By Bryan Bloodworth
Central Catholic High School football coach Mike Moews will have 11 starters in the lineup Friday when the Saints open the season at home against Class 2A defending state champion Tri-Valley in a non-conference game.
Five of those starters are an offense Moews said will have “a little more variety” with the graduation of standout running backs Brett Segobiano and Ryan Zitkus.
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“We’re a multi-set offense, but I don’t think we’ll be a turn-around downhill running team as much as we were last year,” said Moews. “I’d still like us to be a 50-50 breakout between run and pass. Last year we were probably 60 to 65 (percent) run team and everybody knew it.”
The running game will be handled more by committee with duties going to senior CJ Sandoval and juniors Sa’mond and Eli Davis (no relation). Junior Max Moews, the coach’s son, will start at quarterback after winning a battle over senior Sam Heaton.
“We had a real good quarterback competition – one of the better ones we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Moews, who enters his fourth season as head coach with a 23-9 record. “Both bring things to our offense that can certainly make our offense go. I can see both of them getting time.
Regardless of who is calling the signals, they will have a strong corps of receivers to catch the ball as four of the Saints’ top five receivers are back for their senior years. Leading the group is Bobby Brady along with JP Sikora, Andrew Einck and Brian Becker.
“Certainly our strength and depth is at receiver,” said Moews, who also has been impressed with juniors James Morris and Austyn Ellison. “We’ll have some speed and athleticism that we’ll need to take advantage of.”
Paving the way for the running and passing game will be returning starters senior Zach Appio at center and junior tackle James Malinowski. Other projected starters will come from a group of juniors in Patrick Rahuba and Garrison Kear at guards and junior Ben Hoscheidt at tackle. Rahuba is moving from tight end a year ago.
Moews said the strength of the defense will be in the back end where the secondary returns in tack with Brady and Einck at the corners with Becker at strong safety and Heaton moving from strong safety to free safety.
Sikora, an all-Corn Belt Conference free safety last year is moving to outside linebacker where he will be joined by Sa’mond Davis along with Rahuba in the middle. The defensive line will be manned by tackles senior Matthew Blaney and Malinowski along with Kear and Hoscheidt at tackles.
“We’re hoping to minimize the number of guys we have going both ways,” added Moews. “Early in the season we might have more than we prefer (going two ways), but I think as we mature we’ll be able to get some of the younger guys in a little bit more.”
The Saints, who have made it to the Class 3A quarterfinals the last two years with 9-3 records, are gunning for their 13th straight playoff appearance.
“That’s always the goal,” said Moews. “We’ve also stressed with this team to forge their own identity. The last couple of years with Segobiano and Zitkus and the other guys – they were the producers for us – so these guys need to set their identity, but still have an aggressive goal.”
Another goal is winning the Corn Belt title.
“When we talked to the guys about goals this year, it’s a little bittersweet that the Corn Belt is coming to an end after 75 years,” Moews continued. “That’s one of our goals, to win the last Corn Belt Conference title. And if that happens, then good things will follow.
“They’ve been pretty aggressive on their goals. Our two losses last year (during the regular season), we lost the turnover battle in both of them. That’s one of the things we’ve stressed this year is ball security.”
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
