Success has been hard to come by for Centennial, winning only six games in the last five years and not posting a winning record since 2010. For second-year head coach Keelan McCaffrey, it’s been about finding mini-victories to help boost the morale of the team.
“For us, it’s finding little wins,” McCaffrey said. “Last year, we did some things that were good and some things that were bad. The good things were, we were able to get a win at home vs. a rival. In some of those games against the heavy hitters, we were competitive but we couldn’t figure it out for four quarters.”
The Patriots will take any positive momentum they can get heading into a new season. Centennial has a few standout starters returning, led by senior Tate Keddington. He was a second team all-conference player last season at linebacker, while also playing quarterback. Described as a Swiss army knife, he’ll play quarterback again this fall while McCaffrey sees if any younger guys can impress in fall practices.
Leading the offensive line are seniors Isaac Di Soto and Rory Schwenson. The main option at running back will be Abdi Ali. Parker DeBoer returns at wide receiver.
All five of those players will also play key roles on defense, with Ali at linebacker and DeBoer at defensive back.
Centennial’s main problem last season was one that McCaffrey feels can be fixed. They were able to stay competitive in games, up until the fourth quarter. Losing the turnover battle and having to drive the length of the field on offense put them in uncomfortable situations. The offense struggled to put up points last season, averaging 12.1 per game. They were held to single digits on five occasions.
He believes as long as it’s a close game entering the fourth quarter, the team has the confidence to steal a few more wins this fall.
“If we can force some turnovers and give our offense a shorter field, that would help a young team like us,” McCaffrey said. “We didn’t cause many turnovers last year. We were still competitive in those games, but I think being able to force some turnovers, that would be a huge difference from where we were last year. Instead of having to go 80 yards, we can have them go 40. That might flip the script for us.”
The Patriots could have the opportunity to climb the Foothills Division standings with Capital and Timberline also having just one conference win last season. Centennial’s win last season came against Capital in double-overtime.
Their schedule early in the season is challenging. The Patriots will face Owyhee and Eagle from the River Division in the first three weeks of the season with a game against Thunder Ridge sandwiched in between. Games against Capital and Timberline come later in the season, a spot where Centennial could gain some momentum heading into the division crossover games.
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