By John Raffel
Carson City-Crystal is hoping the return of the coach who turned the football program around in the late 1990s will ignite it to championship contention. It’s looking good so far, as the team is off to a 3-0 start.
Devin Pringle coached the Eagles from 1996 to 1999, and in his final year, the team was 7-2 during the regular season and made it to the third round of the playoffs before losing.
Pringle, a native of Haslett, then went to Waverly for six seasons. He returned in 2006 to CC-C as a administrator. The Eagles, who had been in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference, switched to the Mid-State Activities Conference and finished 4-1 in the league last season and made the playoffs before losing to Evart in the first round.
A 49-8 victory over Baldwin, a team that is expected to make the playoffs this season, was a further boost to the Eagles, who could wind up 9-0 this season.
The Eagles used an offense that effectively disguised the football and executed blocks up front almost to perfection in rolling up 337 yards in the first half on only 23 total plays.
After the game, Pringle smiled and said “it’s Irv Sigler type of football,” referring to the longtime high school football coach who brought the full-house backfield to Belding in 1989 and left that school nine seasons later after taking it to state titles in 1994 and 1997. Sigler was a master of disguising the football, and Pringle has become a Sigler disciple.
The Panthers, who fell behind 35-0 before scoring late in the second quarter, compiled only 97 yards on 37 plays in the first half.
“They were definitely a step above what I thought, real fundamentally sound,” said Baldwin coach Doug Bolles. “Their quarterback ran the offense very well. In my opinion, from seeing Sacred Heart, Carson City is the class of that league.”
Garner Cusack and Robert Failing had scoring runs of 13 and two yards for the first two scores. Will Beedy exploded for 81 yards for the third score and 21-0 lead.
The Eagles put 14 more points on the board in the second quarter, with Rhett Pringle completing an 80-yard pass to Aaron Haines the only time they put the ball in the air all night, and with Beedy exploding for an 80-yard run.
Beedy led the Eagles with 193 yards rushing.
For the game, the Eagles had 452 yards rushing and eight passing on one completion. Baldwin had 79 yards rushing and 35 passing.
“We’re starting to understand the little things,” said Pringle, referring to his team’s offense and the full-house backfield. “When you run that stuff, it’s the little things that matter. We’re getting better every week. The big move has been from the big kids up front.”
Baldwin has had an explosive team, putting 34 points on the board against Sacred Heart Academy, but it couldn’t figure out the talented Eagle defense.
“The defense stepped up and played awfully well,” Pringle said. “That’s a result of kids having confidence in their bodies from working in the off-season and doing the things physically that allow them to play physical.”
If the Eagles can slip past the likes of Ashley, Coleman, Montabella, Sacred Heart, and Vestaburg, it will be their first conference title since 1961, when they won the Montcalm County League championship.
This year’s team features six returning starters on offense and six on defense.
Garner played quarterback last year but is focusing on defensive back this season. Rhett Pringle has taken over the quarterback spot.
Scott Postema and Frank Smith are among the returning two-way starters for CC-C.
Pringle expects Rhett Pringle to be the league’s top offensive player, and Smith, a linebacker, to be the best on defense.
The Eagle coach is looking at leadership to take the Eagles a long way. “Cusack, Postema, and the rest of our seniors know how to lead and win,” he said. “We return a lot of kids who have played significant roles. We have six or seven kids who can turn any play into a touchdown.”
Coming into the season, Pringle realized it would be critical to defeat a good program. CC-C had only one win against a team with a winning record in the last eight seasons.
“We expect to be very competitive in a very good conference,” he said. “Our expectations are that we will make the playoffs and be competitive with the top teams in the MSAC. We face five teams who finished with winning records in 2012. They all expect to win, also, so we need to be at our best every week.”