The Record (Troy, NY)

CADETS EXPERIENCE­D BUT LACK DEPTH ENTERING WEEK ONE

La Salle Institute Football prepares for their week one match up with Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk

- By Joe Boyle jboyle@digitalfir­stmedia.com @BoyleAlert­Troy on Twitter

TROY » Friday night is week one for Section Two Football in the area, and La Salle Institute begins their culture change season with a trip to Class B power Ravena- Coeymans-Selkirk.

“Ravena is going to be awesome,” said La Salle Head Football Coach John Audino. “Gary [ VanDerzee] is a great coach, he has a great staff, and they do great things, and they play really hard, so we’re going to have our hands full without a doubt.”

Ravena is coming off of a 4-5 season in 2017 while La Salle tries to bounce back from a 1- 6 year.

“I’m excited about it,” said Audino. “I think we have a good group of guys and I think we are trying to change the culture still. It is a work in progress. I thought the kids did a really good job in camp and made a lot of progress.”

The noticeable weapon for La Salle tomorrow is going to be quarterbac­k Christian Luizzi.

Luizzi is a returning senior who seems to have bought into Audino’s offense, which will be important.

“He understand­s things very

well, he can spring, he can run, he can drop back, he can scramble. He’s a really good player,” said Audino. “If I was a college coach I’d be recruiting that kid I think he’s pretty good.”

Obviously as a former college coach at Union, that is high praise for the senior quarterbac­k.

Luizzi fits well into Audino’s offense, which will be running multiple sets on both offense and defense.

“We’re challengin­g the guys with a lot of multiplici­ty on defense and its taken a while to get the new terminolog­y on their end,” said Audino. “So, I give the guys a lot of credit for getting their nose in the book

and doing what they have to do.”

Other returners have proven to be bright spots in the lineup and will be good leaders as the season progresses.

All returners will need to be successful Friday night against Ravena- Coeymans-Selkirk.

“We have good skill. We have a good tight end we have four good receivers our tallback, [Alton] Ming is shifty, but we need to develop some depth there. We don’t have real depth at tight end, but VanRoy has done a great job,” said Audino. “The three receivers, [Alex] Charland, [Eddie] Mcdonough, and [Cole] Gorleski, are as good of a group that we can get at this level.”

The talent the Cadets will be running out Friday night is there, but the lack

of depth and numbers, will be a cause for concern, especially in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

“We have some spots where we are pretty talented and other spots where we are fishing to see where we are going to be,” said Audnio.

Audnio says that six or seven guys will be playing both sides of the ball including Charland, Gorleski, Ming, and Mcdonough.

Two sides of the ball is already going to be pretty draining for a young team, add in the recent heat wave that has passed through, and that creates a concoction that will prove the Cadets toughness come Friday night.

“It inhibited us a little bit, not as much as you might think, but it’s good,” said Audino on the weeks practice in the heat leading up to week one. “The guys are going to have to play in the heat and I think it is good. I think we are in shape, but you never know if you are in football shape until you get out there.”

Week one is tough to predict an outcome. Coaches have a brief sample size of what their team can do on the field in pads, and teams do not have tape on opponents. It should be an interestin­g match up for La Salle against Ravena, and will be a good indicator on where La Salle will fall this season.

“You don’t want to be too high, you don’t want to be too low,” said Audino on the teams excitement entering week one. “In the end I think we are going to end up doing a pretty good job.”

 ?? PHOTO BY JOE BOYLE ?? La Salle Institute offense preparing for their week one match up with Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk on the brand new turf at La Salle Institute on August 30, 2018.
PHOTO BY JOE BOYLE La Salle Institute offense preparing for their week one match up with Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk on the brand new turf at La Salle Institute on August 30, 2018.
 ?? PHOTO BY JOE BOYLE ?? Head Coach John Audino during an offensive walk through with his team on August 30, 2018at La Salle Institute.
PHOTO BY JOE BOYLE Head Coach John Audino during an offensive walk through with his team on August 30, 2018at La Salle Institute.

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