SPENCERVILLE-The boys of fall will look a little bit different on Football Friday night at Memorial Field as the Bearcats will feature mostly Sophomores and Juniors this year.
“The offseason has been going well,” said 4th year head coach Kyle Koenig. “Our guys have been committed this summer of coming in and getting their work done, and I think the growth will really show up with our Sophomore class.”
One of the big spots this fall will be the quarterback position as the ‘Cats will turn to Sophomore Grant Layman. Layman has impressed Koenig in the early going.
“Unfortunately, due to things out of our control, there really was not much competition for that Quarterback position,” stated Koenig. “Grant Layman was our guy from the first practice, and he has done a great job of staying calm and doing what we are asking of him. He has done a great job of leading the offense and reading things that he needs to, and I am looking forward to seeing him just grow more and more in the leadership role throughout the year.”
The Bearcats looked to be playing their best football at the end of the year last year with close games against rivals Crestview 33-27 loss and Jefferson win 46-18.
“I think that being in those games towards the end of the year provides a lot of teaching experiences for our kids and hopefully those lessons are learned and results can start to come our way because of our growth,” said Koenig.
Spencerville finished 2-8 last season and for the Bearcats if they want to improve on that mark it will start on defense. Big plays were detrimental for this team and it’s something that they will be working on in the offseason.
“Defensively we are going to look a little different from past years, added Koenig. “I think defensively last year we were prone to give up the big play in the passing game due to our blitzing and putting us in a tough spot. This year we are hoping to keep things in front of us more and really making teams earn everything. Our league is tough with really smart coaches, so finding ways to avoid giving up those big plays will be big for us.”
For the Bearcats the goals are simple according to Koenig.
“Our goal every year is to play our best possible football at the end of the year and continuing to improve each week,” concluded Koenig. “Although results did not always show up in the win column last year, I do believe that we accomplished that last year. We just need to keep improving each week and see what happens when the end of the season comes around.”
Once again Zsports3 will be the home of the Bearcats all season long with Nate Stidham and Shane Falke on the beginning August 21st when the Bearcats host MAC powerhouse Anna.
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