Spring Game For The Chargers

Who knew you can play football on mother’s day, well that’s what happened on Sunday when the annual spring game for the Briar Cliff Chargers took place Sunday afternoon. It was a great turnout for the chargers at Hoover field as a lot of fans and moms were in attendance for the special day. There were a lot of people anxious to see how the chargers were doing this spring, and people wanted to see the team that ended on high note in November against Nebraska Wesleyan. On the offensive side of the ball returning was QB Lehi Tonga who ended the season on a high note for the chargers and running backs Stavhn Leavy and Damien Eichelberger. One group people expected to hear a lot from this year are the receivers Chase Colvin, Drew Prohaska, and Zac Kliment. The offensive line established itself last year, but have a young group coming in to replace the seniors that include Justin Jethroe, Wes Bell, Manny St.Louis, and John Swanson who started a couple of games for the chargers last year. Only returning starter on the offensive line is Freshman Jonathon Letempt. On the defensive side ball new team captain Eric Bolin leads the group with new inside linebacker switched from offense Josh Schroeder. The defense also brings back the same defensive line led by Steve Urquidez, Brady Summers, Jeremy Schindler, and Adnan Kasapovic. Also returning for the defense Jordan Lester, Tanner Cox, Sam Mulipola, Tyrone Smith and running back switched to linebacker Julian Lee. The secondary for the chargers is really young but led by Jon Smith, Rickey Miller, Caleb Young, Mike Trujillo, Cameron Terry, and Michael Trobaugh. In the scrimmage the 1st team defense went up against the 2nd team offense, and the same happened for the 1st team offense against the 2nd team defense. Stepping on the field first was the 1st team O against the 2nd team D and the offense came out firing throwing a screen pass to Stavhn Leavy that broke for a big gain, but with time and patients the 2nd team D played well enough to hold the offense to 1 TD for the first 15 plays of the scrimmage. Next on the field was the 1st team D against 2nd team O D coordinator Kyle Langhoff feels his defense will be ready this upcoming season, but replacing Mackovicka, Christophersen, and Schumacher will be tough. On the 1st series for the D was a quick 3 and out and had fans saying this D led by Eric Bolin could be really special. Giving a big boost for the chargers was backup defensive lineman Stan Bonsu who started the spring, and played his heart during the scrimmage. Linebacker Eric Bolin had some key stops on the 1st 15 plays for the chargers D. A couple of big hits for the chargers in the spring game came from Josh Schroeder and Julian Lee. A key moment in the game for the chargers 2nd team D was an interception by Mike Trobaugh. On the offensive side of the ball highlighted by skill players were great especially by Drew Prohaska who ran for over 60 yards on a screen play and had a couple of fancy moves. Same thing went for running back Damien Eichelberger who broke a couple tackles on his screen play that went the distance. Lehi Tonga kept hooking up with one of his favorite targets Chase Colvin as Tonga threw 2 TD passes to Colvin. The defense for the chargers looked really good as we saw new faces stepping up on the defense like Stan Bonsu, Josh Schroder, Tyrone Smith, Cody York, , and others stepping up for the chargers. The fans seemed excited to see their chargers going in the right direction as the get ready for the 2010 season. After the game the players and their families all enjoyed BBQ, Ice cream, and cookies. The players reaction for the spring game were great as team captain Drew Prohaska seemed to have a lot of fun during the game. “I thought it was one of the best I’ve been in since I’ve been here. Both sides showed a lot of promise. The O came out hot and the D came out and responded well. The positives outweighed the negatives and it left me very excited about next season.” QB Lehi Tonga also felt pleased about the game. “I thought it went well I think that were really improving as a team and becoming much more dynamic I’m really excited to see how we progress from here and the results that we get in the fall, but overall I was really satisfied by our performance as a whole.” On the defensive side of the ball safety Caleb Young was pleased with the defense. “Outside of the screens defense played really good. The offense looks a lot better than they did last year, and I know if we all push ourselves hard just like in the offseason were going to be really good next year.” Head Coach Tom Rethman was really pleased on his teams play during the spring game and believes with this performance there is always room for improvement. Rethman was also happy about the great turnout on Mother’s Day. “Very happy with the turnout and its shows the excitement for next year and how far we can go with the great support from our families and fans.” How did you feel about the offense? “Offense has to be consistent, I mean we left some points out there on the field, and I know when we correct those I feel we will be ok.” How about the defense? “I saw some very nice things, I liked us getting after it, and compressing the pocket so the quarterback couldn’t do anything, but we need to be more careful on the pass as a couple post opened up on us, but other than that are D was great.” Overall how did you feel about the spring game and about the summertime for your players? “Are guys should be proud of themselves, and we should all be responsible over the summertime. Working out and conditioning is what we want from our players, people who are not in shape were not going to wait on them, if we want to be successful and accomplish our goals it starts now and I know are players will understand to win in this tough conference it starts now.”