WESTVILLE — This preseason is one which Guy Goodlove can appreciate.
With a lot of starters returning, the Westville coach can focus on getting the team better.
“We lost one starter on both sides of the ball, so it is very nice as a coach because they know the routine and the expectations,” Goodlove said. “I have a saying that if you have a great group of seniors, you can solve a lot of problems and we have a great group of seniors and juniors as well. The expectations are high and we have had very good practices and hopefully if we stay injury-free, then good things will happen for us. My philosophy has always been positive attitude and hard work equals success and I think we will make good things happen.”
“We are all really experienced, bought into the process and we want to make a playoff run and win conference,” senior Easton Barney said. “We are buying in and coming to practice and working hard every day and we want to go farther than the first round.”
Goodlove’s teams are built on the lines and this season’s edition is no exception.
“We got our entire offensive line with Grant Beckley at left tackle, Ethan Miller at left guard, who was all-area last year, our center Jace Smith, our right guard Brayden Barrett and our right tackle Reid Smith is back,” Goodlove said. “With my program, we always built our teams on offensive and defensive lines and that’s a nice luxury because, a lot of them have played for two or three years.”
The line sets up for the specialists, which are also very experienced.
“We got Easton Bolin returning at quarterback. We have Landon Coon, Lincoln Cravens, Easton Barney at receiver and Jack Ajster toward the last half of the season was our staring running back,” Goodlove said. “We have a couple of kids working at a receiver spot with Tanner Haurez, Ryder Lyons and Matt Darling and they are going to get a lot of time.”
“On defense, we return a lot of starters as well with Beckley on defensive end, Chaz Alvarez at DE, Miller and Barrett and tackles, Barney and Cravens at linebacker and secondary, we have Coon, Bolin, Ajster, Garret Hatcher and we have Ryder Lyons getting changes for reps.”
With a strong veteran core and major practices, Goodlove said the team is coming together nicely.
“Some of them are three-year starters and most have been two-year starters,” Goodlove said. “We have had some solid practices the last couple of weeks and we keep getting better and better. We gave Chester everything they wanted (in the playoffs) and we want to take off from that spot and continue to improve. I thought we played some good football at the end of the season.”
To start the season though, the Tigers will take on Salt Fork on Friday in the first of a tough first couple of weeks.
“The first part of the schedule is going to be a meat-grinder because you have Salt Fork, Bismarck and Momence and everyone in the conference can beat you,” Goodlove said. “You have no Fridays off, so you have to be ready every Friday and take it one game at a time. You find out what you need to work on against Salt Fork. It will be a ball game.”
“We start with the toughest games first and we know it will be a battle, but we are prepared,” Barney said. “We have all just grown up together and we are best friends and family and we work to make each other better.”