Five consecutive seasons of eight-plus wins haven’t given the Waubonsie Valley football faithful much reason to doubt Paul Murphy.
But for the always quotable Murphy, who’s entering his 11th year at the helm of the Warrior program, even he doesn’t know what to expect in the program’s DuPage Valley Conference debut.
“Right now, I plan on taking John Fox’s approach to it: we’re going to understate it, try to over perform,” Murphy said of the new Bears’ coach. “I have no idea what our record is or (how) anything is going to be this year. Because it’s all dependent on how our players develop. How our players adjust to things during the games we ask them to do? Not all the teams we’re playing are unfamiliar to us, so it’s not like we’re playing a bunch of teams we’ve never played before.”
What he does have comfort in saying is that the Warriors’ plug-and-play offense should pick up where it left off during a nine-win season in 2014.
Senior quarterback Jack Connolly steps in to fill the shoes of Zack Bennema, the 2014 Upstate Eight Valley Co-Offensive Player of the Year.
In his only year as the quarterback, Bennema churned out 1,795 total yards and 27 touchdowns and has now headed to Baylor as a preferred walk-on.
Murphy believes Connolly, who threw just one pass last year, and Bennema are similar.
“Jack’s very comparable to Zack Bennema,” he said of Connolly. “He’s about the same size, maybe a tad faster as a runner.”
Whether Connolly can run the option as effectively as Bennema, Jack Eddy and Dylan Warden have done before him remains to be seen, but he’ll have a suitable arsenal around him.
Rodney Gee, Max Ihry and two juniors, Quaid Gill and Josh LeMoine, will help comprise the Waubonsie Valley backfield.
Gee, who ran for 196 yards and two TDs, will be asked to fill the role departed by Tony Durns’ 1,146 yards and 13 touchdowns.
“He’s not very tall, so he kind of can hide behind the offensive line because of his size,” Murphy said of Gee. “He’s got real good vision. He’s not afraid to run inside or outside. He’s got some real good instincts. He’s not as fast as Tony, but I think he’s more of a slasher than Tony was. But Tony—when he was on the outside—he could turn it into a track meet, whereas I think Rodney will try to cut back more on you if you give him the chance.”
Impressed early on in fall camp with the way Connolly throws the ball, three seniors—Jake Schroeder, Mike France and Milan Fowler—are among the receivers he’ll be able to utilize.
Schroeder’s six receptions for 55 yards are both team highs for what Waubonsie Valley returns at wide receiver, with Keaton Casey, Will Buford and Justin Rich all gone to graduation.
Whereas Connolly and Gee gives Warriors’ fans reasons to be optimistic offensively right from the start, the Warriors’ defense will be a work in progress early on.
Ihry, at middle linebacker, is the team’s only returning starter from a unit that held three of their first four opponents last year to single digits.
However, six of the last seven games a year ago saw Waubonsie Valley opponents score at least 24 points.
Murphy knows what he’ll get with Ihry following a junior season that saw him record 110 tackles and 5.5 sacks.
But everything else is up in the air leading up to the Aug. 28 season opener against Lake Park.
“Right now, it’s purely a guessing game when you only have one returning starter on defense,” Murphy said. “As far as I’m concerned, all the 10 other spots are wide open. You have an idea who they might be, but you’re never sure until you see them in live action.”
A couple other seniors will likely join Ihry as part of the defense when the bell rings and it will be upon that group to show the way for the remainder of the unit.
“I think all the seniors have to (step up and lead),” Murphy said. “There’s probably be a couple more seniors on defense. They’re all going to have to step up and be positive role models for their younger teammates.”
