MANISTEE – With a challenging loss to Whitehall behind them, the Manistee football program entered week six of the 2022-23 regular season prepared to face Ludington.
But the Mariners lacked momentum, and at times, according to defensive coordinator Alvin Rischel, they were late to make adjustments on defense.
“Last year, we had some ups and downs … I thought we played really well at times, and then there were times where we definitely had some hiccups,” he said. “We had to go back to the drawing board … the Ludington game sticks out to me. They did a couple of things really well … by the time we kind of figured out what they were doing, it was too late.
“But we were able to take what we found on film for them and apply it to our last three games and the playoffs.”
The improvements defensively paid dividends as Manistee won four games in a row, including a 28-27 victory over undefeated Boyne City in its first playoff contest before losing to Gladstone in the district finals.
Following the postseason, the Mariners graduated several seniors, featuring Brian Spruce, Jeff Huber, Johnny Cruz, Donavyn Kirchinger, Conner Lindeman, Trevor Adamczak, Caden VanSickle, Robert Schmidt, Sullivan Cipcic and Carter Fredericks.
Rischel remains confident and excited about the returners. But for him, the fundamentals are vital.
“At every level, football comes down to defensively tackling and tackling well,” Rischel said of the keys to high school football. “You can throw all the schemes into it you want … but if you don’t pursue the ball well and tackle well, then you are going to struggle.
“So, that’s going to be what we work on this summer.”
Rischel says the staff simplified the defense, allowing players to compete on instinct rather than a predetermined game plan.
“We are letting the kids play with speed and not let their minds slow their feet down,” he said. “We have put things where they can understand and go out and execute. That’s what we are looking for. We want them to play fast and aggressive … we tell them all the time, but we want four sets of shoulder pads at the football on every play.”
Rischel adds removing the “complex information” from the game itself gives players a sense of freedom that everyone benefits from.
“When players can just flow to the football … and we give them a simple set of rules and ask them to understand things like formations and shifts,” he explained. “From there, they can just play football. You remove a lot of that doubt from their minds so they can go out and execute.”