PERRY TOWNSHIP – The Perry Commodores will open the season for the second year in a row with a new head coach at the helm.
Following the tragic death of Herb Lane Jr. last March, the Commodores turned to Luke Taviano, a 1997 Perry graduate, to take over the reins of the program.
Taviano comes in with high expectations of himself, his coaching staff, and his players to turn the Perry program into winners again.
“We want to have our first winning season since 1989.” Taviano stated when asked his outlook for his initial season as head coach.
Taviano sees his offensive line and running attack as strengths that Perry can build success upon.
Seniors Eric Jackson and Aaron Rush along with junior center Kevin Miller will anchor that offensive line while the running game will be keyed by Luke Floyd, Shane Overly and Nylan Cannon. Overy rushed for 161 yards on 27 carries and was the second leading rusher behind Plummie Gardner who has since graduated. Floyd had 92 yards but scored three touchdowns and Cannon racked up 157 yards and three touchdowns.
Junior Louie Hoersten will take over at quarterback for the Commodores and hopes to balance the rushing game with a passing attack that will depend on Floyd, who will line up in the slot when not at wing-back. Dillan Maxwell will also be counted on at receiver from his split end spot. Hoersten replaces Gardner who passed for 1,886 yards and threw for 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
“We want to play a smash mouth form of football with the offensive line that we have,” Taviano said. “Everybody is working hard and doing a solid job.”
This will be a stark contrast to last year where the Commodores averaged 236 receiving yards and only 70.6 rushing yards. Perry rushed for more than 100 yards in four of their games but passed for more than 200 yards in six of their games.
Defensively the Commodores will operate out of a 4-3 set and will count on defensive backs Kevontae Watts and Chaz Jackson to provide stability.
Overly was third on the team with 43 tackles and four sacks and recorded eight tackles for loss.
Taviano looks to stress the need to get off to a good start of games as an area of improvement Perry needs to make.
“We need a jump start at the beginning of games,” Taviano said. “We have had slow starts but once we get going we play pretty solid.”
Taviano hopes to be competitive in the Northwest Central Conference this season.
“We can be very competitive in the league,” Taviano said. “The staff is working hard with the kids and they are responding.”
Perry opens their season Aug. 25 with a first ever meeting with Ottawa Hills at Perry.
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