The Guerin Catholic football team has never backed away from a challenge.
That’s a good thing, since the Golden Eagles will be facing their most challenging season yet in terms of their schedule. Fortunately, Guerin has plenty of experience coming back to the Eagles Nest.
“We expect our team to compete hard and relentlessly pursue improvement on a daily basis,” said GC coach Tom Dilley. “I expect our team to be united and disciplined. We have the most demanding schedule in the history of our school, and we expect our team to battle and improve every week.”
The Golden Eagles’ returning players are solid on both sides of the ball. On the offense, senior Christian Gelov is back at quarterback. Gelov had an outstanding campaign last year, throwing for 1,069 yards and eight touchdowns.
Guerin Catholic’s top wide receiver is back as well. Senior Bernie McGuinness led GC last year with 26 catches, including one for a touchdown. McGuinness will be joined by senior Dominic Ferrucci in the wide receiver group this year.
Senior Gus Baumgartner (tailback) and junior Brayden Hall (fullback) will be taking on the rushing duties; Hall ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns last year as a sophomore. Junior Max McGreal is slated for tight end duties. The offensive line is all seniors: Gabe Cuffel will start at center, Charles Sawyer and Michael McGreal are the guards and Spencer Schneider and Ben Persohn are at the tackle positions.
On defense, senior Tom Hokanson will be a key returner. Hokanson, an inside linebacker made 65 tackles last season, including eight for a loss. Junior Jagger Albert will join him in the inside linebacker position. Seniors Nick Demas and Ethan Sutton are slated for outside linebacker.
Other probable starters on defense include senior Jonathan Hitchcock at defensive end, senior Nick Szymczak at nose, seniors Cam Murray and Patrick Hagel at safety and senior Charles Semler and junior Daniel Rhoad at cornerback.
The Golden Eagles begin their season tonight with a trip to McCutcheon, then play their home opener next Friday against Lafayette Central Catholic for the Bishop’s Cup. Other big games for Guerin Catholic include one at Class 6A Columbus North, a home date with Bishop Chatard, and two Michigan teams, Pontiac Notre Dame and Birmingham Rice.
The Golden Eagles will play in 3A Sectional 28 this year, which features some old rivals (Brebeuf Jesuit, Crawfordsville, Hamilton Heights) and some new faces, such as powerhouse West Lafayette.
“We are excited about the new sectional alignment,” said Dilley. “Adding some new and very good teams to our sectional brings tremendous challenges and opportunities for our team. Most importantly, we are focused on our first game coming up.”
