Cayuga Wildcats Football 2016
Cayuga Wildcats Will See Youth Movement in 2016
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CAYUGA – The Cayuga Wildcats will see new faces on both sides of the line as they only return a handful of starters from last year’s 2-9 team.
AD/Head Coach Cody Mohan said, “I have three offensive linemen coming back and my quarterback – who played tailback last year – and I have a little X receiver who’s coming back, but other than that, that’s it on offense. It’s pretty much the same case on defense. We will have quite a few young kids on the field, but quite a few of them did get some experience last year.”
At QB, Coach Mohan said Tristan Davis will start. “He’s a good leader and that’s a big part of it. In the offense we run, you don’t necessarily have to have a great passer. With Tristan at QB, it does give us the option of running him if we need to. I feel confident with him because he’s a good leader and the other guys in the huddle like him a lot,” the coach said.
Joining Davis in the backfield will be two different sets of running backs. “I have a kid named Colton Bock who’s a senior and then I have a sophomore named Ryder Sparkman and they’ll both play tailback.”
At the wide-out positions, Coach Mohan said, “If we are in a passing set, my Z receiver is a sophomore named Eli Lust. At the X receiver, I use a kid named Gevon Williams and he’s a senior.”
The line looks to be a strength for the Wildcats as they have three seniors upfront. “They’re big kids. I have Kolby Cooper at right tackle and Josh Ingram will be my left tackle. At one of the guard positions will be another senior in Albert Calhoun. My center is moving from fullback and his name is Eric Freshour. He mainly played defense and special teams for us last year.
On the defensive side of the ball, Mohan said, “We have the three big boys in Kolby, Josh and Albert up front and they will have a good, solid rotation in the middle. Our defensive ends are going to be newer. Eric Freshour is going to play defensive end and on the other side we will have Terrell McBride.”
Mohan said the linebackers will be anchored by Sparkman who moves from the middle to an outside LB. “Logan Ballard will start in the middle and one of our defensive ends from last year named Chris Poole will play the other outside position,” he said.
In the secondary, Tristan Davis will play strong safety and will be joined by “… Gevon Williams at one of the corners. Eli Lust will play at free safety and Cody Harrell will play at the other corner.”
“Our strength coming into the season will be our experience. Last year, I was new here in Cayuga and I felt like we didn’t quite grasp all of the concepts I was trying to put in with the offense and defense. I really tried to concentrate on being physical because we were a lot bigger last year. We had some really big kids. We still have one or two, so we’re still trying to be physical but we’re also really focused on our execution this year. I feel like our offensive and defensive lines are going to be a big part of our strength,” he said.
HOW I SEE IT: Look for Cayuga to finish third in district. Big Sandy and Kerens have a significant amount of starters returning and should hold down the top two spots. Union Grove will capture the fourth playoff spot, but if Big Sandy or Kerens slip up, look for Cayuga to slide into the top two.
