By Bryan Bloodworth
By Bryan Bloodworth
No, Normal West High School football coach Darren Hess insists he’s not crazy.
“I’m very excited (about the upcoming season),” said Hess, who enters his 14th year at West as the dean of Intercity coaches with an 83-48 record. “People might wonder if I’m going a little crazy because we graduated 30 seniors. We were at a high comfort level last year. But we’ve got a lot of great skill this year, just a lot of unproven athletes.
“But we’re excited for the opportunity to coach a new corps of kids in our program. We just lack consistency right now, but there are a lot of teams like that. Our guys are eager and show a lot or promise. They want the opportunity and that’s all a coach can ask.”
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The Wildcats, who are gunning for their seventh straight Class 6A playoff berth, open the season Friday at home against Big 12 Conference foe Peoria.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity to see where we lay after the first week,” added Hess. “The kids have worked extremely hard during the summer, through our camps and in doubles. Obviously, we look at the road we have and it’s very difficult in the beginning. Our conference is outstanding, but I’m excited our kids have done as well as they have.”
West finished 6-4 last year and must replace three-year starter and last year’s Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in Mitch Fairfield, who threw for 2,727 yards and 26 touchdowns. That honor goes to his back-up senior Peyton Dillingham.
“(The offense) goes through the quarterback and we’ve been blessed the last seven or eight years to have quality quarterbacks,” said Hess. “Peyton is extremely intelligent and he’s like having another coach on the field. He knows the offense in and out and has an extremely strong arm. He’s very coachable and well disciplined.”
Dillingham’s main targets look to be returning senior Nick Filosa and junior Malik Tucker, along with junior running back Genesis Forrest. Hess said senior center Michael O’Shea and tackle Jonathan Smith anchor the offense line.
“I think we’ll be very balanced,” added Hess. “We’ll be no-huddle again and try to put pressure on the defense.”
Speaking of the defense, the Wildcats return just one part-time starter in the secondary in senior Brett Porter. He will be joined by junior middle linebacker Holden Lueck and senior lineman Webb Maurer as key members, according to Hess.
“We’ll be very quick and athletic on defense,” added Hess. “We lack a little in size and that’s my only concern.”
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
