by TAYLOR ELDRIDGE

• NEWTON RAILROADERS

Class: 5A
League: Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League, Division II
Head Coach: Brent Glann, 10th season
2008 Recap: Newton started the season strong, winning five of its first six games. But a 1-2 finish in district play, including a disappointing loss to Winfield and a disheartening bow-out to Kapaun, kept the Railroaders from the playoffs despite the final 6-3 record and 3-2 record in league play.
2009 Schedule: 9/4 Liberal; 9/11 at Valley Center; 9/18 at Campus; 9/25 at McPherson; 10/2 Wyandotte; 10/9 at Pratt; 10/16 at Winfield; 10/23 Arkansas City; 10/30 Kapaun Mount Carmel.
5 Impact Players: HB/DB Miguel Johns (5-10, 170, Sr.); OL/DE Chris Garcia (5-11, 205, Sr.); WR/DB Evan Gilbert (5-10, 160, Sr.); RB/LB Austin Burch (6-0, 185, Sr.); QB/DB Kyle Preston (5-10, 150, Jr.).

• 2009 Outlook

Newton loses a very talented senior class that will be difficult to replace. 25 seniors are gone and many of them started. Building on last season’s 6-3 record will be difficult, as Newton will be in a rebuilding state. Miguel Johns returns as the team’s do-everything player. Look for the offense to be structured in finding ways to get him touches at running back and wide receiver. Evan Gilbert returns as the team’s top receiving threat from last season. Those two will be playmakers, but finding a quarterback to deliver the ball to them will be critical to the team’s success. Junior Kyle Preston will step under center, but his tiny frame (5-foot-10, 150 pounds) raises questions. How he answers those questions will determine much of the team’s success. The defense will be a work in progress. In recent years Newton has suffered from giving up big plays through the air. Finding bodies to stop the pass will be the focus early in the season. The district of Winfield, Ark City and Kapaun isn’t too terrifying, so a trip to the state playoffs can be attained.

10 burning questions with head coach Brent Glann

• After losing so many seniors from last season’s 6-3 team, do you know what to expect for 2009?

“This is kind of a rebuilding year for us. We’ve got to replace 25 seniors, quite a few of them who started for us and some multiple-year starters, so we have a lot of new faces. But we are excited for the year and the guys have worked hard. You always look to improve every year and that’s our expectation is to be better than last year.”

• Is it too early to tell how the incoming senior class is handling the step up?

“I don’t know. That’s always the interesting thing is how quickly a junior class turns into a quality senior class because there’s a lot more pressure on them when they’re seniors. Our group, luckily for us, is a pretty good group of guys. Several of them played some good, quality time last year and they know what it takes. But it remains to be seen how well they step up into those leadership roles.”

• Miguel Johns is quite the talent. Can you describe him?
  

“He’s a running back. He’s a receiver. He’s probably best at playing defensive back. He’s a kick returner. A good leader. All that kind of stuff. And he’s probably the hardest-working guy we have.”

• Who else can we be looking for to make an impact this season?

“Chris Garcia. He started for us since he was a sophomore on the defensive line. Another hard worker and a good leader.”

• With so many losses on offense, is a change in store? Or is the offensive system still in store?
  

“We’re like everyone else right now. We’re a spread team. We try to establish the run first. I guess you can classify us as a spread option team and we’ve been that way for several years now and that’s worked well for us. We just need to tweak it to fit our personnel and we’ll go from there. But we’re definitely a run-first team.”

• What can we look for in the defense?

“We’ve struggled the last couple of years with…Oh gosh, it’s no surprise to anybody around here, we’ve struggled badly with pass defense. So that’s been a major emphasis for us this past off-season to get better at that. And now give up big plays.”

• What is the strength for this team heading into the season?

“I’m not really sure right now we can say what the strength of this team is going to be. We have so many new parts and new people. The strength of this team could just be the excitement of the guys that it’s their turn to try to get the job done.”

• What about a weakness? Anything you know the team might struggle with?
  

“The inexperience. And this year we are dealing with a lack of quality depth.”

• What’s it going to take for this season to be a success?

“Our guys have to step up to the varsity level of play. The speed of the game. The complexity of the game. The ability to handle varsity pressure. All of that type of thing. That’s really going to be the key to our season.”