Falcons lean on seniors
WALKERTON – With a ton of young and inexperienced players, wins were hard to come by last year for the John Glenn Falcons.
But with 23 returning letterwinners, including 14 seniors, head coach Austin Foust is cautiously optimistic that his team will be much more competitive.
“I believe our experience is a strength,” said Foust, now in his third year. “There is a familiarity with the offense and defense. We are looking for our seniors to set the tone for us and lead us every day.”
Key newcomers added to the mix include seniors Aiden McMahan (CB) and Keith
Eslick (OL) and junior Melachi Wright (DL).
Foust is assisted by Tom Bendy, Jose
Capeles, Zach Combes, Andy King,
John Jolley, Dave Lichtenbarger, Kevin
McCullough and Kevin Smigielski.
After its season opener at home against
Boone Grove, the Falcons will begin
Northern Indiana Conference play against one of the favorites, Mishawaka Marian, also on the home field. The fourth game of the season will be the first one on Jimtown’s new artificial turf. The field is being named after former longtime coach, Bill Sharpe, whose son, Dave, was Glenn’s head coach in 2013-14.
“I think the NIC South is wide open this year with probably Jimtown and Marian at the top going into the year,” added Foust. “I look for a lot of competitive games in the conference.”
The Falcons’ sectional home, Sectional 26, added three schools from the Northeast Corner Conference, giving it a much different look. Besides the Falcons and conference foes Jimtown, Marian and South Washington, Garrett, Lakeland, West Noble and Tippecanoe Valley fill out the rest of the section.
“We don’t have any familiarity with (the new teams),” admitted Foust.