In the aftermath of the best West Platte football season in the last decade, the Blue Jays have a lot of replacements to make this fall.
West Platte senior Chad Jameson celebrates during the district semifinal loss to University Academy-Charter last season.
After losing 13 seniors from last year’s squad that went 8-3 and earned third in the KCI Conference, the Blue Jays will have many new faces on the gridiron. West Platte also had a few players that moved, including starting center Logan Lawson.
“The biggest thing is that although they’re inexperienced, they know what it takes to be successful since work ethic is what we instilled for the kids to carry over,” West Platte head football coach Jim Newsted said. “Our motto is ‘this fight is our fight’ so we’re going to have to be competitive.”
West Platte has 12 seniors this season – three of which are playing football for the first time – led by five returning starters. Xavier Reynolds and Lane Scott were starters on both sides of the ball; Christian Larrabee and Chad Jameson were defensive starters and Josh Brown was the Blue Jays’ starting tight end.
There was a quarterback competition this year between senior Peyson Chandler and sophomore Kane Cogan with the younger player winning the spot. Chandler will take over the starting running back position and Cogan will be under center on Friday nights for the first time in his career.
“Kane throws the ball well; he has some height so he can see things over the line. He has a good head on his shoulders so he can see a lot of things and has a quarterback type mind,” Newsted said.
West Platte also has a couple of speedsters who were a part of the record-breaking 4x100-meter relay team last track and field season with McClain Zendejas and Augie Hill. The sophomore duo will be starting in the slot of the Wing-T offense – which is an offensive scheme that utilizes a fullback, a tailback and a halfback, who will all either block off defenders or run the ball.
“I would say that our biggest strength is those guys with speed, getting the ball to them outside. With how fast they are, they have the opportunity to be a great vertical threat but we’re going to utilize them with some toss sweeps,” Newsted said.
Junior Will Shafer has been on special teams since his freshman year but will be on both sides of the ball this year as defensive end and tight end. Sophomore Dalton Woodard has been fighting for time in the backfield as well and will be in the slot.
“I’m a creature of habit and an old school guy so will stick to the run. We’re going to use the ground game a lot, the slot get the ball as much as running back in our scheme,” Newsted said.
West Platte has a solid offensive and defensive line coming back with Scott being the only returning offensive lineman starter. Gabe Larimer, David Brown and Jameson will join Scott in protecting Cogan.
“Both my lines are senior heavy; we have four that are seniors that started or played a decent amount last year. I’m hoping that they can get off the line of scrimmage well,” Newsted said.