Wildcats football looks ahead to fall 2016 season
As spring practice comes to a close, Wildcat offense shines as they put up 34 points in Saturday's scrimmage.
May 6, 2015
The Central football team, that has been back in action since spring practice began on April 8, is working toward achieving a new goal this season: making playoffs and becoming GNAC champions. The Wildcats finished in third place this past fall with a 7-4 overall record and a 4-2 record in conference play.
“For the most part, it’s just going to be us growing a little bit more. I think we should be one of the top teams in the conference year in and year out,” head coach Ian Shoemaker said. “We’re disappointed with our [third] place finish last year. We want to make sure we’re finishing as the conference champs, and our job is to put our kids in the position to do that.”
Offense coming easier
Shoemaker is now in his second off-season as Central’s head coach. Shoemaker came in last season and implemented an up-tempo, fast-paced offense. The main goal of this style is to get as many points on the scoreboard as possible.
“He likes to run an Oregon Duck type of offense; a lot of zone reads and a lot of deep passes,” quarterback Jake Nelson said. “I like to run, so our zone read helps with my ability to run. He calls [the] offense to what I like to do.”
The 6-foot-2 junior is noticing a tremendous difference between this and last year’s spring seasons. After a full season of learning a new offense last year, Nelson is feeling more comfortable and confident than ever now that he and the offense have adjusted to this new style of play.
“Last year, it was all learning,” Nelson said. “Practice one; we were installing every new play we had. This year’s first practice, we already knew what we were doing; we already knew how to line up, and it was just going. Last year was a lot of learning, and this year is just trying to get better.”
Shoemaker, on the same parallel as Nelson, has noticed the vast difference in his players’ abilities on the field.
“The technique has improved; the decision making has improved. I think our kids understand how we want to operate, [and] how we want to practice,” Shoemaker said. “We jumped into it a lot quicker and are performing at a higher level earlier this spring.”
Growing on defense
The offense wasn’t the only thing that changed for the Wildcats last year. When Shoemaker was hired, he brought along defensive coordinator Payam Saadat. The defense then had to learn a new scheme and terminology. Defensive and special teams star Isaiah Davis summarized the last season as a year to mature with one another.
“It was a growth year; I would say that was the main thing,” Davis said. “We were young, we were learning a new defensive system, so I feel like as the year progressed we definitely got better from what our skills and techniques were. We weren’t quite able to put it all together. This year we aren’t learning it anymore. Now we’re perfecting it.”
Transition to Regular Season
The team concluded the spring season with its annual Crimson and Black game on May 2. In this game, Central’s offense wore black and faced off against the defense who wore crimson. The offensive side got the best of defense with a 34-11 victory in the scrimmage at Tomlinson Stadium.
The team returns to regular season action September 5 against the defending national champions, Colorado State-Pueblo, in an away game.