No rebuilding year for Hounds

Conventional sports knowledge would say there's no way the Maryville football team can be as good, as dominant, as successful as it was in 2008.

After all the Spoofhounds lost nearly all of their scoring offense, a large part of their defense, not to mention a handful of key role players as a class of 20 seniors graduated.

What's left is an offensive backfield full of untested players, half an offensive line and a defensive foundation with uncertain building material.

There's no way Maryville can repeat its 13-2 record or a run to the Class 2 State Championship game.

Just don't say that to the 2009 Spoofhounds ... or do. It's just going to make them work harder to prove this time conventional sports knowledge is wrong.

"Our seniors ... I think they don't really want to hear the comment that all those kids graduated and it's going to be a down year and that type of thing," Maryville coach Chris Holt said. "I think they're really using that as a battle cry and been working their tail off to make sure that doesn't happen.”

Despite everything they've lost, expectations have hardly waned, if at all, for the 2009 season.
"People think we're crazy probably, but I think we can make a good run at it again this year," Holt said. "Graduation hurt some other teams just like it hurt us."

The Spoofhounds are going to start with the goal of winning the district they steamrolled through last year and then take it one step at a time from there.

Holt's not crazy enough to think that kind of success is going to come without a lot of work.
With 20 graduating seniors, he has plenty of holes to fill including his entire offensive backfield.
Holt got his first look at who just might go where as the Spoofhounds had their team camp this week.

"It definitely gives you a head start," Holt said. "It gives you an opportunity to see how the kids who played a lot last year have improved, and then it also gives you an opportunity to see which kids are really wanting to step up and be one of those guys.

"It's invaluable for that."

Holt isn't working completely from scratch. He's got tight end Adam Thomson, Tackle Clint Thompson and Brad Schieber back on the offensive line. Defensively leading tackler Evan Johnson is back to anchor the linebackers. Tyler Hayse and Jason Davis are back on the defensive line and Derek Demott will have the most experience in the defensive backfield.

In the offensive backfield, Holt has some choices. Marcus Grudzinski and Sam Snyder are already battling for the starting quarterback spot and Holt said Gavin Talmadge is ready to go at the H back position.

Holt said he already likes what he sees in the first few days of camp. Work in the weight room has continued to pay dividends.

"Our kids have just really bought in," Holt said. "We're going to be as big and physical as we were last year."

No amount of time in the gym can make up for actual game experience, which many of the future starters lack. When asked how far off the Spoofhounds were of reaching real game speed, Holt said he didn't think there was a big gap.

Maryville will get its first real test this weekend as it takes part in the team camp at Northwest Missouri State. There the Spoofhounds will see how they stack up against other schools.

"We've got camp out here this weekend at Northwest and I think we'll do just fine," Holt said. "I'm really pleased at least with our No. 1s for sure."

The biggest foreseeable problem for the 2009 Spoofhounds is a lack of depth. Unlike 2008, there's a big drop off between the talent level of the starters and the backups.

"We're not near as deep as we were last year," Holt said. "When we have to go to a No. 2 there's some noticeable differences there. I think that's difference right now between this year's team and last year's. Last year's team had a ton of depth. Depth is going to be an issue this year. We've got to stay healthy."

There's one other potential issue, but Holt said it hasn't been one so far. Maryville lost more than just talent when the 20 seniors left. It lost a whole lot of leadership. Holt said the team captains are already starting to step into that role.

"Our captains this year are all seniors elected by their teammates," Holt said. "Thomson and  Thompson and Double D (DeMott) and those kids, we're really asking them to kind of step up and be our leaders.”