YHS Football: New Coach, Players and Attitude

The bid farewell to 35 seniors last spring and welcomed Hall of Famer Karl Hoinkes as its new head coach.

While the Foxes will certainly look different this fall both in the players on the field and the head coach in charge on the sideline, that doesn't mean success is necessarily going to come overnight.

"Success is the offspring of hard work and no one can predict it," Hoinkes said. "There's no magic formula. It's the kids believing in what they're doing and the coaches believing in it, and we have a lot of work to do."

Hoinkes said that personnel decisions on starting assignments remained up in the air heading into the opener and that a lot of things could play out over time.

"Our goal has been to get better everyday in practice and get better every week and then let the chips fall where they can," he said. "I don't know who will do what or what will happen, but I predict we'll play hard, and we'll hopefully play smart."

Senior Neil O'Brien might not have the biggest frame at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, but he bruised his way to 181 rushing yards on 26 carries during last .

O'Brien looks to be the key tailback for the Foxes this fall, although junior Alton Jones could get his fair share of touches as well.

The quarterback role will go to senior Nick Gillette or junior Jake Anton while several players could find time on the offensive line and if not there, on the other side of the football. The top offensive linemen and defensive linemen for the Foxes include Tanner Cook, Brandon Howard, Aaron Hubbard, Alex Marchewka, Matt Pansera, Mitch Klossing, as well as 6-foot-6, 285-pound Kurtis Brummerstedt and 6-foot-4, 280-pound Seth Gonzealez.

Jordan Gingrich, Ilir Emini, Cody Knudsen, Garrett Knox, among others, are the top players who are being considered at wide receiver and Brian McCue and Josh Gengler are the leading guys at tight end.

Defensively, Mitch Prickett, Troy Baebel, Brandan Mispagel and Dan Scott are the squad's top linebackers while many of the players vying for time on the o-line could also play on the d-line.

"These line guys are some that we expect to play a lot," Hoinkes said. "But it's a learning process, both for the coaching staff and the players, and we're just going out and trying to get better each day."

Hoinkes picked up career victory No. 191 when the Foxes beat Streator on Friday. That leaves him just nine away from No. 200, but who knows how long it'll take for Yorkville to be a double-digit win team. The Foxes haven't won more than three games in a season since 2002 and Hoinkes is stressing patience and small steps rather than a gigantic leap.

"I think you'll see our competitive edge improve as our junior high feeder program continues to grow," he said. "We have compete control of the program all the way down and we select the offense and defense. The youth tackle numbers are improving and I think the growth and success will continue."

Yorkville travels to East Aurora in Week 2 and judging by the Tomcats history of struggles, including a blowout loss to West Aurora in Week 1, the Foxes have a very good shot of heading into Week 3 undefeated. After that, they'll host Ottawa, Morris, DeKalb and Sycamore and have great challenges on the road at Geneseo, Rochelle and Kaneland.

"In year's past when we'd had a great football team I had a better idea where we stood," Hoinkes said. "I don't know enough about the teams we're playing right now. I just know there's really good teams in our conference so we're going to have to ready for everybody."