Friday, October 23, 2009

The life of a small school football team

By Chad Husted

Sports Editor

The differences between Indiana high school sports classes are no more evident than in football. Large schools can field larger teams, as well as compete at levels below varsity. Smaller school must often operate with as many players as they can get, and they usually must make due with only a few backups.

With three Class A schools and one Class 3A in White County, football is played on a different scale. Frontier, Tri-County and North White aren’t fielding eight-man football teams like they do in Montana and the Dakotas, but small-school football requires a different type of player and a different approach that White County athletes have grown used too, as well as fond of.

Area coaches have each answered the same way when asked what the advantages are when fielding smaller teams, and it has only a little to do with football.

“I’ve really enjoyed coaching at a small school because it’s more personal,” Frontier coach Greg Martz said. “You get to deal with the kids more. If you’re in a system that has 85-90 kids, kids can get lost in the cracks. If we’ve got a kid that has an issue, at least one of our kids and possibly more than that are going to know what his issues are and that’s where we can help him.”

Martz went on to say that with the smaller coaching staff comes the knowledge that the coaches only have to worry about a few players on the sideline.

“We kind of joke about that as a coaching staff,” Martz said. “We wouldn’t know what we would do if we had that many kids.”

Twin Lakes doesn’t have to deal with all of the issues involving small school football, as the Indians have 48 players on their roster while none of the Class A schools break 30. Twin Lakes still isn’t large enough to platoon completely, and several players still play on offense, defense and special teams.

“You’d like to (platoon) at 3A, but most of the teams that we play don’t do that either,” Twin Lakes coach Brad Urban, who grew up at Class A powerhouse Sheridan, said. “It’s a luxury if you can do it, but a lot of times you have some good athletes and you want to play them on both sides of the ball.”

The players see mostly the benefits in small-school ball, including a tighter bond with their teammates and, in the case of players who go both ways, the ability to stay in the game for longer. Conditioning becomes a key component for each player’s ability to stay on the field, another point of emphasis for coaches and players.

“You definitely have to be in shape for (playing both ways),” Frontier wide receiver and defensive back Grant Ream said. “It makes you a lot tougher mentally and physically.”

North White quarterback/linebacker/offensive and defensive lineman Tyler Hileman knows no other way to playing football than just playing whatever position his coach places him in. Players at larger schools can specialize in one position and excel there, Hileman said, but he prefers his ability to stay on the field.

Hileman began the season at quarterback before being moved to guard to help the Viking offense get a better push on the line.

“I feel as my choice I’d much rather have it here at a small school,” Hileman said. “I never do come off of the field. I just love to play football and anytime I do come off the field I don’t like it. I just like being in that action.”

Twin Lakes’ Dylan McKay, who plays defensive back, running back and serves as the Indians’ longsnapper, reiterates that point.

“I think it’s fun to know you’re not going to come off of the field, because every competitor wants to be on the field 100 percent of the time,” McKay said.

One disadvantage to fielding a smaller team can be the lack of playing time and experience for players who do not see the field on varsity. Larger schools can field enough players to play a freshman schedule as well as a JV schedule, allowing players of all ages to play against comparable competition and build experience for the day they can play varsity.

North White coach Jim Davis believes it is hard for those who don’t get playing time on Friday nights to keep with the program, but those that do are the ones who really want to play.

“It’s really difficult when you go all year and you only get a couple of plays in. It’s kind of like a wasted year for some of those kids, all they get is practice time, and that’s well and good, but everybody wants to play the game,” Davis said. “To be honest with you, that’s the most disappointing thing about this year is that some of our freshman and a few of our sophomore kids haven’t gotten a chance to play.

“They have to want to play, they really have to. I really admire some of our kids that come every day to practice knowing that their chance of playing on Friday is limited to a few plays if they’re lucky. You have to give those kids a lot of credit for their determination.”

Published by the Herald Journal on October 23, 2009