Chris Eisenbeis is one of those football players all small schools need to be competitive.
Eisenbeis enters his senior year at Crystal City as the starting quarterback and linebacker. After leading the Hornets with 79 tackles and two interceptions last year, he was named to the I-55 Conference second team on defense.
For 48 minutes on Friday nights, the time Eisenbeis spends on the football field on offense is punctuated with 10- to 15-second intervals of taking a snap, handing off, passing or scrambling, which can produce a big play or a painful trip to the turf after being blindsided by a blitzing linebacker.
“We ask a lot of Chris and he responds really well,” Crystal City head coach Terry Crump said. “He handles the young kids well. He leads by example. When he does say something to the younger guys, they listen because they know he’s put in the hard work.”
The offensive output by Eisenbeis as last season’s quarterback appears pedestrian, but if those numbers are spread out, they become more impressive. He threw more interceptions (five) than touchdowns (four) and completed 41 percent of his passes. But Eisenbeis was the only Hornet to throw a pass, toted the ball 51 times for 223 yards and most importantly, completed passes to eight different receivers.
Crump said the Hornets have the ability to be even more successful throwing the ball this year.
“Chris looks lot better throwing the ball so I’d like to balance out the offense the best I can,” Crump said. “We have two good receivers with Thomas Wofford and Carson Short. Chris’s arm looks so much stronger, I think he can get them the ball better.”
On defense, Eisenbeis has to read and react at inside linebacker. During basketball season, Eisenbeis was the second-leading scorer and rebounder. His ability to move quickly laterally serves him well in both sports.
“I think Chris is one of the best outside linebackers around and I was upset that he wasn’t rewarded with that (first-team selection) last year,” Crump said. “He’s double- and triple-teamed on every play.
“If it was up to him, he’d play all of the special teams, too. I won’t allow that. I don’t even like my quarterback to play defense, but I don=t have a choice with 23 kids.”
The Hornets are young for a second straight year. They’re made up of three seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen. Eisenbeis, Wofford and first-year player Will Whitman are the three seniors. Crump has eight new players to teach his system from the ground up.
“It’s a challenge,” he said. “A lot of it is done in individual drills. We have to teach them like they were freshmen. We only have a handful of older players who=ve been with the program a few years.
“We will have the least experience of the teams in the conference.”
The Hornets aren’t completely void of experience. Junior Jason Loveless is a three-year starter and two-time all-conference player. Last season, Loveless was selected to the first-team defense on the line after posting 41 tackles, including three for a loss.
Loveless has shifted from the line to inside linebacker alongside Eisenbeis. Backed by Griffin Morris at safety, that provides the Hornets with a nice triangle of defense. Morris was an honorable mention pick on the defense last year after recording 24 tackles and two interceptions.
“I feel really good about a lot of our defensive players,” Crump said. “I feel really confident with Griffin back there. He’s our only defensive back with any experience.”
Tackle Hunter Blackwell, guard Mason Wood and center Dylan Beekman are the three returning starting offensive linemen. Evan Litton joins that group of starters at tackle. Junior Philip Harrison is the starting tight end. Harrison didn’t have any offensive touches a year ago.
Tyreece Shores led the Hornets with 397 yards rushing a year ago, but has graduated, leaving the tailback duties to Morris and freshman Donovan Tullock. Loveless and sophomore Mike Craig are the fullbacks. Loveless carried the ball 38 times for 124 yards last fall.
“Morris is more of a slash-and-dash runner, instead of a flat-out speedster,” Crump said. “Tullock has speed and when he gets outside on the edge, he’s going to be hard to catch.”
All-conference kicker Drake Beekman has graduated, leaving kickoffs and PATs on the foot of freshman Julian Rivera. Crump said Rivera needs to work on his fundamentals, but he said he believes Rivera will be a good kicker in the future.
“We’ll miss Drake on kickoffs and PATs,” Crump said. “(Rivera) has never kicked with a defensive line in front of him. We’ll get him there with baby steps.”
Coming off of a 3-7 season where they were 1-5 in the conference (a forfeit win against Grandview), the young Hornets are all taking small steps. Crystal City kicks off the season on Aug. 18 at home against Chaffee. The Red Devils beat the Hornets 39-19 in last year’s opener.
“I don’t know if we have the team speed to keep up with Valle,” Crump said of the I-55’s perennial champion. “Jefferson is a lot bigger than we are. I hope we can match up pretty well with the rest of the teams we play.”