Siuslaw JV kicks off season Thursday


 

Bob Teeter will share head coaching duties with Patrick Wondra.

Siuslaw High School's junior varsity football team kicks of its season Thursday (Sept. 3) with one goal in mind:

For its players to make it to the next level.

First up is Newport at 5 p.m. at Hans Petersen Field.

"We tell the kids, from Day 1, that our No. 1 job is to get them ready for varsity," says Bob Teeter, who is co-head coach with Patrick Wondra,

"Sure, I'd love to win the games. I'm competitive, but our focus is to teach them good, sound fundamentals, teach them to be a good team guy, a good student, a good person."

That sometimes takes some tough love.

"We had a heart-to-heart last night, and we didn't know how they were going to respond," says Teeter, who has two sons of his own on the varsity, sophomore Evan and senior Marshall. "But today we had one of our best practices."

The young Vikings are indeed young, younger than in most past seasons.

"Typically, with a JV team, we'll have at least 10 returning sophomores," says Teeter. "This year we have two, Ryan Lee and Salvador Sierra. All the other sophomores haven't played before, or not since the fifth or sixth grade."

Teeter and Wondra are doing what Vikings teams do best, they are adapting.

"We have some big, slow kids, so we're going to a two tight-end, two-back set, primarily," says Teeter. "It won't be what the varsity is running."

Converted running back Logan Bursaw, a 5-foot-8 freshman, will start at quarterback.

"He's raw, so it's been a bit of a slow process," says Teeter. "But he's getting there."

Bursaw isn't the only player he can't wait to see in action.

"We have a lineman, (sophomore) Neil De Vera (5-6, 204), who I'm really excited to see what he can do," says Teeter. "He's a real bowling ball. Actually, I should say he's a cannon ball.

"He played in the Blue-Gold Game and took on some of the varsity kids and held his own. He's going to be a dynamite guard for us."

Also on Teeter's radar is linebacker Adrian Ortega, a 5-10, 190-pound freshman linebacker.

"I'm curious to see Ortega play," says Teeter. "He's a natural athlete, big, and I can tell he loves the game."

And that's what he wants, players who love the game, play it right, and move to the next level.

"I think the future looks bright for them," says Teeter.




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