OVERLAND TRAILBLAZERS
Coach: Seth Replogle, 1st season
Last year: 1-9 (missed Class 5A playoffs)
League: Class 5A Creek Conference
Players to watch: Austin Conway, 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, QB, soph.; Eddric Turner, 6-1, 180, WR/DB, sr.; Amer Tipura, 6-4, 235, OL/DL, sr.; Aaron Charleston, 6-2, 285, OL/DL, sr.; Eddie Jung, 6-2, 235, OL/DL, sr.; Anthony Childs, 6-3, 250, OL/DL, sr.; Myles Simmons, 5-9, 175, RB, sr.; Milan Macon-Robinson, 5-11, 185, WR, sr.; Jalen Thomas, 6-0, 185, WR, sr.; Damon Roberts, 6-1, 205, DL, sr.; DeAngelo Manlove, 6-4, 220, DL, jr.; Santiago Medina, 6-0, 210, LB, sr.; Deante Manlove, 5-9, 165, DB, sr.; Ulysses Johnson, 5-10, 170, DB, sr.
2012 Outlook: Another new era begins for the Overland football program, which has its third head coach in the past four seasons in Seth Replogle, who came over from The Academy in Westminster. Positives have developed all over the place in the early going, as the Trailblazers were victorious at Hog Wars, the annual Aurora lineman strength competition at Rangeview and Replogle found a massive group of 130 players come out for the team. Line play should be a strength for Overland as a tight knit unit of Amer Tipura, Aaron Charleston, Eddie Jung, Anthony Childs and others know how to play well together. Sophomore Austin Conway is an exciting talent under center and is healthy after missing extensive time last season due to injury. Eddric Turner, Myles Simmons and a number of other skill players should make an impact for an offense that was held scoreless or in single digits in half of its games last season. The defense should be strong up front, big and rangy in the linebacking corps and effective in pass coverage.
Quoting the coach: “I think there’s a little bit of excitement about the program that might not have been there for the last couple of years. We won Hog Wars and that was a big deal, so everybody was talking about it a little bit, but does it correlate to the football field. …We have a lot of competition going on right now. When I walked in, it was a clean slate for all the kids, so everybody has had a lot of opportunities to compete.”
Schedule (home games in all caps, played at Stutler Bowl): Friday, Aug. 31 — ARVADA WEST, 7 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 7 — vs. Fairview at Recht Field, 7 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 14 — PRAIRIE VIEW, 7 p.m.; Thursday, Sept. 20 — vs. Poudre at French Field, 6 p.m.; Thursday, Sept. 27 — CHERRY CREEK, 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 5 — vs. Grandview at Legacy Stadium, 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 12 — vs. Eaglecrest at Legacy Stadium, 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 19 — SMOKY HILL, 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 26 — at Cherokee Trail, 7 p.m.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at [email protected] or 303-750-7555
