Thursday, August 24, 2006 10:20 PM CDT
Eisenhower brings some mystery to Mattoon
BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
Last year’s quarterback’s ankle injury might be Decatur Eisenhower’s loss or Mattoon’s headache.
If Eisenhower junior Quez Patterson steps n and quickly n into the starting quarterback spot, it could mean double trouble for the Green Wave in today’s 7 p.m. football season opener at Gaines Field.
“(Fabley) may not be able to go,” Eisenhower coach Don Flowers said. “We may end up starting a junior Quez Patterson, who is a totally different kind of quarterback. Todd is a thrower. Quez can throw the ball, but he’s more of a runner. (Mattoon coaches) came to our scrimmage Monday and they saw two different kinds of quarterbacks.”
While Mattoon did have a couple of assistant coaches attend Eisenhower’s public scrimmage, Green Wave coach Gerald Temples claims not to have much of an idea what to expect from an Eisenhower team with a new coach.
“I didn’t know they had two quarterbacks,” Temples said. “They’re an unknown commodity. Obviously, there is a new enthusiasm there. There has to be with a new coach.
“We’ve got to come out and do what we always do and just be sound in our game plan because of the uncertainty of what they’re going to do. Our defense has some flexibility in our sets. It just comes down to execution.”
Flowers spent the past five years at Class 1A Virginia, posting the same 1-8 record as his new Eisenhower team did last season, after previously coaching Olney.
Mattoon coaches tried to get films from last year’s Virginia opponents, who did not oblige.
If it is any consolation, Flowers has had trouble preparing for Mattoon as well.
“It’s kind of funny, or not funny,” the Eisenhower coach said. “They can’t even find the tape from last year’s game (against Mattoon). You can find out what someone has done in the past, but that can change with the talent and I’m not sure of their talent. We’re kind of going into it blind.”
While Flowers might not have his projected No. 1 quarterback healthy for tonight, Mattoon’s top returning rusher from last season. Marshall Creed, who gained 681 yards as a sophomore, is serving a one-game suspension for a code of conduct violation.
But junior Kyle Drummond also brings experience as the starting running back.
“Drummond carried the ball most of the time at the end of last season,” Temples said. “Kyle Drummond is a football player, and he’ll do just fine.”
Another junior Jeremy Jordan is back for his second year as the starting quarterback while Mattoon has several other experienced players from its 5-5 Class 5A playoff season.
“We think our line is solid, but you never know until you get into the fire,” Temples said. “This group hasn’t done anything yet. They haven’t won a ballgame. They’ve got to develop their own identity.
“The big thing is how they handle adversity. I’m anxious to see that.”
This is the first meeting between Flowers, who is in his 29th year of coaching including time as a Blackburn College assistant, and Temples, entering his 30th year including serving as an assistant at Millikin University.
Flowers is looking to turn things around at Eisenhower while Temples is trying for his fourth playoff season in five years with the Mattoon program he rebuilt starting 10 years ago.
“It’s always exciting,” Temples said of a season opener. “We came in Monday and the kids had a bad practice and I kicked them out. They had their jaws set and came back and handled things very well the next day. When you come back in that manner, it’s a good sign.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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