Emporia High senior safety Robert Keisler intercepted three passes during Wednesday’s practice, which earned him plenty of praise from coaches and teammates alike.
The fact that Keisler had that many chances to produce those turnovers is an oddity in itself, as the Spartans aren’t known for their passing attack.
But come Friday night, Keisler and the rest of the Spartan secondary will have plenty of opportunities to get interceptions in an actual game, as EHS faces the pass-happy Blue Valley West Jaguars to open the 2006 season.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Keisler said. “We have to be ready because all they do is pass the ball, or so I’ve heard. This is going to give us secondary guys the chance to get a few interceptions.
“It’s exciting because it gets us more involved in the game instead of just running up to make tackles.”
The task the Spartans face is a daunting one, as Blue Valley West went undefeated at several summer 7-on-7 camps and feature a potential Division I signee on offense in senior wide receiver Taylor Embree.
As a junior, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound Embree caught 28 passes for 372 yards and four touchdowns, and now is getting looks from schools like California, Iowa, Stanford and UCLA.
“They’re really talented on offense,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said. “They have a lot of really good athletes and they’ll throw the ball all over the field. They’ve got some good receivers, including one (Embree) that will probably go to a Pac-10 school.”
The task of shutting down Embree and a Blue Valley West offense that is expected to throw as many as 60 times Friday night falls on the shoulders of Keisler and the rest of the EHS defensive backs.
The fact that the defensive secondary will play such a critical role in such an early-season game has been an unusual thing to practice for, Keisler said.
“Usually in high school games, you’re preparing for the run all week,” he said. “This week has been nothing but pass, and that’s been a little different.”
Yet another aspect in containing the Blue Valley West offense could be just as important, and that will be the Spartans’ pass rush.
Senior linebacker Dillon Cox said the EHS front seven is well aware of the nature of the opponent it will face Friday night. He said that the Spartan defense hopes to send a message early on that it won’t back down from the challenge.
“We hope to get quite a bit of pressure on their quarterback and make it tough for them to throw, because we know that’s what they like to do most of the time,” Cox said. “I know they’ve got a great passing offense and stuff, but we’re hoping once we hit them and start smacking them a little bit that they’ll back down and things will get better for us.”
Lowe is confident his defense, which will feature no fewer than seven senior starters, can at least slow down the Blue Valley West offense, provided the Spartans play well.
“We put a lot of speed over on defense and it’s pretty senior-dominated over there,” Lowe said. “I’m excited to see how the defense handles it.”
One sure way to slow the Jaguar offense is to keep it off the field all together.
Lowe said the EHS gameplan will be a fairly simple one: Hold on to the football as long as possible so as to not let the Blue Valley West offense get any chances for quick points.
“Hopefully they don’t get that many snaps. Hopefully we’ll have the ball,” Lowe said. “The key for us is going to have to be to control the ball. We can’t put the ball on the ground and give them any cheap scores. We’ve got to try to keep the ball and sustain long drives and keep the ball out of their hands.
“We’ve got to pound it at them and hopefully try to move the ball.”
With junior running back Edd Noonan in the backfield, the Spartans’ option-oriented offense is more than capable of doing just that.
“I’m really excited,” said Noonan, who rushed for 916 yards as a sophomore last season. “We want to drive the ball and run the ball a lot so we have as long of possessions as we can. I just want to go out and run hard and get as many points up on the board as I can and help keep our defense off the field.”
Staring down the EHS offense will be Blue Valley West senior linebacker Andrew Gachkar, who has already committed to play at Missouri next year. Gachkar totaled 85 tackles and five sacks last season, and even added two interceptions.
Lowe said while preparing for the Jaguars has been “totally different than preparing for anyone else,” he is eager to see what his squad can do once the lights at Welch Stadium turn on Friday night.
“I’ve got confidence in our young men,” Lowe said. “They’ve worked really hard, and I know that they’ve really bought into believing in each other and playing hard for each other. I know that no matter what, they’re going to come out and play their hearts out, and that’s all you can ask. If they do that, we’re going to be all right.
“I think we’re going to surprise some people, but you never know until you play that first game and find out how everybody reacts under pressure.”