FALL SPORTS
C6
THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020
Tim Johnson / The North Platte Telegraph
Kaden Dady, front, is the only returning starter on offense for a young Brady football team. The Eagles finished 5-4 last season.
‘Trial by fire’ for young Brady squad
said. “It’s just about his maturation in that po- sition once the games actually start.” Most is part of a back- field that includes senior Hunter Lovitt, who rushed for 192 yards and six touchdowns on just 16 carries last sea- son. Logan Simmons, a returning starter at linebacker, should get more playing time in the Eagles offense after he averaged 18 yards a rush in a limited role last year. “We are super young (as a team),” Most said. “If we can come out of that (adversity) and prove that we can still fight, we will be pretty good.”
these kids don’t have that experience,” Seamann said of his team sopho- more- and junior-heavy players. “It was a group that worked really hard and showed leadership for (the program),” That group included TJ. Roe, who finished his prep career as Brady’s career leader in pass- ing yards (3,596), passing touchdowns (39) and all-purpose yards (5,714) Shane Most, a 6-2 junior, is a returning de- fensive starter who saw time at both linebacker and safety. He a will take over as the Eagles’ quar- terback this year for a new-look offense. “He is a hard worker and I am very confident in his ability,” Seamann
have the talent (to com- pete),” Seamann said. “As long as we get better every day, by the end of the season, we should be a pretty good team.” That initial test comes Friday at Pleasanton, a program that reached the Class D2 state champion- ship game last season. “Obviously that first game is going to be a tough one given our ex- perience,” Seamann said. Kaden Dady is Brady’s top returner for the D2 program that is com- ing off a 5-4 season. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound right guard is the only return- ing offensive starter. The defensive end/nose guard is one of three starters back for Brady’s 3-3 defense.
By TIM JOHNSON tim.johnson@ nptelegraph.com
Brady Class D2
Take a look at the ros- ter for the Brady football team and a few things stand out. The Eagles are not only young but short on varsi- ty experience and depth as well. “Some guys got play- ing time in wins last year, but for most (of the team), everything is new,” Eagles coach Andy Seamann said of his team that has 18 players on the roster. “There no repping what happens in a game during practice, especially when you are limited in numbers. It’s going to be trial by fire, especially early on. “I fully believe that we
Aug. 28. ...............................................at Pleasanton Sept. 4. .........................................................Maxwell Sept. 11.............................................Garden County Sept. 17. ........................ at Maywood-Hayes Center Sept. 25............................................................ Axtell Oct. 2............................................at Medicine Valley Oct. 9............................................................ Overton Oct. 15....................................................... at Loomis
“I have a whole differ- ent crew with me now (on the offensive and defen- sive lines),” Dady said, “but I think we will be al- right. All these guys are stepping up (in practice) and looking good. “The guys practice pretty hard,” said Dady, who was an honorable mention all-district se- lection last year. “They
are young, and most of them haven’t real- ly played a single game of varsity (football), but they work.” Those players are get- ting the opportunity with the graduation of a strong group of seniors, many of which had three to four years of varsity experience. “That’s why a lot of
Wallace Wildcats drop to 6-man for 2020 season After canceled season, program back on track
By JAKE DREILINGER jake.dreilinger@ nptelegraph.com
Last year’s Wallace High School football sea- son was different. The Wildcats, typically an eight-man program, were forced to cancel the sea- son at the varsity level. That doesn’t mean Wallace went without any football, though. Its junior varsity team, which plays six-man foot- ball, still got to have a season. Turns out that experience is going to come in handy. Wallace will have a season this year, but it will have to move to six-man football at the varsity level. That means the 2020 team will be lacking varsity experi- ence, but knows how to play six-man football from their season last year. And its first game Friday will be against a familiar opponent in Potter-Dix on the road. “We had Sumner- Eddyville-Miller and Potter-Dix on our JV schedule last year,”
Telegraph file photo Wallace, seen here lining up against Maxwell in 2018, was forced to cancel its 2019 season and will move down to 6-man football for the 2020 season. They are one of several area teams making the move, including Paxton. The Wildcats start the season at Potter-Dix Friday.
ple of years, the state assigns new schedules, and this year, Wallace had to make the drop down to six-man foot- ball. They’ll have to play at that level for the next two years before they can make the jump back to eight-man. Miller said the Wildcats weren’t the only team in the area to move down, which prevents Wallace from having to travel longer distances to get its games in. “Travel shouldn’t be as bad this year as a lot of six-man seasons usually are,” Miller said. “A lot of pretty local games, so we’re fortunate for that.”
defense every now and then. A roster size suit- ed for eight-man football means depth won’t be as big of an issue. That doesn’t mean they’re of- fensive starters won’t be starting on defense, though. “We do have some good numbers, so we’ll be able to give some of our guys a blow and not make them play both ways all the time,” Miller said. “But defensively, most of those kids will be play- ing both sides of the ball. Good tacklers, hopefully we can tackle in the open field. That’s kind of the name of the game.” Miller said every cou-
has the option of either running or throwing the football. “You could treat it like traditional football and line everyone up tight and kind of pow- er run game,” he said. “You could see a lot of spread with just the cen- ter snapping the ball and every one (else) is split out so it looks a little dif- ferent. You have to use some speed and athleti- cism when you spread it out like that and hope to beat the other team in the open space.” This also means the Wildcats can give its starters a break and put in a few more players on
Wallace Eric Miller said. “So just a lit- tle familiar with them. Of course it can change up to the varsity level, but we’ve at least seen some of their players be- fore.” There are many differ- coach
ences between eight-man and six-man. The big- gest is that the field is a little bigger with four less players on it, which means defenses have to rely heavily on open-field tackling, which can be challenging. Another difference is that the quarterback is not allowed to run with the ball. It has to be hand- ed off to another player or thrown before it cross- es the line of scrimmage. First downs are 15 yards instead of 10. Miller said most times, the ball will be handed off to the running back, who then becomes the quarterback because he
Wallace Class D5
Aug. 28. ................................................. at Potter-Dix Sept. 3. .................................................. South Platte Sept. 11.................................................... at Minatare Sept. 17. ........................................... Wilcox-Hildreth Sept. 25......................................................at Paxton Oct. 1..................................................................SEM Oct. 16..................................... at Wauneta-Plaisade Oct. 23...................................................... Southwest
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