Summer Creek putting struggles in the past
Spring practices see Bulldogs place full focus on fall success
Summer Creek’s coming off a tough season.
The Bulldogs finished under .500, at 3-7 overall, for the first time since going 3-7 in their inaugural season in 2010.
And coach Brian Ford didn’t blame their struggles on the move up to Class 6A.
“We underachieved a little bit,” he said. “We had the talent to compete and just didn’t get it done last year, and we’re going to be real young this year. We’ll be playing a lot of sophomores. We had a really good freshman class and a lot of them are going to get a chance to play this season, so we’ll see what happens.”
They opened spring practice May 8 and wrap things up with the spring game at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at the high school.
The goal going in was to get all those young players ready to contribute this fall.
“We’re just trying to get the best players ready, but there are a lot of good ones in that sophomore class,” Ford said.
As with most teams this time of year, they have plenty of holes to fill, and the process is ongoing.
“We’re going to be young and inexperienced again because we turned over a big group of seniors,” Ford said.
One place they won’t be young is at quarterback.
Zach Walker returns for
his senior season after a junior year that was partially disrupted by a knee injury. Walker was hurt during 7-on-7 play last July and missed the first three games of last season.
“He looks good,” Ford said.
“He’s throwing the ball well, running well, so he’s definitely, I think, the top returning quarterback in the district.”
Junior Isaiah Bean, who filled in at QB until Walker returned, will return to the defensive side.
He saw very limited action as linebacker/defensive end hybrid last season and will play defensive end this fall.
“He’s developing,” Ford said. “He’s got height, but he hasn’t put any weight on yet, so he’s tall and rangy but weighs less than 200 pounds.
“(But) he plays with a high motor, he’s really aggressive and plays hard.”
Ford expects to have as many as 10 sophomores playing around Walker and Bean, but he’s not sure exactly who will contribute yet.
Coaches still are hard at work evaluating their young talent this week.
“We’ve only been on the field three or four times (with the rain), so it’s hard for me to say who will emerge right now,” Ford said.
“We’re still pretty scratchy looking.”
Ford said he’s most worried about his defensive line right now.
“We’re trying to develop some size on the Dline,” he said.
“We moved a kid over from offense ( Jared Crow) who is about 350, and we’ve got a young sophomore who’s about 275, so we’re trying to get bigger up front, and these young guys are some of our bigger kids.”
Ford will continued to look at the D-linemen and the rest of his players through the Bulldogs’ spring game.
“We’ve still got a ways to go,” he said. “We’re just getting started.
“We’re still moving people around. We changed positions as late as (last) Friday, and we’ve still got a couple kids who may wind up doing something that they’re not doing right this second.”
This summer will be equally important for the Bulldogs as they try to climb back into playoff contention.
“The summer workouts will be critical with these young kids, getting stronger and more able to compete at the varsity level as sophomores,” Ford said.
Summer Creek won’t play in any 7-on-7 state qualifying tournaments, but it will play in a weekly 7-on-7 league with North Shore and Atascocita starting in June, even if Ford’s not real excited.
“I don’t like it, to be honest,” he said. “It’s something we have to do to keep up with everybody else, but that’s where we lost Zach last year.
“It does very little for you, and it’s a big risk.”