First-year Christopher defensive coordinator Anthony Hargrove and his Bearcats defense won’t have to wait long for a challenge.
Christopher opens the season this year traveling to Carmi on Friday. It’s a rematch of last year’s Black Diamond Conference season opener, won by Carmi 34-7.
The Bulldogs bring back the quarterback who did so much damage in that game, Jake Simon, an all-conference first team selection.
For a Christopher team with just two starters back on defense, it is going to be a baptism by fire for the Bearcats.
“It’s tough,” Christopher coach Josh McCurren said. “They are going to be solid this year. They throw the ball amazing. He’s (Simon) got a lot of speedy receivers to go along with it. They will be good.”
Carmi lost five straight after last year’s opening win and finished the season 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the Black Diamond, just slightly ahead of Christopher (2-7, 2-6).
The Bearcats also return a couple second team all-conference selections that Simon will try to get the ball to often, wide receiver Justice Stubblefield and running back Andrew Burnett.
Simon’s father Kurt is Carmi’s longtime head coach. He’s been there 19 seasons with a 119-72 record and 13 playoff appearances.
“Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton always does some different things offensively and being the first game of the year you have to prepare for everything and make sure you get lined up correctly,” Kurt Simon said. “The other thing is our physical condition. It’s very hard to simulate a full game in practice and our team has to be able to fight through the rigors of that first full game.”
McCurren is looking to see how his team responds to on opening night with an inexperienced roster of just eight seniors and five juniors.
“We can’t afford any injury, we can’t afford a kid going out with grades,” McCurren said. “If a kid misses practice we might have to drop from a senior to a sophomore. That’s just tough.”
Simon said the key for Carmi is to limit our turnovers and win the field position battle.
McCurren is looking for a spark from senior quarterback Cam Newton, who is making the transition to quarterback after playing wide receiver last year.
McCurren found out in May his expected starting quarterback was moving which forced him to switch Newton to quarterback and change from the spread attack to a more traditional attack.
“Cam is more of a wide receiver and tight end, he’s got great hands and he’s really been working hard on his footwork as far as being a quarterback,” McCurren said. “He is very intelligent which helps. He’s doing a good job of leading our offense and everything. He’s excited about being a leader. It’s his turn.”
Steven Anderson is Bearcats’ the lone returning all-conference player and will be counted on at running back and on defense.
Most of the Bearcats play both ways. Players to watch include Colton Phillips, Kaeleb Pedigo, Preston Rider, Derek Mueller, Dakota Duvall, Jacob Holdren, Noah Huff, Wardell Williams and Casey Buckliew, a sophomore move-in from Harrisburg.
McCurren is starting his sixth season at Christopher, and the Bearcats have won either two or three games in each of the previous five. He’s excited about the freshman class he has at Christopher this year and the future of the program with a new junior football league debuting.
Don’t expect to see those freshmen moved up any time soon, however.
“We want to keep them in tact as much as possible,” McCurren said. “They are a group of kids that have won since they were at birth it seems like. We are going to try to keep them in tact and keep them playing as a whole team and not move them up as much as possible. Maybe some will play sophomore ball. They’ve been successful in baseball, track and basketball. They are a good group of kids and play well together.”
