By Bryan Bloodworth
Today we focus on a pair of Heart of Illinois Conference teams with new head coaches at Heyworth in Brian Bradshaw and at Ridgeview in Jake Kennedy in this installment of Countdown to Kickoff.
Bradshaw takes over for Mark Hancock at Heyworth, but he is certainly not a stranger to Hornets’ football. He served as a volunteer assistant coach with the program the last 11 years and was the elementary school principal for several of this year’s players.
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“It’s something I always thought about doing,” said Bradshaw about becoming head coach. “I’ve always thought I wanted to be a head coach. When I went into administration, I took a couple of years off from coaching and really missed it.”
Bradshaw, who also served as an assistant coach at Tuscola High School for eight years, is happy with the numbers in the program this year.
“We have more kids playing this year,” said Bradshaw. “We were able to get some kids out, who had previously played before and didn’t go out.”
The Hornets return six starters from last year’s 2-7 squad including four seniors. That group includes running back/defensive back Skyler Cox, wide receiver/defensive back Wyatt Cline, offensive lineman/linebacker Brett Hancock and fellow offensive lineman/linebacker Keaton Miller.
The other returning starters are juniors Seth Shoemaker at running back and linebacker and Matt Schultz, who is being moved from tight end to quarterback. He also returns at defensive back.
“What I really like about us is that I think overall we have improved our team speed and we’re very athletic,” added Bradshaw. “We’re going to have some depth on both sides of the ball.”
Like all teams, Bradshaw said the goal is to get into the playoffs, something the Hornets haven’t done the last two years.
“Another goal is to compete with all the teams in the conference,” added Bradshaw. “It’s a very hard conference, a lot of good teams and programs, but we want to be able to compete every Friday night.”
The Hornets open the season Aug. 26 at home against El Paso-Gridley.
At Colfax, Jake Kennedy inherits a three-season 28-game losing streak at Ridgeview, but he said it’s not something the Mustangs are discussing.
“To be honest, I’ve not said a word about it. The kids have not talked about it,” said Kennedy. “We’ve really bought into the fact of just win the day and be the best you can be today, know your assignments and take care of what you have to take care of and the wins and losses that stuff will work themselves out.
“We’ve got to get to the point where we’re winning our responsibilities, we’re winning the play and then you go from there.”
The Ridgeview-Lexington co-op team has 20 players from Ridgeview and 18 from Lexington, but are short on numbers in the upper classes as just five seniors and seven juniors dot the roster, which Kennedy is well aware.
“Very young,” said Kennedy. “We’ll have three to four sophomores on the field at a time and every now and then we could have a freshman or two getting minutes.”
Kennedy listed returning starters as senior offensive lineman James Marty, senior Devon Kelly, who is moving from tight end to quarterback, along with junior lineman Mitch Hofmann, junior middle linebacker/fullback Adam Murray and sophomore tailback/defensive back Josh Hardman.
“The guys’ work ethics has been great,” said Kennedy. “They compete every day. We’ve bought into that. Attitude and effort are two things that we can control and those things have been good.”
Kennedy said the offense will have a new look this year.
“We’re going to be a running team,” he added. “We can throw a little bit, but running the ball is going to have to be a strength of ours for two reasons. One is it keeps us in the game and keeps the clock moving and it allows us to dictate the flow of the game and the tempo.”
And what about the defensive side of the ball Coach?
“I think we’ll be a defense that improves week-in and week-out,” said Kennedy. “We have some young guys playing a couple of new spots, so that is something that will have to be a challenge each week that we just continue to get better at knowing our assignments and keys and the biggest thing is be physical.”
Kennedy also said the goals are simple for the Mustangs.
“To be competitive,” said Kennedy. “When you’re competitive, you’ll earn respect and that’s where we’re trying to get back to – be a respectful football program in the area. We have not talked a lot about win-loss goals. To me, it’s that every day we have that winning-the-day mentality and those things will take care of themselves.”
The Mustangs begin the season at LeRoy on Aug. 26.
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
