On the gridiron
JEFFERSON – Jan Haiden knew the day would come when he would have to eventually replace running back Justin Falcon.
Falcon was one of the smallest players on the field, but he left a big pair of shoes to fill. A 3,000-yard career rusher, the 5-foot-8, 155-pound Falcon gained 1,200 of those yards last season and also scored 24 touchdowns.
Big shoes indeed. But Haiden is not only faced with trying to replace his star tailback, he also has to find a center, quarterback and fullback, all of which were lost, like Falcon, to graduation.
That’s quite a lot to ask, even for a coach who just opened his 17th camp.
“I’ve never really been in this position before,” Haiden said. “We’ve had to replace players; you know you’re going to have to do that. But never have we had these specific positions all open at the same time.
“We’ve basically lost the entire center of our offense.”
Like Falcon, quarterback Mike Mox, center Josh Huber and fullback Scott Bodgen are gone. So Haiden and his staff spent most of the first week of training camp looking at a lot of different players, and giving each of them as many reps as possible.
Time isn’t on Haiden’s side, with the season opener just two weeks away. But the long-time coach knows he can’t rush into any decisions.
“The kids are doing alright,” Haiden said. “They’re on shaky ground, but we’re telling them to be patient and persistent. We’re going slow. Their job is to get better after each practice.”
Senior Nathan Elkins, along with juniors Hans Lubich and Ryan Knight are seeing reps at tailback, with Lubich perhaps having the inside track after playing in every game last year.
At fullback, senior Nick Miller, junior Derek Haiden and sophomore Joe Scrip are sharing the workload.
“We have a few guys back there, and they’ll play by committee,” Haiden said.
Should the season start tonight, sophomore Brandon Kozich likely will be under center. He’s seeing a lot of work so far in camp, but junior Taylor Barchiesi and freshman Travis Burwell are also taking snaps.
There’s also a group of three players – Tyler Perkins, Nathan Miller and Nathan Clumberledge – vying for the starting center position.
Haiden knows he has a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time.
“It’s definitely a concern,” he said, and added, “but it’s a challenge as well.”
WHEN THE GOING
GETS TOUGH
Second-year Waynesburg Central coach Scott Orndoff has his work cut out for him following the Raiders’ winless 2007 season.
Orndoff began camp earlier this week anxious to find out if offseason weight-training programs have toughened up his football team.
“We got manhandled last season; we got mauled,” Orndoff said. “Football today, whether you want to believe it or not, you have to live in the weight room.”
Orndoff felt his team’s 0-9 mark stemmed largely from a soft offensive line. He has three starters returning, and he’s looking to fill out the other two positions from among a group of 10 linemen in camp.
“Our mindset about how we want to run things is still the same as it was last year, but our big thing over the offseason was we wanted to get the kids in the weight room,” Orndoff said. “If you don’t hit the weights, you lose out.”
Even though he’s looking for his team to toughen up, Orndoff isn’t going to stress an overly physical camp.
“Last year, we were new and we had to find out which kids were players and which ones weren’t,” he said. “We had to do a little more hitting.
“We had a lot of things happen last year. Maybe it was the new coaching staff; we lost of lot of kids to graduation and we had a lot of injuries. But we took a lot of grief over the offseason because of our record, and that has kind of motivated the kids.
“This year they really have a good attitude.”
Orndoff will find out quickly if all the offseason conditioning has paid off.
Unlike most sections, the Interstate Conference jumps full tilt into section play right from the get-go, and Waynesburg Central opens its season with a game at rival Wash High.
“There’s very little breathing room,” Orndoff said.
LINE OF SCRIMMAGE
The five county schools will take part in their first scrimmages Saturday in preparation for the season openers on Aug. 29.
Waynesburg Central will host Albert Gallatin; Carmichaels will travel to Frazier, along with Brownsville, to take part in a three-team scrimmage; Jefferson-Morgan visits Bentworth; Mapletown crosses the border and travels to Clay-Battelle in Blackwood, W.Va. and West Greene visits Cameron, W.Va.
All scrimmages begin at 10 a.m.