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Buffaloes open season Friday at Ulysses
Published 9/4/2008 in Sports : GCHS
By JASON ELMQUIST
jelmquist@gctelegram.com
The term 'home field advantage' tends to become a little cliche over time. But not at the Ulysses High School football field.
Ulysses hasn't lost a regular season game at Maxwell Field over the last few years. It's been so long, that Ulysses coach Jason Kenny couldn't even recall when the last time was that the Tigers lost.
"Off the top of my head I don't know. It's been a long time since we've lost a regular season game at home -- it's been several years," Kenny said. "Ulysses is just a football community and a lot of people will show up and our kids take a lot of pride in that. It's just something that we're able to use to get us going and sometimes you can keep it going for a while."
Their last home loss was a 20-14 playoff loss in 2006 to Andale -- which went on to win the first of its back-to-back Class 4A state championships.
It's not just lower level competitors that have difficulties when visiting the field at Ulysses. Two years ago, Garden City High School went in and lost in a defensive struggle, 10-0.
Now, after GCHS put up a 27-6 victory over Ulysses last year at Memorial Stadium, the Buffaloes have to return to the scene of one of the most prolific home field advantages in the area. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
This year's matchup will look a lot different from 2007, however. Both teams head into the season opener with multiple question marks after losing a lot of players from last year.
The only returning starters for Ulysses are senior safety Derek Newell and Chano Panda, a junior tackle. GCHS has most of their offensive (left tackle Harley Stapleton, right guard Jace Larsen, right tackle Lance Hagerman) and defensive lines (tackles Hagerman and Mitch Bean) returning along with cornerbacks C.J. Covington, Logan Schultz and John Le.
"I'd be the same way, you want to adjust to your personnel. I don't know their personnel that well, but I know coach Kenny is smart enough to adjust to personnel," Smith said. "So if they feel like they can throw it better with more wide receivers, we may see them throw it quite a bit. They've got a big line, so I don't know. They may just run it right at us."
But the quarterback position is up in the air for both teams. Although Smith has dubbed sophomore Cody Bernbeck the starter against Ulysses, he said senior Jimmy Corbett will also see playing time. Tigers sophomore Daniel Leon and junior Bryce Moral, who will get the nod against Garden City, are battling to take the starting role for Ulysses, with senior Daylon Everett projected as the starting fullback.
"We have 20 starting positions that we've had to fill from last year and the kids have worked extremely hard and kept a good attitude. It's been extremely competitive because we have a lot of kids that are even in their playing ability," Kenny said. "Our kids are excited and we need to play a game to see where we're at. We're going to start Bryce, but I hope to get both of them into the game."
And with both teams tinkering with the offense, it is quite possible that there could be a repeat performance of the 2006 game in which 10 points were scored.
"It could have been zero to zero and we could have still been playing there because neither team moved the ball at all," said Smith, referring to the Buffs' last trip to Ulysses. "We shut them down and they shut us down. We missed two short field goals and we snapped two over the punter's head and they kicked a field goal on one with a short field and then drove one in from about the 25. That was the scoring for the night. I doubt we had 50 yards on offense that night -- but they probably didn't either. It was not a spectator's game, by any means. It was a defensive battle."
Kenny added, "I'd love for it to be a defensive battle and be in it the whole game. We don't want to get in a shootout with anybody at this point in the season. Two years ago it was a tough, hard-nosed game and we expect the same type of physical game from Garden City."
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GCHS PROJECTED STARTERS
OFFENSE
LT Harley Stapleton, 5-11, 240
LG Mitch Bean, 6-0, 190
C Ryan Peterson, 5-11, 180
RG Jace Larsen, 5-11, 210
RT Lance Hagerman, 6-0, 240
TE Keith Curran, 6-3, 190
QB Cody Bernbeck, 6-0, 170
FB Aydan Kinney, 5-10, 205
TB Zach Stapleton, 6-1, 185
WR Logan Schultz, 5-10, 150
WR Travis Irsik, 5-9, 150
DEFENSE
DE Rodolfo Espino, 5-10, 160
DT Mitch Bean, 6-0, 190
NG Dane Myers, 5-10, 195
DT Lance Hagerman 6-0, 240
DE Zach Stapleton, 6-1, 185
LB Aydan Kinney, 5-10, 205
LB Keith Curran, 6-3, 190
CB John Le, 5-10, 155
SS Scott Duesing, 6-0, 175
FS Andy Larkin, 5-10, 170
CB Logan Schultz, 5-10, 150
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ULYSSES PROJECTED STARTERS
OFFENSE
QB Bryce Moral
TB Addison Nichols
FB Daylon Everett
WB Derek Newell
SE Josh Sullivan
T Alex Marquez
T Abel Nieto
TE Leo Cavasos
C Brance Phelps
G Brandon Seger
G Chano Pauda
DEFENSE
LB Chano Pauda
LB Brance Phelps
LB Brandon Seger
S Derek Newell
CB Josh Sullivan
CB Andy Simpson
NG Johnatan Rivas
T Jack Maxwell
T Ryan Kautz
DE Leo Cavasos
DE Tyler Haney
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