One of new Head Coach Roger Vasey’s first orders of business was to switch Kenston back to a four-man defensive front.
The Bombers enjoyed years of success with a simple formula — running the ball well and stopping the run. Kenston struggled with both the last few years but especially struggled stopping the run. Vasey felt the Bombers weren’t physical enough recently, especially at the point of attack.
One of the ways he is hoping to make Kenston more physical is by bringing back a four-man front. The Bombers had switched to the 3-3 stack a few years ago under former Head Coach Rick Adams. Adams switched to that defense at the time because he felt Kenston had a lot of speed at the linebacker and safety positions.
The switch never really seemed to pay off for Kenston. The Bombers gave up an uncharacteristic amount of points last season, including 49 to Chardon, 38 to Nordonia and 31 to Perry. Compare that with an average Kenston team from 2002 in the old, rugged WRC conference that was able to keep games with teams like Solon relatively close at 24-6. That team finished 5-5.
Vasey says the early returns are positve, with the Bombers playing well and physical in their two scrimmages against Valley Forge and Garfield Heights. He expects the Bombers to keep at least six men in the box at all times — four linemen and two linebackers and bring more players into the box as the situation dictates.
We’ll see if this new, old defense pays off for the Bombers.
on Aug 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
[...] are getting looked at by scouts and which have verbally committed to play college football. If a team changes its defensive scheme, you’ll find out about that [...]
on Aug 20th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
[...] noted early, the Bombers will be switching back to a four-man defensive front. Vasey hopes this will help make his team more physical, and, based on the two scrimmages, Vasey [...]