2023 will be a year of transition for the West Liberty football team.
Coming off of a 3-6 season and losing a number of key contributors, this season will see a number of younger players step up into new roles. But the feelings around training camp entering the year are still as strong as ever.
“Honestly, the vibe has been great. Energetic would be the world that I would use,” said West Liberty head coach Jason Iske. “Everybody comes to practice to get better and trust the process. I’d say everybody is in really good spirits right now.”
This team will see a lot of new faces on the field this season on both sides of the ball as kids find their comfort zones and separate themselves in position battles.
“With us being a small school, we have guys playing multiple positions and different spots. It might be a few different spots, especially early when we’re not quite sure who we have until bullets start flying,” Iske said.
One position that appears to be already locked and loaded is quarterback where junior Ryker Dengler is expected to take the reins at the varsity level.
Dengler has played under center on the junior varsity squad over the last two seasons and has familiarity with what the offense wants to do.
“He’s a very accurate thrower. He has good awareness and intelligence,” Iske said. “He’s 6’1” so he has that height you’re looking for out of somebody that can stand tall in the pocket.
“Not to say that Drake Collins (last year’s starting quarterback) wasn’t a good quarterback — he was — but Ryker isn’t going to be the runner that Drake was. Ryker is going to be more of a ‘find an open receiver and throw it around the yard’ kind of guy.”
The junior varsity team runs a simplified version of the varsity offense, but Iske believes Dengler is up for the challenge.
“Going through his different looks and different progressions it’s a little more complex at the varsity level, but he’s doing a great job. He’s very smart and picks things up really quickly,” Iske said.
There will, however, be a complete overhaul in the rushing department. The Comets don’t return a single player who rushed more than two times last season as Collins graduated and freshman Cooper Gates moved out of the district. Those two, plus graduate Joshua Zeman, handled 97% of the team’s carries in 2022.
Senior Diego Sanchez may have been a rushing leader last season, but a week one knee injury kept him off the field last fall.
He is expected to tote the rock a number of times with junior Bryson Garcia seeing some action as well.
With the change to Dengler at quarterback, Iske expects boosted numbers in the receiving department with a number of guys available to see targets.
“Jayce McHugh is going to be a good leader for us as a senior coming back. Alexis Michel and Morgan Lehman are seniors as well,” Iske said. “The kind of offense and how we’re planning on running that, I would expect our receiving numbers to be up quite a bit.”
McHugh was the most efficient of any receiver last season after catching 14 balls for 205 yards for a team-best 14.6 yards per catch.
West Liberty will also get a boost with junior Seth Axsom getting the call-up to varsity this year after playing his first-ever year of football in 2022 on the JV squad.
Axsom has battled anemia during his life, but he was cleared for football activities.
“He started a new treatment program and he is able to play contact sports. It’s been great to have him out,” Iske said.
The offensive line is a bit more of a work-in-progress with a mix of experience and youth in the trenches.
“We have four guys or so that have some varsity experience. We’ll be kind of young and inexperienced up front,” Iske said.
Seniors Evan Beal-Henderson and Kaden Broders will help anchor the line while more will be asked of sophomore Perry Lehman after getting a cup of coffee on varsity as a freshman.
Additionally, junior Tytan Griffith will move up from the JV squad this season to help out.
The same cast of characters from the offensive line will see time on defense as well with senior Ryan Noble, senior Joe Akers and junior Crager David factoring into the equation.
“Honestly, all of those guys I mentioned will be rotating on the offensive and defensive line,” Iske said. “It’s nice that we have some numbers. We might be inexperienced, but we have some good numbers and good depth.”
Six of the Comets’ top ten tackle leaders won’t be back this season which leaves lots of room for current players to fill spots.
Morgan Lehman will man the middle of the field as a linebacker and will be the primary tackler. Flanking him will be Michel and junior Cameron Iske.
McHugh will lead the defensive back unit after picking off two passes and finishing fourth on the team in tackles last season. Axsom will start opposite of him.
“Those two guys are some special athletes, so we are expecting a lot from them as corners.”
New year, same foes
One aspect of this season that will remain the same is the schedule. All five district opponents return from the previous two years — Anamosa, Camanche, Monticello, Northeast, and Tipton — return for another round of home-and-home action.
“It’s top heavy. We were fourth last year and it was Monticello, Camanche and Northeast and then us,” Iske said. “Those three teams that finished ahead of us all return their starting quarterback and all return some key pieces. I feel like being behind them last year, and with some inexperienced guys, we have a tough road ahead for sure.”
In addition to facing 2A school West Burlington in the non-district portion of the schedule, the Comets will travel to face solid 1A teams in Iowa City Regina and Wilton to open the season.
But once district play gets under way on September 15 against Tipton, there is only one goal in mind.
“The one goal we always have is to win the district title. It doesn’t matter what year it is, that is our goal,” Iske said. “We talk about that early and then that’s about it. From then on, it’s about making process, getting better and letting everything take care of itself.”