Fall Sports Preview 2011 - The Hutchinson News

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14 Thursday, September 1, 2011 2011 Football Preview The Hutchinson News The Hutchinson News 2011 Football Preview Thursday, September 1, 2011 15 Mac looks to overcome loss of solid senior class BY GENE SCHINZEL The Hutchinson News gschinzel@hutchnews.com McPHERSON – McPherson has gotten used to being a playoff team as well as a squad annually mentioned as a state championship contender. That likely won’t change this fall. Although the Bullpups graduated a majority of their starters, they bring back plenty of playmakers from a 9-2 team. “Our starters should be about as good as ever,” said Tom Young, who enters his sixth season as McPherson’s head coach. “But a lot of them are going to start both ways because of the number of kids we lost last year.” No doubt the Bullpups lost their share of talented players from a year ago. Offensively, that group includes Christian Ulsaker, who had 67 catches for 1,154 yards and in the spring was The News’ high school boys athlete of the year. Also gone are Nick Gawanda, who had 30 catches last season; Kevin O’Conner, who rushed for 1,284 yards and averaged nearly 11 yards a carry; and Tommy Crayton, a two-year starter on the line. Defensively, Kenan Warren, a threeyear starter in the secondary, graduated, as did Heath Collins, a two-year starter at outside linebacker. That leaves McPherson with three offensive and four defensive starters, and the Bullpups have only eight seniors on the roster. But six of those seniors are returning starters, and Young, who is 42-12 in his first five years at McPherson, has a big junior class to work with. “I think winning is kind of expected,” senior quarterback Tyler Matthews said. Matthews triggers an offense that put up points on the ground and through the air last season – McPherson scored 42 or more points nine times last season. Matthews, who has verbally committed to play quarterback at national power Texas Christian next season, had a standout season last year as he threw for 2,658 yards and 30 touchdowns. He completed 74 percent of his passes. Ulsaker and Gawanda were McPherson’s top two receivers last year, but Jordan Hart returns after catching 21 passes and should be Matthews’ top option this season. Matthews said a number of other receivers have looked good in the preseason, including Alex Bahr and Marcus Houghton. At tailback will be junior Austin O’Bannon, whom Young said has speed and power similar to O’Conner. Defensively, senior linebacker Logan Williams leads the way as he was second on the team in tackles with 90. He was the team’s leading tackler until he was injured and missed two games late in the season. With so many changes, Young said 30 Number of touchdowns Matthews threw during his junior season. He also had only three interceptions. 74 Percent of passes Matthews completed last season. His quarterback rating for the season was 221.5. 2,658 Yards Matthews threw for during last year’s 9-2 season. As a sophomore at Goddard, he threw for 1,047 yards in six games. Bullpups’ pure passer Texas Christian recruit Matthews leads high-scoring McPherson offense again McPHERSON – Remind Tyler Matthews how things have changed for him over the past 12 months and he shakes his head a bit and smiles. That’s understandable. Last August, Matthews was getting used to being at a new high school and trying to mesh with his new teammates on the football field. It didn’t take his new coach long to find out what kind of player had transferred in. “The way he picked up the offense,” said McPherson coach Tom Young when asked what impressed him the most about Matthews last summer. “He practiced for a week and pretty much had the offense down. He’s a pretty smart kid. “He’s strong-armed, very accurate. His mechanics are really good. And he anticipates really well. He knows where his receivers are going to be before they make their breaks. The ball’s in the air before they break.” And last season, Matthews proved how productive a quarterback he can be. The 6-foot-3, 198-pound senior threw for 2,658 yards, 30 touchdowns and just three interceptions in 11 games. In the process, he completed 74 percent of his passes. So did Young, who has won 313 games in 40 seasons as a football coach, think Matthews would be that type of quarterback when he transferred to McPherson from Goddard? ”Not really,” Young admitted. “Actually, when he enrolled here, we got film from Goddard and we were pretty impressed. But to have the kind of year he had, that was pretty remarkable. You really can’t anticipate something like that.” Matthews actually had some big shoes to fill when he first arrived at McPherson last summer. The Bullpups had a prolific passing attack in 2009 as Joel Piper threw for 1,979 yards and 20 touchdowns. That fall while playing for Goddard, Matthews threw for 1,047 yards in six games. But the summer before his junior year, Matthews began to work with his McPherson teammates at a couple of 7-and-7 camps. And once September arrived, McPherson’s offense didn’t miss a beat with Matthews as quarterback. “I kind of expected it from myself, but there was a lot of help – great line, great receivers,” Matthews said. “We’re hoping to do the same thing this year, put up big numbers. But the main thing we want to do is win.” McPherson consistently won last season, going 9-2 before losing 30-22 to Bishop Carroll in Class 5A quarterfinals. McPherson’s other loss a year ago came in one of the regular season’s most anticipated matchups that lived up to its billing. The Bullpups hosted Gardner-Edgerton and its standout quarterback, Bubba Starling, on Oct. 8. Both quarterbacks rose to the pregame hype. Starling, who committed to play football at Nebraska before opting for professional baseball, ran wild, gaining 273 yards on 20 carries and throwing for 119 yards. Meanwhile, Matthews went 26 of 35 for 375 yards and four touchdowns, but Gardner-Edgerton was able to outscore the Bullpups 49-42. “That was a lot of fun with the crowd and TV. It was fun being in a game like that,” Matthews said. Young could have had more fun on the sidelines. “People say what a great game it was. Both offenses played great, but it wasn’t a great game for the defenses,” Young said. “We were happy we were competitive and everything to the end. You play good people, it helps you get better. We definitely got better.” That game got Matthews attention from college coaches. And after the season, it didn’t take Matthews long to decide where he wanted to play his college ball. In February, he verbally committed to national power Texas Christian, which is coached by Rozel native Gary Patterson. “I was looking for a few things – great coaching staff, great depth chart and a willingness to win – and they had that. And it’s not that far from home,” said Matthews, who added that Kansas State offered him a scholarship the week before TCU’s offer. “I thought to myself, ‘What else am I looking for?’ So I decided then to commit. “It was very exciting to get that out of the way going into my senior year. I can just go play and not worry about after high school.” Matthews will be playing with different personnel with the Bullpups this season. McPherson returns just three offensive starters – its top two receivers graduated. So this summer the Bullpups competed in a couple of 7-on-7 camps, winning one at Blue Valley. ”You can get your timing down with your receivers,” Matthews said. That was the best part because we lost a lot of seniors.” Story by Gene Schinzel Photo by Travis Morisse
16 Thursday, September 1, 2011 2011 Football Preview The Hutchinson News Fullmer likes football, no matter how many are on field BY BRAD HALLIER The Hutchinson News bhallier@hutchnews.com Eight-man or 11-man, it’s simply football to Dighton senior Guy Fullmer. He’s been a 1,000-yard rusher each of the last two seasons, once as an 11-man player when Dighton had a co-op team with Ness City. Then last year, when each school fielded its own eight-man team, Fullmer ran for 1,668 yards and 28 touchdowns. “Football is football, but I kind of like 11-man better,” Fullmer said. “You have a couple more blockers and more room to run. It’s not much different, but that’s what I like.” With Fullmer back to try to lead the Hornets into the playoffs – they missed out last year despite a 6-3 record – they already know they have one of the best running backs in Eight-man II. “I got here when he was a freshman,” said first-year Dighton coach Ken Simon, who has been an assistant the last three years. “He’s a good kid who works hard for us. When we get him in space, he knows how to follow his blocking. He has really good vision and he reads his blocks well. When he gets into the open field, he has breakaway speed.” Fullmer, who headlines The News’ preseason area Top Eight list, played most of his youth and Central Christian brings three full-time starters back to club team BY BRAD HALLIER The Hutchinson News bhallier@hutchnews.com Coaching the Central Christian club football team isn’t easy. With 17 players this year, coach Jay Walter has a decent number to work with. Enough for the eightman team to scrimmage. The Cougars will also have a junior varsity schedule this year. middle-school football going back and forth between eight man and 11 man in Laverne, Okla., so the switch last year didn’t bother him. “It’s mostly the field. That’s the only difference I notice,” Fullmer said. But only six players are from Central Christian. Six others come from Elyria Christian. The rest are home-schooled. It’s a different challenge compared to most high schools. “It is pretty difficult,” Walter said. “There’s no concurrency one year to the next. You play together for three months and they go back for nine months. But we still try to put a team together. After racking up nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 43 touchdowns the last two years, you might think Fullmer has lofty aspirations for this season. Maybe go for 2,000 yards or 40 touchdowns? “I really haven’t thought about “We’re trying to get our numbers back up to have a regular school team.” The Cougars will try to come back from a 0-8 season with a roster that returns three starters. Senior lineman Scott Thiesen is back, along with sophomore end Trey Heneha and sophomore quarterback Jacob Blessing. Junior lineman Josh Nichols started early last season before suffering a Otis-Bison quarterback Trevor Keller looks for running room during last year’s Eight-Man II state championship game against Baileyville B&B in Newton. Keller looks to help the Cougars return to the state final. Travis Morisse/The Hutchisnon News it,” said Fullmer, who as a middle linebacker had 95 tackles and two interceptions last season. “I just expect to do my best. I haven’t really set any personal goals, but I guess it would be neat to get 2,000 yards. For the team, I want to help season-ending ankle injury. Walter said the roster features plenty of athleticism but has a ways to go, from a football standpoint. “We’ve got a lot to learn,” Walter said. “But it seems it’s been like this the last couple of years. We’re athletic, but we have to learn football.” The Cougars will have four freshmen and just two seniors – PRESEASON ELITE 8 Ross Binford, Kiowa County, sr., QB Chet Cordell, Little River, jr., TB-S Seth Filbert, Macksville, sr., QB-DB Giles Fox, Ashland, sr., FB-LB Guy Fullmer, Dighton, sr., RB-DB Trevor Keller, Otis-Bison, sr., QB Breck Roop, Moscow, sr., QB-DB Luke Yearout, So. Barber, sr., TE-DL us improve on last year. I hope we can make the playoffs this year.” Fullmer is one of three players on the preseason Top Eight that made the postseason Top Eight last season. Kiowa County senior quarterback Ross Binford threw for 2,334 yards and 32 touchdowns while rushing for 883 yards and nine scores. Ashland linebacker Giles Fox averaged 14½ tackles a game while also playing on the offensive line. Others on the preseason list are Little River junior running back Chet Cordell, who accounted for nearly 1,000 yards of offense and 15 touchdowns; Macksville senior quarterback Seth Filbert, who had more than 1,600 yards of offense; Moscow senior quarterback Breck Roop, who had more than 1,400 yards of offense and 23 touchdowns; Otis-Bison senior quarterback Trevor Keller, who completed 65 percent of his passes and accounted for 24 touchdowns; and South Barber tight end Luke Yearout, who had 36 catches for 650 yards and 12 touchdowns. Thiessen and Doug Calam. Central Christian will play a full nine-game schedule, as well as a pair of JV games. One recent change to the schedule could make for an interesting matchup as Central Christian will play Wichita Word of Life. Word of Life plays eight-man like Central Christian, but the difference is World of Life plays on an 11-man field.
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