Prep Football Preview: De Smet Hopes For Two Winning Trips To The Dome In 2011

As football coach Pat Mahoney begins anew in 2011, the veteran coach still has flashbacks to how 2010 began and ended. The 2010 season started with a loss to Hazelwood Central, and it ended with a loss to those very same Hawks.

And what burns the Spartans is that there was a fine line between winning and losing both those contests and being so close to winning it all.

"A goal is simply a dream with a date attached to it," said Mahoney, who begins his 11th season as Spartans coach with a 67-34 record that includes one state championship (2005). "There's a date and it's not going anywhere. Whether you get there or not is going to depend on whether you believe it or you're just saying it. We've been there three times in the last five (seasons) and not gotten there, so this is the year."

The Spartans finished 8-5 a season ago -- which included a 2-2 mark in the Metro Catholic Conference. They were a victory over the Hawks from reaching the Class 6 state championship game, losing in the semifinals 20-14. De Smet also lost 20-19 to Hazelwood Central to begin the season.

De Smet must find a way to replace Ricky Spratley (684 rushing yards, five TDs) along with (505 rushing yards, seven TDs) as well as Teddy Corvin, the leader in sacks with seven. They all graduated.

"We start every year with the expectation of going all the way," said Mahoney, whose career record is 136-62 which includes a stint as coach at Largo High School in Florida. "I think every school in the state says it, but we really do believe it.

OFFENSE

"We feel like this year we can get there. It takes an awful lot. It takes luck, you've got to stay healthy, a break or two. We'll see. Last year was a bumpy ride with all the injuries, but we still were a step away."
The Spartans, who will being back 20 seniors to lead the charge in 2011, open the season on Aug. 26 at home against the Hawks. And they will be looking forward to unleashing senior Durron Neal, who finished his junior season with 23 touchdowns and 1,408 rushing/receiving yards.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Neal, who was the team's leading rusher and quarterback for a stretch as well as a featured defensive back, rushed for 1,001 yards and 10 TDs, had 408 receiving yards and eight TDs and also was 28-for-73 passing for 506 yards, eight TDs and three interceptions. Neal, who averaged 8.7 yards per carry, had three interceptions as a cornerback and collected 840 return yards and five TDs on defense/special teams. He announced in the offseason a verbal pledge to attend the University of Oklahoma and is expected to run the ball more this year than in the past.

"My anticipation is to be more of a two-back run team with a little more play-action," Mahoney said. "We've been a little more wide open in the past, but we've got this big offensive line. They're young, but they are big and they're aggressive kids. So we're going to see if we can dominate the line of scrimmage."

"Any way I can help my team win, anywhere they need me, I'll be there," Neal said. "I just want to be there for them. It would have been a real hard thing trying to go through the season with all these scholarships coming, but now that's out of the way, I'm more relaxed. I'm having fun cherishing all the moments."

Said Mahoney, "We'll still do a lot of things with Durron as we move him around. But that'll be our bread-and-butter. At tailback, that's the easiest place to get him the ball."

The Spartans will also rely heavily on senior wide receiver/defensive lineman KeVonn Mabon (6-3, 205), who had nine TDs total, including 5 receiving on 13 catches for 302 yards. "He's obviously a talented athlete, so we've got to get him the ball," Mahoney said of Mabon.
Junior Conner Harrison (6-2, 165) will be under center as well as fill a role as a defensive back. Harrison was 41 of 85 for 879 yards, 11 TDs and 8 interceptions as a sophomore. He also was one of the many Spartans who went down with an injury in 2010.

"He got a lot of experience before he got the concussion in Week 7," Mahoney said of Harrison. "My anticipation with Conner is to grow into the position, let the players play, control the game, manage the ball and don't give it to the other team."

DEFENSE

Also on defense, the Spartans will be a multiple defensive unit. They'll be aggressive and stay back when needed. That unit will be led by senior linebacker Jamie Placht (6-0, 200)  back after a junior season in which he led De Smet in tackles (57) to go with four sacks. Also, senior nose guard Lorenzo Gregory (6-2, 260), junior defensive end Nick Wunderli (6-4, 265), junior linebacker Brandon Gutzler (6-1, 195) and junior defensive end Donny White (6-3, 200) will anchor a unit geared to stopping the run.

De Smet opens conference play September 9 against CBC at the Edwards Jones Dome as part of the Great American Football Classic that takes place over two days.

"From a coaching perspective, that's a bigger pain than it is a plus," Mahoney said. "First of all, we have to play on a Saturday night, it's out of our sequence, we have to travel down there instead of playing across the street over at CBC. But the kids enjoy it and we do this for a lot of reasons. One of them is the kids have the experience. The mantra is to play twice in the Dome. It'll be a heck of a ballgame."
Mahoney said he expects his group along with the Cadets to be at the top of the MCC but not to discount SLUH, Vianney or .

WEEK ONE: Home vs. Hazelwood Central August 26 at 7 p.m.