By John Rittenhouse
Fielding a veteran team should benefit the 2001 Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth football team this fall.
Coming off a 6-4 2000 season with a team that received on-field contributions from four seniors, the Patriots will put a more experienced team on the field this time around.
H-BC-E has six players returning as starters on both sides of the ball from a team that tied for third place in the Southwest Ridge Conference a year ago.
In the game of nine-man football, that leaves the Patriots with two-thirds of their starters back in the ranks.
Patriot coach Dan Ellingson hopes the experience pays off in the form of a better regular season and a longer postseason compared with the 6-0 win over Southwest Star Concept that was followed by a 7-6 defeat to Nicollet in the semifinal round of the Section 2 Playoffs last October.
"In setting goals, we always want to do a little bit better than we did the year before," Ellingson stated. "That's what we're looking at again this year. We have (defending state champion) Westbrook-Walnut Grove in our conference and section. They lost a lot of kids but have some key players coming back, so they have to be the favorites.
"As far as finishing position goes, we want to be right up there with them in the conference. We tied for third place and lost three games in the conference last year. We want to finish at least in third place this year, and to lose more than two conference games would be disappointing."
The 2001 Patriots will need to replace last year's seniors before they improve as a team.
Scott Hansel was a senior who missed last season due to illness, but classmates Lance Crawford, Chris Willers, Stephen Swayze and Branden Domeyer played key roles for the 2000 team.
Crawford, a starting offensive end and linebacker, and Willers, a starting wingback and defensive back, played their way onto the All-SRC Team.
Swayze, a starting offensive guard who played some downs as a defensive tackle, received honorable mention from the SRC coaches. Domeyer started on the defensive line.
The players Ellingson has returning to his offense should make the Patriots a more explosive team in 2001.
"We have some good overall quickness," he said. "Back Chris Reid made it to state in the 100-meter dash in track last spring, and Jesse Leuthold and Lyle DeBoer are right behind him. Brad Haak also is a good runner. We have good quickness, so we’ll have to take advantage of that."
Reid and DeBoer, seniors who weigh 180 and 182 respectively, started at tailback and fullback respectively for H-BC-E last fall. DeBoer made the All-SRC team.
Leuthold, a 180-pound junior, can play either of those positions, too.
Ellingson said senior wing back candidates Chris Tiesler and Kevin Van Batavia have the potential to play the tailback and fullback positions, too.
The 130-pound Tiesler and 160-pound Van Batavia will start the year bringing in the plays from the coach while sharing the wingback position.
H-BC-E also will be experienced at the quarterback position as senior David Top returns as a starter.
At 6-4, Top usually has an unobstructed view when looking into the opposing secondary in passing situations. He also can run the ball when pressured.
Although Top has Haak, a 173-pound senior, returning as a starter at end, he lost his leading receivers in Willers and Crawford to graduation last spring.
One of the keys to the offense will be how potential receivers Matt Buck (200-pound senior), Darin DeBoer (160-pound senior) and Brant Deutsch (215-pound junior) progress at the position.
"We threw for more than 900 yards last year, but we lost our two top receivers," Ellingson said.
"Our passing game will depend on what our inexperienced receivers can do this year. As far as our ground game, we’ll run plays out of the I-, split-back formations and out of the T-formation in short yardage situations."
H-BC-E's three interior line positions will be manned by two returning starters and other senior prospects.
Kyle Braun, a 205-pound returning starter at guard, drew honorable mention from the SRC coaches in 2000.
Van Maanen, a 173-pound senior, returns as the starting center. He’ll be backed up by Pat Nelson, a 200-pound junior.
Other senior guard candidates include Ryan Ranschau (230 pounds), Randy Krull (245) and Lee Walraven (165).
Ellingson wants to see improvement from his offense this fall.
"We need to be more productive on offense this year. We got a lot of yards last season, but we would sputter when we got near the end zone. We need to address that and improve as a scoring team," he said.
H-BC-E should be able to take advantage of its quickness on defense, too.
"I think we'll be taking more chances rather than playing teams straight up because we have the personnel to do that. We’ll be more aggressive, like sending more linebackers on blitzes. With good size up front, we hope to control the line of scrimmage against most teams," Ellingson said.
The Patriots have three players returning to the defensive line.
Braun is one of the major contributors back from last year. He is expected to man a defensive tackle position.
Look for Nelson, Krull, Ranschau or Walraven to play the other defensive tackle position.
In Van Batavia and Deutsch, H-BC-E has both of its starting defensive ends back in the ranks.
Buck will play the end position as well.
Depending on the situation, Ellingson will use as few as two or as many as four linebackers on the field at the same time.
Reid is the lone returning starter at linebacker.
Van Maanen, Leuthold and Curt Schilling, a 183-pound sophomore, are other potential linebackers.
A situation could dictate the Patriots to play as many as four and as few as two defensive backs in the secondary.
Haak and Lyle DeBoer are returning starters.
Ellingson likes to have Haak guard the opposing team's best receiver as a cornerback, and he can play the safety position. Lyle DeBoer is a cornerback.
When H-BC played three defensive backs last season, Darin DeBoer usually was the third back.
Top, Tiesler and Clint Roozenboom, a 153-pound junior, are other potential defensive backs.
"The thing I like about our defense is we have a large number of kids who are similar in ability. If some of the kids are playing on offense, too, we should be able to give them a break for a couple of plays without losing much," Ellingson said.
The Patriots open the season by playing a non-conference game against Lakeview in Cottonwood tomorrow night.