| TEN MINUTES WITH COACH CHRIS LEWIS September 5th, 2007 |
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| Ten Minute Interview with Coach Chris Lewis
Coach Lewis you are entering your 7th season with the Hubs Football program, you are the defensive coordinator and you are also the man in charge of the Hub Power Program? Yes, it is a summer weight and conditioning program for the athletic department. How many kids did you have go through that program last summer? With High School & Middle school kids, close to 150 participants. Does that seem to be about the average anymore, or have you seen that number increase or decrease over the years? The numbers have increased a bunch over the past couple of years; we do a little more for the middle school program. We have modified their workout and encouraged them more and kind of got that word out so that part of the program has really taken off. Now this program isn’t sports specific, it is jut to make them all better athletes’ isn’t it? You are right it is not for anyone particular sport, anyone who participates for sports or athletics in Rochelle is more than welcome to participate in the Hub Power program in the summer, it’s agilities, it is speed training and we work on strength, we work on explosive power and there is not one single sport that can’t be benefited by any of those things. Lets, talk a little bit about football, you find yourself with a winning record of 2-0, last year at this point your were 1-1, defensively you have only allowed 8 points in 2 games. Las weekend you gave Dixon a shutout, what do you attribute your early success to? Well I think the big question mark was that we lost 2 very good defensive ends and a defensive tackle, both of our outside linebackers graduated, so those were definite concerns, at this point those kids who are playing have really stepped up. Niche Anaya, and Tony Cruz at the inside linebacker, Eric Lang, and then both Jesse Thorton and Jeff Ruppenthal the defensive end positions, and those guys have stepped up and played well. And that is why our defense has been able to play at a high level. Would you say that there is any one player that has really surprised you so far this year? Well all of those guys were question marks that mentioned, they just had not played those positions, and Tony played a little bit of outside linebacker, so his is a new position. All of those positions were concerns, and to this point they have met those challenges. Now this week we start conference play with Kaneland, like I said defensively you have only allowed 8 points in 2 games, they have been able to put up some big numbers, but on the other hand they have also allowed 71 points in 2 games. How do you think you match up against Kaneland? To say we are going to shut them down, that’s not going to happen. They are a very good offense they run a 5-wide, the are going to score points. We let our kids know that, that there are going to be times when there are going to be plays made. Our goal is to make them drive the ball and don’t give up the big plays, and then on offense we need to control the clock and try to limit their possessions. OK now would you say that there is any one big key to the game? Yes, the offensive line needs to make sure of their assignments, they need to clean up their mistakes, and clean up the little details on offense. We get things cleaned up, and then we can now put together drives and stay in drives. Now last week we only had 2 nice drives, one at the beginning of the game and one at the end of the game, but in the middle we were just kind of sputtering around. So if we can get more consistent on offense, control the clock that is a big weapon for us. Our best defense is always our offensive line and controlling the clock. I know Kaneland first game was against a team that ran the Wing-T like you, I am sure you have seen film on that, did they have difficulty picking that up? The did a nice job, they are going to be a blitzing attacking defense. He team they played first week (Burlington Central) has some nice schemes, and they were able to get some things done against them. Kaneland’s up front kids are really big, their linebackers are returning starters, and their secondary is a lot of their wide receivers and skill kids, so I am impressed with their defense. Do you have a prediction for the game? I don’t know, except I just hope it’s not 44-40 at halftime again. This is your second year in the Western Sun Conference, is it any easier preparing for these games? I guess by going back and evaluating things that we did last year, we went into our summer camp easier because we had things we could work on and didn’t have to work on. We have probably limited our packages somewhat knowing that there are some things we are going to pick up and things we aren’t. But it definitely has become easier for us, as to how we want to package different each team is going to be different, Kaneland is going to be 5-wide, Batavia and Geneva are both going to be a Pro 2 back set, but they will spread the ball out a little, Sycamore spreads the ball out. Glenbard South runs the ball more. DeKalb is a Pro-I set so there’s a little bit of everything. Now this weeks game is the first game on this brand new field, do you feel like there is a little more excitement because of that? Yes there is that excitement, to be out there on that new field. The kids are excited about it also, but deep down they are more excited about getting better, improving as a team, gingival problems or team problems whatever we need to fix. I think the kids are more excited about going in getting it fixed and seeing if we can get another run. That’s it! Good Luck this week Coach Lewis Thank You Many thanks to Coach Lewis for the Ten Minutes he spent with us this week. |