Sports
Football, a simple game for Coach Steve Stetson
By Dave Meisel '13, Sports Staff Writer
September 22, 2011
Steve Stetson stresses simplicity.
Every head football coach spends hours watching film and creating complex schemes to win games. But for the ninth-year Hamilton head coach, the Continentals’ success boils down to three factors.
“If we concentrate on maintaining [possession of] the football, playing sound, solid defense and scoring touchdowns, we can win,” said Stetson, who has coached the Continentals for the last six years and for three years from 1982 to 1984.
Turnovers were the Continentals’ Achilles’ heel in 2010. They had 17 in 2010 to their opponents’ 11. They were outscored by just under two touchdowns per game last year. However, that number can be deceptive when you take into account that they gave their opponents an extra possession per game.
Hamilton has focused on tightening its play during this preseason and has only turned the ball over once in a scrimmage against Yale’s JV squad on Sept. 11. The team’s improvement is in large part due to the fact that Hamilton is returning most of its offensive starters this season.
Junior quarterback Jordan Eck is finally healthy after missing all of 2009 battling Crohn’s disease and being hampered by a concussion last season. Three of Hamilton’s top four receivers from 2010 are back—senior Ryan Cray, junior Garrett Hoy and junior McCullough Shriver. Tight end Kevin Petrick ’13, the team’s second-leading receiver, is also back. Petrick had 25 receptions for 266 yards last year. He’s a huge target at 6’4”, 245 pounds and will be a security blanket for Eck this season.
The Continentals’ strength on offense is in the running game. Sophomore James Stanell emerged as a monster last year, rushing for 483 yards and four touchdowns on 95 carries.
If Hamilton can establish a dangerous aerial attack, the entire offense will open up.
“To make our running game go, we’re going to obviously have to block well and throw the ball well,” said Stetson. “We’ll be in every game if we can do those things and hang onto the ball.”
Just as Stetson stresses hanging onto the ball on offense, he wants the Continentals to be able to take it away on defense. Senior corners Dylan Isenberg and Ted Finan will anchor the secondary. Isenberg moved from running back to cornerback (his natural position) last season, and Finan is a four-year starter. “We’re looking for Isenberg and Finan to be defensive playmakers,” said Stetson.
There’s a lot of inexperience in the Continentals’ front seven. Middle linebacker Mike MacDonald ’13 led the Continentals with 73 tackles (43 solo, 30 assists) and anchors a young group up front. Defensive tackle Burke St. John, a second-team All-NESCAC selection last year and defensive end/outside linebacker Landry Mack both graduated, but the Continentals have traded experience for speed.
“We’re younger on defense, but quicker,” said Stetson.
To say the team is younger would be an understatement. The team has just seven seniors and almost 30 first-years, but Stetson sees it as a positive. “This is the smartest group we’ve ever recruited,” he said.
Stetson’s three straightforward goals, then, shouldn’t be difficult for the entire team to grasp. And even if Hamilton is unable to eclipse two wins for the first time since 1996 this season, their future is bright indeed.