PREP FOOTBALL: Buffaloes look for more than respect

Aug. 18—GEORGETOWN — While the Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman football team went 0-9 last season, they had the respect of all the Vermilion Valley Conference.

The Buffaloes also got the Sportsmanship Award from Vermilion County coaches for going into games and never giving up.

But head coach Dwayne Grider said it is time for more.

"We have a feeling that they respect us and we thank them for that, but we want them to respect us in a different manner," Grider said. "We expect to put points on the board and expect to be competitive. With that being said, we want a victory or two, even more."

Last year's team had numbers that were in the teens, but Grider said that number has more than doubled despite some challenges during the summer.

"We really didn't have a full summer training camp. A lot of kids worked and a lot of the families were on vacations, so we didn't push the idea of a summer camp," Grider said. "As the summer went on, players were getting restless and wondering about the next practice and we saw that as a positive because they were ready to play. When school starts, we will have that one practice every day and the kids will be coming to practice focused on football real soon."

The returning players are led by Rylan Mosier, who is the top overall player returning and Grider calls him the core player of the team.

"He is the team leader for us and he led the team in tackling and receiving last season, " Grider said. "He is like another coach for us on the field and I basically have given him the reigns on defense. He is a player that comes along once in a lifetime and we are glad to have him for the next two seasons. The players and coaches look up to him and he does whatever you ask him."

"We also have our senior quarterback in Cohen Cavanaugh and we had our top linebacker in De'Vante Hicks, De'Vante is the leader of the group from Chrisman and there are six players from there returning. We have our center Owen Clark, who started as a freshman last season and that is a very rare situation. He leads our line and does a great job as our center."

Other than the vets, there are the many freshman that make up the majority and Grider looks at one that can make a major difference for the Buffaloes.

"We have a gentleman named George Carswell, who didn't play last year, but he is coming along," Grider said. "He is a tall and lanky young man that is going to do a lot in the backfield for us and he will be on kickoffs as well, so we are lucky to have someone as versatile as him."

Grider also thanks the parents of the players for the support and trusting him with their children.

"I couldn't ask for a better set of parents," Grider said. "They knew what the end results and that their sons would not come back from the game in one piece, but they still came to practice and put the kids on the bus every Friday."

The Buffaloes start the season on Aug. 26 against Watseka, a game that was supposed to start last season's action, but covid put a stop to that.

"The word came down to us on Thursday that covid hit us hard," Grider said. "Chrisman is in Edgar County and their covid rules were different and the quarantines were different, so we had 4-5 kids in quarantine and we had only 12 kids available to play. The players wanted to play and it was almost impossible. We are happy to go out and play them this season."