2012 Football Schedule
2012 Football Roster

As the 2012 season is set to begin for the North Park football team, Head Coach Scott Pethtel took some time prior to the campaign to talk about the upcoming year for his squad.

Q: With this being your seventh season as the head football coach, what are your expectations for this year?

A: We have high expectations again and we feel like we are more mature as a team. We have a large group coming back, the largest we've ever had and we have a lot of returning starters. Our defense comes back almost intact and our offense returns almost all the skilled players from last year.  We did lose some really solid offensive linemen to graduation but we feel as though we have the depth to replace those guys and we should have a pretty good product offensively.

Q: What was the biggest thing that contributed to the 3-0 start last year?

A: Our guys came back in great shape and we had a really good pre-season camp. We were physically ready to play and our offense caught a lot of people off guard. We were also able to hold on to the football in those three games, and had very few turnovers while playing solid defensively.

Q: Who do you think will be the biggest competition in the conference?

A: North Central is team to beat because of the returning players on their offensive units.  You look at Illinois Wesleyan as well and they are going to be strong again because they have a lot of returning players. I look to see Elmhurst along with Wheaton competing for the conference title.

Q: How do you think the team will fair in the conference this year?

A: Our first goal is to win a conference game, and that hasn't been done since 2000. When we can accomplish that then we can move on to other things, but that is our objective.

Q: How much do you think the non-conference schedule will prepare the team for the conference schedule?

A: It's definitely a tough non-conference schedule. We play two teams from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in Hope College and Olivet College, then face Benedictine University, winners of the Northern Athletics Conference the last two seasons. Hope had a 7-3 record last season and Olivet is coming off a tough year. As for Benedictine, we've played them very well the last two years, so overall I'm hoping our non-conference slate will prepare for the conference.

Q: Where do you think the team's main success will come from?

A: It has to be a solid contribution in all three units. You don't win football games especially in our conference with one phase, you have to win two phases of the three in every game. I think we are going to have a very solid defense. We are young somewhat in the offensive line, but our schemes are going to help us produce. The kicking game is up for grabs right now. We have Tony Kebede coming back as a kicker, who is a very solid guy and we are looking for a punter since we lost Mark Howard. We have done some recruiting in that regard and hopefully we can get somebody that can come and bash the ball down the field.

Q: Who has the best chance to be the punter?

A: We had two guys come out that are punters and kickers: John Gieseking out of Phoenix, Arizona who is real solid in place kicking and punting and Tyler Brusky, Steve Brusky's younger brother, was a good punter in high school.

Q: What about the offense? Who do you think will step up?

A: Tyler Krebs is coming back at the quarterback position. When you are running the triple option you need a QB who can make good decisions, and he is very proficient at it. I also look for good production out of Matt Hassan, who is the featured back in the triple option. He gained well over 900 yards this past year and his goal this year is over 1,000. If you look at our slot positions we have John Barnabee and Chris Broadway coming back as well as Matt Shurtleff, who played a lot for us last year. We have some young guys in those positions as well as Jake Chvatal who was injured but is coming back to play in his final season.

Q: What kind of an impact will Jake Chvatal's return make?

A: It's a big loss when you lose a veteran player in a scrimmage like we did with him last year when he injured his knee. He had surgery done right after the season was over and was back at spring football. He's recovered well and through the summer he's progressed more so we look for good things out of him. Ryan Davies is also coming back to the offensive line after he sustained a knee injury in the first game as well last year. He came back and participated in spring practices and is a veteran offensive lineman who has started in a lot of games.

Q: What aspects of the defense do you think the team will hang its hat on?

A: You have to stop the run in this conference and we have what I think is a pretty formidable defensive line unit with good depth coming back. Tyler Brady, who started the year but left because of military obligations, is one of the many guys coming back. Our defense will start with stopping the run and forcing people into throwing situations. We have done a great job with our pass rush as well.

Q: How are things developing on the defensive line?

A: Very well. In the three spring practices we had, we came out feeling like we had a solid group of two-deep players. We have as many as 10 guys we think we can play on the defensive line this year.

Q: What will be the strength of the defensive backfield?

A: Andrew Saltzman and Cicero Porter are both returning and we feel we have a solid group. Doug Ivy has played a lot of football and he is coming back for his senior year at corner. Behind those guys, we have Taylor Simental, who showed some really good things in the spring as a safety, and Jordan Bevilacqua as well as a couple of other young guys.

Q: Is the passing game going to be more imminent in the offense this season?

A: The natural progression of our offense is once you get the run game established then you have to learn how to throw the ball and take advantage of what people are doing in the secondary. We made some good strides with that in the spring and I'm confident we'll continue to progress with our passing game.

North Park opens the 2012 season at Hope College of Michigan Saturday, Sept. 1 at 1:30 p.m.