You can certainly excuse senior wide receiver Brandt Stare and his Neuqua Valley teammates for counting down the days.
The Wildcats missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2009, so this offseason lasted longer than usual.
“We’re always talking about how excited we are to get on the field back on Friday nights and get to work,” Stare said. “But I think the mindset for this year is we’re not settling for just being average. I think we know we’re talented enough and disciplined enough and all that stuff to make a run in the playoffs and make playoffs.”
Stare’s 17 receptions for 237 yards and two touchdowns are the highest for any returning Wildcat receiver.
Senior Joey Romano and junior Mark Gronowski have been battling for the chance to replace Jake Eskoff at quarterback and Stare’s presence figures to speed up things.
“(Stare) does a nice job getting himself open,” Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus said. “He’s a kid that we’re looking at to help lead our offense. And then we have another guy in (Will Chevalier) that’s obviously a returning starter in the backfield, so that should help.
“Whoever is playing quarterback, it should ease his mind a little bit just knowing we have a guy next to him and a guy that’s running routes that have been there.”
Chevalier is the type of multi-dimensional running back who should give opposing defenses fits.
With 350 rushing yards and three touchdowns behind featured back Cam Raupach and a team-leading 308 receiving yards, Chevalier displayed that ability as a junior.
His production in 2018 should increase dramatically as Ellinghaus doesn’t anticipate taking him off the field as a true three-down back.
“It’s obviously going to be pretty different without (Raupach) back there,” Chevalier said. “But we just have the same approach we had last season. We have guys stepping up – same offense, same scheme. But knowing that I’ll be the guy that probably gets the ball most of the game, it just changes kind of how I go into each game.”
Seniors Matt Quinn (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) and Kyle Borske (6-2, 245) are back to anchor the defensive line.
Quinn (29 tackles, three sacks) and Borske (18 tackles) will be in front of a group of linebackers paced by Ben Musielewicz and Jacob Boumans.
The heavy baseball presence in the secondary – consisting of Ryan Wheeler, Jake Wenz and Trevor Tesmond – has been replaced by Patrick Hoffmann, Zach Weiss and Rudy Dedeaux.
“I think we’re definitely going to excel in a lot of things,” Quinn said. “We get after it every day. There’s not a day we don’t get after it as a whole defense.”
Blake Baumgartner is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.