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Brophy Roundup

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Brophy Roundup

The Student News Site of Brophy College Preparatory

Brophy Roundup

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Three and Out: Top four story lines from Brophy vs. Deer Valley

By Ian C. Beck ’12
THE ROUNDUP

First Down: Airing it out with a new passing-based offense

For years Brophy football has been oriented towards tough defense and a solid running game complemented by the pass.

But in 2010, it appears as though that while the defense will remain the same, the offense has changed up a bit.

Quarterback Tyler Bruggman ’13 threw the ball 41 times for 317 yards while starting running back Kevin Molloy ’11 totaled just five carries the entire game.

In an interview with The Roundup as part of a season preview article, offensive coordinator Mr. Bill Kalkman noted that passing had become a strength of the team and that passing would become the primary motor of the offense.

That statement rung true Friday night as the Broncos aired it out for most of the game and while their offense was inconsistent in the first half, their aerial attack caught fire in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns and setting up a field goal as Brophy raced ahead.

“Tyler’s a special kid and he’s got special receivers and the offensive line did a great job in pass protection,” said head coach Mr. Scooter Molander.

“Our receivers are very fast, very elusive (and) very well coached,” he said.

Second Down: Team shows youth, potential

The Brophy team is quite young this year with 10 sophomores on the varsity roster and only two full-time offensive starters returning from last year.

That might account for a slow first half.

“At halftime we talked about ‘Hey, let’s get back to the fundamentals, the game’s going to slow down for all of you,’” Mr. Molander said. “We had a lot of ‘almosts’ in the first half, we moved the ball but inconsistently.”

But a strong second half that gave Brophy at one point a 30-0 lead allowed for Mr. Molander to pull his starters with about four minutes remaining.

“Once Tyler settled in and realized he didn’t have to be perfect throwing the ball and we did a better job of looking the ball in, catching (and) getting back to the fundamentals,” Mr. Molander said.

“The sky’s the limit with this team the key is that our guys believe in it,” he said.

Third Down: Defense comes out strong, aggressive

The offense can change as much or as little as it chooses but the Brophy defense appears to be a constant: aggressive and well-prepared.

The defense forced three turnovers and sacked the opposing quarterback three times.

Danny Riggs ’11 accounted for two of those sacks and said after the game that the team has a tough mindset no matter what and that the only change that comes from week to week is strategy.

“(The) defense played great, again they have a bunch of young kids, too, a bunch of players with little varsity experience and while people may have been surprised, I wasn’t,” Mr. Molander said. “Gary Galante, our defensive coordinator, is an amazing coach.”

“Guys flew around to the football, they hustled,” Mr. Molander said. “(I) felt like Matt Cahal had a good game at corner, had one interception and I felt like Andy Hale, he’s done a great job. He’s not the biggest guy in the world but he is tough as nails.”

Fourth Down: Running game still to play a role

While passing has become the motor to the offense, the run game will still be a factor and a vital one at that.

“Teams that win championships run the football,” Mr. Molander said. “You have to be able to run the football so we need to continue to do that, and I felt that when we ran the ball the other night we were pretty effective.”

Molloy and Marche Dennard ’13 figure to shoulder a bulk of the load on the ground this season after Max Leonesio ’10 graduated.

“While in the past here we’ve run to set up the pass, we may be throwing to set up the run but the run doesn’t get set up without being effectively able to run,” Mr. Molander said.

Molloy averaged four yards per carry in Friday night’s victory and scored a touchdown.

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