Portage High School football coach Wally McCormack is back for his second season, looking to right the ship after the team posted a 3-7 mark in 2012. The path toward Portage’s first winning season since 2008 will continue to be an uphill climb as a road-heavy schedule, an unfavorable sectional alignment, injuries and graduation losses are among the factors working against the Indians.
However, there is still reason for optimism within the Portage football program. Quarterback Gage Pearman, who has been medically released from an ACL injury that occurred during basketball season, is back for his senior year. McCormack said that he is fortunate to have a quarterback that can run and throw the ball effectively. Kicker Nathan Johnson returns after a successful junior season on both the football field and soccer pitch.
Senior Cody Maldonado is another offensive weapon. He recorded 27 catches over the first three games of 2012 before being sidelined for the duration of the season with a broken back. The receiving corps also includes senior Joey Roman, senior Lorenzo Wells, junior Jared Nieves and junior Taylor Sebben. Three-year starting tight end Cameron Vaughn will factor into the passing game as well.
Pearman has not yet been hit in practice, as the coaching staff takes extra care despite the fact that he has been medically cleared.
“It’s tough on us because we have the dilemma of what to do with Gage,” McCormack said. “I don’t particularly want the first time he ever gets touched to be in the Mishawaka game, but at the same time if he got hurt in the Munster scrimmage, I would want to hit myself in the head.”
While Pearman has recovered from his injury, senior running back Hashim Simpson has not yet practiced after suffering a torn ACL of his own.
“We may not get Hashim back for four weeks; he’s not close right now,” McCormack said. “He’s got a doctor’s appointment [on Tuesday], so we may get some information.”
With Simpson on the shelf, juniors Nathan Cherry and Avery Sanders will see more carries early in the season.
The defense was riddled by graduation as just two starters return in Aaron Luick and Kenyota Rollins. Senior defensive lineman Chris Russell had a great summer to nab a starting job. McCormack listed Russell and LB Zach Chandler as two athletes poised to have breakouts years.
In the secondary, the Indians have position battles still in progress as Wells, Roman, Sam Schest, Kyle Green and Jon Velez vie for starting defensive back slots.
McCormack wishes he would have been able to spend another year with last year’s senior class, which played for three different coaches in four years.
“Replacing four offensive linemen is a big deal and 10 starters on defense is a big deal,” he said. “We didn’t play real well on defense last year, but those guys that were starting were the best guys that we had and it wasn’t close. There wasn’t anybody younger that should have been playing. It was a great group of kids; I’d take them back.”
Last year’s senior class was led by All-State running back Rashawn Coleman, who has moved on to play college football at Austin Peay. Other key graduation losses include DBs Deandre Griffin (St. Joseph’s) and James Bryant (Robert Morris).
The Indians have moved into the new Class 6A and will now play in a four-team sectional with Chesterton, Valparaiso and Penn.
“We can’t change it,” McCormack said. “It is what it is. In 6A, if you want to be a big boy, you’ve got to beat the big boys.”
The Indians will tune-up for the regular season on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Warpath when they host Munster in a scrimmage game.
“We’re going to be really vanilla,” McCormack said. “We’re going to line up and see if we can run the ball against them and see if we can stop the run. It’s a good chance to get some film to evaluate your kids and for some of the younger kids to get the chance to be under the lights on a Friday.”
Another challenge that the Indians face this season is an incredibly lopsided home-road schedule. After enjoy six home dates during the regular season in 2012, Portage will hit the road for six of its nine regular season games. The season starts with four straight road games against teams that went a combined 39-12 last year, including trips to the Eastern Time zone (Mishawaka and Penn) the first two weeks of the season.
McCormack said he is doing “absolutely nothing” to prepare his team for the six regular season road trips.
“It’s one of those things that we can’t control, so there’s no use worrying about it,” he said. “It is what it is. Once the game starts, the field is the same size at every school.”