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SHERMAN COUNTY players work on a tackling drill during practice last week in Moro. The defending Big Sky Champions will play the role of hunted as opposed to the hunter in 2010, as they strive to pull off another season of success on the road to a state championship. Ray Rodriguez photo |
From hunter to hunted
Sherman prepares for 2010 season with bulls-eye on its back
By Ray Rodriguez
The Chronicle
The biggest question heading into the 2010 season, is how the Sherman Huskies can handle success, and a switch from being the hunted as opposed to being the hunter.
Second-year head coach Mike Somnis feels the group will be just fine with that notion and said that now that the team has winning in its blood, they are poised to take another step to prominence.
“Yes, we did enjoy some success last year, but we made it very clear to these kids that every team is going to bring their best game against us,” Somnis said. “It is not going to be like it was last year. We will be ready for that and we will prepare for each game like we always have. We will make sure the kids are ready to go and focused on game day.”
Coming off its first league crown since 1994, the Sherman Huskies finished Big Sky action with an undefeated 6-0 record before advancing to the 1A state quarterfinals.
With five seniors coming back into the mix, all eyes are surely on capturing a state title.
“We just have to get to that next step this year and keep going a little farther,” senior running back and linebacker Tate Eakin said. “If we stay focused on improving, then we will do well. It does not just come down to one player. It is about everyone pulling for each other with a singular goal in mind.”
In 2009, Eakin rushed 162 times for 1,132 yards and 13 touchdowns while earning all-league recognition and Somnis said his old 4x4 will be back in motion, punishing would-be tacklers along the way.
Along with Eakin, senior quarterback Andrew Olsen will behind center taking snaps and posing as a double threat for a Husky offense that scored 386 points last season, 16th best in the 1A ranks.
The southpaw completed 39-of-79 passes for 657 yards and nine touchdowns, and rushed the ball 78 times for 593 yards and enjoyed seven trips to paydirt.
Somnis is happy to have his 6-foot-4 inch, 229-pound threat back for one last go-around.
“Andrew is about as good as it gets in eight-man. We got a kid with size and a great arm that has a great IQ for the game. He is a very intelligent football player,” Somnis said. “He will be an integral part to what we do this year. We are expecting some goods things from the kid.”
The one critical aspect to offensive success will be placed on the offensive line, where the Huskies have to fill in some gaping holes left by graduated seniors James Stroud and Javier Guzman.
Coming back are all-league standouts Scot Stroud and Sawyer Brazell along with ends Kyle Burnett, Jack Jefferies and Shae Morava.
“Our offensive line is a bunch of big, tough guys that are smart,” Stroud said. “We lost Javier Guzman, James Stroud and Danny Kivett from the backfield, so it will be a change. We need some of our young guys to step up and fill in some big shoes.”
Filling in some shoes is an understatement, as Kivett, James Stroud and Jordan Anderson racked up a combined 1,003 yards and 11 touchdowns a season ago.
It will be up to Riley Brown, Nathan Earl, Burnett, Morava, and Jefferies to pick up some of the offensive slack.
Of those five, Earl enjoyed the best success with 308 yards rushing and five scores.
Last year, the Huskies scored more than 40 points on four different occasions including a season-high 66 against Condon-Wheeler Sept. 25.
Somnis feels the explosive components are still there.
“We will play to our strengths and make sure we are moving the ball in one form or another,” Somnis said. “We can try some different things, but we just don’t want to be good at a hundred different things. I would rather us be great at 10 or 20 different things. I like our weapons and the skills they bring. I think our offense can be just as good as or even better than last year.”
When it comes down to league action in 2010, Somnis envisions a title bid coming down to the final week with four or five teams vying for the top spot.
He expects Dufur to be improved and expects Echo, Arlington and Ione to be knocking on the door when it is all said and done.
“It will be real tough. The thing about last year was there was a bunch of unknowns. We even talked last year that any team could have won league,” Somnis said. “It was just the way things shaped up. We got fortunate and the ball bounced our way more often then not. This year is going to be a different story. There will be no cakewalks on our schedule this season, so the boys need to be prepared for that.”
For Eakin, this is his last shot and the sounds of last season’s 62-12 loss to Triad in the state playoff quarterfinals still reverberates in his head.
Coming off a trendsetting campaign, he puts it all into perspective for the now and the near future.
“I think this is a new legacy for us. Last year was last year and we have more goals we need to accomplish,” Eakin said. “Last season, everyone thought we were a joke and I am sure many people thought what happened was a fluke. So we just have to go out there and show them again that we are not the underdogs and that we are here to stay.”
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Sports Editor Ray Rodriguez can be reached at (541) 506-4618 or email RRodriguez (at) thedalleschronicle.com.
