Blue Jay Football Season Opens Friday
The Stanley Blue Jay varsity football season gets underway this Friday, Aug. 22 when the team travels to Rugby with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Jays start their campaign this year with first year new head coach Jaxton Lorenz, who has been an assistant coach for the past two years. He played college football for four years at Minot State University. He grew up on the sidelines, with his dad coaching for over 30 years. He will be assisted by many returning coaches including Dave Leith, Kellen Leupp, Chris Nordloef, Drew Nichols and Blair Hynek. Adam Monson and Riley Plant are the junior high coaches and they will be assisting on Friday nights as well.
The Blue Jays traveled to Bismarck on Thursday, Aug. 14 for scrimmage games at Shiloh Christian. The preseason scrimmage gives coaches another chance to watch their players, this time in game situations. The Blue Jays graduated nine seniors that were a big part of the program last year and that impact was seen as they played those scrimmage games. Lorenz says that he thought the players got better from each scrimmage on both timing and physicality. He says the young guys were picking up the skills as they went. Defensively, they played fast, but tackling will still be a focus to work on all year.
Numbers are down as the program’s practices got underway last week with 35 on the early season roster. Lorenz says that he will not be surprised to pick up a few players as the new school year begins. He also points out that they have a lot of young talent on this year’s team and they will see plenty of playing time.
Lorenz expects this year’s offense to run similar to last year, with Kane Reep taking the reins as quarterback. While they may have different strategies, it will come back to the athletes and their skills. They will continue to build on what previous head coach David Leith built in the last two years. This coaching staff is young, many having started at the same time. They believe in what they have in place and will continue to work together. With just six practices and the scrimmage under their belts, they are still working out those positions.
The team breaks down this year into just three seniors, eighteen juniors, four sophomores and ten freshmen. This year’s seniors are Brett Leith, Ashton Peterson and Brayden Weyrauch. Juniors are Oscar Garcia, Kane Reep, Brayden Fritel, Ben Hynek, Logan Longmuir, Austin Kanenwisher, Hunter Warta, Jevon Johnson, Kayden Uran, Kolton Longmuir, Landon Hunting, Denim Dunham, Gage Mudderman, Eli Brewer, Levi Uran, Carter Goettle, James Kennedy and Devon Wittmayer. Landon Goettle, Cooper Rismon, Colter Fladeland and Griffon Wilson are this year’s sophomores. Freshmen are Fabian Vasquez, Zeke Wienbar, Weston Peloquin, Regan Gustafson, Chase Brown, Levi Gerard, Ace Johnson, Jake Germundson, Grayson Lindberg and Dane Dunham.
Looking at his team’s strengths, Lorenz says that while numbers are lower, the team’s togetherness is showing. They are close and have put in a lot of time this summer. He is hoping that will take them to the next level. While numbers are lower, they are showing up, having fun and want to be there.
They will need to work on their offensive timing, noting that while lacking some experience, they are a talented group on both sides of the ball.
The team’s schedule has changed again this year. They open with two new non-conference games to open the season. They will travel to Rugby to open the season on August 22 with Lorenz saying this will be a good opener for them as they have similar programs. This is also a school they face in basketball and track. Their second game will be against EEK on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Bismarck. This is also a new team to face. They will be playing in Bismarck as that is a middle spot for both teams. This year, the game will count as a home game for Stanley and next year as a home game for EEK.