Berwick replacing ‘smash-mouth football’ with speed

Hilda Voisin Buquet
August 25, 2009
Mary Little McFarland
August 27, 2009
Hilda Voisin Buquet
August 25, 2009
Mary Little McFarland
August 27, 2009

Building a winning football program is similar to building a house – it all starts with laying a foundation. Once that is done, you put the necessary pieces in place until you have a finished product.


Berwick High head coach Mike Thomas is relying on the Panthers’ senior class to provide a sturdy base for his team. He’s confident the Berwick Panthers know what it takes to succeed.

The team finished 4-5 last year, and were a combined 13 points away from going 6-3 with a berth in the Class 3A playoffs following two close losses to Franklin and Erath. Late touchdowns in both games were called back because of holding penalties.


Thomas said he plans to use that disappointment as motivation and proof that his team can be competitive in District 7-3A this season.


“I thought the seniors last year with their leadership ability created a foundation to build on,” the coach said. “Now it’s up to these guys to continue to improve and build on what they did. It’s a process, it takes time.”

Entering the 2009 season, the Panthers are faced with low numbers. Last year, they ended the season with 51 players on the roster. So far this season, they have only dressed out 44.


However, Thomas isn’t concerned. He’s still running a spread offense formation and the 4-3 defense. It will be up to the players to step up and play both sides of the ball.


“This year, we are going to have about eight guys that play both ways,” he said. “This year, we are fortunate enough to do that. Throughout the course of a 10-game season, that’s wear and tear. Right now, we’ve been training all summer. We have to have these guys in shape so they can play 48 minutes of football. They can do it. We have some tough, athletic kids out there.”

One thing the Panthers will have this season is more senior leadership.


Offensively, seven of the 11 starters are seniors. Led by All-District tailback Jarad Loston, the Panthers have their biggest weapons returning on offense. Fellow senior split ends Miles Lanier and Zach Johnson and guard Logan Barrilleaux join junior right tackle Trey Hebert as the five returning offensive starters.

Seniors Chris Willoughby at left tackle, Kiefer Sanders at fullback and Jimmy Fry at quarterback adapt to their new roles in the Panthers offense this season along with junior left guard Jamie Quinhuallia and wingback Keytrone Jones.

Thomas said he believes his skill position players are as good as they come, but the team must have more success with its short passing game.

“I’m hoping this year, because of the skill positions, we can pass more on unpassable downs and complete the short passes,” Thomas admitted. “If it’s first and 10, complete a pass for five or six yards and face second and four or five. We didn’t do a good job of doing that last year. We worked on it all summer.”

On defense, only eight starting positions are set. Defensive end Jones and defensive tackle Hebert are the only definite starters on the line. Middle linebacker Barrilleaux, strong safety Sanders, free safety Loston and cornerbacks Lanier and Johnson are all going to have to handle playing both sides of the ball.

The other three spots – defensive guard, end and linebacker – are still wide open. Thomas said he’s looking for a few more “mean” guys who will step in and contribute.

“Our strength on our defense is going to be our defensive backs because we have all of them returning. We just moved all of them around to different positions,” he said. “We just have to find some big bodies that can suck it up and play the time that is needed to play in a football game.”

With five non-district games before the Oct. 9 district opener against Franklin, Thomas hopes to use the non-district slate to have everything in place. If the players feed off of each others’ intensity, he doesn’t see it being much of a problem.

“We’ve been working hard all summer,” he said. “We aren’t going to play smash-mouth football with anyone. We’re just going to use our speed to the best of our advantage.”

Senior Jarad Loston is expected to be one of the primary offensive weapons for the Panthers this year in the spread offense. The Panthers are looking to build on last year’s 4-5 finish. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER