Red Bud hoping speed, improved defense lead to more wins

Wondering how his offense will perform isn’t what Red Bud coach Dave Lucht worries about in his time away from the football field.

While Lucht thinks the Musketeers are capable of doing good things on offense, he has more concern about stopping the opponents. Red Bud scored 26.4 points a game last season, but allowed 34.3 per game and must deal with much larger teams in the Cahokia Conference.

“I always feel like if we’re athletic we can compete,” said Lucht, whose team is coming off back-to-back 3-6 seasons and hasn’t had a winning season since 2011 (6-4). “We talk about it all the time, we’re an injury away from a catastrophe because we’re a small school and start so many people two ways.

“There’s some gritty kids here that are working pretty hard for us. If that hard work pays off we’re looking to be competitive.”

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A strong junior class, overall speed and versatility and some experienced seniors provide hope.

Offense

Juniors Griffin Ziebold (85-of-149, 1,430 yards, 12 touchdowns, five interceptions) returns at quarterback but is being challenged by junior Alex Birchler. Birchler had 14 catches for 373 yards and four TDs last season as a sophomore receiver.

“Whichever quarterback is out there, they’re going to be better runners, too,” Lucht said. “We need to get those rushing yards out of our quarterback.”

The fastest player in the program is senior running back-receiver Ryan Hess, who ran for 420 yards and three TDs while averaging more than 10 yards per carry. Hess also is dangerous as a slot receiver and had 16 catches for 330 yards and six TDs in 2015.

Junior Logan Houba and Devin Rensing (20 catches, 288 yards, four TDs) are also receiving threats.

Defense

Rensing (59 tackles, two sacks, one interception is all over the field as an outside linebacker. Senior Lucas Tobin (28 tackles, three interceptions) has excelled at cornerback.

“If there was a receiver somebody had that was tearing it up, he was able to shut them down,” Lucht said of Tobin.

Junior tackle Cory Fithian is an anchor on both sides of the ball and will play linebacker on defense. Senior Isaac Luthy returns at center and defensive line while junior Kaden Brosch will start at offensive tackle.

Another reason for optimism?

“It’s our overall athleticism,” Lucht said. “We’ve got kids that can play numerous positions on offense and defense. It doesn’t increase our depth, but we’re able to move kids around.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Red Bud hoping speed, improved defense lead to more wins."