Football: Hubs hit the gridiron for Purple-White scrimmage

Rochelle opens season with road game at Marion

Russell Hodges
Posted 8/16/18

The Rochelle football program dressed in full uniform for the first time on Friday, as the boys took their home field for the team’s annual Purple-White scrimmage at Rochelle Township High School.

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Football: Hubs hit the gridiron for Purple-White scrimmage

Rochelle opens season with road game at Marion

Posted

ROCHELLE — The Rochelle football program dressed in full uniform for the first time on Friday, as the boys took their home field for the team’s annual Purple-White scrimmage at Rochelle Township High School.

Freshman, sophomore and varsity players competed against each other over two games Friday evening, with the underclassmen dueling for about 30 minutes before the varsity players took reps for close to 45 minutes. A large group of seniors are returning to this year’s roster, and the boys are eager to get their season underway.

“It feels great to be back out here,” senior Noah Knight said. “It’s been a long summer and we’ve put a lot of work in. I feel like we’re buying in to what coach [Kyle] Kissack has been preaching. He’s brought a lot of energy and excitement about the game to our team.”

The Hubs open their season at Marion on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 1 p.m. in what will be Kissack’s first official game as head coach of the Rochelle varsity program. Many returning players including senior lineman James Hart said Kissack has livened up the locker room and given energy during practices for players to feed off.

“He’s made a great impact,” Hart said. “He gives us a lot of energy and he does a really great job of making practices fun for us which is really important because we want to have fun playing football. He’s done a great job of making the transition easy for us.”

Rochelle boasted plenty of size up front last season, and fans shouldn’t expect that to change when the boys battle their opponents this fall. Led by returning All-Conference offensive lineman William Jandak, the Hubs understand the important of continuing to uphold their traditional style of smash-mouth football by being physical in the trenches.

“We all have to stay healthy,” Jandak said. “Everybody has to do their jobs so we can keep playing well… coach Kissack is pushing us to do our best and he’s giving us a lot of life lessons that we can take off the football field.”

The Hubs will remain experienced on defense this fall, with returning linebackers such as senior Greg Ricketts to count on for big plays in key moments. The boys will need to remain versatile, as opponents such as Marion, Johnsburg and conference rival Sterling can score points quickly with spread offenses.

“I’m really excited and I think everybody else is too,” Ricketts said. “We’re ready to have another good season… We need to make sure we have all of our keys covered and that our eyes are in the right place. Pre-snap reads, flying to the ball and getting tackles wherever we can will be important for us.”

Rochelle will continue running its traditional “Wing-T” offense, but fans should expect a little more spice in the offense this fall. Another change fans will see are the new varsity helmets, which feature Hub logos on each side of the helmet with three white stripes running from the front to the back. Many players are excited about the team’s new classic look.

“I like them and I think they look pretty nice,” Hart said. “The Hub logo is a throwback.”