VARSITY CARDINALS - The 2008 Whittemore-Prescott Cardinals varsity football team consists of, from left, back row: assistant coaches Bob Dexter, Dennis Prescott, Sam Harrison and head coach Kevin Frederick; middle row: Matthew Card, Tommy Miracle, Billy Raushi, Matt Ackerman, Patrick Henika, Shane Mashke, Brandon Hall, Adam Parada and Tadd DeCaen; front row: Tristan Kohlhoff, Austin Swanson, Dylan DeBoever, Kyle Hensley, Kyle Saunders, Chris Downes, Sean Leathorn and Chris Powell. Not pictured are Ryan Zanon and Stanley Matuszak. - photo by Doreen Fouchey

Cards have new coach, smaller numbers for 2008 season
by Doreen Fouchey

WHITTEMORE - The Whittemore-Prescott Cardinals varsity football team enters its 2008 season with 19 athletes - the smallest number of players it has had to work with in many years.

The Cardinals have nine seniors, eight juniors and two sophomores on this year’s squad, with 10 out of the 19 athletes returning from last season.
Whittemore-Prescott will also start the season with a new head coach. The Cardinals will be led this season by Kevin Frederick. Frederick has plenty of skill behind him with seven years of experience. He started the first six years of his career at Bay City Western High School and continued to coach for one year at Arenac-Eastern High School.

“My expectations for the year aren’t like any other year for Whittemore-Prescott,” said Frederick. “There has been a lot of tradition here at W-P for the last few decades and we hope to uphold that tradition.

“We have a relatively small team this year with only 19 varsity players, but we are returning a lot of skilled position players and we expect some pretty big things.”

The nine seniors on this year’s squad are Austin Swanson, Matt Ackerman, Billy Raushi, Kyle Saunders, Adam Parada, Sean Leathorn, Kyle Hensley, Tristan Kohlhoff and Matt Card.

The eight juniors are Chris Downes, Tadd DeCaen, Patrick Henika, Dylan DeBoever, Ryan Zanon, Chris Powell, Brandon Hall and Shane Mashke.

Tommy Miracle and Stanley Matuszak are the only two sophomores on the team.

Swanson and DeBoever will take on the positions of quarterback/defensive back. Ackerman will play running back/defensive back. Downes and Miracle will commit to the running back/linebacker positions.

There will be four players at the wide receiver/defensive back positions - Raushi, Saunders, Henika and Mashke. Kohlhoff will be at the wide receiver/linebacker spots.

Seven athletes will take on the positions of offensive and defensive linemen - Parada, Leathorn, Hensley, Powell, Hall, Matuszak and Card. The two offensive linemen/linebackers this season will be DeCaen and Zanon.

Frederick will be assisted this year by coaches Bob Dexter, Dennis Prescott and Sam Harrison.

Swanson and DeBoever will take on the positions of quarterback/defensive back. Ackerman will play running back/defensive back. Downes and Miracle will commit to the running back/linebacker positions.

There will be four players at the wide receiver/defensive back positions - Raushi, Saunders, Henika and Mashke. Kohlhoff will be at the wide receiver/linebacker spots.

Seven athletes will take on the positions of offensive and defensive linemen - Parada, Leathorn, Hensley, Powell, Hall, Matuszak and Card. The two offensive linemen/linebackers this season will be DeCaen and Zanon.

Frederick will be assisted this year by coaches Bob Dexter, Dennis Prescott and Sam Harrison.

The Whittemore-Prescott Cardinals will host Mio-AuSable on Thursday for its first game of the season. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.