Greg Wyrick and Jason Pierson are both in their first year as head coach of a high school football team. Both coach eight-man football. And right there the similarities between the two men end as they prepare to meet on Rolla’s field Friday night.
Wyrick inherited a team laden with seasoned seniors like Tanner Stevens, Garret Somerhalder, Tanner McFarland and Ruben Perez and a capable, experienced dual-threat sophomore quarterback in Ross Binford.
Pierson, on the other hand, took a look around the first day of practice last month and saw exactly 11 bodies on the field. How did he finally end up with 19 going out? “It took a lot of PR work,” he said. It goes without saving that having to persuade students to join the team two weeks before the season opener is less than the most enviable position for a first-year coach.
Though Haviland is 1-1, their loss last week was to a bigger, more experienced Greensburg squad and wasn’t assured until the fourth quarter. Rolla, on the other hand hasn’t even been in either of its first two games, losing 50-0 to Goodwill, Oklahoma in the opener and then 42-8 last week to a young Moscow squad.
As if those numbers weren’t dispiriting enough, consider the Pirates gave up an even dozen turnovers against Goodwill—that’s right, 12 turnovers in a single three-quarter game. Turning the ball over only four times at Moscow was a big improvement—300 percent improvement, in fact.
Even worse, Pierson’s club could muster only two first downs against Moscow, able to score only once despite being in the red zone eight times. Typical of the night’s futility was a series of miscues that led from being first and goal at Moscow’s eight to facing fourth and 49 a couple of minutes later.
“We had three penalties and a snap go over our quarterback’s head,” Pierson said. “We started eight yards from pay dirt and ended up punting from our side of the field.”
While Rolla was competitive in most of its games a year ago, Pierson acknowledged the school’s football program “lost a lot” at graduation last May, starting with running back Michael Edmondson who accounted for a little more than 2,100 all purpose yards in 2008. Also gone is Edmondson’s tenacity as the Pirates’ mike linebacker.
Andrew Munn anchored the offensive line last year as a senior, while the departed Marshall Clinesmith gave solid and consistent play under center. Nick McNamary is also missed as an above average center and nose guard.
Pierson was counting on Jessie Lane to be the building block of his offensive line this season until the senior moved away in late July.
Though the positives are few for Pierson’s team this year, they do exist, such as having a balanced offense, or so it would seem. “Really we run the spread a lot, because we don’t have the horses for a power game,” he said. “So we’re about 50/50 between the run and pass because we’re not outstanding at either one.”
Having only one senior with any varsity experience—Spencer Light—Pierson has had to turn to younger guys, meaning three sophomores and four juniors will take the field with Light. The closest thing Pierson has to a feature player is Koda Rich who played some tailback last year but is now utilized in the slot or as a wide out in the spread. The starting quarterback is a converted tight end from last year—Bo Ferrell.
Though Haviland Coach Greg Wyrick says his squad is not looking past the Pirates, Pierson likely wouldn’t blame them if they did.
Asked if his team has anything in particular going for it heading into Friday night’s contest, Pierson paused a moment before saying, “One good thing is that the game is here last year. That was one long bus ride a year ago.”
Greensburg, KS —
