Raiders’ defensive strength starts up front (copy)
For any good defense at any level of high school football, a good defense always starts up front.
For the Waynesburg Central football squad, the defensive line provides the Raiders with its deepest and most consistent unit in 2017.
鈥淭he defensive line is our strength at the moment,鈥� said Raiders coach Russ Moore, who will be entering his 11th season overall and sixth straight at Waynesburg on the sidelines. 鈥淲e have a lot of athletic kids on the line and they have a non-stop motor.鈥�
Moore, who coached the 1999 WPIAL Championship team, knows what it takes to be a good defensive linemen and the importance a line can do for a defense.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 all about getting hands on and clogging up the offensive linemen,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose guys may not get all the glory or stats, but one key element of a D-linemen is being able to take up blocks and free up your linebackers. The defensive ends has to set the edge and the tackles has to be strong in the middle.鈥�
Senior Eli Kiger and sophomore Avery McConville are penciled in as starters on the line for the Raiders.
鈥淓li has been playing defense for us since he was a sophomore,鈥� Moore stated. 鈥淗e is aggressive and he is very unselfish. He is one of our leaders. Avery has a good first step and really good instincts. He was a power forward on the basketball team and knows how to position himself well on the line.鈥�
Waynesburg is pretty young at tackles, but Moore expects still the same level of play from those kids.
鈥淲e are going to rotate some kids in at tackle,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ophomore Tommy Garrison and freshman Kyle Cox will get the bulk at the playing time on the line. Both of those kids are weight-room strong. We also have junior Spencer Lesinski who can flip from being an outside linebacker to a defense end. He is a versatile kid.鈥�
One key job for the defensive line is stopping the run and despite going winless in 2016, Waynesburg produced a pretty solid run defense against teams in the Class AAA Interstate Conference.
鈥淲e were very physical and didn鈥檛 give up too much with the run,鈥� Moore pointed out. 鈥淚 liked our run defense and we did a really good job of reading blocks. We got hands-on and made sure we followed our keys. A lot of teams threw the ball on us more and wanted to spread us out. Unfortunately we had moments where we struggled against the pass. You have to be a complete defense.鈥�
The Raiders, who open the season against Mount Pleasant on September 1, will be trying to hold down the fort on the line in 2017 and be a mismatch problem for opposing teams in the trenches.