we’re going to have more experience this year. All these kids have gotten bigger and stronger and have worked hard, and hopefully that leads to more wins. It’s definitely going to be hard to replace Tack, – he was an all-state kid that did everything for us.”
School: Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Nickname: Cardinals
2011 record: 6-4
Head coach: Karl Schmugge
School: Valley Lutheran
Nickname: Chargers
2011 record: 3-6
Head coach: Randy Finney (2nd year)
Key losses: Aubrey Moore, Stephen Houlihan, Norman Braddock
Key returnees: Chris Demeen, Jacob Kaufmann, Matt Hurley, Evan Howard
Coach’s comment: “We’re definitely going to be bigger and stronger than last year. We’re pretty happy with our run game. This year, I think we’re going to be more of a three yards and a cloud of dust type team. In our scrimmage, we looked pretty good against everybody.”
School: Saint Charles
Nickname: Bulldogs
2011 record: 5-5
Head coach: Jason Dinninger (1st year)
Key losses: Sam Robb, Jay Damic, Miguel Luna
Key returnees: Hayden Rusz, Tony Erskine, Josh Gonzalez, Reggie Kushion, Chris Curtis
Coach’s comment: “I hope to see that we play fast, because we don’t have a whole lot of size. We’re going to have to beat teams with our speed and play good defense. We’ve always been known to be real good hitters, so that tradition has to continue. We have to make sure we get to the ball in a hurry and bring the lumber.”
School: Saint Louis
Nickname: Sharks
2011 record: 2-7
Head coach: Paul Reid (4th year)
Key losses: Jacob Bergey, Josh Manez
Key returnees: Jacob Lonergan, Trevor Gruett, Chris Adams, Peter Sumo
Coach’s comment: “We have really low numbers. We made a commitment to only keeping eligible players and left our numbers down. The practices have been outstanding, whether that’s going to translate into wins, I don’t know, but practices have been a lot of fun.”