'14 Football Preview: Southeastern Panthers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Entering his second season at the helm of the Southeastern Panthers, head coach Evan Gallaugher has a youthful team this season, but still has some experience returning to the team that finished with five wins last season.
As Southeastern begins their '14 season, they will do so with a class of six seniors, three of whom played both sides of the ball in '13. Those three players are Ben Keaton (OG/DT), Brandon Curtiss (T/DE) and Cole Johnson (RB/MLB).
Other seniors are Scioto Valley Conference and the SE District Kicker of the Year Dylan Miles, Cody Hendershot (WR/DB) and Corbitt Cartee (C/DE).
Gallaugher, who formerly was an assistant coach at Paint Valley for a number of years, spoke about his team this season, which consists of 47 players. Last season, the Panthers scored 257 points, while allowing 295, winning two of their three non-conference games.
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"We are young, but talented in areas," he said. "We have decent speed and are having some position battles, one being at quarterback."
The two players vying for the QB spot are senior Miles and junior Timothy Gibson. They are replacing Travis Abner, who passed for 820 yards last season, going 57-for-126 (45.2 percent completion percentage).
"We'll be using our scrimmages and the summer in general to come to a final decision on which players we'll rely on more this season," Gallaugher said. "Both kids going for the QB spot are good kids, and our offense is in good hands with those guys.
"We are looking for our QB to be a field general."
Another player to watch out on the offensive side is junior wide receiver Kent Dunn, who brings good speed and athleticism to the Panthers as he raced in the Division III State 100-meter hurdles this past spring.
Dunn averaged 14.2 yards per reception last season.
"We can open our offense up with the spread offense, and it gives us different options," Gallaugher said. "At QB, we are looking to see who is going to give us a versatile look.
"We can also run our power game out of the spread."
The Panthers lost 11 seniors from last year's 4-6 team (2-5 in the SVC), with one being running back Dez Perkins, who Gallaugher said they relied heavily on last season. Perkins totaled 1,748 yards last season to lead the SVC in rushing. On 201 carries, he rushed for 8.7 ypc.
Perkins was also big on defense with 82 tackles and seven sacks.
For '14, the Panthers won't be able to rely on just one rusher and instead will be using three to four different backs to carry the ball.
Some of the players looking to have time at RB are Cole Stauffer, Tim Gibson and Nick Mavis.
"We'll use a few different guys to carry the ball this year, and our QB will need to be able to rush the football as well," Gallaugher said. "We don't have one set guy to take our snaps, so we want to give some guys 5-10 carries and see what we can do."
On defense, Gallaugher's Panthers will run a 4-3 look with a big emphasis on team.
"I want us to pressure the offense and to put 11 players on the ball," he said. "We need to focus on playing as a team.
"The big thing with our defense is seeing how our front seven can mesh together. The SVC traditionally has run teams, and we want to be able to stop the run."
One defensive lineman to keep an eye on is sophomore Tyler Lochbaum.
Even with the Panthers losing eight seniors from last year, Gallaugher said it is an exciting time with the Panthers "reloading" this season.
"As a coach, it is exciting because we get to take the young players and started working with them in the weight room in January," he said. "They've grown bigger and stronger. Over the summer, the guys have bonded and come together as a team.
"We are moving in the right direction, but it takes time. We want to see improvement week in, week out, and then we can get things clicking."
As Southeastern begins their '14 season, they will do so with a class of six seniors, three of whom played both sides of the ball in '13. Those three players are Ben Keaton (OG/DT), Brandon Curtiss (T/DE) and Cole Johnson (RB/MLB).
Other seniors are Scioto Valley Conference and the SE District Kicker of the Year Dylan Miles, Cody Hendershot (WR/DB) and Corbitt Cartee (C/DE).
Gallaugher, who formerly was an assistant coach at Paint Valley for a number of years, spoke about his team this season, which consists of 47 players. Last season, the Panthers scored 257 points, while allowing 295, winning two of their three non-conference games.
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"We are young, but talented in areas," he said. "We have decent speed and are having some position battles, one being at quarterback."
The two players vying for the QB spot are senior Miles and junior Timothy Gibson. They are replacing Travis Abner, who passed for 820 yards last season, going 57-for-126 (45.2 percent completion percentage).
"We'll be using our scrimmages and the summer in general to come to a final decision on which players we'll rely on more this season," Gallaugher said. "Both kids going for the QB spot are good kids, and our offense is in good hands with those guys.
"We are looking for our QB to be a field general."
Another player to watch out on the offensive side is junior wide receiver Kent Dunn, who brings good speed and athleticism to the Panthers as he raced in the Division III State 100-meter hurdles this past spring.
Dunn averaged 14.2 yards per reception last season.
"We can open our offense up with the spread offense, and it gives us different options," Gallaugher said. "At QB, we are looking to see who is going to give us a versatile look.
"We can also run our power game out of the spread."
The Panthers lost 11 seniors from last year's 4-6 team (2-5 in the SVC), with one being running back Dez Perkins, who Gallaugher said they relied heavily on last season. Perkins totaled 1,748 yards last season to lead the SVC in rushing. On 201 carries, he rushed for 8.7 ypc.
Perkins was also big on defense with 82 tackles and seven sacks.
For '14, the Panthers won't be able to rely on just one rusher and instead will be using three to four different backs to carry the ball.
Some of the players looking to have time at RB are Cole Stauffer, Tim Gibson and Nick Mavis.
"We'll use a few different guys to carry the ball this year, and our QB will need to be able to rush the football as well," Gallaugher said. "We don't have one set guy to take our snaps, so we want to give some guys 5-10 carries and see what we can do."
On defense, Gallaugher's Panthers will run a 4-3 look with a big emphasis on team.
"I want us to pressure the offense and to put 11 players on the ball," he said. "We need to focus on playing as a team.
"The big thing with our defense is seeing how our front seven can mesh together. The SVC traditionally has run teams, and we want to be able to stop the run."
One defensive lineman to keep an eye on is sophomore Tyler Lochbaum.
Even with the Panthers losing eight seniors from last year, Gallaugher said it is an exciting time with the Panthers "reloading" this season.
"As a coach, it is exciting because we get to take the young players and started working with them in the weight room in January," he said. "They've grown bigger and stronger. Over the summer, the guys have bonded and come together as a team.
"We are moving in the right direction, but it takes time. We want to see improvement week in, week out, and then we can get things clicking."