Aug 26, 2003 By Jim Wexell For The 3 min read

Last year’s senior class had been with coach Ed Woods throughout his four-year stint at Beth-Center and expectations were high. But the Bulldogs finished 4-5 and missed the playoffs in the Black Hills Conference by one game. “It was a little disappointing,” said Woods.

“We started out great but had some injuries. In Class A ball, even one injury hurts. We had six and those players went both ways. It was tough to come back from that.”

Depth may help this year. Beth-Center has 40 players out for the team, the most in Woods’ years as coach. The problem is that his current team’s senior class has only seven members, three of which came out this year for the first time.

“It sure is small,” Woods said. “It was just a class that apparently didn’t have a lot of kids who wanted to play football.”

It may be a small senior class, but it’s one that has surprised with its abilities and tenacity.

“It’s different this year,” Woods said.

“Those kids last year were with me for four years and they knew my expectations and they knew their roles exactly. But I’ll tell you what. The seniors we have now, even though there are only seven of them, they’re really filling the shoes of those who’ve left.”

Woods said the team strengths are numbers and team speed.

“We have more speed this year, overall, than we’ve had in the past,” he said. “The lines aren’t big, weight wise, but we have more tall, lean-type kids, which allows them to be able to move a little quicker. Our weakness is inexperience. We have 11 returning lettermen and six returning starters, and they’ll start on both sides of the ball.”

The team leader is tight end/inside linebacker Jordan Sweany (6-3, 220). He’s the leader on and off the field and has recovered nicely from some early-camp nicks.

“He’s like having another coach on the field,” Woods said. “He’s good with older kids and younger kids, just a team leader, definitely a help to the coaches.”

Quarterback Garret Balas also returns after throwing for better than 800 yards last season. Sweany will be his primary receiver.

The top running back will be senior Mike Morgan. Fullback Matt Stay started last season as a freshman.

Last year’s team failed to live up to expectations, but the expectations aren’t as high this year. Could the team surprise in a different way this time around?

“Well we’re expecting to win the section,” Woods said. “That’s our goal every year: Win the section and get in the playoffs. We’ll just play one game at a time, and right now we’re preparing for Jefferson-Morgan.”

Even though the team has better numbers this season, it may not translate into better depth since 14 of the 40 players are freshmen.

“If you don’t have the kids you don’t have the kids,” he said. “It’s tough to put really young, immature kids at positions where they just don’t have the experience or knowledge to do that. We’d be putting sophomores or freshmen, 14- and 15-year-old boys in there to play with men. It’s not right to do that.”