Orchard Farm's Offensive Line to Pave the Way

To listen to Phil Kendall talk about his 2011 Orchard Farm football team is like listening to a proud father talk about his child’s latest achievement.

Coming off a 5-5 season that had both blowout wins and losses, Kendall is confident that his Eagles can make a run for the Eastern Missouri Conference title in their final season in the league. Orchard Farm went 3-2 in conference play last year.

With 14 returning starters, the Eagles are a fairly experienced group, especially where it counts—in the trenches.

Offense:

While the fifth starter isn’t quite set, the Eagles bring back four returning starters on the offensive line. Two of the three players vying for the starting job at left guard have varsity experience.

Seniors Wyatt Weber, Jake Nevins and Zach Bine will start at right tackle, right guard and center, respectively. Bine was an all-conference performer last year at center and will also start this year at defensive tackle. Junior Aaron Payne, sophomore Brett Kilian and senior David Roy are competing for the job at left guard, while Kendall is expecting senior left tackle Jorden Richardson to dominate.

“I’d say the biggest thing we’re excited about is our offensive line,” Kendall said. “The skill players always get the ink, but we’ve got some guys who are returning three and four-year starters who are very knowledgeable, and we expect big things out of them.

“It’s pretty well known that our offensive line should be one of the biggest parts of our team,” Kendall said.

Behind that line will be senior quarterback Blake Liscombe, who set a school record for pass efficiency last year. Kendall is expecting the accurate Liscombe to be even better this season.

Junior David Johnson, who is 5 foot 8 inches tall and 150 pounds, wants to get to the edge and run, but is willing to run it between the tackles. He only had 27 varsity carries last year, but averaged 8.8 yards per attempt. Kendall called him the “fastest running back we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

One of the receivers, Johnson, will be throwing to is 6-foot-3-inch junior Phillip Cooley, who caught 18 passes for 212 yards and a score. Senior Nick Knobbe is the team’s leading returning receiver, with 18 receptions for 298 yards and three TDs.

Defense:

Orchard Farm runs a base 4-3 defense, but will “move guys around” as the opposing offense dictates personnel. Pugh and Nevins will lead a deep linebacker corps while Kendall called Johnson and Knobbe his “cover corners” on the outside.

Knobbe, a third-year varsity starter, comes off an all-conference campaign in 2010 when he recorded 44 tackles and an interception. Although numbers are pretty good, Kendall said the Eagles will still use a lot of two-way starters.

Coach:

Kendall is entering his 16th season at Orchard Farm and his ninth as coach. He has an overall record of 35-45 and won the Eastern Missouri in Orchard Farm’s first year in the league. He’d like to win it again in the school’s final season before it joins the Gateway Athletic Conference next season.

Schedule:

The  and will break in the new turf at Luxembourg Field when they play rival Montgomery County in the home opener the following week.

“We have high expectations,” Kendall said. With the entire offensive line back and a returning senior quarterback, there aren’t many reasons for Kendall not to be excited.