WOODWARD — If experience pays, the Woodward-Granger football team will be well off this season.
The Hawks return almost their entire roster and boasts a squad with 14 seniors this year, but the one piece missing is a big one, as Tanner Vermaas is now suiting up for Grand View University.
Vermaas accounted for nearly 1,400 rushing yards and 21 of the 24 touchdowns the Hawks scored last year, numbers that will be hard to replace.
“You don’t replace a player like that,” veteran head coach George Ashman said. “What you do is try to replicate what he brought, and we have enough experience and enough veteran guys that I believe we can do it.”
W-G was 3-6 overall and 3-4 in Class 1A District 5. A rough start — non-district losses to playoff powers Madrid and Van Meter — proved too difficult to overcome last year, a situation Ashman says must be avoided this season.
“We have two tough ones, I don’t deny it,” he said. “Pella Christian is probably the team getting all the mentions in the district, but, really, everybody but us lost quite a bit, and we could be in a position to take advantage of that. We need to have the right attitude and stay positive — if we do, we can have the kind of year I know the guys want to have.”
Brendan Bird returns at quarterback. He finished 45-of-109 for 687 yards and six touchdowns through the air while being picked off nine times. He had the three other rushing TDs scored by the team and gained 122 yards on 42 runs.
Three backs will rotate around as tailback, fullback and, in some instances, in the slot back spot. Austin Scharlau (50 carries, 240 yards) is the leading returning rusher, with Payton Tague (30-141) and Josh Saak (12-70) also in the mix. Saak had 19 catches out of the backfield for 190 yards and a TD, with Tague pulling in three aerials for 51 yards.
J.P. Nixon (10-223, 2 TDs) will be on the outside, with Bryce Achenbach likely to see duties at wide out or in the slot. Logan Canova (4-95, 1 TD) may return at tight end, but might be moved to left tackle, in which case Matt Buch will step in at tight end.
Dillon Fogarty returns at center, with Joe Sturgeon and Jackson Newland back at the guard spots. Jon Jones or Canova will play left tackle, with 6-3, 280-pound bruiser Brody Easter back for a third season at right tackle.
Tague will kick off and punt, with Matt Hansen stepping in at place kicker.
“Matt went to a camp and has really been working hard, and it looks like he is going to give us the best kicker we have had in a few years,” Ashman said. “Sometime people overlook that, but we would have beat I-35 last year if we had a reliable kicker, so it very much matters.”
Buch and Bird will line up at defensive end, with Sturgeon and Easter at tackle, although the defensive front will likely see some sort of rotation.
Scharlau and Saak return at linebacker, with Reese Jamison, Gabe Yingst and Cole Carmen all fighting for a linebacker spot.
Nixon and Tague return at cornerback, with Achenbach at free safety.
“We gave away too many points last year, and that is not like us,” Ashman said. “We aren’t going to shut people out, but we will much better than last year, I guarantee it.”
Scharlau led the defense with 49.5 tackles, with Saak making 37
stops, Nixon 32.5 and Sturgeon 30.5. Scharlau had two interceptions and Nixon and Saak one each, with Sturgeon recovering three fumbles and Tague and Scharlau two each.
W-G hosts Madrid Friday and visits Van Meter September 1 before beginning district play as the home team against Woodward Academy Sept. 8. The Hawks visit Central Decatur Sept. 15, with I-35 the Homecoming foe Sept. 22.
A road trip to Des Moines Christian is scheduled for Sept. 29, with Mt. Ayr coming to Hawk Stadium October 6 before the regular season concludes Oct. 13 at Pleasantville and Oct. 20 against Pella Christian.
