Portagers
begin practice with noticeable absences
By MATT WENZEL, Manistee News Advocate
Sports Editor
ONEKAMA — With a crisp jog from the locker
room down the street to the practice field, the Onekama Portagers kicked
off their first day of football practice on Monday evening.
The Portagers stretched as a team, then broke apart in groups to work on
drills.
On the surface, it was much like Onekama’s first practice in years past,
and probably very similar to those conducted by high school teams across
the state on the first official day of practice.
However, there was a big difference for the Portagers, who are now
without longtime coaches Jim Taylor and Tim Klein.
Taylor started the Onekama football
program in 1964 and has served as an assistant to head coach Jim Hunter
in recent years, while Klein was instrumental in the Portagers’ veer
offense.
“There’s a lot of challenges for us this year, obviously, with both
coach Klein and coach Taylor retiring,” Hunter said. “Those Hall of Fame
coaches just don’t fall out of the sky.”
Taylor wasn’t on the field with the Portagers Monday, but he was there
in more than spirit. Just seconds after the players reached the practice
field, Taylor pulled up in his car to watch from a distance, and
admitted he couldn’t stay away from the program he built.
“After 73 long years of life on the planet and almost all of them as a
coach, I guess the guy deserves a break,” Hunter said with a smile. “The
same with Tim — he came over and helped with the veer tremendously and
sped up our learning curve a bunch. Again, I owe those guys the whole
world here.”
John Neph returns as an assistant coach, along with newcomer Mike
Kolanowski, a 2004 Manistee graduate.
“Mike’s doing a great job and I think our kids are going to really like
playing for him and I think he’s going to get the most out of them,”
Hunter said. “He’s a very knowledgeable young man, so it will be a good
plus for us and hopefully Mike learns a little too. It’s a win-win for
everybody.”
Aside from the coaching shakeup, it was business as usual for the
Portagers, who had been gearing up for the day since their final game
last season.
Onekama finished last season 3-6 after making the playoffs the previous
two years.
“We start day one after the last game — what you’re going to have and
who’s going to be there,” Hunter said. “You always like to get going.”
The same goes for the players, no matter how they’ve spent the summer so
far.
“I’ve been looking forward to it,” said senior Thomas Koon, who played
summer league baseball. “I want to hit somebody.”
Senior Dan Gillespie, who’s started at quarterback the last two seasons,
said he’d also been looking forward to the first practice.
“I’ve been lifting weights and just getting ready for this day,” he
said. “I want to go out with a bang.”
Onekama had only 22 players out for the first day of practice, but low
numbers is nothing out of the ordinary for the Portagers.
“That’s not a new phenomenon, but it’s one where we’re still trying to
work hard to get over the hump,” Hunter said. “Hopefully by the end of
the week, we’ll be at 30.”
Published August 10, 2009 |
Members of the Onekama High
School football team jog from their locker room to the practice
field for the first day of practice on Monday evening. (Matt
Wenzel/News Advocate)
The Portagers stretched as a
team, then broke apart in groups to work on drills. On the surface,
it was much like Onekama’s first practice in years past, and
probably very similar to those conducted by high school teams across
the state on the first official day of practice. (Matt Wenzel/News
Advocate)
Onekama senior quarterback
Dan Gillespie (right) hands the ball off to senior running back Jake
Matthews during a drill. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)
Given the low numbers, Hunter said the
Portagers will likely only field a varsity team this season, unless they
can schedule some eight-man junior varsity games.
Regardless of his team’s size, Hunter said he’s relying on experienced
players to make up for the lack of numbers.
“What we’ve got here is a lot of quality,” he said. “We don’t have a lot
of guys, but they’re quality. A lot of these guys gained a lot of
experience last year when we were playing a lot of freshmen and
sophomores, now they’re sophomores and juniors and we’ll see that growth
and improvement on the field.”
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