When Brady Flint went to bed on Sunday night, it hit him. It’s gameweek.
It’s been difficult for him to focus on much else the past few days.
“I’m thinking about going on the field and being out there in the environment,” said Flint, a defensive lineman and senior captain.
“It definitely just gives you the chills up your back, just wakes you up.”
The months of weightlifting sessions, grueling practices and time spent thinking about the season are over.
It’s here.
On Friday, Manhattan High will finally play a football game. MHS hosts Olathe Northwest at 7 p.m. at Bishop Stadium.
“You really get anxious, you really get nervous, but that means you’re ready, that means you’re actually focused on the game,” said tight end Chace McIlvaine, another captain. “Means you’re ready to go out there and play. If you’re not feeling the butterflies, it means you’re not all the way into it.”
Coach Joe Schartz is beginning his 15th year at MHS, 10th as the head coach.
In eight of Schartz’s nine previous years at the helm, the Indians have captured at least a share of the Centennial League title. The first test in Year 10 is Northwest.
SCOUTING REPORT ON NORTHWEST
As of Tuesday, Schartz had only received a bit of scrimmage film to dissect Northwest, which is led by first-year head coach Aaron Hafner.
“It’s difficult to tell what’s exactly going on,” he said.
He does know a couple things for sure.
One, Northwest doesn’t have a full two-platoon, meaning the squad has players who line up on both offense and defense. The Indians, on the other hand, will two-platoon.
Next, the Ravens run a flexbone offense. There are three running backs in this system — one behind the quarterback and two at both of his sides. There are varying amounts of wide receivers and tight ends. Obviously, anything can be switched up.
Northwest will run the triple option out of the flexbone formation. At the FBS level, Georgia Tech and Navy are best-known for using that offense.
“It’s going to take some time,” Hafner said over the phone when asked how long it’ll take his group to execute it perfectly. “We’ve had all summer to work on it, and camp, We’re getting better every day, but we have a long way to go. And the kids know that.”
Defensively, Northwest lines up in a 4-3 base. That means there will be four down linemen and three linebackers.
There are a few Northwest players who caught Schartz’s eye on the limited amount of film he reviewed:
• QB/LB Cole Manning, 6-foot-3, 219 pounds
• C/DT Jacob Wolfe, 6-foot, 244 pounds
• FB/LB Andrew Dumas, 6-foot, 225 pounds
The Ravens have seven receivers on the roster who are at least 6 feet tall, including one who stands at 6-foot-4. Schartz called that “concerning,” especially because the coach said Manning “throws a nice deep ball.”
More than anything, MHS will have to play disciplined. Schartz said that, in his experience with season openers, teams often beat themselves.
His group can’t. His defense will be facing an offense it won’t be able to sleep against.
The first priority, per Schartz: Each player knowing his assignment against the option.
“They make everything look the same, so the threat is, for the easy scores, the play-action pass and being over-aggressive on defense,” Schartz said. “That’s been a concern of mine throughout this preseason camp. We’re playing really well on defense, but then we have the tendency to give up the easy touchdown.”
Schartz said playing disciplined starts in the film room. Most teams would be ill-prepared to face the flexbone, but the Indians use it as their base formation on offense.
Whereas other defenses would be lost against this system, MHS shouldn’t be completely in the dark.
“You can’t concentrate on somebody else’s job, you’ve got to trust your brothers out there on the field that are behind you, next to you, side to side,” Flint said. “That’s why you call them teammates, because you trust them, they trust you and that’s how you get the job done.”
MANHATTAN HIGH POSITION BATTLES
All of the hard work the Indians did during the past nine months was for the next three.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” McIlvaine said, “but we’re ready for it.
The work won’t stop, unless players want to end up on the sidelines.
Schartz said position battles never end. It will be a continual evaluation.
“That’s week by week with every position,” he said. “If we see that a kid’s not making plays and not doing what needs to be done, then it’s the coaching staff’s job to make a change and get somebody in there that is going to be producing.”
MHS won’t have anyone playing both ways to begin the game, which could work to its advantage.
A two-platoon system takes less of a physical toll on players in practice and games. MHS has had two-way players in the past. It’s not a rarity.
If necessary, the Indians could have a couple this season.
“If we have guys on offense or defense who show up on film as not being where they need to be, then we’ll probably have to go put people out there both ways ourselves,” Schartz said.
That said, Schartz feels like he has people in the right spots. He said the linebackers and offensive skill players are probably the team’s strongest position groups.
Hafner, Northwest’s head coach, watched film of MHS’ most recent preseason scrimmage with his team.
“They’re very fast. They have a lot of team speed,” Hafner said. “Very impressed with their kids up front, how physical they were in the scrimmage. And it’s just a scrimmage situation. I know, come Friday night, that they’re going to be a physical football team that can really, really get to the edge. We have to be able to control the big plays, and if we can do that, it allows us to compete at a higher level.”
Schartz said his group came out of the preseason mostly healthy. There were guys who got banged up — a couple concussions, a deep thigh bruise and a shoulder injury — but nothing too serious.
The coach said there are three or four injured players, but declined to name them.
“If I was betting, I’d say three of the four would probably be ready to go (for Friday),” Schartz said.
After a long offseason, MHS is ready to roll.
“First game every year, it doesn’t matter how much returning experience you have, it’s brand new,” Schartz said. “We just need to get out there. It’s been my experience that, once the game gets going and you get that first contact, a lot of those butterflies go away. The sooner that we settle in offensively or defensively, the better we’ll be.”
PROJECTED STARTERS
MHS:
Offense: QB Dayne Aschenbrenner, RBs Kevontae McDonald, Javon Peoples, Isiah Childs, WR Gavin Kohn, TE Chace McIlvaine, LT James Higgs, LG Christian Schlepp, C Hayden Gwinner, RG Cade Wilson, RT Sam Shields
Defense: DTs David Hernandez, Max Kiracofe, NG Damian Ilalio, LBs Robert Houston, Tyreek Toliver, Tyce Hoover, Chandler Marks, CBs Ben Gallagher, Reshon Moore, FS Nathaniel Hanson, SS Michael Doiel
Northwest:
Offense: QB Cole Manning, RBs De’Mario Hanson, Gabe Barfety, Andrew Dumas, WRs Cole Morris, Ryan Andrew, LT Reece Krall, LG Cade Conover, C Jacob Wolfe, RG Brandon Smith, RT Kendall McNeal
Defense: DEs Kendall McNeal, Ryan Gross, DT Jackson Long, NG Jacob Wolfe, LBs Cole Manning, Andrew Dumas, Connor Boyd, CBs De’Mario Hanson, Kaleb White, FS Ryan Andrew, SS Grant Hall
