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| OPTION GAME—Ponchatoula quarterback Dylan Ellerman (12) pitches to slotback Cody Gueldner, left, while defensive tackle Jonathan Kinchen (99) closes in during spring practice Thursday.
Photo by John Lenz |
PONCHATOULA—There hasn't been a great deal of rain at Ponchatoula's spring football practices, but there's been a bunch of thunder.
It's coming from the Greenies themselves as Ponchatoula head coach Mike Baiamonte dials up the heat on his players with one simple goal — find and identify people who will bring the pain.
"We put a lot of focus this spring on being physical," said Baiamonte, entering his second year at the Green Wave helm off of a 1-9 season last year which was actually an improvement over the winless 2006 Wave campaign.
"We have hit
every day of those 11 (practice days)," Baiamonte said. "We've paid the price for it; there's some kids banged up. But in all my years of coaching, this is the most hitting I've ever done in the spring — ever, going back to Shaw and all those years.
"We wanted to see if we had a little mental toughness, if we could develop some attitude, and I think over these past few weeks, we have. Those first two weeks, you saw guys flying around, trying to hit each other.
"Last year, you didn't see that, although we weren't emphasizing it that much. Last year we knew we weren't physically ready to take that pounding. We're on the borderline right now of being able to take that pounding. Overall we're physically stronger at every position on the field, and in this district, I think that's what you have to hang your hat on."
Good thing, too, because there's not much experience back. On offense, four returning starters lead the way, including three in a much-improved offensive line — Justin Avery, Darin Moore and Brandon LeBoef.
They also have rising junior Joseph Green back at fullback after a strong second half last season, and Baiamonte is high on slotbacks Cody Gueldner and Jacques West.
"We get better at both slot positions this year," Baiamonte said. "We're stronger. We're not much bigger, but we're a lot stronger. Our fullback, Joe Green, has got to be a featured runner, and I think our offensive line is going to be good enough to allow him to be.
"We need to keep ourselves out of third-and-long this year. I think our chances this year of staying in front of the chains is a lot better."
The Greenies must replace starting quarterback Chaz Briggs in their triple option offense and will do so with either senior Dylan Ellerman or sophomore Eldrid Palmer.
Defensively, the experience is in the secondary, where the Greenies have three starters back — cornerback Michael Williams and safeties Ben Schaff and Davron Nora. But they have work to do at linebacker — especially replacing playmaking middle linebacker Jordan Piper — and up front.
"Our front four has come on real good this spring," Baiamonte said. "Our middle linebacker (Caleb Muse) is going to be a sophomore, but he's got the skills to be a good player. He'll go through some lumps this year, but he's going to be a good player.
"Our front seven last year, Jordan Piper made that work. This year, we have a real good chance to be better."
All of that will get a thorough test next Thursday when the Green Wave takes on Baiamonte's mentor, Hank Tierney and his West Jefferson Bucs, at 5 p.m. at The Swamp.
Baiamonte is looking forward to a matchup that will tell him how much of the improvement he sees is real, and how much is illusion.
"So far, it's just us; we've been hitting each other," Baiamonte said. "Let's see what happens next week when West Jeff rolls into town. They're going to be a little bigger than us, a little stronger than us. Let's see what happens now."
dylan ellerman wrote on May 10, 2008 5:02 PM: