After last year’s injury-plagued season, there is some good news coming out of the Hamilton Heights football program.
The Huskies are back to full strength and ready to go. Heights has a solid senior class this year that is developing its leadership, and the talent to make this season a successful one.
“We do have a lot of kids back,” said Huskies coach Jon Kirschner. “I think our senior leadership is developing in a way that is needed and a way that, I hope down the road, if we stay healthy it’s going to benefit us.”
Health became a major issue last year, with injuries sidelining a number of key players. But so far, everything seems to be fine in that department.
“Blake Webel, Camron Knott, Deshawn King, Cole Portwood, the list goes on,” said Kirschner. “They’re all healthy, they’re all back and they’re all practicing. We’re taking it one day at a time and getting better one day at a time. Our motto this year on the back of our team shirts is ‘Believe.’ And it’s believe in each other, believe in what we’re doing, believe in the process.”
The senior Webel, a standout running back his sophomore year, got injured in the first game of the season last year. King, also a senior, emerged as the leading rusher last season with 404 yards, while junior Kaleb Schakel compiled 242 yards and one touchdown.
Isaac Wilson, now a junior, played in all 10 of Heights’ games last year and was solid, with 872 yards and seven touchdowns. Knott, although limited to five games, had a decent receiving season with 18 catches, five for TDs. Isaac Tuma came in as a freshman and made 11 catches and a touchdown; he’s back for his sophomore season.
“If you take a look at it, with all the injuries that we had, we had freshmen and sophomores that were stepping up,” said Kirschner. “They’ve continued to progress in the off-season and I think we have the opportunity to see a lot of them contribute again this year, even with the healthy kids from last year coming back.”
On defense, junior Brent Pennington is back. He helped out last year with 48 tackles. Portwood and Joe Mayo, both seniors, each had five tackles for a loss.
Heights opens its season tonight at Mount Vernon, where Kirschner will face his father Mike Kirschner’s team for the second year in a row.
“Obviously people know what that game is in Mount Vernon, Week 1,” said Jon Kirschner. “I know they return some speed. We’re going to have to play well and we’re going to have to play disciplined.”
The Huskies play their first home game next week, taking on North Montgomery, then travel to West Lafayette for Week 3 before beginning their Hoosier Conference East Division schedule with Northwestern on Sept. 13.
