Pieces fall into place for Morris freshmen
By T.G. SMITH
-
tsmith@morrisdailyherald.com
Morris freshman football coach Bill Lauer couldn't have found himself in a better place at the start of the season. A social studies teacher at MCHS, Lauer was taking over as Redskins leader after spending last season as Dave Auwerda's assistant.
Nine games later, he boasts an undefeated team — which also includes an NCIC championship.
"To be honest, the kids were great and didn't need a lot of coaching," Lauer said. "All of the pieces were in place for me this year."
Pieces which includes some size on the line, speed at key skilled positions and solid decision making by the Morris quarterback.
"I give a lot of credit to the offensive and defensive lines. They were huge this year and coach (Keith) Anderson did a great job with them," Lauer said. "They were prepared week in and week out. Really, it's much easier for the quarterback to throw when they have all day and it's also much easier for the backs when the line is opening up the kind of holes that they have been."
Key lineman for the freshmen this year were Craig Claire, Brian Henry, Drew Aldrich, Nick Lerma, Preston Miracle and Nick Kelly.
"They did a great job this year," Lauer said.
Lauer pointed out that it was fun to watch the kids develop as the season went along.
"The biggest thing was that the kids had to fight the expectations and they did," he said. "They came out and answered their critics and for the most part, made the season look easy. The kids did everything they were expected to do."
And other than a couple of close games with Dixon and St. Rita, the Morris freshmen cruised to its victories this year.
"The Dixon game was played in a mud bowl. They (the Dukes) were 0-9 this year but it was a close game. Still, we didn't have a lot of problems with them," Lauer said. "The St. Rita game was also close but we won that 12-6. Other than those two games, though, I think we beat everyone else by 40 points or more."
Lauer is a 2000 graduate of St. Rita where he played four years of football and he also played for two years at Luther College. Lauer coached at Stagg for three years before assisting Auwerda in 2008. He was assisted this year by Jon Lanning, Keith Anderson and Matt Seidel.
As far as individuals go, quarterback Danny Friend completed 33-of-57 yards for 574 yards and 3 TD. He also was intercepted just twice.
"We had three quarterbacks at the beginning of the season but Friend really stepped up this year," Lauer said. "He was a striper as a youth because of his size in 6th, 7th and 8th grades but he worked really hard to get ready to be prepared to lead the team. He stepped up and played his part really well."
Morris had 27 rushing TD in 2009. Jeff Perry, Nik Countryman, Eric Vacca and Reese Sobol had 5 each.
"Nick Countryman was huge for us at fullback and at linebacker this year. He was first or second on the team in tackles and he also had a 7 or 8 yards per carry average when he ran the ball," Lauer said. "We moved the ball around a lot. We never overworked anybody. Guys like Countryman, Jeff Perry and Reece Sobol ended up all around the same amount of carries and yardage."
Countryman had 357 yards in 52 carries; Perry 329 yards in 48; Sobol 359 in 52 and Vacca 185 in 23. Friend also ran for 4 scores.
Defensively, Countryman had 43 tackles, Miracle 42, Perry 34 and Anthony Monson 37. Miracle also had 7 1/2 sacks.
"Kids develop at different rates, so it's kind of hard to say what's going to happen with this group," Morris coach George Dergo said. "It would be perfect if the freshman team turned out to be the same one as when they are on the varsity, but it doesn't usually work that way.
"But it was a good year for a good group of kids," he added. "But they still have a lot of hard work ahead of them before they reach the varsity level. We're hoping that the continue to get bigger, stronger and faster as the years go on."
Comments
