Sports
Depth Will Help Eureka Football: 2011 Review
Following a 9-2 season, the Wildcats look to return to the playoffs. Lafayette will be a tough conference foe. Following is the schedule as well.
When football coach Farrell Shelton says the team is traditionally a running team, he knows of what he speaks. He’s been the head coach 11 years and an assistant the 11 before that—long enough to be a tradition himself.
Last year’s season was one he’s likely to be happy is part of that tradition. The Wildcats finished the regular season 9-1 (7-1 in the Suburban West conference) then took care of Northwest, Fox and Oakville in playoffs with a combined score of 128-0, before Lindbergh finished Eureka’s run 14-6.
“We lost some big seniors,” Farrell said, about that team.
Some of those seniors are now at the next level for another four years of football. Quarterback Sean Strehle is now at Northern Iowa, and wide receiver Chase Bollinger to Central Missouri State. Other big graduation losses are Andy McNeel, Sherman Hall and Larrye Minner.
Returning on offense are receiver Aaron Schnurbusch, running back Spencer Stein, center Rob Cidlik, guard Connor Fairfax.
“At Eureka, we’ve been a traditional run team,” Farrell said. “Even though it’s a spread formation, we’re going to run the football.”
On the defensive line, Mike Weitzel will be returning. Linebackers Kyle Spratt, Ben Southards and Nate Echard will be back, and in the secondary, Matt Hentges will be back.
Farrell said they pride themselves on their defense. “We don’t give up big plays, we just play solid defense to make a team earn the field.” Eureka plays a 3-5 defense.
“Our strength is our depth,” Shelton said. He said there are 29 seniors on the team, and 90 players in grades 10-12.
“We don’t have a big game-breaker. We don’t have one kid that can win a game by himself,” he said. “What we have is a bunch of kids that can plug in, which has made practice good, competition is good. Kids know if they have a bad practice or loose their focus, they can lose their starting position nightly.”
Farrell said their schedule is typical Suburban West conference: tough. He picked the team to win the conference. “To me, they are head and shoulders above everybody else,” Farrell said.
Lafayette is first on their schedule. “On that night, honestly, if we play our A game, they play their A game, they’ll beat us. We’re going to have to wait for a couple of mistakes and capitalize,” he said.
What we focus on night by night is a process of getting better up to the game.
After Lafayette, “Lindbergh will be in there, Oakville will be in there. Everything else is scrambled out,” he said. “The biggest thing in high school is staying healthy for games 8, 9, and 10, and you can make a run into the playoffs.”
2011 EUREKA FOOTBALL VARSITY SCHEDULE
8/26 at Lafayette High 7 p.m. 9/2 at Mehlville High 7 p.m. 9/10 vs. Marquette High 1:15 p.m. Note: game to be played at Edward Jones Dome 9/16 at Washington High 7 p.m. 9/23 vs. Parkway South High 7 p.m. 9/30 at Lindbergh High 7 p.m. 10/7 vs. St. Louis University High School 7 p.m. 10/14 vs. Northwest High 7 p.m. 10/21 vs. Fox High 7 p.m. 10/28 at Oakville 7 p.m.