The Corn Bible Academy Crusaders football team brings back a lot of athletes from its roster from last season, returning seven starters.
“We are excited about just having a football season,” offensive coordinator Brendon Schmidt said. “We are a multi-dimensional offense, meaning we like to run and pass the football. These boys have worked hard and are fitting into our system. They are learning the plays really well and are ready for the season to begin.”
Senior quarterback Brendon Miller has been a starter since his freshman season and he and his teammates are excited for the season.
“I like leading the team,” Miller said. “Being a starter for three seasons has been awesome and I am hoping to lead us to the playoffs. We are not scared of anything and something I have improved on is being able to read defenses better.”
Sophomore running back Karson Schmidt said the team is going to be better than they were last season.
“Last season, I was not the best at reading holes the offensive line created for me and this is something I have improved on,” Karson said. “Last season, I did not score a lot of points as the running back because I played fullback at times.”
Schmidt said the football players do a good job of staying focused in practice and are improving each and every day.
“I am excited to see our offense,” Schmidt said. “Our goal as football coaches is to make our student athletes the best football players they possibly can be. We have some guys who can run really fast and guys who are strong. They execute the offense well in practice and are disciplined.”
Senior nose guard Andrew Koscheski said these are the best preseason practices he has been part of while at Corn Bible.
“We are looking really solid,” Koscheski said. “We are bigger and stronger than last season. We focus and are dedicated in practice and I have learned football requires hard work and dedication.”
Coach Asa Zoschke said they are trying some new things on defense this season.
“I am excited about our defense and we have changed a few things up,” Zoschke said. “I am excited to see how our defensive line improves. We are getting bigger, faster and stronger in the weight room. We are still toying around with some guys in different positions. The goal of these new schemes is to be simpler and not have players thinking about assignments as much. I am excited to see how this will work for our guys.”
Zoschke said defensive penalties can kill a defense’s chance of getting off the field and it gives offenses free yards.
“We have some tricks up our sleeves to eliminate early season mistakes,” Zoschke said. “After watching film from the previous game and see how many yards of penalties we had, we will have some “fun” drills in practice to reinforce not making these mistakes. We also do things in practice such as change the count and we tell them to watch the ball so they do not jump offside.”