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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2019)
PAGE B12, KEIZERTIMES FOOTBALL PREVIEW, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 SOUTH SALEM SAXONS KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Despite going 2-7 last season, the Saxons believe they can contend for a playoff spot in 2019 after adding some much-needed depth to their roster. South hopes growing pains will pay off in 2019 By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes Injuries plagued any chance the 2018 South Salem football squad had of reaching the postseason as the Saxons fi nished the year with a 2-7 record. But after many players experienced some growing pains last season, South Salem enters 2019 with 47 players on their varsity roster, which will greatly help the depth problems that they suffered last year. “Last year, we just got beat up with the injury bug. We were struggling in just pure numbers, especially up front on both sides of the ball, so I think that piece is going to help us a lot this year,” said South Salem head coach Scott Dufault. “We had a great summer. Our kids showed up, worked out and committed themselves. Those two things I think are going to help us deal with the issues we had last year.” Dufault also believes that the hardships of last season have better prepared his players for this year. “The chemistry has been good pretty good so far. We got a lot of kids back who played a lot last year and got through the fi re,” he said. Where the Saxons really suffered in 2018 was on the offensive line, especially after Ashton Adams — who now plays for Utah State University — was injured late in the season. But this season, Dufault expects the O-line to be one of the strengths of the squad. Brothers Sangato and Samiu Letisi, as well as Adrian Montiel-Gomez and Noe Ramirez-Perez are expected to be the anchors of the offensive line after starting every game for the South Salem last year. “Those four guys give us great experience up front, which is a big deal for our offense,” Dufault said. “They took their lumps last year, but this year I think they will be pretty good.” While the Saxons are the only team in the Mountain Valley Conference without a returning all-league player, they do bring back one of their best offensive weapons in senior Ryan Rickman. “ We got a lot of kids back who played a lot last year and got through the fi re.” — Scott Dufault South Salem head coach Rickman got the bulk of the workload last season at running back, but Dufault plans to use him in more of a hybrid role in 2019 to fi nd more creative ways to get him the ball. Junior running back Tony South Salem roster BECAUSE EXPERIENCE MATTERS You Know What to Expect from the Average Realtor. Now come Experience Exceptional with The McLeod Group. Meeting your Real Estate Goal is our #1 Goal. Serving Sellers and Buyers in the Salem -Keizer market. We’ll Get You Home AMY M C LEOD Principal Broker, CRS, GRI Ph: 971-208 - 5093 www.AmyMcLeod.net # PLAYER NAME POS. YR. HT. WT. # PLAYER NAME POS. YR. HT. WT. 1 Tiwfaluk Umulap WR/DB 12 6-1 165 28 Gavin Schweer RB/DB 12 5-8 160 2 Zach Case QB/DB 11 5-7 140 31 Conner Robustelli RB/LB 12 5-9 180 3 Mikah Posey WR/DB 11 5-9 160 32 Jace Bolante RB/DB 11 5-8 150 4 Reign Bryant RB/DB 12 5-9 170 33 Will Cordero TE/DL 12 6-1 180 5 Zach Webster WR/DB 12 5-11 170 34 Ryan Rickman TE/LB 12 6-1 220 6 Peyton Kreitzer TE/LB 12 6-2 215 38 Cody Hale TE/DL 11 6-1 200 7 Griffin Gardner QB/DB 10 6-0 160 50 Sangato Letisi OL/DL 12 5-11 230 8 Khafonee Rosokow WR/DB 11 5-10 160 51 Parker Johnson OL/LB 12 6-3 210 9 Spencer Elliott WR/DB 11 6-2 180 52 Samiu Letisi OL/DL 11 6-2 260 10 Gabe Johnson WR/DB 11 6-2 180 53 JP Emery OL/DL 11 6-0 180 11 Nick Vandehey WR/DB 11 6-2 175 54 Adrian Montiel-Gomez OL/DL 11 5-11 230 12 Jack Malloy WR/DB 11 5-9 160 55 Ricky Cruz OL/DL 11 6-2 200 13 Marco Garcia WR/DB 11 6-0 160 56 Matt Deglow OL/DL 11 6-0 230 14 Drew Gertenrich QB/DB 11 6-3 180 57 Tyler Wall OL/DL 11 5-10 230 16 Jayven Carter WR/DB 12 5-9 160 58 Dustin Kunze OL/LB 11 6-1 195 17 Jackson Scott QB/DB 12 5-9 170 66 Jordan Johnson OL/DL 12 5-10 180 18 Steven Gonzalez WR/DB 12 5-7 150 68 Nick Brown OL/DL 12 6-1 220 19 Sam Torres WR/DB 11 6-1 165 72 Ben Richards OL/DL 12 6-2 210 20 Garrett Cox WR/DB 12 5-8 160 74 Ed Thompson OL/DL 11 6-1 240 21 Corbin Farmer RB/DB 11 5-7 150 75 Noe Ramirez-Perez OL/DL 12 5-9 225 22 Tony Rodriguez RB/LB 11 5-9 180 76 Joe Wozniak OL/DL 12 6-0 230 24 Garrett Wozniak RB/DL 11 5-9 180 78 Sam Hofer OL/DL 11 6-1 260 26 Gabe Tadeo WR/DB 11 5-8 145 79 Julian Ortiz OL/DL 12 5-10 260 27 Thomas Calletano Gonzalez RB/LB 11 5-9 180
