BRADENTON — Most of them have played together since the spring of eighth grade. Since the inception of football at Bradenton Christian two years ago, they’ve experienced two winning seasons, but no postseason football action.
Shedding their pads at the end of the regular season has been the only disappointing part for seniors–to-be Kevin Kusler, Chase Carter, Josh Thomas and Stuart Cobb.
These four guys make up BCS’ linebacking corps.
Carter, Thomas and Cobb have played together for three years, and Kusler joined the group last season.
They anchor a defense ready to lead the Panthers to new heights in the fall.
“We plan on gathering up the seniors and leading us to the playoffs next season,” Thomas said. “We want to show this city what BCS is made of.”
The Panthers’ first audition this spring comes at 7 p.m. May 22, when they travel to St. Petersburg Shorecrest for their annual spring game.
BCS ended the 2008 season on a three-game winning streak and finished the campaign with a 6-4 record.
“Once you get the taste of winning, you always want to, and we want to build on that,” Panthers second-year coach Allan Gerber said.
BCS lost at Shorecrest last spring, but Gerber wants his team to be road tested.
“Philosophically, I feel like if, in your spring game and in your Kickoff Classic, you can get on the bus and get used to playing road games they become another business trip and they won’t become a distraction once the season rolls around.”
And the group to meet that challenge head on is the linebacking corps.
In the Panthers’ 3-4 defensive scheme, the second line of defense has the green light to blitz the quarterback or drop into pass coverage.
It’s a fun position, but it’s also important.
“The nature of what we do defensively, the success of that group will, ultimately, dictate how well we play on defense,” Gerber said. “It’s a linebacker-friendly defense. It’s very active-oriented, so if I was playing I would want to play one of those linebacker positions because you are going to get a lot of action.”
Kusler, Carter, Thomas and Cobb welcome the action.
“We worked hard, and we’ve gotten a lot better,” Cobb said. “We learned the playbook, so we’ll definitely be a lot stronger this year.”
They want to put pressure on the Panthers’ opponents; they want to fly to football, clobber opposing quarterback and create timely turnovers. They want to be the engine of BCS’ defense.
To that end, these boys want to do more than make plays, they want to exude leadership.
“We’ve been here from the beginning kind of building up to this year,” Carter said. “We have 14 seniors, so it’s not just us. It’s all of us in our class that’s going to lead this team.”
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