<p>Depth will never be a luxury that a football coach at a school with fewer than 250 students will have.</p>
<p>First-year Edinburgh head coach Tyler DeSpain is preparing accordingly; his focus in the offseason was placed almost entirely on conditioning.</p>
<p>"I pretty much was straight up with the guys and said, ‘Look, we’re here to win games now, so we’re putting our best 11 athletes on the field at all times and we’ll give guys breaks when we can,’" DeSpain said. "They seemed like they were okay with it."</p>
<p>Two-way players have long been commonplace for the Lancers; with a roster of fewer than 30 players almost every year, they’re a necessity. But DeSpain is putting even more of an emphasis on getting the most out of his best players — even senior quarterback Tyson Sackman, who hasn’t previously been called upon to play defense, is being slotted into the secondary this fall.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>Building up the endurance to last the full 48 minutes has been at the top of the priority list this offseason, but for many of the Lancers’ key players, it’s nothing new.</p>
<p>"It’s mostly all in the offseason and maintaining it all year round," senior receiver and defensive back Darius Bennett said. "Keep my body in shape, keep working out, make sure my conditioning is good. That way, when I’m in the game, I don’t have to take plays off or come out. I’ve got to be prepared at all times for anything."</p>
<p>Energy conservation will be important — finding brief periods of respite whenever there are penalties or timeouts or the ball goes out of bounds. But DeSpain hopes to build in more rest time by maintaining possession of the ball. Edinburgh threw the ball on 62.2 percent of its offensive snaps last season (272 of 437); ideally, the coach says, that ratio will flip this year even as the team sticks with a spread offense.</p>
<p>"I’ve said a lot of times that our best defense is keeping the offense on the field and running the clock down as much as we can," DeSpain said, "so that’s one of the focuses we’re going to have this year — not trying to go three and out as much, keeping the clock running and trying to score as much as we can to help the defense out."</p>
<p>In most cases, the defensive players that the offense will be helping are themselves. The Lancers’ top running back will likely be junior Austin Streeval, whose 110 tackles in 2018 lead all returning Johnson County players.</p>
<p>Streeval says that he recognizes the importance of being able to shorten the game by lengthening drives; DeSpain hopes that Streeval’s hard-nosed play on both sides of the line will be contagious.</p>
<p>"The kids seeing him and the way he played last year, not being able to get that ninth game in with Trinity Lutheran and still having 110 tackles, he still was on the field both ways and never gave up," DeSpain said. "I think the kids see him as a leader already; I think they actually saw him as a leader last year as just a sophomore."</p>
<p>Edinburgh has just one victory in the past two seasons, but that win — a 24-12 sectional triumph at Cambridge City Lincoln — was timed well in terms of building some energy for this coming season. The Lancers would like to ride that momentum to a few more wins this fall and begin laying a foundation of success for a program that hasn’t really had much to speak of over the years.</p>
<p>The players seem to know, at least in theory, what it’s going to take to make that happen.</p>
<p>"Working hard, even when no one’s watching," Bennett said. "Not taking plays off, not cheating yourself or your teammates. Just doing everything that you need to do to prepare to win. … It’s the small things that matter; all the small details, even the ones that you think don’t."</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="2019 schedule" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><strong>Date;Opponent</strong></p>
<p>Aug. 23;Tindley</p>
<p>Aug. 30;North Decatur</p>
<p>Sept. 6;Oldenburg Academy</p>
<p>Sept. 13;at Switzerland County</p>
<p>Sept. 20;at South Decatur</p>
<p>Sept. 27;at Milan</p>
<p>Oct. 4;Traders Point Christian</p>
<p>Oct. 11;at Rock Creek Academy</p>
<p>Oct. 18;Dugger Union</p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Scouting the Lancers" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Coach: Tyler DeSpain (first year)</p>
<p>Last season: 1-9; lost to Hagerstown 40-12 in Class A sectional semifinal</p>
<p>Key returnees: WR/DB Darius Bennett, OL/DL Larry Jackson and QB/DB Tyson Sackman, seniors; OL/DL David Clarkson and RB/LB Austin Streeval, juniors; RB Lennon DeLoach, WR/DB Riley Palmeter, sophomores</p>
<p>Newcomer to watch: WR/DB Caleb Dewey, freshman</p>
<p>Outlook: The Lancers showed flashes of an effective passing game last season behind talented QB Sackman, but an inability to keep defenses honest with a consistent ground game often hampered them. DeSpain hopes to establish that part of the offense right away this fall behind Streeval, who figures to get more touches than the 70 (31 rushes, 39 receptions) he had as a sophomore.</p>
<p>"With Tyson, I think being able to run the ball is going to help him a lot more," the coach said. "We got to certain spots in games where we were down two touchdowns and we just felt like we had to come back and had to throw. So I feel like if we run the ball a little bit more and show our presence with the run, it just opens more passing lanes up for him, makes the play action a lot better for us."</p>
<p>Stamina will be a key for Edinburgh, who will use most of its top players on both sides of the ball. Streeval and Bennett combined for 200 tackles in 2018; they’ll need some help defensively. The schedule has been softened up a bit more, so the hope is that this team can build on the confidence gained in last year’s sectional victory and win multiple games for the first time since 2016.</p>
<p>Notable: The Lancers had lost 20 consecutive games before breaking through with a 24-12 sectional win at Cambridge City Lincoln, the third-longest drought in school history.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Four downs with senior DB/WR Darius Bennett" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><strong>1. What’s the most important song on your pregame playlist?</strong></p>
<p>Probably "Best Day Ever" by Mac Miller. He’s one of my favorite music artists of all time.</p>
<p><strong>2. "One week at a time" clichés aside, which game on your schedule are you most looking forward to?</strong></p>
<p>Probably South Decatur. I’m kind of new to the school a little bit still, but they’re kind of like a little rival and it’s usually a good game between us, so I’m kind of excited for that one.</p>
<p><strong>3. Which relatively unknown player is bound for stardom this season?</strong></p>
<p>I think Jarrett Turner will develop a lot more. I think when he gets a little older, gets more into the game, I think he’s going to be a big success in this program.</p>
<p><strong>4. What word best describes the 2019 Lancers, and why?</strong></p>
<p>Surprising. Because we’re going to do some big things this year that people aren’t going to be expecting.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
