by TAYLOR ELDRIDGE

• GARDNER-EDGERTON BLAZERS

Class: 5A
League: Frontier League
Head Coach: Marvin Diener, fourth year
2008 Recap: In Diener’s third season under the helm, GE finally shifted into the elite last year. The Blazers finished the regular season 8-1, outscoring opponents 382-42. Gardner-Edgerton then advanced to Class 5A’s semifinals, the best finish in school history, before losing to St. Thomas Aquinas 17-12. The team’s only losses were to Aquinas, including the 12-6 district loss.
2009 Schedule: 9/4 Desoto; 9/11 at Baldwin; 9/18 Paola; 9/25 Louisburg; 10/2 at Springhill; 10/9 at Eudora; 10/16 Pittsburg; 10/23 St. Thomas Aquinas; 10/30 at Ottawa.
Returning Starters: 12
5 Impact Players: T Cameron McLain (6-3, 285, Sr.); C Lucas Powell (6-3, 265, Jr.); QB Bubba Starling (6-4, 190, Jr.); FB Fred Jensen (6-0, 205, Jr.); WR Justice Berry (6-2, 190, Sr.).

• 2009 Outlook

Diener already has Gardner-Edgerton among the state’s elite in just his third season. Last year the Blazers took the next step in reaching the semifinals and a return trip is looking likely. The coaches are very excited about the offense this season that will be led by junior quarterback Bubba Starling, who ran and threw for over 1,000 yards last season. Fred Jensen and newcomer Ryan Gruber will be the main recipients when the Blazers decide to run. And Justice Berry, who recently committed to Northern Iowa, will be the team’s top wide out. But it all starts up front with the hogs in Cameron McClain, an all-state player and Jeremiah Reese. Five return from the defense that allowed a ridiculous 4.7 points per game last season in the regular season. That average might slip a little, but the Blazers should once again be a force defensively. Another run at the state title looks likely, but a shot at the title might come down to if they can get past pseudo rival St. Thomas Aquinas.

10 BURNING QUESTIONS WITH HEAD COACH MARVIN DIENER

• Four years ago you decided to move to Gardner-Edgerton, a school with almost no football history. Why the change from 19 years at Salina Central and all that winning?

“There’s great potential here. It’s a very fast-growing district. It had a lot of potential. We’re starting to meet that potential here in a few years. We have two middle schools feeding one high school. We have really good resources here. And it’s just a growing community. Having been 19 years at Salina and winning as much as we did, there just wasn’t a whole lot more that I could do. And at the time I was 45-years-old and if I was going to try to develop one more program and enjoy the program when it was built, that was the time I needed to move. My son had just graduated from Salina Central and it was just the right thing to do. And it has been a blast. I’ve worked very hard at it. I really have. I really think we’re building a program here that will keep me coaching longer. It was getting really hard at Salina. Every year it was just really tough. I needed something to rejuvenate myself. I needed something where I had more resources, more assistant coaches, more help just in general to help me stay in the game. I’m doing exactly what I want to do. I’m 49 right now and in 15 years I still want to be coaching high school football and there’s not many people that make it to 60. I’m really hoping 5 years from now when I’m 55 that I go, ‘Why would I wanna stop now?’ I really think we’re building something here that can keep me in the game for a long time.”

• What was the first change that had to be made when you first got to Gardner?

“I will say this, the kids desperately wanted to win. And they have worked incredibly hard to become strong enough, fast enough and athletic enough to play at a high level. They have done an outstanding job in the weight room. And we now put very good players on the field. Very physical players. That was the first thing that had to happen. And like I said, they worked so hard at it and they were so willing. They really wanted to get good fast and they really have. And the community has really been extremely supportive. They’re thrilled about how things are going. And Friday nights are really fun in Gardner right now, I can tell you for sure. And that was fun. That was a really fun thing to do. It really was. It was a real challenge. I kind of laugh at it now…it might have been the biggest mid-life crisis of all-time, I don’t know. But it was really good for me. It absolutely was. I love the school. I love the community. And it has been fun to bring winning football to an area that had not experienced this kind of success before.”

• Do you miss Salina at all? Do you still keep in contact with coach Hall?

“Me and coach Hall are very, very close friends. We call quite often. And no question, I keep an eye on how they’re doing. I do know some of the seniors. But actually this year’s seniors were in junior high when I left there. It just doesn’t take long and you’re pretty removed from it all, in regards of the players. It was a very good community and there was no question it was a great experience for me at Salina.”

• You’ve established the junior football program now in Gardner. How helpful is that?

“The one thing that is really refreshing, that is really a lot of fun at Gardner is that it is one district, one high school. When you talk about camps, you’re not worrying about if the kid lives on the right side of the street. Every kid is a Blazer. When you look at our third graders when they take the football field in their youth football games their uniforms look exactly like our varsity uniforms. And that’s a lot of fun. It really is. We have what we call Blazer Buddies. Every one of those kids that are involved in youth football are sponsored by one of our high school players and they come in the locker room. To be able to have a one community, one high school thing has really been a lot of fun.”

• Now in your fourth year the team already has made it to the state semifinals. How is that progression compared to where you wanted the team to be right now?

“I am real disappointed that we didn’t make it to the state championship game last year. We did have some injuries late and St. Thomas was a nice football team. But we were real close. It’s tough to win a championship, I can tell you for sure, and have kids make great plays at the right time. We still have to bridge that gap. But in regards to having our junior high, our feeder programs, our coaching staff…we’re there. I think that we will always be a contender in whatever league we’re in. I think we’ll be a contender every year to make a deep push into the playoffs. We have enough numbers to do that. There’s still a difference between being a contender and having kids make the championship plays necessary to win one. And we still have to bridge that gap. But we’re getting close there.”

• Bubba Starling had a great season at quarterback as a sophomore. For people who haven’t seen him play, what type of player is he?

“I don’t care how much talent you’ve got, it’s tough as a sophomore to run an offense. He did a nice job of it last year. First of all, he’s bigger and stronger than what he was and faster, which he already was big, fast and strong as a sophomore. But he is. There is a lot of difference between a 17-year-old kid and a 16-year-old kid. But more than that, just the fact that being through it already will really help him. He’s been much more comfortable this summer running the plays. But he has got good help around him. He won’t have to do much himself.”

• You seem pretty excited about the offense this year. What can we expect?

“Last year in our final game because of injuries we played as many as six sophomores on the field at one time on offense. Now some of those kids we moved to defense this year. But the bottom line is we averaged nearly 400 yards a game last year offensively. We return those skill people. And they’re juniors instead of sophomores. They played some pretty big games on the field as sophomores.”

• But that defense maybe was even more impressive. They only gave up 42 points in the regular season. Does it keep going forward this year?

“I think all of those guys will take a step forward. They’re very nice athletes. They’re strong and fast and really have done a good job of learning how to play. But again, we really think that all of those kids will take another step forward this year.”

• Losing twice to St. Thomas last season, this year’s game has to be one the team is looking forward to.

“I’ve always said that it’s awfully hard for somebody to be considered a rival until you beat the other team. And we haven’t yet. But I will say the two schools are very familiar with one another. And I think very likely the teams can play twice in next year’s season. There’s no question they’ve got a good tradition there at St. Thomas and a very good coaching staff and good players. And those games will be tough games, no question. But our kids are very excited at the opportunity.”

• The state championship is the goal. What needs to happen for that to be achieved?

“I will say we need to stay healthy. We really like our one-deep on both sides of the ball. But we don’t have as much depth in backups. We’ve still got some nice players there. But I guess nobody really has enough depth. It is really important. If we have a couple of key injuries, it would make things very tough for us to overcome. No question, we need to stay healthy. We need to do very well in our league. We need to get off to a quick start. We’ve always played better here when we’re winning. Each time we have lost during the regular season, it really has been tough for us to overcome. We’re getting better at that, but we finally have a lot of confidence in our football team. Even if we do have a loss, we can handle it a lot better than we use to. But we still don’t handle that as well as we should. So it’s important for us to get a lot of momentum early.”