CHS, Doane teams begin practice
/ 0
- Details
- Published on 11 August 2009
- Written by Andy McCallister
- Hits: 995
Fall sports practices began Monday for four Crete High and Doane teams, while other squads will get going next week.
The Crete High football team, by Nebraska School Activities Association rule, was set to practice without pads Monday and Tuesday. Full pads go on today (Wednesday), giving the Cardinals two full weeks of drills before their season opener at Aurora Aug. 28.
Crete is coming off a 5-5 mark in 2008.
All high school teams in the state are being asked this fall to follow a set of guidelines to guard against heat-related illnesses.
Recommendations outlined last March included:
• Scheduling practices during the cooler parts of the day, including regular and frequent water breaks;
• No early-season practices exceeding three hours;
• A minimum of three hours’ recovery time in between two-a-day practices;
• No more than three two-a-day practices in a week, preferably with no consecutive two-a-day practice days and a total daily practice time of five hours;
• No more than six consecutive days of practice.
Crete will play the first of five 2009 home games Sept. 4 against Adams Central, closing the regular season Oct. 23 here against Pius X.
Doane football players arrived in town Sunday, with the first Tiger practices set for Monday.
Coming off a 4-7 mark last fall, Doane will also open their season on the final weekend of August, taking part in the College Fanz Sports Network First Down Classic against Avila College of Kansas City, Mo.
The teams will square off at 1 p.m. Aug. 29 at Pirate Stadium in Platte City, Mo.
Doane, under third-year coach Matt Franzen, will be making their second visit to the First Down Classic. Last year, the Tigers notched a last-second, 15-12 victory over William Jewell with a late field goal.
With work proceeding on Doane’s Recreation and Athletic Center on the site of the old practice fields, the Tigers will be working out full-time on Simon Field.
Doane sports information director Rick Schmuecker said that The Den, Doane’s grass soccer facility, would be used for football practice when there was an event conflict at Simon Field.
Also beginning practice Monday at Crete High was the Cardinal softball team. Although softball teams, including Crete, have begun their seasons in late August in recent years, 2009 is the first year they’ve been allowed by the NSAA to begin organized practices a week earlier.
Crete begins their season with former assistant coach Shawn Carr at the helm. Carr succeeds Mahlon Kohl, the only other head coach in the history of the sport at CHS.
The Cardinals have a jam-packed schedule, beginning their season at Norris Aug. 27, going to the Seward Invitational Aug. 29 and then traveling to Fairbury Sept. 1.
The team has 21 games scheduled in a 33-day span prior to the Central Conference Tournament Oct. 3.
Toiling in Fuhrer Fieldhouse this week is the Doane volleyball team, coming off a 28-10 campaign last fall and a trip to the NAIA national tournament.
There’s a definite sense of urgency in the air, as the first area team to begin their season for real will only be in Crete a week and a half before departing for the Azusa Pacific Classic in the Los Angeles area.
Doane will play four matches in the two-day tourney, which begins Aug. 21. The Tigers will face 2008 national semifinalist Biola (Calif.) in their first match of the weekend.
Cindy Meyer is beginning her 23rd season with the Tigers and has a career record of 551-281. Doane was picked fourth Monday in the Great Plains Athletic Conference preseason poll behind Northwestern, Morningside and Dordt.
The Crete High volleyball, cross country and girls golf teams, along with the Doane men’s and women’s soccer teams, will begin practice this coming Monday.