This is the sixth installment of a team-by-team high school football camp preview of each North Olympic Peninsula team leading up to practices, which begin Wednesday.
PORT ANGELES — A core of sizeable, athletic and experienced offensive and defensive linemen appear to be Port Angeles’ biggest strength heading into this season.
“Our line looks really good on paper,” Roughriders coach Tom Wahl said.
“[On offense] we average about 275 pounds across the line, including tight end Caleb West, so that’s a positive.”
Wahl mentioned seniors Roberto Coronel, John Bosenburg, Wyatt Hull, junior center Billy Minks, and junior strong-side guard Isaiah Nichols, all of whom are well over 200 pounds, as players who will likely see time on the field.
“These positions aren’t taken by any means,” Wahl said.
“But these guys have been around for team camp and put in some work.”
Which Riders will carry the football in Port Angeles’ version of the Wing-T offense remains to be determined.
“I’m not sure we can build it [the offense] around anybody at this point,” Wahl said.
“You just have to see what you have to build on.
“The beauty of the Wing-T is whomever is hot you give the ball to.”
A player who won’t be seeing any carries this year is running back Miki Andrus who moved to Las Vegas after last season.
“It’s too bad, we will miss him,” Wahl said of Andrus’ departure.
“But we have a lot of capable kids and we’ll have plenty of athletes to choose from.”
“We should be a little more experienced in the line than in the backfield, but as far as ability, it will be a matter of reps and getting people in there,” Wahl said.
“Most of our backs played at the JV level so they have experience.”
Port Angeles gained more experience when players participated in a Wahl-organized 7-on-7 league this summer with teams from Port Townsend, Sequim, North Kitsap, Kingston, Bainbridge Island and Clallam Bay.
The team also competed in a state tournament event near Arlington, finishing 12th out of 28 teams.
“We just needed a few more players, we ran out of gas a bit,” Wahl said.
The Riders brought linemen to the event, and those players competed in a linemen challenge, with feats of strength and sprint and agility tests.
Port Angeles also attended a three-day team camp held at King’s High School in Shoreline.
Junior Ryan Rodocker received the bulk of the snaps at quarterback this offseason after starting the final three games of last season due to a knee injury to incoming senior Nathan Angevine.
“Nate’s bigger and stronger, but Ryan has gotten most of the reps this summer and experience counts a lot,” Wahl said.
“I’d say they are pretty even and both will get plenty of snaps in practice.”
On defense, Wahl expects to stay with his 4-4 base defense, which has the ability to provide different looks depending on the formation displayed by the opposition offense.
“With our defense we can do multiple movements out of it and go to a 4-3, or sometimes it looks like a 3-5,” Wahl said.
Port Angeles football players will continue the pursuit of the white helmet and focus on daily improvement when practice opens for the season on Wednesday.
“It’s a special helmet we give to players who have an outstanding academic performance, as well as achieve physical standards in strength, speed, agility, along with excellence on the football field,” Roughriders coach Tom Wahl said.
Port Angeles hosts Port Townsend to open the season at Civic Field on Sept. 5.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Previous camp previews
Chimacum: http://tinyurl.com/CowboysCamp
Neah Bay: http://tinyurl.com/NeahBayCamp
Forks: http://tinyurl.com/pdnForksCamp
Clallam Bay: http://tinyurl.com/ClallamBayCamp
Sequim: http://tinyurl.com/PDNSequimCamp
