Mines kicks off season against Haskell

By Jeff Budlong, Journal staff Saturday, August 30, 2008

RAPID CITY – The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology football team is looking to pick up its third consecutive victory over Haskell University on the gridiron tonight and in the process begin the 2008 season with a win.

The Hardrockers won last year’s matchup 17-3 in Lawrence, Kan., but Mines head coach Dan Kratzer said a new season will bring new challenges in trying to deal with Haskell.

“They have always had good group of athletes and they have 90 or 100 players on their roster,” he said. “They have had a lot of talent but they have had a lot of turnover. They have not been able to keep them in the program, but they do bring back several players this year.”

Haskell is under the direction of a new offensive coordinator which has left Kratzer and the rest of his coaches trying to predict what it might do on the field tonight base on their past meetings.

“They always have big physical kids on the offensive line and they always have a good athlete at quarterback,” Kratzer said. “This may be their best season athletically because they do bring back several returners.”

Haskell’s offensive line features a pair of 300 pound linemen in front of sophomore quarterback Tyler Sessions and two sophomore running backs Quentin Haynes and Ryan Thorne and freshman Malcolm Coleman.

For the ’Rockers, their first game of the season is also the first college start for freshman quarterback Nick Russell. Kratzer is not expecting his young signal-caller to carry the team, but there are areas he will be looking for improvement.

“We want to see consistency on both sides of the ball because we have been void of that the last couple of years,” he said.

The ’Rockers offensive line has more depth than in recent years which should help it protect the young quarterback and open holes for the running game. Kratzer has been “real surprised” with the play of some of his linemen including freshman Todd Sherman from Winner.

SDSM&T will use several running backs in the game with freshman Jamie Dale getting a good look after he had a solid camp.

“We could use two or three running backs which is nice because of the depth we have throughout the team this year that we haven’t had in the past,” Kratzer said.

Ed Waliczek, Tony Ostheimer and Jason Beilstein will see plenty of time at wide receiver and tight end to open the season.

Defensively, Kratzer believes the back two lines are the strongest on that side of the ball with two all-conference players in Tom Lunzman and Dustin Meneley along with a three-year starter in Chad Westendorf in the secondary.

Along with the secondary, Kratzer looks to his linebackers as the strength of the team.

“Everett Brill, Tyrell Anderson and Jarrod Luze are a strong group that can make a name for themselves,” he said. “Our defense has the depth now where you can’t just focus on one guy.”

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at O’Harra Stadium.