Miller Place Football Looking to Take the Next Step

Head coach: Ron Petrie

2010 Results: 4-4

Offense:

The Miller Place offense is returning six starters, including three-year starting quarterback Matt Hinchy. Hinchy led the offense to 17.5 point per game last season, throwing for 680 yards and seven touchdowns and adding 740 yards on the ground to go with eight rushing touchdowns.

The all-division quarterback will be joined in the backfield by three running backs when under center in the team’s wing T base formation. Junior Alex Greenidge and senior Colin Ferral will be joined by sophomore Brett Osman and will carry the majority of the Panther’s rushing load.

“We’ve always had a run first approach,” coach Petrie said. “Even with the (shot)gun that doesn’t change.”

Petrie said the shotgun will be the teams other primary formation.

“It should be a pretty balanced offense,” he continued. “Hinchy was one of our better runners last year so we’ll continue to emphasize him but the other kids certainly are very athletic so it should be a balanced attack. I wouldn’t expect to see one person leading the way in the ground game.”

Petrie also said that senior Danny Fet and junior Adin Greenfield will be the team’s biggest threats at wide receiver.

Defense:

The Miller Place defense is returning nine starters from a unit that allowed 16 points per game in 2010. Three year varsity defensive tackle Ryan Kelly returns to anchor the defensive line, while the team’s leading tackler, Greenidge, returns to man one of the outside linebacker spots in the team’s 4-3 base set.

Danny Fet, Adin Greenfield and Hinchy will all play pivotal roles in the secondary, hoping to shut down the oppositions passing attack.

Petrie said that the team has named four captains – Kelly, Hinchy, Greenidge and starting center Bryce Krawec.

Expectations:

4-4 was nearly enough to make the playoffs last year for Miller Place. This year, Petrie plans on not only making sure his team is above .500 but securing a playoff berth as well.

“We’ll be disappointed if we’re not in the playoffs, we certainly expect to be there,” he said. “.500 would be disappointing also. We feel like we match up very well with everybody on our schedule and there’s no game that’s not winnable for us as long as we play well and execute.”

He also stressed that the experienced gained last year by many players – the team graduated only five seniors – would lead to a more mature and poised group.

“Penalties and turnovers in key situations killed a lot of our chances in close games,” he said. “Hopefully maturity will help with that. We only had five seniors on the team last year, we were very young.”

Key Games

• Sept. 10 at Sayville
• Sept. 16 vs. Harborfields
• Sept.24 at Huntington