A group of decorated athletes is ready to join forces and hit the gridiron starting this weekend.
Aberdeen Central kicks off its football season by hosting Yankton on Friday and will do so with numerous individuals who have made their marks in a variety of sports.
That crew includes the likes of state champion wrestler Owen Ward, standout sprinter Carter Lust, baseball player Bennett Eisenbeisz, hockey player Jace Byram, and swimmer Ben Jorgenson.
“I preach that in the off season, as far as being multi-sport athletes, becoming competitors and being more athletic in whatever it is you’re doing, and that’s something you see that happens with kids,” said Central coach Justin Briese. “You can see a kid like Ward, who had some success last year just being more and more confident, being a state champion wrestler. Carter, knowing that he is as fast as he is. A kid like Caden Forred also, as fast as can be. Those kind of kids, just being able to transfer that over and be able to use those skills that they’ve got in other sports that you can carry over and find ways to use that on the football field, too.”
Whether playing offense or defense, look for Central to continue to be aggressive out on the field.
“We talk about that offensively and defensively, it doesn’t matter, just being physical,” Briese said. “We talk about being disciplined and playing fast, and above all things just being physical.”
While the style of play may not change, there will be few new wrinkles here and there as newcomers try to fill in spots of graduated seniors.
“Trying some different things offensively and defensively to maybe see what our kids can do a little bit better,” Briese said. “It’s going to be fun to plug in those guys that maybe have sat behind somebody who was a senior for a couple of years and get their chance now as a senior, or even some of those younger guys that are sophomores or juniors to give them their opportunity to go out and play.”
Byram will be the starting quarterback this fall. He will be surrounded by playmakers who Briese hopes to get out in space.
Those skill position players include the likes of Porter Lozenski, Paden Appl, Mason Hager, Cooper Hepperle, Ben Wieshaar, and Micah Bruns.
Of course, the offensive line is crucial to any offense and it’s an area where the Golden Eagles have excelled in recent years including last year’s lone all-state selection Luke Henley, along with recent all-state linemen Felipe Gonzalez and Bryce Beitelspacher.
This year’s linemen have had mentors to look up to in the past, said Briese.
“They look at the guys that have come before them and understand hey, this is the level that I need to get to. This was the guy I need to be like, whether it was Felipe or Henley or Beitelspacher,” Briese said. “You know up front, those big guys have heroes too, just like they say quarterbacks have heroes too, their offensive linemen. It makes sense, they’ve got guys that they look up to.”
Defensively, Central will look to Jackson Board and Carter Board to help set the tone in the secondary, and has players such as Isaac Torbert at linebacker and a host of others to halt opposing defenses.
“Defense has just always been consistent. We try to simplify things to help our kids play fast, and play physical, play aggressive. That always helps things out,” Briese said. “Coach (Kurt) Holinka does a good job of coming up and scheming things and taking a look at offenses, what they want to do and try to take those things away, but at the same time, letting our players be players and let them make plays.”
Central has been involved in many close games in recent years, so special teams play a prominent role in those contests.
“Having (Joey) Dallmann be our kicker the last few years, once you have a good kicker, you don’t realize how good you have it until he’s gone,” Briese said. “Fortunately, we’ve got a senior coming, Caden Forred, a former soccer player from years ago, he’s worked on being a kicker all off season. He’s really come up strong and going to step up for us being a kicker.”
Briese said the Golden Eagles have the same postseason goals that all of the other squads do, but wants his players to focus more on the process rather than the end result.
“We don’t care about the outcome-orientation stuff. We’re not worried about the scoreboard, we’re not worried about stats, we’re not worried about that,” Briese said. “We’re worried about the process and what do we need to do each play, each practice, each week to be successful. Focus on those things, because if you get too caught up staring at the scoreboard, looking at who won and who lost games every Friday night, you kind of get distracted from what you need to do.”
Central, which has opened the season against Class 11AA power Pierre the past few years, now gets to see 11AA state runner-up Yankton right out of the gate.
Briese said the contest will be a good gauge for the Golden Eagles as they start the season.
“It’s a time for us to see a benchmark, kind of where we’re at,” Briese said, “and if we need to adjust and make changes or if we need to stay the course or what we need to do.”
