Miners begin the season with a lot of unknowns

The 2009 Linton-Stockton High School football team includes seniors Evan Magni, Ethan Ray, Joshua Ivey, Benjamin Sparks, Kaleb Bridges, Kyle Smith, Stefan Sparks, Seth Russell, Seth Lockhart and Patrick Collisson; juniors Caleb Stuppy, Tylor Scott, Reid Firestone, Nick Angell, Brock Moore, Brandon Swihart, Alex Seat, Anthony Morin, Patrick Ellis and Aaron Sperling; sophomores Nick Sparks, Kenton Helton, Bradley Thomas, Joseph Hampton, Ryan Littlejohn, Tylor Maxey, Jordan Urban, Caleb Burns, Blake Scharbrough, Eunick Eagans, Jeromy Hunt, Tyler Montgomery;and Blake Eaton; and freshmen Dyllanne Deischer, Cole Bradbury, Austin Karazsia, Hayden Flath, Aspen Taylor, Koye Kaiser, Abram Neff, Jackson Bohnert, Joe Baxley, Tyler Gwaltney, Ethan Lannan, William Murphy, Dess Fougerousse, Taylor Kanen, Ethan Fettig, Christopher Corbin and Ethan Lannan. The managers are Cheyenne Rickelman, Arial Brown, Kanitra McDonald and Chelsea Hineman. (By B.J. Harrgis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

"To be honest, I don't know," Weber said when asked about the outlook for this year. "We had some bad days of practice, but we also have had some good ones.

"But we have been making good progress. We are on our way to looking like a team."

Weber said this team has had to work more on conditioning early.

"We have a lot of new faces and we did not start practice in the best of shape," said Weber, who has a 84-20 record heading into his 10th season at head man at Linton-Stockton. "We have been fortunate that it has been cooler so we good do the extra conditioning that we have needed."

Weber said that playmaker Evan Magni and lineman Stefan Sparks are the only two players that have locked up positions on both sides of the line.

"Evan and Stefan are the only players that have locked up a job," said Weber. "After that, we just don't know.

"Everyone else is fighting for a job."

He said that Patrick Collisson and Andy Morin are both battling for a spot at tight end. He added that Patrick Ellison also might play there.

Weber said that Josh Ivey and Reid Firestone are fighting for a starting wing spot.

Caleb Stuppy and Ethan Ray are battling it out at split end.

Weber said that freshman Austin Karazsia and Tylor Scott, who played on the jv a year ago, are the two candidates at quarterback.

He said that sophomore Kent Helton, senior Kaleb Bridges, sophomore Caleb Burns and Scott, a junior, have been practicing at running back.

Other than Sparks, who will either play tackle or guard, Weber said that senior Seth Russell, sophomores Blake Scharbrough, Blake Eaton and Jeremy Hunt and juniors Brandon Swihart and Brock Moore are candidates on the line.

"The offensive line is wide open," said Weber. "We have some kids that are fighting for spots, which is a good thing.

"It is going to be interesting to see how things work out. We don't have the overall speed that we have had in the past, but we still have kids capable of making big plays.

Weber said they have put stuff in slower than in the past.

"You can only go as fast as they can handle it," he said. "It will get done, but we are just moving at a slower pace compared to when we had so many returning players.

"We want to be sure they know it before we try to add things."

Other than Magni, Weber said that Brad Thomas, Ray and Stuppy are fighting for time in the secondary.

Helton, Ivey and Scott have been playing outside linebacker in practice while Bridges, Sparks, Eaton, Firestone and Ellison are battling for time at inside linebacker. He said that Helton and Bridges have both been limited because of injuries.

Coach added that Morin, Swihart, Russell and Moore are competing for spots on the defensive line.

"It is really hard to tell right now about the defense," said Weber. "I am not sure if we will be a read and react type defense or one that puts on a lot of pressure.

"I just don't know. The scrimmage will answer a lot of questions for us. It is going to be a strange year, but that is what makes it fun."

Weber said it will take some time before the personality of this team emerges.

"It will take a week or two to find out what we really have, especially since we don't even know for sure who will be starting for us," he said. "Despite having a lot of new faces, our goal is still to win the conference.

"More than that, our goals is to be ready for sectional play. But it may take us until the sectional to get everything in order. We will be good, but it is going to take some time."

Weber said that North Daviess by far is the favorite in the conference, but that North Knox has quality players returning.

"Our sectional is made up of a lot of teams from the conference," he said. "So we would have to see those teams twice.

"We lost West Washington in our sectional and replaced them with North Knox. It will be very competitive. Springs Valley returns a lot of players and Perry Central is Perry Central. North Daviess is loaded. The conference and sectional are very tough and will be well represented in the state rankings. We are looking forward to the challenge of a new year."

The Miners will host Eastern Greene at 7 p.m. Friday at Roy Williams Field to begin the season.

2009

Linton-Stockton

No. Name Gr. Ht. Wt. Pos.

Managers: Cheyenne Rickelman, Arial Brown, Kanitra McDonald, Chelsea Hineman.