Pioneers pulling off seamless transition
New faces pick up right where Lutheran South’s graduates left off
In small school football, graduation can cause havoc on even the elite teams. That could have been the case this year for Lutheran South, which lost enough seniors from last year’s second-round playoff team to fill an entire offense and defense without any subs.
Luckily for the Pioneers they’re picking up where they left off.
Thanks to the seamless transition of incumbent quarterback starter Patrick Gonzales, Lutheran South is lighting up the scoreboard just like it did last season with Trent Franson.
Gonzales patiently waited his turn for three years. Now that he is the one throwing all the important passes he is taking advantage of the opportunity.
In three games he has completed 68 percent of his passes and has thrown six touchdowns against one interception. The Pioneers are averaging 43.7 points per game. Two weeks ago against St. John’s they scored 41 in the first half.
“When you graduate 22 seniors you have a question mark,” coach Stephen Robbins said. “We have done a great job. I have been impressed with our quarterback. Patrick is typical student of the game. He knows the game inside and out. He’s a true
leader. I can’t say enough good stuff about him.”
It helps that wide receivers Josh Shelmire and Kyle Hutchins have returned. They combined to catch 135 passes for more than 2,200 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. Robbins said offensive coordinator Aaron Carpenter has been instrumental in the team’s success.
The one spot on offense in which Lutheran South had question marks when the season began is in the trenches where only two starters returned. Robbins said the new group has done well.
Robbins thought despite the roster turnover his team still could be competitive this season but really saw something in a scrimmage against Houston Christian. He believed the Pioneers got the best of that scrimmage and set a tone early on.
That is significant because Houston Christian has begun the season 4-0 with victories over Lutheran South district rivals Northland Christian and Second Baptist.
The Pioneers were off last week so they have been concentrating on shoring up the defense in advance of this week’s game against Danbury. Robbins also hopes his team faces a challenge soon because the Pioneers will be in for several of those when district play begins.
If all goes according to hope this year, Lutheran South will repeat as district champs and win more than one playoff game.
Last year the Pioneers lost their second round game on a field goal with 10 seconds left.
Regardless of what happens eventually, Robbins has made it clear Lutheran South is a program that might be immune to big roster turnover. The Pioneers might be here to stay.
“Five years ago we were 2-8 and everybody was scheduleing us for homecoming,” Robbins said.
“Now we’re on the opposite end of that, but we’re not satisfied. We want to go further than the team did last year.”