Prepzone Pigskin Preview 2017

SHELTONBULLDOGS
By: Chelsea Croft
The Shelton Bulldogs struggled
in 2016, claiming only one win
throughout the season.
They finished 1-7, with that victory
being a forfeit by Axtell. However,
the bulldogs are under new
leadership with Jeff Pohl at the helm.
This is Pohl’s fifth year with Shelton
High School, as he began as an
assistant coach four years ago.
Pohl attributed last year’s struggles
to the lack of experience on the team.
“We were extremely young. We
had like three freshman that played
quite a bit out of necessity more than
necessarily skill at times. We only
had five upperclassmen and seniors
and then we only had small numbers
in the junior class. Like this year,
we’re going to have a couple kids
that will hopefully come back out.
Last year we only had two juniors
out and two sophomores out. We
had five seniors and 10 freshman,”
Pohl said.
With only three returning starters,
Shelton needs to fill all of the line
positions, the running back position,
and the punter/kicker.
“It’s definitely a rebuilding year. I
think though we do have a couple
kids that have moved in that if
TEAM FACTS
Team Name: Bulldogs
Class: D2
2016 Record: 1-7
Playoff Appearances: 10
Head Coach: Jeff Pohl
Career Record: 0-0
Assistant Coaches: Ed Lowe,
Taryn Hawks
they stick around we’re going to be
competitive, even more competitive
than last year. Only because we’ve
got some kids that are willing to buy
into what it takes to win whereas
you kind of change your attitude,”
Pohl said. “So I’m not going to say
we’re rebuilding talent-wise but
we’re probably rebuilding as far as
the culture of the program goes.”
One area the Bulldogs can improve
and continue to build on is the
quarterback position. Marcus Lauber
is a sophomore this year and he
already has a full year of experience
under his belt at the position.
Pohl said, “He came in from day one
and was our first and only option,
so we didn’t even really have a
backup plan. We had to kind of be
conservative with some of our play
calls to keep him upright. This year
we’ve got a couple kids and some
different packages we can use if
something happens, so I’m looking
for more out of him this year. But I’m
pleased where he’s at, but just like
any kid he’s got a long way to go.”
Pohl has certain expectations for
Lauber coming into this season, and
is optimistic he can be the strong
leader the team needs.
“Well hopefully things will just come
to him a lot slower. We just got done
with one of our summer camps that
we’ve signed up to go to and he
looked a little bit more poised back
there,” Pohl said. “It’s tough to come
in as a freshman and play anywhere,
to play every single snap at
quarterback for us and run the plays
that we had in mind, I commend
him for that. I wouldn’t have wanted
to try and do that my freshman
year, any of it. So I just want him to
continue to grow and maybe become
more of a vocal leader this next
year.”
2017 SCHEDULE
8/25 Pleasanton
9/1 @ Sumner-Eddyville-Miller
9/8 @ Fullerton
9/15 Loomis
9/29 @ Axtell
10/6 Lawrence-Nelson
10/13 @ Giltner
10/19 Blue Hill
Pohl also touched on the lack of
depth the Bulldogs dealt with last
year in all positions, and how that
issue was the cause of the majority of
their losses.
“I’m actually extremely excited about
the kids that we’ve got. A couple
upperclassmen that have come back
out, they took a year off for different
reasons and they’re going to come
out. Plus we’ve got our large group
of incoming sophomores. They’re
all getting bigger, stronger and
can hopefully contribute,” he said.
“We’ve got another group of possibly
anywhere from six to eight freshman
coming in, so we’re going to have,
if everything goes well, we’ll have
25 kids out which is awesome. And
even if we don’t get a few of those
outliers out, we’ll still have around
the 20 mark which is great. That will
allow us to play a full JV slate with
our youth and that’s going to be a
huge thing too.”
Key Players:
Daniel Romero (6’ 180 lbs) Sr. WR/
DE
Marcus Lauber (6’2” 165 lbs) Soph.
QB
Ben Bombeck (5’ 10” 190 lbs) Soph.
RB/ OL
DENTAL CARE FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY
SERVING THE SHELTON AREA FOR 30+ YEARS
GO BULLDOGS!
DR GAYLE KNOLL • 106 C STREET, SHELTON • 308-647-6658
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