'12 Team Preview: Madison-Plains Golden Eagles
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Madison-Plains head coach Mike Siders is entering his second season as the coach of the Golden Eagles, as he continues to mold the Golden Eagles into a program that fits his liking, and step two begins this season.
Last year was a good step for the Golden Eagles as they finished 3-7 overall (1-5 in the South Central Ohio League), and MP returns much experience.
"We have nine seniors returning from last year, and I believe 10 juniors who all started last year on the varsity squad," Siders said. "Experience is definitely a good thing to have as far as that's concerned, and there's actually a couple sophomores that were freshmen who started on the varsity squad. We've got quite a few returning."
With the experience returning, there is a bit of a quarterback battle before the season begins between senior Ryne Davis and junior Matt Wilson, as Davis is able to play not only quarterback but wide receiver as well.
"Matt Wilson is our number-one, and there's a battle going on with Ryne Davis, our senior quarterback," Siders said. "It's a possibility there will be a situation where we go back to the Ohio State games of John Cooper where we two platoon.
"Ryne is a very versatile player. He'll play some slot back, quarterback … then he'll be an outside linebacker on defense as well. Matt Wilson, there's no question, he brings work ethic and leadership. He's a coach on the field. He's an encourager. He works hard, and that's really all you can ask for."
Running backs for the Golden Eagles will be senior Stephen Lemieux and junior Grant Johnson getting a majority of the carries. Another running back will be sophomore Travis Chaffin, and Davis will also have some carries.
"Stephen, he's well-known out there in the SCOL and also the Columbus area, and Grant, we're moving him to the offensive side of the ball," Siders said. "Grant's going to be a two-way player for us, playing slot back. Stephen kind of speaks for himself, with our offensive line doing the stellar blocking that they've done the last two seasons.
"Stephen rushed for 1,000 yards each the past two years. It's the task of 'are you going to stop Lemieux?' It's no secret … the defense knows that. Grant's new to offense, so it's going to be interesting to see how he pans out. He's a hard worker, a dedicated athlete, but he hasn't seen much live action as far as the offense side of the ball, so I'm looking forward to him. He's got great speed. He's a big, strong kid and runs well."
As for the aforementioned MP offensive linemen, Siders said even though they don't have much depth, his linemen are dedicated.
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"We're quite thin in that area. I'd say we have about seven or eight," Siders said. "We don't have much depth as far as our line area, but the kids that we have are dedicated. They've been in the weight room all year in the offseason. The key to our success is obviously to be injury-free, and that's any team's success, is be injury free."
At the wide receiver spot, Brooks Carter, a senior, returns, along with senior Alex Williams, and they will be the two "anchors" of the position.
"Both of them have been working really hard here in the offseason and also in the spring and the summer conditioning. Both of them are real committed to not only the passing game, but our wide receivers are blockers first, and it's taken them quite a while to learn they have to block first," Siders said. "They are good wide receivers, and each of them brings a different setting to the table as far as the wideout position's concerned."
As for the defensive side of the field, Siders said there is no question Jake Dotts "anchors the defense" at middle linebacker. Dotts is entering his junior season, previously starting his freshman and sophomore seasons as he was an All-SCOL first-team player last year.
"He's the real standout as far as that's concerned. We've got Tim Mallett returning and Grant Johnson, and all three of them have been playing linebacker since seventh grade. They have been together at linebacker since then, so the chemistry among our linebacking corps should be the strength of our defense, for sure," Siders said. "We're going to rotate linemen on the defensive front."
With the season closing in, Siders wants to keep building the program.
"We can add on. We don't spend much time reviewing because the kids do know what's going on, and now we can add on some different twists to the defense and twists to the offense," he said. "That's been the biggest thing. That's called program, when the kids know what they're doing and you add a new twist here and there, you know that's the first steps of building a program because that's a confidence issue.
"Our expectation is to win, obviously, but I want to take one week at a time. Last year everyone was excited and knew it was my first year, but I've been around these guys, and we have to back it down a little bit and understand that we need to take one week at a time and focus in on one week at a time. That's what I've been preaching, that's what I'm going to stick with. We're not going to look ahead of the schedule. We're not going to look behind us in the schedule. We're going to take one week at a time and really concentrate on that particular area at that particular time."
Last year was a good step for the Golden Eagles as they finished 3-7 overall (1-5 in the South Central Ohio League), and MP returns much experience.
"We have nine seniors returning from last year, and I believe 10 juniors who all started last year on the varsity squad," Siders said. "Experience is definitely a good thing to have as far as that's concerned, and there's actually a couple sophomores that were freshmen who started on the varsity squad. We've got quite a few returning."
With the experience returning, there is a bit of a quarterback battle before the season begins between senior Ryne Davis and junior Matt Wilson, as Davis is able to play not only quarterback but wide receiver as well.
"Matt Wilson is our number-one, and there's a battle going on with Ryne Davis, our senior quarterback," Siders said. "It's a possibility there will be a situation where we go back to the Ohio State games of John Cooper where we two platoon.
"Ryne is a very versatile player. He'll play some slot back, quarterback … then he'll be an outside linebacker on defense as well. Matt Wilson, there's no question, he brings work ethic and leadership. He's a coach on the field. He's an encourager. He works hard, and that's really all you can ask for."
Running backs for the Golden Eagles will be senior Stephen Lemieux and junior Grant Johnson getting a majority of the carries. Another running back will be sophomore Travis Chaffin, and Davis will also have some carries.
"Stephen, he's well-known out there in the SCOL and also the Columbus area, and Grant, we're moving him to the offensive side of the ball," Siders said. "Grant's going to be a two-way player for us, playing slot back. Stephen kind of speaks for himself, with our offensive line doing the stellar blocking that they've done the last two seasons.
"Stephen rushed for 1,000 yards each the past two years. It's the task of 'are you going to stop Lemieux?' It's no secret … the defense knows that. Grant's new to offense, so it's going to be interesting to see how he pans out. He's a hard worker, a dedicated athlete, but he hasn't seen much live action as far as the offense side of the ball, so I'm looking forward to him. He's got great speed. He's a big, strong kid and runs well."
As for the aforementioned MP offensive linemen, Siders said even though they don't have much depth, his linemen are dedicated.
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"We're quite thin in that area. I'd say we have about seven or eight," Siders said. "We don't have much depth as far as our line area, but the kids that we have are dedicated. They've been in the weight room all year in the offseason. The key to our success is obviously to be injury-free, and that's any team's success, is be injury free."
At the wide receiver spot, Brooks Carter, a senior, returns, along with senior Alex Williams, and they will be the two "anchors" of the position.
"Both of them have been working really hard here in the offseason and also in the spring and the summer conditioning. Both of them are real committed to not only the passing game, but our wide receivers are blockers first, and it's taken them quite a while to learn they have to block first," Siders said. "They are good wide receivers, and each of them brings a different setting to the table as far as the wideout position's concerned."
As for the defensive side of the field, Siders said there is no question Jake Dotts "anchors the defense" at middle linebacker. Dotts is entering his junior season, previously starting his freshman and sophomore seasons as he was an All-SCOL first-team player last year.
"He's the real standout as far as that's concerned. We've got Tim Mallett returning and Grant Johnson, and all three of them have been playing linebacker since seventh grade. They have been together at linebacker since then, so the chemistry among our linebacking corps should be the strength of our defense, for sure," Siders said. "We're going to rotate linemen on the defensive front."
With the season closing in, Siders wants to keep building the program.
"We can add on. We don't spend much time reviewing because the kids do know what's going on, and now we can add on some different twists to the defense and twists to the offense," he said. "That's been the biggest thing. That's called program, when the kids know what they're doing and you add a new twist here and there, you know that's the first steps of building a program because that's a confidence issue.
"Our expectation is to win, obviously, but I want to take one week at a time. Last year everyone was excited and knew it was my first year, but I've been around these guys, and we have to back it down a little bit and understand that we need to take one week at a time and focus in on one week at a time. That's what I've been preaching, that's what I'm going to stick with. We're not going to look ahead of the schedule. We're not going to look behind us in the schedule. We're going to take one week at a time and really concentrate on that particular area at that particular time."