article St. Xavier Tigers 2014 Football Preview

[LongTimeReader]

Review of 2013

 

The St. X Tigers head into their second year under Coach Will Wolford. The first under at the helm for Coach Wolford started with high expectations, but some inconsistent play throughout the season lead to unfulfilled expectations. The Tigers finished the year with a record of 7-5, finished third in the “Super District”, and was knocked out in the second round by the Male Bulldogs.

 

The 2013 Tigers will be a team of inconsistency. While they had some great moments such as beating Manual in the final seconds and knocking off Cincinnati St. Xavier in the final regular season game; the team also left fans scratching their heads. The game that I pick out that sums up the 2013 season for the Tigers was the loss against the Bowling Green Purples. There was a great crowd, but in the end, the Purples dominated the game and Coach Wolford stated after the game that the Tigers were out coached. To me that pretty much summed up the first year of the Coach Wolford era.

 

Offense

 

The 2014 offense will be lead at QB by Noah Houk. Noah, who saw some action last year, will look to add more consistency to the position and to the offense that was missing much of last year. The offense line will have two experienced players returning in Nathan Scheler and Tyler Haycraft. The Tigers hired a new offensive line coach, Adam Billings (former St. X player) who was the head coach at Elizabethtown High School before accepting the position at St. X. Coach Billings will break in some new guys up front, but if they can perform as a unit there are a number of skilled players that can perform at a high level. Running back Taijon Smith will likely start the season as the go to back. He comes in with the most experience after filling the spot for injured Treyveon Purcell and Charles Walker at times. I firmly believe Chase Rowan will take over the position as the season progresses. He is a bigger back as is very explosive with the ball in his hands. While the wide receiving position last year saw a little bit more production than in some of the previous years, the Tigers offense will have to find guys on the outside that can make some plays to fill the roles lost to graduation by Hayden Ford and Will Roshkowski.

 

Defense

 

Much like the offense, the defense will have some significant holes to fill. Coach Bruner returns to the coaching staff taking over as the defensive coordinator. The Tigers will continue to use a 3-4 defense and will look to improve on a defense that was shaky at best last year. The DL, just like the OL, will have to find replacements for all three of the starters. The name that continues to be brought up as a big time player along the front line is Ethan Allen (6-3, 220 Jr). Another name to remember upfront is Tucker Donlon who is a 6-1 260lb. junior. This DL may not be as big as the unit last year, but a bit smaller unit may help them to get in the backfield and beat blocks quicker. Coach Mullins who has coached the secondary and linebackers at St. X, will take over the DL unit this year. The linebacking unit will have a lot of new faces, but the guy that needs to be on the field is a junior named Logan Butler. He brings much needed speed to a defense that was lacking heavily in that area last year. The theme of new faces will be present in the secondary as well. Again, speed is needed in the secondary, and look for Davey Sermersheim and Tyler Boarman to push a unit back to a level that it needs to be, in order to pull off key wins this year.

 

Outlook

 

The 2014 St. X Tigers are going through the preseason with a lot fewer expectations than was placed on the team last year. Entering the second year under Coach Wolford, I am sure he has learned a lot about being a high school coach and what it takes to win at the high school level. This team will shock some people this year, but unfortunately I’m not for sure if their record will show just how good they are. Houk will be one of the top QBs in the area and Chase Rowan will enter the spot light, but the key to the offense will be if the OL and WR positions develop to offer multiple options of attack.

 

Coach Bruner is replacing long time defensive coordinator Todd Walsh, but I have full confidence that Coach Bruner can come in a re-energize a defense that struggled mightily last year. I cannot say this enough, speed must be present on defense this year or struggles will continue.

 

My Predictions

 

8/22 – Ballard W

8/29 – (Bluegrass Bowl) Bryan Station W

9/5 – @ Bowling Green W

9/12 – Fairdale W

9/19 – Cincinnati Moeller L

9/26 – Central W

10/3 – Trinity L

10/10 – @ Male L

10/17 – Manual W

10/31 – @ Cincinnati St. X L

[Fansincebirth]

I think something that is significant for the Tigers, and coach Wolford's learning curve, is the overhaul of his staff. I had a St. X fan tell me they have 4-5 guys on the staff who have been head coaches as well as another who was an experienced D coordinator. That kind of experience has to help, even if it doesn't improve team speed!

[LongTimeReader]

Yes, I agree with you that adding experienced coaches will help significantly. It's a process and Coach Wolford has to make sure that he has the people around him that are going to teach to his philosophy, and I think he has done that this year with his coaching staff.

[Cynical]

Another year...another predicted St. X victory over BG...:no:

[LongTimeReader]

I figured I might as well go down being consistent if the Purples sweep the 4 game series.

[thsrocks]

Another year...another predicted St. X victory over BG...:no:

 

Pressure of the win streak proves too much for the Purples and the Tigers take advantage!:popcorn:

[PurplePride92]

Pressure of the win streak proves too much for the Purples and the Tigers take advantage!:popcorn:

 

Trinity pulling for St. X. This is awesome.

[Ram]

Trinity pulling for St. X. This is awesome.

I just got off the phone with the HWC (Hell Weather Channel), they are experiencing unprecedented low temperatures and are, in fact, expecting frost tonight.

[LongTimeReader]

I had a conversation with my brother last season, if St. X would "let" Bowling Green beat them this year so that BG could possibly move ahead of them in the winning streak category. Should be very interesting.

[Tigercat]

The Tigers need to step it up this year. Sometimes we play better with a chip on the shoulder, and maybe that is what we need to develop. Any word on the size of the Frosh and JV teams? Talent levels there?

[Tigercat]

What times are the Tigers practicing?

[LongTimeReader]

Any word on the younger Tiger teams?

[AvidTiger]

Anybody go/going to the green/gold that could provide some sort of feedback?

[BoatsandOhs]

Any word on the younger Tiger teams?

 

Freshman have a picnic and scrimmage next Sat.