Attack-minded Wildcats turn focus to defense
After lighting up the scoreboard a year ago, Clear Creek hopes to bring balance to forceful attack
For years the first thing football fans thought of when it comes to Clear Creek is its up tempo and high flying offense.
This year the Wildcats hope to make defense a calling card, too.
Clear Creek returns eight starters from last year’s defense, which is a few more than it has in recent memory. It helps that most of them have been productive players.
“The kids who are coming back are good players for us so that’s a plus,” coach Darrell Warden said. “Sometimes you have starters coming back who weren’t very good so sometimes that’s a problem. But we have some good talent with a lot of experience.”
It starts with linebacker Nik Daniels, a two-time first team all-district pick. Daniels had 11 sacks among 16 tackles for loss as a defensive end last season. He was playing there out of necessity. This season, however, the Wildcats feel more comfortable with
that they have on the line so Daniels will move back to the second level.
“You can’t just run away from him now,” Warden said. “Hopefully that will help us get him involved.”
They biggest factor in the potentially improved defense will be the secondary. Colby Burton and Earnest Thomas both were all-district first team picks last year. Lofton Hicks has been an all-district pick twice.
Having dependable defensive backs could help Clear Creek limit how effective opponents have been wearing down the front seven and stop them from running the ball as effectively in the fourth quarter.
“When you have good corners you can do a lot of different things in the box,” Warden said. “We have looked at changing the schematics of our defense so we can get a little bit bigger inside. If we get more people in the box that will help us against teams that run the ball well. Last year teams would give us trouble because our five in the box were not as big as their five.”
The bonus is that the returning players each have added 15-20 pounds of muscle. Warden said looking at them on film now compared to last year at this time is like looking at a different team.
Many of the names this season, however, will not be different. That includes the offense where all of the top playmakers return for another run through District 24-6A.
Quarterback Chase Hildredth is back, along with his top three receivers Landon Etzel, Brandon Hower and Andy Wiesen and leading rusher Jaiden Woodson.
As usual, the Wildcats offense should be scoring points at will. The difference this season is the defense likely will be just as good. It all points to another Clear Creek team challenging for the district championship and winning playoff games.
“Last year we were juniors and this year we’re seniors,” Warden said. “Hopefully that means we’ll be better.”