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Lee's Summit, MO —
There weren’t many players in the area – or state – who played a bigger role on their respective teams last season than Lee’s Summit North quarterback Will Harrington.
The Simone Award semifinalist passed for 1,465 yards, picked up another 1,213 on the ground and tallied 25 touchdowns in his senior season.
So Broncos coach Ty Kohl isn’t expecting Harrington’s replacement to be quite the do-everything star. Junior Matt Brumfield is the favorite to start at QB this season, and Kohl is finding ways to ease the burden on his new signal-caller.
“We’re going to maneuver our offense around him,” Kohl said. “Things will be changed so that he can run our offense efficiently.
“Will obviously wanted the ball in his hands as much as possible. ... For Matt, it’s going to be a little different. He’s not going to carry the ball 25 times a game so we’re going to put Matt in some positions that he’s going to be successful.”
CHAMPIONSHIP CREDENTIALS: It shouldn’t be too difficult for the new guy at St. Mary’s to goad his squad to buy in. A quick look at Tim Cogan’s background should do the trick.
Cogan, the Trojans’ first-year head football coach, comes to St. Mary’s after spending the previous two seasons coaching at Staley. He wore a variety of hats for the Falcons, serving as the sophomore special teams coordinator, the scout team coach and the quarterbacks coach and helped guide Staley to a Class 5 state title working under Fred Bouchard. That means he’s had a heavy hand in tutoring Trent Hosick, Staley’s highly-touted quarterback and safety who plans to play at the University of Missouri next season.
The Trojans might not return a four-star recruit like Hosick, but they do bring back last year’s starter Drew Huttinger, who Cogan described as one of the squad’s top leaders.
“He’s picked up the offense really well,” Cogan said. “That helps the other kids learn and pay attention as well.”
PAINFUL MEMORIES: By all measures, last season was a breakthrough for the Truman football team. After going 2-18 over the previous two seasons – and 0-10 in 2010 – the Patriots finished 5-6 and snared their first district title since 2004.
But the season’s final game, a 14-0 defeat to Winnetonka in a torrential downpour, left Truman with a bit of a hangover.
There weren’t many players in the area – or state – who played a bigger role on their respective teams last season than Lee’s Summit North quarterback Will Harrington.
The Simone Award semifinalist passed for 1,465 yards, picked up another 1,213 on the ground and tallied 25 touchdowns in his senior season.
So Broncos coach Ty Kohl isn’t expecting Harrington’s replacement to be quite the do-everything star. Junior Matt Brumfield is the favorite to start at QB this season, and Kohl is finding ways to ease the burden on his new signal-caller.
“We’re going to maneuver our offense around him,” Kohl said. “Things will be changed so that he can run our offense efficiently.
“Will obviously wanted the ball in his hands as much as possible. ... For Matt, it’s going to be a little different. He’s not going to carry the ball 25 times a game so we’re going to put Matt in some positions that he’s going to be successful.”
CHAMPIONSHIP CREDENTIALS: It shouldn’t be too difficult for the new guy at St. Mary’s to goad his squad to buy in. A quick look at Tim Cogan’s background should do the trick.
Cogan, the Trojans’ first-year head football coach, comes to St. Mary’s after spending the previous two seasons coaching at Staley. He wore a variety of hats for the Falcons, serving as the sophomore special teams coordinator, the scout team coach and the quarterbacks coach and helped guide Staley to a Class 5 state title working under Fred Bouchard. That means he’s had a heavy hand in tutoring Trent Hosick, Staley’s highly-touted quarterback and safety who plans to play at the University of Missouri next season.
The Trojans might not return a four-star recruit like Hosick, but they do bring back last year’s starter Drew Huttinger, who Cogan described as one of the squad’s top leaders.
“He’s picked up the offense really well,” Cogan said. “That helps the other kids learn and pay attention as well.”
PAINFUL MEMORIES: By all measures, last season was a breakthrough for the Truman football team. After going 2-18 over the previous two seasons – and 0-10 in 2010 – the Patriots finished 5-6 and snared their first district title since 2004.
But the season’s final game, a 14-0 defeat to Winnetonka in a torrential downpour, left Truman with a bit of a hangover.
“I think we all felt a little bit cheated just because it was pouring,” said Truman safety and wide receiver Tom Ruddy. “We couldn’t play our game because it was just such terrible weather. So we’re looking forward to hopefully getting back and making it even deeper in the playoffs.”
Truman coach Jeff Floyd downplayed how much that final defeat has been used as motivation over the last several months. Instead, his staff has focused on the positives of getting a taste of playoff experience. But he admitted the memory doesn’t exactly conjure positive images.
“It was just a miserable night,” Floyd said. “... It was just a horrible way to end and you wish it could have been different. But the only thing you can do is just go on. You can’t change what’s happened before. ... All you can do is push strong and push for the future.”
The Pats' immediate future appears promising with 15 players back with starting experience.
