Team Preview:
Written By: Sven Alskog

Marsing won its first game since October 25, 2013 last season with a 21-8 victory over Wendell in the season opener.

While that was the only win of the 2017 season, the team did show some signs of improvement, namely on the defensive side of the ball.

With the 24-game losing streak in the rearview mirror, the Huskies welcome in new head coach Kurt Carey, a 2008 Bonners Ferry graduate who had been the defensive coordinator in Marsing and an assistant for the Badgers prior to that.

Carey takes over for Kenny Mace, who was the head coach for just a season, but did get the work started on changing the culture.

“I’m most excited about seeing the culture change in our program. Coach Mace did a great job of getting the ball rolling and we are looking to pick up where he left off. We have high expectations for this team this year and the players are setting higher expectations for themselves,” said Carey.

Young players that gained valuable experience a season ago have good athleticism, which could surprise some opponents who may not expect it out of the Huskies.

The talent pool is led by Second Team All-Conference running back Dwight Sevy, one of the seniors on the group which will carry a large load in a run-first attack.

“Our strength will be running the ball behind our aggressive offensive line and using our combination of speed and strength in the backfield to either run inside or outside the tackles,” said Carey.

He likes the line he has up front.

“Jeremiah Fuentes [240 pounds] and Juan Morales [280 pounds] will anchor our line at the tackle spots with size and athleticism. The offensive line will be big and athletic and we are going to rely on them to determine the success of our offense.”

Nico Acosta and Isiah Prado will be the starting guards and the coaching staff is excited to see what they are able to do as well, with both adding size and strength since last year.

Another major key for improvement for an offense that failed to score over 21 points last season is the quarterback position, where junior Wes Ireland has been putting in a lot of work in the offseason.

“Our quarterback will be in his second year starting and has been making huge strides in his game by improving his mechanics,” added Carey.

Replacing stalwart defensive tackle Mason Hall and the hard-working Joseph Ineck at linebacker represent perhaps the biggest challenges defensively for Marsing.

Fortunately, Carey thinks he has a guy who might be able to help fill the shoes of Hall, which is no easy task.

“One guy to keep an eye on is Jeremiah Fuentes, who will be starting at defensive end. He has been dedicated to improving by getting in the weight room and also by working on his speed and quickness. He is the guy we look at to fill in for Mason Hall and we have high expectations for him. Last year was his first year playing and we had to ease him into a role, but he has found a passion in the game that I haven’t seen in a long time and it will show on film.”

The defense will run out of a 3-4 alignment, with aggressive defensive ends and linebackers. Stopping the run is paramount in the 2A Western Idaho Conference, so the Huskies hope this look can cause opposing offenses some issues.

“We have speed and strength inside the box to help us stop the run either inside or outside the tackles. Our linebacker core will be made up of Adonis Stelzried, Dwight Sevy and Julian Sandoval, who have the speed to cover the field sideline to sideline and will also be helpful in stopping the run inside. Wes Ireland and Malek Barroso will help add much needed speed to our secondary in pass coverage,” added Carey.

He pinpointed the defensive backfield as an area that needs improvement from a year ago.

“We have to improve our secondary in order to be successful this year. We lacked speed last year to cover the deep threats and were repeatedly beat deep by multiple teams.”

Plenty of juniors and some sophomores will be making an impact at the varsity level for Marsing this season. With a fair level of youth on the field, the team that is seen in week one will probably bare fairly little resemblance to what is seen as the season progresses on.

The Huskies begin the Carey era on the road at Wendell before back-to-back home games with Payette and Cole Valley Christian.