Hobart had an advantage last year.
The Brickies started the season as an unknown.
They finished with a defensive identity and as a team on the rise.
It should get better for Hobart, which ended up with a 6-4 record last year and checks in for 2018 at No. 4 in the Post-Tribune’s preseason rankings.
Sal Valle, a 5-foot-11 senior defensive back who produced an interception and 34 tackles last season, can’t wait for the first game.
“I’ve been thinking about Chesterton since last year,” he said. “We were a young team last year and no one knew who we were.”
Hobart returns seven starters on defense.
Orion Yester, a senior who finished with 54 tackles and 7 1/2 tackles for loss, anchors the defensive line. Yester was a junior all-state selection by the Indiana Football Coaches Association.
Junior Chad McLean and senior Sam Valdez (2 1/2 tackles for loss) also return on the line.
Senior linebackers Drake Recio, Austin Feterick and Noah Olmos return. Recio had five sacks last season.
Matthew Benton, a junior, returns in the secondary with Valle. Benton also will play wide receiver. Benton caught four passes last season.
First-year coach Craig Osika has brought a level of enthusiasm and energy that is contagious.
Valle said practices are upbeat.
“He’s an upbeat guy in the weight room and on the field,” Valle said of Osika. “There is never a wasted minute.”
Osika expects this to be a good season.
The Brickies lost 19-7 to South Bend St. Joseph in the first round of the Class 3A sectional last year.
Hobart returns 27 seniors.
“We expect to have a good year,” Osika said. “We are confident.”
Osika said our “defense will be the strength of our game. We’re ahead of where we thought we’d be there. It helps having a good defense.”
On offense, the Brickies will have to adjust to Dave Coyle, the new coordinator. Osika said the look will be slightly different.
“The kids will have to get used to some new terminology and the passing game will be slightly different,” Osika said. “It’s been a process.”
Quarterback Sam Ehrlich, who passed for 442 yards and rushed for 1,107 last season, graduated. Ryan Leto, a senior, and Riley Johnston, a sophomore, are vying for the starting spot.
Valle will likely be the featured running back. He rushed for 787 yards in 2017. DJ Lipke, a junior, will also work into the rotation at running back.
Osika said Valle’s durability and toughness are “above and beyond. He has the ability to make plays.”
Osika is trying to create an environment where the players believe in themselves. Hobart has won four state state titles. It’s a place where they don’t have to look somewhere else to define success.
“They know the expectations I have for them,” he said. “I work every day with athletes in the weight room. I believe in these guys.
“There is not a player on this team that doesn’t have a coach who wouldn’t run through a wall for them.”
