Prepzone Pigskin Preview 2017

By: Chelsea Croft
NELIGH-OAKDALEWARRIORS
The 2016 football season was a
good one for Neligh-Oakdale.
They went undefeated and won
all eight of their games by large
margins. Head coach Ron Beacon
formed a team that outscored all
of its opponents by an average of
40 points per game.
However, a lot of those players
have since graduated and the
Warriors are preparing for 2017
with a younger, less experienced
group of athletes.
“We have a couple linemen back
on both sides of the ball and we
have our running back back on
offense and a linebacker back on
defense. Unfortunately, we’re
going to miss out on five starters
on both sides,” Beacon said.
Neligh-Oakdale needs to fill ten
crucial positions this year with
only three starters returning on
both sides of the ball.
Beacon said, “We need to really
figure out who our third lineman
is going to be on both sides of the
ball, and we need a kid to step
up or maybe two kids, one on
each side. I think skill-wise we’ll
TEAM FACTS
Team Name: Warriors
Class: D1
2016 Record: 8-0
Playoff Appearances: 0
Head Coach: Ron Beacon
Career Record: 123-51
Assistant Coaches: George Loofe,
Matt Parr
be pretty good, just having kids
understand that they’re going to
have to step up into a larger role
and be confident in their role.”
Other positions include finding
a starting quarterback, a running
back, the receiving core, as well
as the defensive backs and the
majority of special teams.
“We had a four-year starter at
quarterback last year who fully
understood exactly what we were
doing. So he completed right at
79% of his passes. That’s a big
number regardless of what level
you play at,” Beacon said. “So in
order for us to do that, our skill
kids are really going to have to
gel in a hurry. I mean he was
throwing to the same kids for
three years in a row. So to think
that we’ll go out and score 60
points a game, I don’t foresee that
happening early, but I do think
that we can get there because I
think our skill kids are going to
be pretty good.”
The Warriors expect incoming
sophomore Hunter Charf to fills
the role of quarterback.
“He was our backup last year
as a freshman so he’s been in
our system for a full year. He
understands the terminology,
he understands the concepts
that we teach. He hasn’t had the
opportunity to do it in a game
where the game was on the
line,” Beacon said. “I mean he
obviously has a lot of playing
time in games last year because
of the scoring statistic. But he
hasn’t started in a game and done
2017 SCHEDULE
8/25 @ Creighton
8/31 Omaha Nation
9/8 Clearwater-Orchard
9/22 @ Howells-Dodge
9/29 Clarkson/Leigh
10/6 @ Pender
10/13 @ Elgin Public/Pope John
10/20 Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
that kind of thing. Hunter really
wants to be good and he’s gone
to some camps and he’s really
worked on his craft and I really
think he’s going to do a nice job
for us. He’s an intelligent kid. I
don’t know what the time table
will be for him but I think he’ll be
very, very good by the time that
he’s done.”
With a large freshman class
coming in, Beacon said they need
to see a lot more production
and leadership from the
upperclassmen.
“We certainly are going to have
to rely on some new kids, so from
that standpoint I suppose you
could call it a rebuilding year,
but on the other hand I think that
we have very capable people
that we’re hoping to count on.
Therefore I’m not looking at it as
a rebuilding year,” he added.
Key Players:
Andrew Herley (5’9” 145 lbs) Jr.
RB
Nate Buck (5’11” 220 lbs) Sr. C/
DL
Austin Rice (6’1” 170 lbs) Jr. OLB
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