The Ponies football team has started the year off on the right foot as they are 3-0!  The first few games on the Ponies schedule were anticipated to be wins and they won them in convincing fashion.  While the second half of the schedule seems to be tougher it should make for some exciting games.

The Ponies football team looks to continue their success in the 2014 football season with their new look offense and defense.

According to head coach Beau LaBore “The team  should do everything and anything they can to compete and win a conference championship.”

The Ponies football team is running a new offense and defense this year.  The transition from the old to the new have been smooth and both units are looking good so far.  The Ponies may have themselves the perfect QB for their system.  The Ponies defense is lead by a solid group of linebackers.  There are some big goals for the 2014 football team.

The Ponies new offense looks to be a lot more dynamic and tougher to defend.  Even though it is a new offense, some things will stay the same.

Head coach Beau LaBore commented on the new offense when he said “We still see ourselves as a pro style team in the sense that we want to run similar plays and play action plays and pass plays.  We just realize that we need to be more multiple and that comes by way of the pistol set.  It also has pushed us to spread our offense out too.”

The Ponies new defense will be much faster and give the opposing teams’ offense many different looks throughout the game.

“The biggest reason for us making changes defensively is the type of offenses that we see. We still feel like we can dictate the game and tempo defensively, but we have to be more multiple with the offenses we see that are more spread out and maybe not utilizing the tight end like our old defense was more geared towards.” said head coach Beau LaBore.

The move from a pro style offense to a pistol offense has come very easily and smoother than expected which will mean big things from the offense this year.

“This offense is much easier than last year’s.  The plays are kind of the same but we switched them so they would work in a pistol formation.” said senior quarterback Dj Skie (’15).

The changes within the new defensive scheme appear to be the biggest on the defensive line.  This can be attributed to the defense using three defensive linemen instead of the four defensive linemen used on the defense last year.  This being said, it appears that the defense has been easier to learn than expected.   They are looking very strong at this point in the season.

When asked if the switch from a 4-4 to a 3-4 was hard, senior captain Ryan Floen (’15) said, “Not really because my old position was a defensive tackle and this is a glorified tackle.”

Both the offense and defense has been picked up quickly, but there is still room for improvement and refining of skills.

“We had a wonderful summer, we had a great 2-a-days. I think that they have picked up the offense and the defense changes very well, however, what needs to continue to get better is the effort to refine details and play faster.” said head coach Beau LaBore.

The defense has been very solid and is playing better than expected. This will have to continue for the Ponies to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.

“I think it [defense] is pretty solid, it is pretty pass solid.  Our defense for the run is actually a lot better than I thought it would be.” said Floen.

The Ponies starting quarterback, DJ Skie, seems to be a perfect fit for the offense as he can throw and run the ball effectively.  This should lead to the offense putting up a lot of points throughout the year.

“I am extremely comfortable with it [the offense].  This offense fits the type of quarterback that can throw and also run and I believe that I can do them both.” said Skie.

The Ponies defense will be led by a solid group of linebackers in which three of the four are returning starters.   This should lead to the defense being able to read and react more quickly and allowing their athleticism to show more often.

When asked about the strengths of the defense, Floen said, “Probably our linebacking core.  We’ve got a lot of seniors on our linebackers.  We have a captain at end and Johnny [Randazzo] has been pretty good.”

The new look offense will be more challenging for defenses to stop with the many different looks and new plays it brings.

According to Skie, “We can fool a lot of teams with this new offensive look.  Many teams will not be 100 percent sure what plays we will be running unlike the last years, so it gives us a huge advantage.”

After a good start by the Ponies football team in 2014 look for the offense to continue piling up the points and the defense to keep the opposing team’s offense off the field most of the game.  “I think it [defense] is pretty solid, it is pretty pass solid.  Our defense for the run is actually a lot better than I thought it would be.” said Floen.