A lot will be changing around Pleasant Ridge football in 2010, and not just because of the loss of 13 seniors who led them to the most successful season in school history last year.
Their departure after a Delaware Valley League title and second consecutive district and bi-district championships coincides not only with the expansion of the DVL, which gives the Rams two new mid-season opponents, but also the realignment which puts them in one of the toughest 3A districts in Kansas.
After playing McLouth first in districts, PR will have to face Silver Lake, ranked No. 1 in 3A after going 11-1 and losing a close state quarterfinal game to Marysville last year, and Rossville, who also lost a close game to Galena in the state quarters and went 9-3.
“Obviously the district is looming over our heads with Silver Lake ... they’re going to be good,” said PR head coach Chris Powers, 105-42 in 16 years, all at PR. “Rossville is another team that’s normally a good, physical football team, and they play in a tough league. It’s going to be a challenging year, but it’s going to be exciting.”
Changes abound as PR returns only four starters on offense and six on defense, although one of them is Will Ryan, a first-team All-DVL selection on each side of the ball the last two years after totaling 2,708 rushing yards, 46 rushing TDs, and 221 tackles. The question, though, may be whether or not he’ll have the same holes to run through after losing three linemen to graduation. Dylan Brown and John Ernzen return, although Ernzen is moving to tackle after starting at center for three years, but the rest of the faces will be new. Ernzen said Aaron Brown will step in at center, Jacob Bass will be at left tackle, and Cody Heim will be moved from backup running back to guard.
“He’s gotten a lot bigger over the last year,” Ernzen said of Heim, “and so he’ll help out a lot.”
Losing top-two quarterbacks Matt Hager and Karl Bardroff leaves only Lance Helm and Dalton Warden with QB experience. Helm will likely be the starter as Warden, as he often did in ’09, will shift to a slot receiver position.
“We just feel like Lance can throw the ball a little bit harder and get the ball down the field,” Powers said. “I think (Warden) is content to be a slot, but he would be our No. 2 quarterback at this point.”
Both spots will be important. PR will continue to run its pistol offense but looks like it will emphasize throwing the ball more.
“Last year with all that size we could run all over the field,” Ryan said. “But now we’re trying to give teams different looks to open things up.”
PR will also mix up the looks defensively. They’ll again run a base 5-2 defense but can slide Ryan up from strong safety to linebacker to load up the box. Controlling the line has been PR’s forte in their recent run, during which they’ve had eight straight winning seasons and have won three of the last four district titles and five of the last eight, and Brown said he thinks the work ethic needed to keep that going has been good so far.
“We need to keep working hard and stepping up little by little,” Brown said. “But I think we’re doing pretty well.”
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A lot will be changing around Pleasant Ridge football in 2010, and not just because of the loss of 13 seniors who led them to the most successful season in school history last year.
Their departure after a Delaware Valley League title and second consecutive district and bi-district championships coincides not only with the expansion of the DVL, which gives the Rams two new mid-season opponents, but also the realignment which puts them in one of the toughest 3A districts in Kansas.
After playing McLouth first in districts, PR will have to face Silver Lake, ranked No. 1 in 3A after going 11-1 and losing a close state quarterfinal game to Marysville last year, and Rossville, who also lost a close game to Galena in the state quarters and went 9-3.
“Obviously the district is looming over our heads with Silver Lake ... they’re going to be good,” said PR head coach Chris Powers, 105-42 in 16 years, all at PR. “Rossville is another team that’s normally a good, physical football team, and they play in a tough league. It’s going to be a challenging year, but it’s going to be exciting.”
Changes abound as PR returns only four starters on offense and six on defense, although one of them is Will Ryan, a first-team All-DVL selection on each side of the ball the last two years after totaling 2,708 rushing yards, 46 rushing TDs, and 221 tackles. The question, though, may be whether or not he’ll have the same holes to run through after losing three linemen to graduation. Dylan Brown and John Ernzen return, although Ernzen is moving to tackle after starting at center for three years, but the rest of the faces will be new. Ernzen said Aaron Brown will step in at center, Jacob Bass will be at left tackle, and Cody Heim will be moved from backup running back to guard.
“He’s gotten a lot bigger over the last year,” Ernzen said of Heim, “and so he’ll help out a lot.”
Losing top-two quarterbacks Matt Hager and Karl Bardroff leaves only Lance Helm and Dalton Warden with QB experience. Helm will likely be the starter as Warden, as he often did in ’09, will shift to a slot receiver position.
“We just feel like Lance can throw the ball a little bit harder and get the ball down the field,” Powers said. “I think (Warden) is content to be a slot, but he would be our No. 2 quarterback at this point.”
Both spots will be important. PR will continue to run its pistol offense but looks like it will emphasize throwing the ball more.
“Last year with all that size we could run all over the field,” Ryan said. “But now we’re trying to give teams different looks to open things up.”
PR will also mix up the looks defensively. They’ll again run a base 5-2 defense but can slide Ryan up from strong safety to linebacker to load up the box. Controlling the line has been PR’s forte in their recent run, during which they’ve had eight straight winning seasons and have won three of the last four district titles and five of the last eight, and Brown said he thinks the work ethic needed to keep that going has been good so far.
“We need to keep working hard and stepping up little by little,” Brown said. “But I think we’re doing pretty well.”
