Staff Blog

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Accepting a Challenge

This Saturday, the 2007 Luther Norse season will get underway. If you go by the d3football.com poll, Luther will play three of the top 35 teams in the nation. Conference favorite Central is ranked #8 coming into the season. Wartburg, who will be the home opener for the Norse, is #25. St. Olaf is in the others receiving votes category, top spots away from entering the top 25. I don't think it's too much to say that few, if any, teams in Division three football have that tough of a first three games on their schedule.

That said, that doesn't seem to bother coach Hefty or the team. The Luther program has reached the point that they don't fear a schedule like this. Even after struggling in 2006, a take all comers attitude still prevails. It's not an attitude of cockiness or overconfiedence, it's an attitude of knowing a challenge, accepting a challenging, facing a challenging and doing your best to meet the challenge head on. Neysayers may wonder about the approach. However, it's a good life lesson young people can learn through sports. In life, you face many challenges. You can approach them with fear, with a defeatest attitude or take them on head on. The approach taken by the football team is one that can stick with players well past their playing days.

It's going to being anything but easy Saturday. The Oles are coming off of an 8-2 season and return with a lot of firepower. St. Olaf had 12 all-MIAC performers last season and return all of them. The Oles had the most all-conference players of any team in the MIAC, and when you're talking about a league that includes Bethel and St.John's thats saying a lot. They return the majority of starters on offense, have a bit more to fill on defense from last year, but the nucleus on that side of the ball is a great base to start from.

Last Saturday, the Norse held its annual blue and white scrimmage. It ended up getting played on the practice field, due to the amount of rainfall the area has received recently. It ended up being a fun atmosphere, with many supporters showing up in their lawn chairs on one sideline and the team on the other. I was really impressed with the defense. It looked the a solid collective unit that has been working together for a good amount of time. Coach Dan Marlow and the defensive staff has gone back to more an aggressive defensive, rather than the read and react style played last year. Based on the scrimmage, the 11 man unit seemed a lot more comfortable playing that style. The offense has more jelling to do at the present time, as expected replacing a center, quarterback and two wide receivers. They did some nice things and we saw some good things out of the running game, with Tyler Bass, Adam Lamos and Andrew Lower. Tyler Sherden was held out of the scrimmage last Saturday. It's a growing process and in talking to coach Hefty this morning, he's pleased with the progress that was made in camp.

The Norse will have a week off between the St. Olaf game and the Iowa conference opener at Central. Coach Hefty said this was by design. The thinking being in the first week of the season they'll find out where they're at, use a week to fine tune things and then use the second week to concentrate on Central. The schedule will remain the same next year as well, with the Norse being off week two.

Luther year Luther lost at St.Olaf 35-16, despite outgaining the Oles 456-342. The primary difference in the ball game was red zone efficiency. St. Olaf went 4-4. Luther was just 3-7, with the three scores being field goals. Among the returnees for the Norse, Adam Lamos rushed 15 times for 55 yards, Tony Branter had 6 catches for 83 yards, both career highs, including a 44 yard touchdown, Marcus Hendrickson had ten tackles, Joe Taylor had five stops, Justin Reitsma has four stops and Brandon Rickertson had a sack.

KWLC will have complete coverage of Saturday's game. Pregame at noon. Kickoff at twelve-30. In the Decorah area, it's AM 1240. On the web it's kwlc.luther. edu.

Check back Wednesdays and Sunday for blog updates.

Posted by Darin Svenson at 1:31 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Norse Football Previews

Football season is getting close and the Norse are getting some pre-season press.

Luther eager to prove 2-8 season was a fluke - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

Sherden returns with new perspective in '07 - Decorah Newspapers

Luther football team looks to bounce back - Radio Iowa

The Iowa Conference has also released their annual preview with the Norse ranked seventh in the pre-season coaches poll. Their first two Iowa Conference opponents, Central and Wartburg, are ranked first and second, respectively.

2007 Iowa Conference Football Preview (PDF)

Offensive lineman Jon Stavast has been named a pre-season All-American by D3football.com. Complete list.

Also, the 2007 roster and player profiles are online, so head on over to sports.luther.edu to check them out.

Posted by Mike at 4:57 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Norse football media day

Wednesday, the Luther football team held its annual media day. The Norse began practice this week. In talking with players and coaches, I was curious about what the team was doing to get the bad taste of a 2-8 football season out of their mouths. To a man, they said that 2006 has not been discussed to this point. The focus is on 2007 and the upcoming season.

It was interesting talking to coach Hefty about last year and the off season. Hefty mentioned that the program was examined througholy in an effort to improve things. No facet was ignored. What can the coaches do better? What can the players do better? What needs to be emphasized more? All in all, it seems to me that every effort is being made to take the negativity of 2006 and try to turn it in to the positivity of 2007.

There will be some interesting questions to answer in camp. Defensively, a lot of returning starters are back and coming into the season there seems to be less questions on that side. With leadership from Marcus Hendrickson and Mike Tangen, solid players on the defensive line and strength returning in both the linebacking core and secondary, coach Dan Marlow seems to have a solid group to work with.

Offensively, the Norse must replace two of the best ever receivers in school history in Kyle Pearson and Brett Scheetz as well as a solid quarterback in Zach Sweers. To compare the replacements at those positions to those three would be unfair. Two receivers with a good amount experience in Alex Torrissi and Tony Brantner return, so I belive the drop off won't be that far. Justy Feldt looked solid in the time he had last year, now he must step up to a new role of having to be the guy. But the pressure on those guys should be less, because the Norse running game should be improved. The return of Tyler Sherden, as well as solid backs such as Adam Lamos and Tyler Bass should give the Norse a good 1-2-3 punch. Also the Norse return a solid pair of fullbacks with Andrew Lower and Jeremy Klein. The strengh of the offense should be the offensive line, with pre-season all-American Jon Stavast anchoring a group of four experienced players. You do have to replace an All-conference center in Casey Bouska, but I'm sure coach Lerier will find the right fit over the next two weeks.

You can get a couple of sneak previews of the Norse. This Saturday a scrimmage will take place at two-45, next Saturday at two, both at Carlson Stadium.

One final note, congratulations to Kyle Schroeder, Norse baseball player for the last four years, and league MVP this past spring. He signed a professional baseball contract with the Gary Southshore Railcats of the Northern League recently. Definately nice to see a Norse athlete getting a chance at the next level.

That's all for now. I'll check in the week before the St. Olaf game with a preview.

Posted by Darin Svenson at 10:05 AM | 0 comments

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Accepting a Challenge

Norse Football Previews

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