Published: August 28, 2008 01:56 am            

Lewis makes Elkhart coaching debut (area previews)

By SCOTT TYLER

H-P Sports Editor



Elkhart will start a new era Friday night when Tim Lewis takes the field for the first time as the Elks’ head coach.

Lewis and the Elks will host Malakoff Friday night in the season opener.

“They are a good football team,” Lewis said of Malakoff. “They have several good athletes.”

Malakoff returns 13 lettermen including running backs Nick Simione and Jackson Blacketer and quarterback Bernard Hall. The Tigers run a double-slot back motion offense, which was similar to what Elkhart saw last week in a scrimmage against Eustace.

“Our defensive coordinator has come up with a good game plan,” Lewis said. “It is going to boil down to being disciplined against the option and if we play our positions correctly, we should be all right.”

Lewis said he has seen an improvement in his team from the two scrimmages — the first against Mildred and the second against Eustace.

“We saw a 100 percent improvement going into Eustace,” Lewis said. “We have improved our execution each week.”



Grapeland at Centerville

Grapeland head coach Curt Faigle calls Friday night’s opening game at Centerville a great test for his Sandies.

“This is going to show us what kind of football team and what kind of defense we are going to have this year,” Faigle said.

Centerville is a run-oriented team that wants to be physical up front.

“I want to see our defensive line control the game,” Faigle said. “I also want our linebackers making good reads and a secondary that plays smart.

“And we need to have a defense that swarms to the football.”

Faigle said in Grapeland’s scrimmage last week against Leon, he was concerned with the defense’s stamina.

“I felt like we could have done a better job late in the scrimmage,” Faigle said.

Faigle has been pleased with how the Sandie offense has looked and a main reason is because the team is not experimenting with anything new on offense.

“We have set a plan of attack, understand what we are doing and staying consistent,” Faigle said.

Friday night, Faigle said the key for the offense will be to not turn the ball over and be able to control the clock. Faigle hopes to see the Sandies establish the running game and said a good bench mark would be 100 yards rushing.

“We cannot give Centerville the opportunity for cheap scores,” Faigle said. “I am looking for us to be opportunistic and try to take what they give us.”



Fairfield at China Spring

The Fairfield Eagles start a new chapter in their football program with first-year head coach Darrell Piske.

Piske hopes to turn around a program that has two wins the last two years and it starts Friday night at China Spring.

China Spring will be a tough test for the Eagles as the Cougars are ranked in the top 10 in several Class 3A preseason polls.

China Spring quarterback Brian Bell threw for four touchdowns last season. Running back Mike Hicks rushed for 1,462 yards and 13 touchdowns.

China Spring topped Fairfield 14-0 last season.



Pine Drive Christian at Oakwood

The Oakwood Panthers will get their first regular-season taste of six-man football Friday night.

The Panthers host Pine Drive Christian, from Dickinson, in the season opener.

Oakwood hopes to find more success after dropping down to six-man after the end of last season.

Pine Drive Christian has a returning All-State player in running back/linebacker Josh Gibson. Gibson rushed for 2,196 yards and 24 touchdowns and had 126 tackles.

        

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