Sterling out to prove size doesn’t matter
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| Sterling quarterback Drew Neubauer (10) and the rest of the offense can rely on the Warriors’ defense, led by undersized linemen like Chris Helfrich and Aaron Harts. (Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@svnmail.com) |
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Good things come in small packages when it comes to a pair of Sterling defensive linemen.
When senior Chris Helfrich and junior Aaron Harts, who both tip the scales at about 190 pounds, line up for the Golden Warriors on Friday night against Morris, they’ll be dwarfed by the Redskins. Don’t expect them to get bowled over.
Helfrich, who bench presses 300 pounds, was an emergency fill-in at noseguard in Week 3 of the 2008 season and has been a fixture in the Sterling lineup since. He has 17 tackles and a team-high 1.5 sacks through five games as a defensive tackle – a move he has embraced.
“I can get around faster and I don’t have to worry about getting triple-teamed a lot,” Helfrich said.
“He fights and claws and does whatever he has to do to get the job done,” Sterling coach Greg King said.
Harts has filled Helfrich’s shoes at noseguard and is sixth on the team with 20 tackles.
“I just try to use my speed and quickness to try to get past them,” said Harts, who squats a team-best 425 pounds. “I need to get past them faster than they can get off the ball and lock on to me.”
King has some jumbo-sized offensive linemen with Tyler Loos and Luke Hermes, but on the defensive side, he leans toward speedier players.
“In our defense, we want 11 athletes on the field,” King said. “The days of having the big 300-pounder sitting in a gap just doesn’t happen anymore because offenses spread you out and do so many different things. We want to get our best athletes on the field, and size doesn’t matter. Both of these guys are strong, they’re fast, they tackle well and they fit our scheme perfectly.”
Sterling (3-2, 2-1) needs a win this week to likely prevent Morris from winning a conference championship in its first year in the NCIC Reagan. The Redskins (2-3, 2-0), who lost to nonconference heavyweights Oswego, Chicago St. Rita and Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge, own wins over LaSalle-Peru and Geneseo in league play and will be favored against Ottawa, Streator and Dixon the last three weeks.
“They’re where we want to be,” King said. “They’ve won state championships, runner-up a few times as well – that’s where we want to be as a program. When you have Geneseo and Morris, L-P is playing well this season, I think you have one of the best 5A conferences in the state.”
The game will be a rematch of a Class 5A second-round playoff game in 2008 won by Morris, 27-7.
“We lost to them last year,” Helfrich said, “so we’ve got to retaliate back.”
“We had some opportunities against them last year, and we didn’t take care of the opportunities that we had,” King said. “We got inside the 20 four times and didn’t score. We thought we left some business on the field that we needed to get done.”
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Roscoe Eades
Stadium, Sterling
Radio: WSSQ-FM (94.3)
