Football Practice Begins

Pantagraph 8/14/02

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The first three days of practice are limited to non-contact drills with no pads.

"Obviously it's a prime time for teaching and dealing with all kids one-on-one as much as possible to make them feel comfortable with the system and techniques," said Bloomington coach Rigo Schmelzer. "You go into proper tackling form and at the same time get conditioned."

BHS, which advanced to last year's Class 6A semifinals, returns all-Big 12 Conference West Division quarterback Andre Brown. The Purple Raiders have won 25 straight regular-season games.

Lexington has put together three straight undefeated regular seasons and won 32 straight regular-season games. But the Minutemen suffered heavy graduation losses from its Class 1A state runner-up squad. An early season showdown looms Sept. 6 against El Paso.

Pontiac, which has won 29 consecutive Corn Belt Conference games, has three standouts returning in halfback/defensive back Jake Cunningham, a Purdue recruit; defensive tackle/offensive tackle Aaron Vogt; and center/linebacker Buck Casson.

The Indians also will have senior quarterback Isaac Monts, a transfer from Woodland who threw for more than 4,000 yards and 34 touchdowns the past two seasons as the Warriors went 0-18.

"He's had good numbers, but now we're hoping he learns some success," said Pontiac coach Mick Peterson. "There's not going to be any pressure on him to be the go-to guy or win games for us."

The Corn Belt will look different this season with the addition of Herscher and Rochester.

The end of LeRoy's co-op with Tri-Valley has forced a reshuffling of the Sangamon Illini. The Blue Division will have nine teams -- including LeRoy, Tri-Valley, Blue Ridge and Fisher -- with GCMS and Iroquois West in the six-team White Division and PBL in the six-team Red Division.