GRANITE CITY – Granite City High School’s football team will be looking to replace some graduated seniors on this year’s squad.
The Warriors began preseason practice earlier in the week coming off a 2-7 season in 2015 and will begin the season with a Aug. 26 road contest at Jersey Community High School with 60-65 players in attendance.
“There’s some big question marks” going into the season,” said Warrior coach Carl Luehmann. “We’ve got some good kids out here that come to work hard every day. That’s why we keep doing this; that’s why us coaches here have a passion for it. It keeps us going.”
The Warriors will return several linemen for 2016 including Steven Jenkins, Ryan Earney, Chase Gasner and TaMojia Johnson, who will go both ways for the Warriors. Torrey Deal, Jacob Spears and Kendrick Williba are the main skill players who return to the team this season. Gabe Jarman, a three-year starter at quarterback, graduated in the spring and Williba may get the nod to replace Jarman, Luehmann citing his familiarity with the Warrior system.
“He knows the system, he throws the ball well,” Luehmann said about Williba. “We’re looking for some more leadership from him.”
The Warrior program has taken some knocks the past several years, but seeing how players progress keeps Luehmann coming back to work with them. “I tell people it’s the kids who show up here every day; some of them have a lot to work on, and it’s neat to see those kids progress and keep getting better at the sport,” Luehmann said. “That’s why I keep coming back; I’ve got a passion for teaching the kids how to play football.
“I’ve got some really good coaches; it’s neat to see them progress and become better coaches too.”
As always, the goal is to make the large-school IHSA football playoffs and the Warriors will be facing difficult games in the Southwestern Conference after the non-conference games against Jersey and Carbondale, who Granite is picking up on the schedule this year in Week 2.
“Our conference is always tough; it’s one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Luehmann said. “All the teams in the conference are pretty tough.”
The Warriors will be playing on the renamed Kevin Greene Field this season in honor of the recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee; a ceremony to honor the 1980 graduate of then-Granite City South is slated to be held in October.
