Photo By Patty Theurer - #3 Carter Fortin
Written by Meredith Spelbring
The Cole Valley Christian Chargers had a strong senior class in 2019 and will look to carry the momentum from last season into 2020.
Many athletes from the Chargers’ 2019 had at least three years of experience playing for the school’s varsity squad, according to Head Coach Mark Moreno. Going into the fall season, the team will be looking to fill the gaps left behind by the graduated class.
Defensive Coordinator Adam Alaniz will step in, with plans to implement a new scheme to help stop the run game, an area the team struggled with last year, Moreno said. A key to being successful on defense will be coming out strong, Moreno said.
“We are going to be very aggressive and are going to take some chances this year,” he said. “We don’t want to sit around and let the offense dictate the game. We will be blitzing often and do what we have to do to stop the run.”
With the new defensive approach will come plenty of new faces. Of the returners, Moreno senior Tommy Simonson will be crucial at defensive end and outside linebacker. Veteran seniors Jackson Berreth and Dawson Lee both come into the season with plenty of experience to build up the defense.
“Much like our offense, we will have many new and young faces featuring the defense,” Moreno said. “It will be a completely different look in terms of personnel and we will be changing our defensive strategy in a way that I feel is really going to help us against a lot of the run-heavy teams we see.”
On the other side of the ball, Moreno said the Chargers are also going to try and change up their approach from the 2019 season, balancing more between the pass and the run game. Similarly to the defense, the offense will have a lot of players new to the varsity squad.
Moreno plans to have senior quarterback Carter Fortin to run the ball more as he gets stronger and more developed.
“Last year we didn’t ask Fortin to use his legs, this year he will as he is a year more mature and has the ability to do it,” he said. “We are going to be doing some different things offensively this year to be less predictable and we feel good about that as Fortin has the football IQ and skills to add more to his plate this year.”
Check back with IdahoSports.com for updated Cole Valley Christian scores and schedules throughout the season.