A sixth straight playoff appearance on the line for Hurricane

HURRICANE, W.Va. — Hurricane won four of its final five regular season football games in 2014, an expected rebuilding year, to lock down yet another playoff berth. The Redskins enter 2015 having advanced into the postseason five straight years and nine of the last 10 seasons overall.

“Last year, we kind of surprised some people winning seven games,” said Hurricane coach Jeremy Taylor. “I thought last year we came on and played above everyone’s expectations. This year, we have a little bit more pressure because I think we have a chance to be better than we were last year. We have to be more physical all-around.”

The Redskins will have to replace a couple of key offensive leaders from last year in quarterback Dylan Tinsley, who threw for over 2,000 yards last year as a senior, and receiver Brandon Ford who led the Mountain State Athletic Conference in receiving. Senior Blake Stover, though, is expected to step in nicely at quarterback.

“He did well for us in the three-week summer practices and led us to some pretty good wins over some good teams out of state,” Taylor said. “He’s a big kid, 6-foot-3, 200 pounds. He can throw the ball a mile, he’s just unproven right now. We’ll go as far as Blake will take us. He has to be able to make some good decisions in big games.”

Caleb Doak is the lone returning offensive lineman for Hurricane in 2015.

6-foot senior Conner Watts returns in a versatile role for the Redskins. He combined for over 900 offensive yards last year in receiving and rushing.

“He will do just a little bit of everything for us,” Taylor said. “He was one of our go-to guys last year and it’s a good thing to have him back.

“With guys like Connor, (6-foot-2, 222 pound) senior running back Ethan (Highlander) and junior Nick Williams running the ball and catching the ball, we won’t be one-dimensional,” Taylor continued. “We’re not going to just sit back and throw the ball 50 times per game, I think we will be more balanced. I thought we were pretty balanced last year.”

Hurricane will rely on that experience at the skill positions early while a developing offensive line continues to come together behind lone returning starter Caleb Doak (6-foot, 293 pound senior).

“We lost a lot of starters off of last year’s offensive line, but we also lost a lot from the previous year,” Taylor said. “We just don’t have a lot of depth right now. I think we have five or six kids that can play (along the line).

“We have a couple kids who have improved, but have never played on a Friday night,” he continued. “With our first five, we’ll be okay, but after that we have to find depth. We may have 45-50 kids out, but as far as lineman go, we only have 12-15 – that’s just the way the numbers fall right now.”

The Redskins will open up the season on August 28 at home against Winfield and close the season with three out of their final four games from home as well.