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Boone Grove: It starts with him
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:42AM
His moment has finally come.
After a few years of not knowing if Boone Grove High School would ever reach this point — the first season of IHSAA-sanctioned football competition — Dean Hill gets to be the Wolves’ first quarterback.
Actually, he’s been that inaugural quarterback the last two years, working and building to this point.
But there definitely were doubts if the day would ever come.
“I heard good things about us having football, and then I heard bad things and didn’t think it would happen before I was out of high school,” said Hill, who played for the Boone Grove/Winfield Pop Warner program.
Now the job for Hill and his teammates is to market the team to classmates in the school and get them excited about Boone Grove football.
“I want people at our games rooting for us,” Hill said. “We talked about the Wheeler game (on Aug. 20) and I’ve heard kids at our school saying, ‘Why would we go to that? You’re just going to get killed.’ I want to be respected (as a team).”
That respect will come with victories, and those victories will come through Hill’s leadership.
That’s a quarterback trait Hill relishes.
“On the field as the quarterback I have to be the general,” he said. “But off the field, you’re kind of like the boss. I have to keep the other guys under control.”
First-year head coach Tony Tinkel — he replaces Doug Knutson, who goes back to solely being the athletic director after two years as the school’s first football coach — appreciates Hill’s rare leadership combo.
“He’s a kid who leads by example, but he’s also not afraid to tell the other players what they need to do. It’s a good combination,” Tinkel said.
“What he’ll do is sit there and take a lot and take a lot, and then all of a sudden he’ll say something and the kids know it. They respect him for it and they listen to him.”
As far as Tinkel is concerned, he couldn’t ask for a better quarterback to lead the Wolves in the team’s first official season — and in the coach’s first season.
And it’s not just the intangibles that Hill embraces. The coaches have groomed him for two years to be the first quarterback in Boone Grove history.
“I want them to want me to be good,” Hill said of the confidence those coaches have in him.
And he’s put in the hard work over two years and this past summer to improve upon the traits needed to be a good signal caller.
“I’ve done a lot of work on my mechanics and getting stronger — I’ve been in the weight room a lot,” said Hill, who really learned a lot and had fun at a Notre Dame football camp during the offseason. “It was a blast. Got to hang out with teammates and stay in a hotel. It helps coaches and players get closer.”
Now it’s just a matter of turning the hard work, togetherness and leadership into something the community can be proud of, and — if Hill has anything to say about it — creating some demand at the box office.
Coach
Tony Tinkel
Record
Overall: 0-0 (first year)
Last season
1-1 record in only two varsity games
Key returnees
FB Austin Lang, Jr.
HB Jason Sawa, Jr.
QB Dean Hill, Jr.
TE Jake Clapp, Jr.
Key Losses
Zack Stanek, WR/KR
College prospects
TE Jake Clapp
OL/DL Garrett Glish, So.
OL/DL Zach Keilman, So.
Season outlook
It’s a new era for Boone Grove athletics, and how the Wolves do in their first IHSAA football season isn’t as important as the team just taking the field, finally. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t optimistic about season No. 1. That especially goes for new coach Tony Tinkel, who likes his team’s unity as they’ve gotten ready for the first game against rival Wheeler.
“We have guys helping other guys and that’s great,” Tinkel said during one of the first official practices. “We are becoming a team.”
On the field, Tinkel sees a team that could play above its small school mantra. “For a 2A school we have some big kids on the line,” he said. That’s always a key, especially when the Wolves are counting on junior quarterback Dean Hill to continue his improvement. The Wolves will have flexibility at several positions, as well as a young team with only six seniors on the roster.
“I am so lucky going into my first year as a head coach to have so many good skill position players,” Tinkel said.
Postseason
Class 2A Sectional 25 (Andrean, Boone Grove, Bowman, Lake Station, North Newton, Rensselaer, River Forest. Wheeler)
Schedule
Aug 20 at Wheeler
Aug. 26 at Bishop Noll
Sept. 2 Lew Wallace
Sept. 9 at North Judson
Sept. 17 Bowman Academy
Sept. 23 East Chicago
Sept. 30 at Tri-County
Oct. 7 Roosevelt
Oct. 14 South Newton
Roster
No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Pos.
2 Bryce Lange 5-11 175 10 RB/LB
3 Alex Guyette 5-8 160 12 WR/DB
4 Jake Morris 5-6 150 9 QB/DB
5 Geroge Kranik 5-4 100 9 RB/DB
6 Darrell Maxey 5-8 150 9 RB/LB
7 Matt Wiggins 5-8 160 9 RB/LB
8 Kyle Wolfe 6-0 170 11 WR/DB
9 Daniel Malouhos 6-0 180 9 WR/DB
11 Tristan Stark 5-7 115 9 QB/FS
12 Jason Sawa 5-10 168 11 RB/LB
13 Jared Thill 6-3 160 12 WR/K
18 Cody Poynter 5-9 155 11 RB/DB
20 Dean Hill 5-9 140 11 RB/DB
21 Austin Lange 6-0 205 11 RB/LB
22 Stefan Hess 5-9 150 12 WR/DB
23 Alan Espino 5-5 155 10 RB/DB
35 Michael Grimberg 5-11 135 11 WR/DB
40 Brett Eriks 5-4 115 9 QB/DB
41 Corey Schafer 5-8 165 11 RB/LB
44 Alex Colvin 6-0 180 10 TE/LB
45 Austin Nelson 5-6 150 9 TE/LB
47 Justin Sorrell 5-9 165 11 FB/LB
52 Patrick Poxon 5-10 185 11 OL/DL
57 Nicholas Kilburg 5-10 185 10 C/LB
58 Tony Stenulson 5-11 205 12 OL/DL
60 Zach Slicker 5-10 200 11 OL/DE
61 Dion Spencer 5-9 185 12 OL/LB
62 Isaac Brzinski 5-9 185 11 OL/DL
64 Max Hill 5-11 190 12 OL/LB
68 Zach Colvin 5-9 150 9 OL/DL
70 Corey Beatty 5-10 165 11 OL/LB
71 Garrett Glisk 6-3 265 10 OL/DL
72 John Greaney 6-1 250 10 OL/DL
73 Ryan Abrego 5-7 187 12 C/LB
74 Jimmy Bryson 5-10 170 9 OL/DL
75 Stan Igras 6-2 220 9 OL/DL
76 Jeffery Parsons 6-0 180 9 OL/DL
77 Devan Borns 5-7 200 9 OL/DL
78 Patrick Roeske 5-11 240 12 OL/DL
79 Zach Keilman 6-0 225 10 OL/DL
82 Devin Jabo 6-0 165 11 TE/DB
87 Jake Clapp 6-2 210 11 TE/DE
88 Casey Ward 6-1 170 12 QB/DE
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