Clear Fork – It’s a new era in Clear Fork.
The Tyler Dunigon era.
After returning to the staff last season as the offensive coordinator, Dunigon applied for the head coaching position at Westside this past spring, replacing Herbie Halsey.
Fortunately due to his experience on the sideline, he’s walking into a familiar situation.
“We’re looking good so far,” Dunigon said. “We had a 7-on-7 in Man and figured out what we needed to improve on and work on and so far we’ve knocked it out. We lost that 7-on-7 and that put a bad taste in our mouths, but once we got out of doing the same thing over and over again during the three-week period, once they knew the pads were coming on the intensity picked up and I think we’ve gotten a lot better since now that we’re in fall camp.”
Last season has also left a bad taste in the mouth of the Renegades.
Due to the pandemic, they were allowed to play only four games, going 2-2. It was disappointing to say the least for a team that had the ship pointed in the right direction with a loaded stable of skill players. Gone are receivers Daniel Reed, Ethan Blackburn and Spencer Kenney.
Fortunately for the Renegades they have a talented quarterback in junior Jaxon Cogar, who hopes to ease the transition for the receivers tasked with replacing the trio’s production.
“Noah Lusk is a senior that hadn’t been playing,” Dunigon said. “He’s come out and he had seven catches and over 100 yards in 7-on-7s. He’s really stepped up and locked down one of those spots. Sophomore Ashton Reed had five catches and 70 yards with a touchdown in 7-on-7s. The more important thing is out of those two there was only one drop. Total we had nine drops, but just one drop between those two.
“That’s where I’m at – just figuring out who’s going to lock down the other two receiver spots but I feel like I have two really solid options right now.”
Dunigon also has the luxury of pounding the football. At 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, Cogar is a threat to run and is flanked in the backfield by multi-year starter Blake Goode.
“Our quarterback is absolutely going to be a dual threat,” Dunigon said. “He was able to run it for us last year but he was in the weight room all offseason. He’s up to 240 pounds right now. He’s not going to burn you with speed, but he’s like the fullback of our offense. And of course Blake, he’s a four-year starter. He’s been here longer than I have. The offensive line is looking great too. We’ve got three returning starters there, so I could definitely see us leaning on the ground game, especially if they’re leaving the box open.”
As an all-state offensive lineman on Man’s 2009 state runner-up team, returning three starters on the offensive line makes a world of difference for Dunigon. They already know what he wants to do on offense and how to execute.
“The language is the same, but the guys that played last year understand what I mean,” Dunigon said. “It’s just been a smooth transition. The running game is going to look and sound a lot of the same with them.”
As a first-year head coach Dunigon is setting goals for his team. Playing with a program in Man that rarely suffers losing seasons, he wants to ignite a competitive toughness within his players. That’s the first goal before he even begins to think about playoff games and state championship runs.
“I plan on being here for awhile,” Dunigon said. “Everybody says they want to go to the playoffs and everything like that, but there’s a lot of things we’ve got to take care of before we start talking playoffs. Just my goals? Every game on every down on every snap I need the guys to give 110 percent as far as effort, toughness and mental toughness go. No matter the score – whether we’re up 20 or down 20 – we’ve got to make sure we’re competing. As long as we’re getting the best out of each individual kid, that’s my goal. And then we’ll start building the program from there.”
The Renegades will have plenty of opportunities to compete and show they belong in Class AA. They’ll play a challenging schedule that features Class AAA Oak Hill and other good Class AA programs such as Independence, Shady Spring and Nicholas County.
“Of course we have (Wyoming) East circled with that being a big rivalry game,” Dunigon said. “I don’t say anything about it because I don’t want to make it about me, but they’re excited for the Man game. They want to take care of that one for me, so they’ve probably got that one circled. And of course Indy. My goodness they are loaded with all those kids coming back. That’s one that we for sure are looking forward to. We’re taking it a week at a time, but as far as games go those are probably the ones these guys are juiced for the most.”
In order to compete and win those games, the team will need to take the steps to achieve the goals Dunigon has laid out for them.
“We want to get tougher and that’s what would happen if we made it back to the playoffs,” Dungion said. “You look at Man and they’re usually not any worse than 5-5 and that’s because there’s such a precedence of toughness in the program. If we’re sitting at 7-3 or 8-2 and going to the playoffs, then I think that’s good for us and means we’re wearing teams out in the second half and are able to run the ball – things like that.”
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94
Schedule
1 08/27/21 07:30PM A – WYOMING EAST –
2 09/03/21 7:30PM A – OAK HILL –
3 09/10/21 07:30PM H – MAN HIGH SCHOOL –
4 09/17/21 7:00PM A – PIKEVIEW –
5 09/24/21 07:30PM A – INDEPENDENCE SENIOR –
6 10/01/21 07:30PM H – SHADY SPRING –
7 10/08/21 07:30PM H – LIBERTY (RALEIGH) –
8 10/15/21 07:30PM H – NICHOLAS COUNTY –
9 10/22/21 07:30PM H – TUG VALLEY –
10 10/29/21 7:30PM A – MOUNT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL –