Preparation paying off for Hawks

DONNELLSON — Central Lee’s football season has been under construction for a long time before the lights turn on for Friday’s opener against Van Buren County.
Some of the building blocks were put in place in previous seasons, when younger players were taught the same as the more experienced players.
Much of it was put in this summer, with nobody watching.
It’s why coach Doug Dodds is ready for this season to begin.
“They're a hard working group,” Dodds said about his team. “A lot of people talk about culture and family this time of year. It was really awesome to see these kids come together this summer. And it's just unstructured things. You just see them being teammates, being friends, and working through difficult situations together, and that's pretty special.”
There is a lot for Dodds to replace from last season. His top three rushers — quarterback Kayden Calfee (671 yards, nine touchdowns) and running backs Chase Johnson (635 yards, six touchdowns) and Kegan Damico (243 yards) are gone. So is leading tackler Bo Herdrich.
Replacing those players, Dodds said, won’t require a lot of teaching.
“We’ve been working hard, the last three years or so, just to make sure that we are taking a program approach where we're getting kids from the freshman level on up ready,” Dodds said.

“I mean, when we practice, we probably practice a lot differently than a lot of people. We really don't care if it's a freshman with a senior out there or freshman with a varsity player. It doesn't matter to us. We want them to learn the offense, learn the defense, learn their job. Do it that way. When their chance comes, they’re ready.”
Dodds said he saw that preparation pay off during last Friday’s scrimmage at New London.
“We were able to start rotating some guys, and our freshmen went out and executed well with our varsity guys, and that's what we're really hoping for,” he said.
A lot of the players who will be moving into bigger roles this season saw some game time last year.
Quarterback Brett Cook threw two varsity passes last season, with one going for a touchdown. Running back Ward Fraise rushed for 104 yards and Peter Seyb rushed for 70. Max Jones caught seven passes for 93 yards.
“That’s the big thing,” Dodds said of rotating players into the game last year. “Our (offensive) line, we've tried to be seven or eight deep at O-line last year. That way when we get to the next year, we don't have a sophomore or junior that's like, ‘I've never played football before.’ No, actually, you probably got some meaningful reps, and meaningful reps are important.”
On defense, Seyb and Cook are the top returning tacklers from last season.
The Hawks play Van Buren and Albia at home and at Fort Madison in the non-district schedule. Then they enter Class 2A District 6 play, a district that includes Mediapolis, Mid-Prairie, West Burlington-Notre Dame, West Liberty and Wilton.
“It's tough,” Dodds said. “There's really good coaching. There are kids that are really good athletes —  you look at southeast Iowa, there's a good collection of athletes around. Each week it's going to come down to how well you play. You have a bad night, you turn the ball over, you let the other team win. You're going to get beat. But if you probably take care of things that you need to take care of, control the controllables and keep it in your favor as much as you can, it probably, hopefully, it balances in your favor.”