By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
FALLS CITY, Ore.– Falls City Head Coach Dean Munkers called last year’s 1A 6-Man playoff appearance as a bonus of sorts for the squad entering this season. The Mountaineers fell to a more experienced Prairie City/Burnt River squad that went on to reach the 1A 6-Man Semi’s last season.
But it was that experience. Those extra reps, that will be helpful and will be helpful for them entering this season with how inexperienced they were during their 3-6 season last Fall in just their second ‘official’ season at the 6-Man level.
“We have a better football knowledge,” Munkers said of the season last year. “The majority of our players were first – or second year players going against a team that reached the Semi-Finals. They’re juniors and seniors and have been playing football together since they were in Middle School. Overall, we were better athletes than we were because they worked hard in the weight room to get better, to get stronger, to get faster “
It was that dedication, Munkers pointed towards, to the offseason process with the weight room to get them into a position to take that next step this year. It’ll be a challenge replacing Chris Sickles’ production, Sickles rushed for 2,035 yards as a senior last year, which was fifth-best at any classification 1A 6-Man to 6A.
But Munkers is excited to see who steps up for them out of the roughly nine players he’s gotten out to this point. Especially Avery Burgess and Daniel Arismendez, the latter going from Center to Receiver in their unbalanced offensive scheme that they run..
“Avery Burgess…ge’s been a starter since he was a freshman. He’s going to be a really good player for us this year. He’s going to be really difficult for people to block. He’s going to play defensive end, and he figured out how to play that position really well,” starts Munker. “Daniel Arismendez, who was Honorable Mention All-State as a Center last year, he’s going to move over to our inside receiver because we run an unbalanced formation. He has good hands, he’s not super fast, but he has such good hands that if the ball is close, he’s going to catch it, and he’s a big, strong kid.”
Falls City will open the season at Eddyville Charter for a jamboree before opening the season on September 5 at home against Gilchrist.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
