The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
-by Doug Endres
from The Hancock County Journal-Pilot, Carthage (used with permission)
The new West Prairie/LaHarpe football team holds hope for the future and questions for the present.
The Cyclones, composed of players from LaHarpe, and the former Northwest and Colchester high schools, have 62 players on the roster, but 33 of them have either never played football or were players who missed last season with an injury.
"We're a football team with a lot of questions," said Head Coach Tim Lafferty.
The Cyclones return several starters from last season. Senior quarterback Chase DeCounter will lead the offense. He threw for 695 yards and 11 touchdowns while running for 890 yards and 14 touchdowns.
"He knows what I want from the offense," Lafferty said. "Having him out there makes everyone else better because he has confidence in what we're doing."
Behind him is senior halfback Stephen Butterfield, who ran for 329 yards last season in part-time duty. Senior Christopher Link moved from offensive guard to fullback where he started as a junior varsity player.
"He's not the runner that Kevin (Hunt) was for us last year," Lafferty said. "He's a big kid who is shorter and has excellent pad height. He runs low and once he gets squared to the line-of-scrimmage, is tough to bring down."
The other halfback spot is split between senior Brittain Daudelin and senior Brett Pendell of Colchester.
The line is expected to be anchored by junior center Ben Cox and senior guard Eric Magee, who missed all of last season with an injury.
"He's worked real hard in rehab," Lafferty said. "I think he could have a breakout kind of year."
Others competing for time are senior tackles Matt Swanson and Justin Mohr, senior guard Reo Reed, and junior guard Jon Zaehringer.
A wild card player is Colchester senior Jacob Bice.
"He has everything you could want in a football player," Lafferty said. "He just doesn't have the experience. Experience is more important for linemen because you learn techniques through repetition. He's stronger than some other guys on the team, but they can beat him on a play because they have more football knowledge. We just have to put him out there and let him learn."
Senior Isaac Rogers returns at tight end. Senior Dustin Moore may man the other end spot.
On defense, senior tackle Ty Huston, who had 45 tackles last season, is drawing high praise from Lafferty.
"I think he is one of the best tackles in the conference. He has improved his strength and lost some weight."
Part-time player Justin Mohr, a senior defensive end, is expected to be a leader.
"He played very well last year as a pass rusher," Lafferty said. "He's very quick and strong for someone his size."
Other linemen are senior ends Reo Reed and Swanson, and new tackles Bice, senior Blake Chenoweth and junior Blake Denney.
Link anchors the linebacking corp on the inside. He is joined by Cox, with Magee and Pendell at outside linebacker.
DeCounter returns at safety and Butterfield returns at cornerback. The other corner spot is between Daudelin and senior Brian Covert.
"They each are better at certain things than the other one is," Lafferty said. "We'll probably alternate them."
Despite the lack of experience, Lafferty likes what he sees from the Colchester athletes.
"They have a lot of good athletes. They've surprised me every day. They surprised me with what they did at the seven-on-seven passing camps. They surprised me during our summer orientation. They surprised me so far in practice.
"Physically, they have the tools. It's just getting them the knowledge."