Eisenhower Panthers Pigskin Preview

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Decatur Eisenhower Panthers
 

 COACH: Drew Wagers (3-15, second season)
 

 2014 RECORD: 2-7 (2-7 in CS8)
 

TOP RETURNEES: Line Keith Anthony, Line Andre Johnson, RB Salat Al-Nurridin (258 rushing yards), Colton Lockwood (25 catches, 502 yards, 4 TDs), QB Cayleb Dehority (1,004 passing yards, 500 rushing yards), LB Bryson Bonds (73 tackles), LB Kendall Dehority (40 tackles), WR-DB Mekhi Peoples, WR-CB LaMontie Williams

BIGGEST LOSSES: Braxton Woodland, Sedrick Cunningham, James Woodland

WHAT THE PANTHERS DO WELL: Mix it up. Eisenhower has a veteran quarterback in Cayleb Dehority and a veteran receiver in Colton Lockwood to make the passing game go, and Dehority and running back Salat Al-Nurridin are solid runners. There’s also experience on the line with Keith Anthony and Andre Johnson.

 
EISENHOWER QUESTION MARKS: It all starts on the defensive side of the ball. Only Lincoln (440) and Springfield High (342) allowed more points than the 329 the Panthers permitted in 2014, and Eisenhower allowed 56, 55 and 53 points in its first three games last season. “We really didn’t stop anybody, were a little confused on defense,” coach Drew Wagers said. “We had guys in the right place at the right time but they didn’t make the play.” The Panthers open this season with the same three teams — Rochester, Sacred Heart-Griffin and MacArthur — that outscored them 164-49 to start last season. 

 
WORTH NOTING: Eisenhower is 4-32 the past four seasons. . . . The Panthers have qualified for the postseason just three times since the playoffs began in 1974, the last time in 2004. . . . Eisenhower hasn’t finished the season over .500 since 1995 when the Panthers capped a three-year run of winning seasons with a 6-4 mark. . . . Eisenhower closed the season with a win over Springfield High, ending a four-game losing streak. . . . With a classification enrollment of 1,041 — up from 958 in 2014 — Eisenhower is the fourth-smallest school in the CS8 behind Rochester, Lincoln and Jacksonville. 

 
COACH DREW WAGERS SAYS: “Hopefully we’ll bring some physicality to the game. I thought we did a good job last year finishing every game. Having experience now, we should be able to manage games a little better. Managing games is the big thing. We will mix it up a little bit more this year. There definitely were things I did last year as a coach to make it easy for defenses to make us do things. Defensively (it’s a matter of) can we stop the big plays. We’ve got two big contenders right out of the gate. If we minimize those (big plays) we give ourselves a shot. Eisenhower football will be exciting, no matter what the outcome. We’re going to give you something to watch.”