St. John-Endicott will defend 1B title with young squad

The defense of a state title is never a simple task, but that isn’t Joey McCanna’s primary concern.

McCanna, coach of defending state 1B football champion St. John-Endicott, knows he has a tough task ahead of him with a young group of players that lack the experience of last year’s team.

“We are really young, so we have spent a lot of time on technique,” McCanna said.

After a 13-1 season capped by a 12-6 defeat of Lummi to bring home the state championship, McCanna calls this season a rebuilding one – but quickly adds his team has the potential to come on at the right time.

“Our goal right now is to make the playoffs,” McCanna said. “Then, from there, anything can happen. If you look at how Touchet snuck in at (No. 5 in the playoffs) and went to the final four last season after starting out fairly slow, you can see it’s possible.

“Sometimes it’s really about getting confidence built within the team and coming on midseason to peak at the right time.”

The Eagles lost nine seniors from last year’s team – six that started both ways.

This season, the Eagles have two seniors that turned out for football for the first time mixed in with a young group that McCanna says could surprise some people.

“Some of the young kids are stepping up,” McCanna said. “Overall, we’re behind on our skills, so we’re working on technique. But we are a little quicker in team speed than last year and a little better depth wise.”

When McCanna looks at this year’s squad, he sees average athletes that will do a really good job when they start to jell.

The Eagles graduated three-year starting quarterback Andrew Wolfe, leaving another hole in the offense.

Junior Beau Winters has the starting quarterback position wrapped up so far; sophomore Dylan Schmick will see playing time early on and could potentially do well enough to take over as the No. 1 QB.

“Beau has done a great job so far of picking up on things and right now he is our starter,” McCanna said of Winters, who played his freshman year and didn’t turn out last season after playing baseball all summer.

Returning center Kevin Mills (6-foot-1, 217 pounds), a third-year offensive lineman, and Austin Danielson (6-2, 253) will make an impact on the Eagles’ depleted line.

A big gap for the SJE is its running game, which was anchored last season by first-team all-league running back/linebacker Philip Luft and his 3,300 rushing yards.

“Losing (Luft) hurt,” said McCanna. “We’re going to try some different things this year and spread it out a little – we won’t be able to rely on one running back like we did last season.”

McCanna will look to William Harrison to pick up some of the slack.

“He’s kind of a utility player for us,” said McCanna. “He will play off-and-on at running back and should make an impact at wide receiver, and we’re going to use him as both this year.”

Overall, McCanna admits it’s one of those rebuilding seasons – but with great potential.

“The kids know that we lack experience, that we are young, and two of the seniors are first-year players,” he said. “They know from last year, if you peak at the right time, anything can happen.”