Although a lot of offensive production for the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn football team has been lost to graduation, the people who made it possible are back on the field. The offensive linemen may not show up in the stats but Hawk head coach Jay Eilers appreciates that they are the ones doing the dirty work – the physical, demanding work. “We are very blessed with a group of guys up front that have a lot of experience,” said Eilers. “We have a lot of starts coming back under our belts. That’s that productivity that I’m so excited about.”
The linchpins of the line are seniors Adam Schierholz and Bradley Van Beek, who are three-year starters and bring both leadership and physicalilty. “The great thing about being a three-year starter is your best football’s this year,” declared Eilers. Joining them on the line are seniors Evan Eilers and Ethan Huberg who bring size and height. “We’re going to ask a lot of them,” admitted their coach, “But the great thing is, they’re giving a lot. From leadership roles to being verbal guys. I think you’ve got to remember, what is the standard? What is the bar? We’re not going to lower it. I think those guys would be ticked if we ever did. As they should.”
The offense they will be blocking in will be the split back veer, a change from the single wing of the past two seasons. “I am extremely proud of our kids on picking this system up and running it very well,” praised Eilers, who is looking to divide the carries among several runners. “We have a lot of kids learning a lot of new things and really trying to figure out what hat fits on what player,” he explained. “I think (senior) JR Araiza, (senior) Ethan Wiersma, (junior) Jack Mastbergen, (junior) James Gellerman have all done amazing jobs in the backfield. (Senior) Aidan Espeland is being moved around a lot. We’re going to make sure we use his skill sets, from throwing him the ball to handing him the ball to pitching the ball. So we have a lot of skill players that we’re excited about and they’ve shown why we should be excited about them.”
Running the ball will be the bread and butter of the Hawk offense but Eilers expects success on that front to provide openings in the passing game. “I think whenever you can run the ball successfully, play action’s a huge opportunity,” said the coach. “I think we’re going to be very similar to what we’ve done in the past where all of a sudden you do have big opportunities within the passing game based on your production in the run game.”
Eilers was asked if the team was as far along on the new offense as he’d like to be. “Farther than I thought we’d be,” he responded. “Much farther. Our kids’ confidence in this system and the execution within the system has been very, very pleasing.”
The head coach credited his assistant coaches for the progress made in the pre-season. Joining Eilers on the staff again this season are Korey Ebel, Mark Petersen and Kyle Vogt. New to the staff this year is coach Jaden Kleinhesselink. Said Eilers, “Jaden is young, played the quarterback position, played point guard collegiately in basketball, and just really has that competitive nature within him and then has such an unbelievable way of connecting to our quarterbacks – teaching the why.” Eilers feels his coaches have established a credibility with the players. “They’ve earned such a trust that, man, our kids will do anything for them, and I understand why,” said the head man.
There is, of course, another side of the ball. “We don’t get to run the ball on defense, but I feel confident about stopping the run,” remarked Eilers. There is size and strength on the defensive front as well. The head coach especially cited Schierholz’s “ability to take games over at a level that is as high as we’ve seen here. He has that capability and has shown that what he’s bringing to the table.” Eilers went on to say, “(Senior) Bryce Ortega has stepped up and played just huge, huge games for us last year in the playoffs at nose. And then, at defensive end, we have three guys that we’re like, what an opportunity to keep kids fresh. From Ethan Huberg to Evan Eilers to Bradley Van Beek, those guys are playing d-end very, very well.”
The coach is counting on Ethan Wiersma at the linebacker position. “You can tell that senior strength, knowledge and ability is truly the leader of our defense,” stated Eilers.
“His ability to get people aligned right has just been so impressive at an early stage, in the first week-and-a-half to two weeks of practice.” The back end of the defense features Espeland at cornerback and Mastbergen at safety. Junior Jayden Leth and sophomore Josh Cruz are battling for the opposite corner spot. “Our back end is continuing to grow, from understanding their drops to understanding assignments,” said Eilers.
The coach noted that junior place kicker T.J. Jans has been booming kickoffs and will battle junior Dominic Tripp for the PAT job. “We’ve been working PAT’s since, I think, day one because the ability to get that one has got to be something that we make sure we take advantage of,” remarked Eilers. “Whenever you’re putting points on the board, that’s a weapon. Field position’s a weapon, too. When you’re able to kick off and hold return teams down, you’re putting your team in a better position.” Mastbergen handled the punting chores during the Hawks’ scrimmage with Hinton last Friday night.
“I know our schemes are going to be very good within our special teams,” added Eilers. “I think the thing that we can always hang our hats on is the culture here at HMS has been effort. And that effort leads to great things. Our kids are working their tails off.” The coach noted that having a freshman class that is large in number and large on talent will allow the team to spell the starters when it comes to special teams.
The Hawks open the season Friday night on the road against non-district opponent West Sioux. “They’re going to be coached extremely well,” said Eilers. “They’re going to run screens. If we do not defend the screen, we’re in trouble. Another thing they do a great job of is using run/pass options.” The key will be that each of his players do his own job and not somebody else’s job. “They’ve lost production,” Eilers said of the Falcons. “I think we are going to see two teams in very similar situations. I think taking care of the football and preventing turnovers and then winning the penalty game is going to be huge in game one.”
The other non-district foe, Kingsley-Pierson, will provide the Homecoming opposition for HMS. “K-P’s going to be the wild card,” commented Eilers. “I think the great thing about Kingsley-Pierson is they play a District opponent (Alta-Aurelia) week one. We’re going to get some film on them. Based on previous sports, these guys are going to be tough. Obviously, they were great in baseball, and when you have athletes, you’re going to be good. We’ll have to get to know what they do later in the season.”
This year’s Class A District 1 has one change as Hinton leaves for Class 1A and Sibley-Ocheyedan moves in from 1A. “I think we’re going to have a playoff caliber district, from South O’Brien to Alta-Aurelia to Sibley-Ocheyedan,” offered Eilers. “Akron-Westfield’s a wild card with a new staff, but I felt like they’ve always had nice, nice talent. I really believe that this district is going to put you in a position to be successful in the playoffs.” The coach stressed that the focus is not on winning the district championship, saying “We’re going to focus on game one, game two, game three because if we do that, I know the process is going to put us in position to be where we need to be at the end of the year, and that’s playing for a district title.”
The Hawk head coach is looking for two things in particular from his program. “Number one has got to be consistency,” said Eilers. “Roller coasters are fun. I like riding them but I don’t like coaching them. I think we’ve got to be able to be consistent. And then the second thing is, week in and week out, I want to see HMS being the most physical football team on the field every Friday night. We have the capability. I think when you’re consistent and you’re physical you have an amazing chance of winning football games.”
Eilers also thinks there is a great opportunity for this year’s senior class to carry on a leadership tradition. Said the coach, “I think the great thing is: who did you learn from, who are examples? And we talk about it: who are you setting examples for? Those are the standards and those are the processes that we’re going to kind of demand every day. We’re going to ask, and then the awesome thing is our kids are going to give it. So I think it’s just that situation of, ‘Hey, I have a responsibility’ and I think our kids have done a great job of, within that, doing it the Hawk way.”