Hoosier Highschool Football - The Coaches Corner with Kyle Enright of Decatur Central

[Guest DT]

Hoosier Highschool Football - The Coaches Corner

 

The Corner welcomes first time visitor Kyle Enright of Decatur Central. The Hawks bounced back nicely from the Center Grove defeat with a strong Mid State Conference win over league co favorite Whiteland.

 

Question 1

Your team bounced back nicely from the Center Grove game, beating a very tough Whiteland team 17-6 to open Mid State Conference play. What was the focus and tone of your practice last week as you prepped for Whiteland, and how would you assess your teams overall performance in the football game?

Response

-- It was a humbling experience for our kids playing Center Grove and they responded very well. Our Mindset going into Whiteland week was to "Rise Up" and "Take It". They understood the reason for us scheduling New Pal and Center Grove to start the year. We want to have our kids playing the best competition possible to prepare them for the rest of the year and the playoffs. But they also understand that Whiteland doesn't care who we played. Just by playing quality opponents doesn't give you an advantage unless you learn from your mistakes and get better. So our kids rose up and took it. We played very well from a defensive perspective. Our DC Max Goodin and his staff had a great game plan versus the fly sweep offense that Coach Fisher and Whiteland run so well. It is all about eye discipline and reading your keys and it's easier said than done, but our kids were very disciplined all game and held Whiteland out of the end zone. That is a rarity for sure, so hats off to our defense. Offensively we were without our starting RB Kaleb Hicks so we had some guys in different positions. Javon Tracy moved from the slot to RB and had a monster game. Ran hard between the tackles and had 71 yards rushing and also caught 2 passes and scored a TD. Aycen Stevens, our QB had a good game running the ball as well and finished with over 100 yards rushing and a score. But we challenged our OL and DL before the game and they responded. It was a physical contest and we feel we won the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

 

Question 2

As always, you have lots of talented athletes and plenty of speed on this DC team. Have you settled on a specific offensive scheme or philosophy for this season, or are your just trying to adapt the offense and take advantage of the skills of your top athletes?

Response

Our offensive philosophy has always been predicated on what our players do the best. So it changes year to year. One staple of our offense is having a QB that can run the ball as well as throw. We want to play 11 on 11 football by adding the QB in the running game as much as possible. We do that with various option plays and designed QB runs. We also emphasize running the football. In Indiana in November, you can't count on the passing game with the weather conditions. I learned a long time ago at Warren Central under Kevin Wright, "when there is frost on the pumpkin, you have to be able to run the ball". And I've tried to stick with that philosophy in our offensive identity.

 

Question 3

Aycen Stevens is a terrific young athlete with lots of tools , including great size and speed, who is being recruited by several D1 schools in the Midwest. Can you tell us a little about Aycen's development as a player in your system, his background and when you started to see that he could become an impact player in the Decatur Central program?

Aycen is a great kid. His father Tommy Stevens Sr. has been on our staff as a LB coach for many years. Aycen has been a "coaches kid" and spent a ton of time in the coaches office and around varsity football players since he was a kid. His older brother Tommy Stevens Jr. was a great QB for us and continues to be a role model for Aycen and the rest of our players. Aycen has a very high football IQ because of all of this and is very coachable. I think one difference between Tommy and Aycen is that Tommy was a natural QB who played some safety for us defensively because he was that type of athlete. Aycen is a natural linebacker and has a defensive mentality, but is also a very good QB. So there is a little bit different process for him because he is one of the leaders of our defense and rarely leaves the field. We knew from a young age that he was going to be an impact player for us, and our philosophy is to let our players play the positions they are good at. If that means they have to be in great condition to play both sides of the ball, then so be it, but we don't want to pigeon hole our kids into being one thing if they are good at multiple things.

 

Question 4

The Mid State should be another very interesting watch from week to week this year, as it has been over the past several seasons. What are your thoughts on the current competitive profile of the conference, the recent addition of Perry Meridian to the league, and the prospects for the MSC to have conference representation on state championship weekend at Lucas Oil in November?

Response

--The Mid-State conference is a great football conference. The MIC and HCC are definitely a tier above the MSC, but we like to think that we have an argument as being the 3rd or 4th best conference in Indiana. There are some great coaches in the MSC starting with Darren Fisher and Mike Gillin. The addition of Perry Meridian has been a great addition as a 6A school in the MSC and have a great coach in Brett Cooper who has coached collegiately and at Massillon Ohio. Coach Coll is a great coach at Franklin and is always tough and well coached and the addition of Brian Dugger at Martinsville, the long-time OC at Southport has made those schools very competitive as well. The veterans of the MSC are Brian Woodard at Plainfield and Mike Campbell at Greenwood. Greenwood has made a couple of runs to Regional/Semi-State in 4A in his time there and Plainfield consistently has a team that competes at a high level and is well coached under Woodard. Mooresville and Whiteland have been at the top along with us for a handful of years now and are consistently ranked in the top 5/10 of 4A and 5A respectively. So it is a great conference with good teams spanning 4A, 5A and 6A. We have gone to state championship in 5A and Mooresville has been close in 4A.

 

Question 5

The Hawks entertain Martinsville this week, and the Artesians have been up and down thru the first 3 weeks, coming in with a 2-1 record overall and 1-0 in league play following their win last week over Greenwood. What are you seeing on film as your prepare for Martinsville, and what will be the primary areas of focus this week in practice as you prepare for another big game in the MSC?

Response

--First of all, when you watch the film, you immediately see that Martinsville is well coached. The Arties play extremely hard on defense and have a very efficient plan on offense that gets the most out of their talent. They have a big time player in FS Westyn Pemberton on defense with an aggressive Odd Stack scheme with Linebackers that play downhill and physical. The offense has some good weapons led by #31 Chase Mabry in the slot and a QB that is very good at getting the ball out to multiple receivers. Our primary focus will be to get a week better and to play fast and physical. We must continue to win the turnover battle and make plays on special teams.

Thanks Coach and best of luck this week!