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Sports

Essex Schools Kick Off 2011 Football Practices

Eastern Tech and Kenwood look to returning All-County running backs to take the pressure off of new starting quarterbacks.

The weather might seem better for laying out and relaxing on the beach, but Eastern Tech and Kenwood began football practice on Saturday.

If it's mid-August, regardless of the weather, football practices begin. The players didn't have to deal with the heat wave conditions that have plagued the area on and off this summer. In addition, the predicted thunderstorms for their morning practices also stayed away. The rain held off until after the lunch break, and temperatures remained in the low 80's.

“We look like we are in really good shape,” said Eastern Tech coach Marc Mesaros. “We are running and hustling, and the kids have a really good attitude.”

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Eastern Tech looks to build upon the success it found last season, finishing 11-2 and losing in the Class 2A state semifinals to eventual state runners-up Middletown. Improvement will be a tall order for the Mavericks as they move up to Class 3A and have to replace All-County performers quarterback Brad Hager and fullback Josh Canella, both of whom graduated.

At quarterback, Mesaros will look to Kyle Bosserman to run the team's Wing-T offense. Bosserman was a solid performer in the defensive secondary last season. All-County running back Kenyon Crawford should take some of the pressure off of Bosserman by giving the Mavericks a strong ground game.

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The Saturday morning practice was capped off with defensive sprint drills that stress proper angle of pursuit. Mesaros wants a defense that will have everyone racing to make tackles at all times.

“That drill just makes sure that the defenders take the right angle if someone breaks a long run down the sideline,” said Mesaros. “It gets them running to the ball. To play defense for us, you have to have 11 players running to the ball at all times.”

Kenwood also looks to have success behind a returning All-County running back, Travis Jenkins, who rushed for over 1,000 rushing yards last season while providing highlight plays in the return game as well.

“We have had a long tradition of having good running backs,” said Kenwood head coach Tony Ruocco. “We want to establish the running game with Travis both on sweeps and inside runs, and that will open up the play-action passing game.”

New starting quarterback Albert Molden Jr. seemed to have no trouble picking up the complicated Kenwood play book in his first practice.

“We run a combination of the traditional wing-t with the quarterback under center,” said Ruocco. “But we also will run some shotgun sets that that will allow Molden to use his athleticism in a Wildcat type set.”

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