What are signs you have developed a tradition of success?
When a sport’s incoming seniors are “eager to make their own mark,” Montezuma Football Coach John Beck told KGRN’s Chris Varney on his radio show last week.
“Our seniors were a part of the success we’ve had,” Beck said. The Braves won their first 10 games last year, before being low-bridged by Audubon in the playoffs.
So team members were already pumping iron in the weight room last December.
“The guys have a work ethic,” Beck said. “They want to compete for a Class 8 district title, and see where it goes from there.”
The Braves, 32 players strong, didn’t have to scramble this year to find a Week 0 opponent. Iowa Valley has been on the schedule for quite a while, and that’s who Montezuma will tee off against at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19 at Badger-Gabriel Field.
“We can focus on fundamentals for 14 days,” Beck said. “And we can focus on being mentally prepared.”
“Overall, we have some depth,” Beck said. The Montezuma coaches worked a lot of players into varsity games last season. “We might have some guys in different spots, but they’ve had varsity repetitions,” the head coach said.
Next week: More specifics on the Braves and a look at Iowa Valley.
The Braves have six seniors: Owen Cook, Brady Ogan, Masin Shearer, Eli Bustamante, Marty Knox and Kennen Roadcap.
There are eight juniors, eight sophomores, and 10 freshmen off a junior high team that was unbeaten last fall.
Roadcap, a center and defensive lineman, will be a fourth-year starter for Montezuma. Geiger, a junior, will be in his third year.
Bad news for opponents: Montezuma will have another capable quarterback. “We’re really letting Owen Cook take the reigns this year,” Beck said.
A point there to remember: Cook was the understudy to one of the greatest ever at Montezuma, now-graduated Eddie Burgess.
“We have guys returning in our defensive line and at linebacker,” Beck said. “There are a lot of secondary returnees, also,” said the coach.
Cook was nine-for-14 through the air last season (.643), for 263 yards and five touchdowns.
Cruz De Jong was 18-for-103, for one score.
Masin Shearer leads the returning receivers. He caught 36 passes for 593 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Cook, who often played wide-out, caught 22 passes for 566 yards and six touchdowns.
Bustamante caught six passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns and Geiger caught three passes for 33 yards and 3 scores.
Burgess was far and away the Braves’ big ground threat last year. This season, a number of players are competing at running back.
On defense, linebacker Marty Knox is Montezuma’s leading returning tackler with 38 stops last season.
Brett Plants had 26 tackles, Cook had 19.5, Bustamante had 18.5 and Geiger had 16.
Cook was one of the state’s best place kickers. He was 41-for-47 on points after, and attempted one field goal, which he nailed, from 36 yards out.
He kicked off 78 times, with 51 of them going for touchbacks.
Beck sees BGM and Baxter as being tough in the district. And that BGM game is relatively early in the schedule: Sept. 9 in Brooklyn.
BRAVES NOTES: Montezuma has six home games this season.