ARLINGTON BOWIE VS. JESUIT - GAME DETAILS
FRIDAY, AUG. 28, 2015 - 7:30 P.M. - POSTELL STADIUM
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO (WEB) - LIVE AUDIO (MOBILE)
LOCAL LISTENERS CAN TUNE IN LIVE TO 95.3 FM KHYI
SEASON PREVIEW INTERVIEW WITH COACH BRANDON HICKMAN

GAME NOTES
JESUIT ROSTER
BOWIE ROSTER

Friday's contest against Arlington Bowie will kickoff the 2015 campaign for the Jesuit Ranger football team, as the squad looks to improve on an 8-4 record last season.  Returning seven starters and relying on a group of talented juniors and seniors to carry the team deep into the University Interscholastic League (UIL) playoffs, the Rangers look poised to battle a stacked schedule under the leadership of head coach Brandon Hickman.

Last season, the Rangers went 5-2 in District 9-6A, finishing third and earning a berth into the state tournament for the third consecutive year, all under the tutelage of Hickman.  After dominating J.J. Pearce in a decisive, 59-7, Bi-District clinching victory, the Rangers were ousted from the title picture by Rockwall, 48-27, in the area round.

"Last year was a good year for our program with another Bi-District Championship," commented Hickman.  "Every year our goals and expectations are very high.  Competing at a high level in the playoffs is our standard here and our kids expect to do well every year.  The 2014 season was filled with ups and downs, but I was proud of how that group grew together throughout the year."

Offensively, Jesuit will look to junior Jacob Palisch to anchor a Ranger attack that lost five key components to graduation last year.  Taking the reigns from Bo Schneider '15, who recently kicked off his collegiate career at the University of Central Florida, Palisch, who is also a member of the Ranger baseball squad, will need to marshal the Jesuit offense without the Rangers' top three receivers from last season. The Rangers saw a combined 2,917 yards and 30 touchdowns dissipate from last year's lineup with the graduations of Garrett Amy, Charlie Eikenberg and Peter Lynch. 

"Bo is a great kid and competitor who had an incredible career at Jesuit and will do big things at UCF.  The exciting part about coaching is developing new players each year and teaching them our system.  Jacob is athletic and a natural leader who also had a tremendous baseball season as a pitcher.  I think anytime you can compete in big game situations as he did with our baseball team will help your confidence as an athlete.  Jacob is developing very well and will keep improving as the season progresses."

However, Coach Hickman is confident that the 2015 receiving corps, which will feature senior receivers Rusty Landon, Max Loughborough, Connor Lanpher alongside junior John Wunderlick, will quickly assert themselves within the district.  Loughborough will enter his final season for the Blue and Gold after catching three touchdowns last season while additionally rushing for 586 yards and seven touchdowns. 

Replacing Slovak in the backfield will be senior Adam Holtz, who rushed for 262 yards and three touchdowns last season, and junior Evan Jackson, who will see in-game reps after an impressive preseason.  Jesuit will look to an offensive line anchored by senior captain Matt Metz to protect Palisch and Jesuit's other offensive threats.

"We have weapons on offense at the skill position but a couple unknown players except for Loughborough.  Max was a big contributor last year and very tough player.  Lanpher has good size and ball skills, I'm excited to see him play on Friday.  Landon and Wunderlick have developed well and could be big contributors along with others.  We are looking forward to seeing what Holtz and Jackson have, since both demonstrated major improvements over the summer.  We will be very good in our run game this season with power and speed."

"Our offensive line is anchored by senior Matt Metz and Jimmy Patterson.  The other juniors up front I'm excited about and have great potential.  Our offensive line has a chance to be very good this year.  If we can consistently run the ball well it will help our passing game open up."

Looking at the defensive side of the ball, the Rangers return five starters to fortify a defensive front that hopes to be the catalyst for Jesuit success.  Last season the Rangers allowed over 400 yards per game to opponents, but the returning Ranger contingent aims to lower that figure.  Senior and last season's leading tackler Peyton Long returns after making 63 tackles, 42 solo stops and six tackles for loss en route to All-District First Team plaudits. 

Senior Ryan Brooks will also return for Jesuit after posting 12 tackles for loss last year, joined by classmate Esteban Garcia, who made 30 stops last year at defensive back.  Senior Austin Koehler returns after a 21.5-tackle junior campaign as classmate Nate Thompson, who recorded 15.5 tackles in 2014, also returns to fortify the Jesuit backfield.

"I feel our defense has improved a great deal from last year.  Coach (Billy) Thompson and his staff have done an excellent job.  We have more defensive speed and we bring back a good amount of experience with Brooks, Long, Garcia, Koehler, Mac Elliott, and Thompson.  We also have a few players I'm very pleased with on the defensive line in Jack Metz and Jordan Rice.  Our safety position is strong with John Michael Priddy back there with his size and athleticism.  Our defense will be tested Friday, but I feel very confident we will rise to the occasion and play well."

Arlington Bowie will arrive in North Dallas hoping to spoil the Ranger opener, but Jesuit fans are hoping for a different result on Aug. 28, 2015 than the clash that took place a year ago.  Despite leading at halftime, the Rangers fell victim to 872 yards of Bowie offense, falling, 72-49, to the hosting Volunteers. 

The contest against Bowie is the first of three non-district games for Jesuit, followed by a trip to Plano East for a Sept. 4 showdown.  Jesuit returns home on Sept. 11, welcoming brother school Strake Jesuit before a bye week sets the stage for the difficult district schedule. 

The Rangers will open the 9-6A slate with a Sept. 24 battle with Sunset before colliding with Skyline at home on Oct. 2.  Back-to-back road games against Irving (Oct. 9) and Irving Nimitz (Oct. 16) keep the Rangers away from Postell Stadium until Oct. 23, when W.T. White makes the short trip to Jesuit to "Battle for the Saddle".  Jesuit's final road game will take place on Oct. 30 against Irving MacArthur before the Rangers celebrate senior day and homecoming on Nov. 6 in the regular season finale against R.L. Turner.

"Our team is hungry this year and our goal is to improve every practice and bring positive energy everyday.  To me, a successful season has our players playing hard every play and playing for each other.  I want to see our team grow stronger as the season progresses and just have fun playing football.   If we can do that consistently every week we will be tough to beat."