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After finishing 8-2 a year ago in the regular season with a district championship and a playoff berth, the Fayette Falcons look to expand on their success. Head Coach Billy Huthman returns for his fourth year. And if his past here has been any indication, fans should have a great season for which to look forward.
Huthman was faced with rebuilding the Class 1 Falcons and managed a record of just 2-8 in 2005. A year later he led his team to a winning record of 6-4 and pushed the Falcons to their first district championship since 1994 for his third season.
Fayette fell in the postseason last year to top-ranked and eventual state champion Orrick. But losing to the best team didn’t wash away the sour flavor.
“We have goals and expectations every year. And we don’t think we met them last year,” said Huthman. “We had a great record. We got to the playoffs. But we didn’t finish. Finishing is getting to St. Louis and getting a ring.”
Huthman and his coaching staff incorporated a new Wing-T offense last season, also known as the spinner backs. “We’re in the shotgun every play,” Huthman explained. “The quarterback hides the ball and we have motion every play. It’s a fun offense. You never know who has the ball. And we have three different options to go with it.”
Seniors Miles Westhues, Breeze Farr and Jeremy Dawson helped lead a pack of hungry juniors more than 2,800 yards offensively while allowing just 21 points a game on defense.
While Westhues embraced the new offense with more than 1,000 yards in the air and 368 on the ground for a combined 14 touchdowns, his graduation has made way for then backup quarterback Dalton LeNoir to take the reins. Now a junior, LeNoir looks to lead his team to another district crown.
“I put the wrist band on Dalton with 180 plays and he knows them all,” Huthman said. “It’s like having another coach out there. He knows everybody’s position. He’s phenomenal. He knows how to line them up. And he can read defenses so he can actually call some audibles, which we couldn’t do in the past.”
The majority of Fayette’s offense last year came on the ground. More than 1,600 yards were tallied in the running game. However, LeNoir is a much more comfortable passer and sees the field, and his receivers, very well. “I think right now it makes us more of a balanced attack,” added Huthman. “He’s not afraid to run. He’s not as fast as Miles was, but we’re only asking him to be a five-yard threat to keep those linebackers staying inside. We can run, run, run, then do some play action and we’re right there.”
And LeNoir has one of the fastest receivers in the state bullseye. All-Conference and All-District senior Ryan Sherman led Fayette last year in scoring with 27 receptions for 521 yards (19.3 per catch) and eight touchdowns. He also had four rushing touchdowns and five as the Falcons’ top return man.
This season, Sherman will also see considerable time as a running back. “We ran 40s the other day and Ryan Sherman had a 4.5 flat. And that was in cleats,” Huthman said.
Another threat down field is Jacob Rice. The senior had just three grabs a year ago in his return to the gridiron, but has now established himself as one of the Falcons go-to receivers.
And according to Huthman, LeNoir doesn’t play favorites when distributing the ball. “Dalton has done a great job of getting the ball around the field. He’s not afraid to throw to anybody.”
Fayette’s top two rushers from a year ago, Westhues and Farr, have graduated. So Sherman will likely see more touches from the backfield. He netted 263 last season. Junior Boone Priddy, who saw limited time a year ago, will likely earn a starting role along side Sherman.
With more than 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Ethan Boulden returns to the full back position. Now a junior, the 6’1, 190-pound powerhouse is poised to pack the pigskin for big yards in 2008.
He will be joined by senior Keyton Schweighauser who returns to Fayette after spending a year at nearby Boonville.
Up front, Fayette returns its offensive line from a year ago, three of whom are seniors. Center JaQuan Jones (6’2-265), left guard Matt Pritchard (5’10-255) and left tackle Demarcos Estes (6’0-250) will all start Friday.Junior Canaan Asbury (6’2-185) also returns from last year. Huthman said he is competing for a spot on the right side with junior Alex Hilderbrand (6’1-210), sophomore Joseph Meave (5’9-225) and newcomer and junior Jordan Setler (5’8-240).
“We’re piecing the right side together. We’ve got four kids who are fighting for it right now,” Huthman said. “Jordan Setler is a good-sized individual. And Alex Hilderbrand and Joseph Meave are both working for it.”
Fayette’s defensive line looks just as strong. Jones and Estes will start at the ends and Pritchard will start at nose tackle. Those three combined for a total of 176 tackles last season.
Three players will rotate for the fourth position.
Defensive coordinator Tom Oakley will run a modified 4-4 set. “He changed it just a little bit,” Huthman explained. “It’s still going to be more of a 4-4 but it’s in more of a 3-5 phase. We’re bringing our nose and tilting him into the center of the play.”
And the Falcons will sport one of the strongest linebacker corps in the area. Despite coming off shoulder surgery, Boulden will anchor the line backers. He earned All-Conference, All-District and dream team honors among others as a sophomore last season with an area-leading 171 (88 solo) tackles. Huthman said the surgery, which occurred last spring, was to correct a torn labrum. Other than wearing a brace under his shoulder pads, he has shown no signs of discomfort.
“He’s fine,” said Huthman. “Mindset-wise, he’s ready to go.”
Schweighauser will also start as inside linebacker. On the outside, junior Logan Ball will start. Juniors Collin Mackey and Rodney Felten and sophomore transfer Mavrick Frerking will rotate at the second outside linebacker position.
“Our linebackers are pretty thick and with our defensive line I think our defense will be our strongest point,” Huthman said.
Sherman and Rice will take over as the defense’s two corner backs. And junior Mikey Thompson returns from a year away from the field to take over as free safety. “Mikey likes to run into things,” Huthman said with a smile. “He’s not afraid of contact at all.”
And when Fayette’s defense forces another stop, Sherman will again be there as a scoring threat. The state sprinter scored five touchdowns a year ago for the return team. He will also resume his duties as Fayette’s extra-point kicker.
Fayette graduated its First Team All-State punter in Jeremy Dawson. LeNoir will take over that position, which gives Fayette yet another edge. “That’s nice to have back there because all of a sudden he can step back and throw,” Huthman said. “And with Ryan as one of the screamers, if he can get away from somebody and we can get a quick ball off, we can make something happen.”
With all of Fayette’s assets, goals such as sweeping districts again and entering the postseason are expected. One goal Fayette did not reach in 2007 was a conference championship. A disappointing 43-8 loss to Paris stopped the Falcons cold in their quest for the conference crown. But Paris is without the head coach and quarterback that created that lopsided score.
Huthman remained humble, however, and put the spotlight on Marceline as the conference favorite. “They have that tradition,” he said. “They don’t rebuild, they reload.”
Head Coach Deacon Windsor led his young Tigers to a district championship last year. But last season Fayette had their number and pulled out a 35-27 victory on the road.
“Deacon and myself are sort of like best friends, but we’re enemies once a year,” Huthman said. “We’ll have two films on them by then and we’ll come up with something against them. Last year their DBs were weak and we had quite a few yards throwing against them. We’ll probably throw the ball a little more again.”
The Fayette-Marceline rivalry will continue in Fayette during week 3 of the 2008 season on Sept. 12. But Huthman has upped the ante for his team early on. The Falcons open the season against Knox County Aug. 29 and travel to third-ranked Tipton a week later.
“With our first three games we’re going to find out a lot,” Huthman said. “For Class 1 football, I don’t think you can get any tougher for those first three games. It’s going to be a lot of hard hitting.”
But that’s what it takes to improve to a ranked team able to contend in the post season. “We can’t play down to levels,” Huthman explained. “And we did last year against certain opponents. When you play down, it’s hard to play up to levels when you need to. As a coaching staff, we stay on them. We try to simulate our practices to games. That’s the way you’re going to beat a team like Orrick.”
Fayette hosts the annual preseason jamboree at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Saturday) at Central Methodist University’s Davis Field. Hallsville, Mark Twain and conference foe Slater will participate.
© Copyright 2002-2005 by Wood Creek Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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