Since 2018, the Northwest football team has modeled consistency. In those four seasons, the Lions finished 5-5 three times and posted a record of 21-19.
Lion senior Chase Viehland has started at running back since he was a freshman. He played through the 2020 season marked by COVID-19 when the Lions posted a winning record (6-4) for the first time in 20 years. Last year, Viehland rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the first time. In his three seasons, he’s carried the ball 496 times for 2,630 yards and scored 21 touchdowns.
This year, Viehland is playing for a new head coach who promises to open up the offense and gamble sometimes on fourth down. Pete Eberhardt, who replaces Corey Toenjes, said he knew immediately what kind of player he had in Viehland. Eberhardt coached college-bound players when he was offensive coordinator for Francis Howell and the Vikings made it to the Class 6 state championship in 2012.
“Obviously, Chase stands out,” Eberhardt said. “I’m not going to say we are running our offense because of him, but he’s going to excel in it.”
Touted as the school’s strongest player since he was a freshman, Viehland continues to improve his measurables in the weight room, where he bench presses 355 pounds, dead lifts 630 and squats 525. That strength lends itself to Viehland’s power-running style. Not as fast as Hillsboro’s Jaxin Patterson or Seckman’s Cole Ruble, Viehland always pushes the pile forward and rarely loses yardage.
Viehland won’t be running any ‘go’ routes down the sideline, but Eberhardt has a plan to get him more involved in the passing game. The Lions will run a mixture of triple option, spread, zone run and run-pass option on offense.
“I want to step up and be the leader this year,” said Viehland, who added that he’s drawn interest to play football at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Truman State University in Kirksville and McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill. “We’ve got a lot of new guys and hopefully I can lead them to some wins.
“It’s a completely new offense. We’re more spread out this year. We’re splitting it up more this year, pass and run. We’ll have a lot of up-the-middle runs, stretches and sweeps.”
Of the three quarterbacks who saw time last season, only junior Nicholas Younkins returns. But he and sophomore Cooper Viehland, Chase’s brother, are dealing with injuries, which left senior Mitter Hanson under center for last week’s jamboree; he’ll probably start the season opener at Sullivan on Friday night.
“(Hanson) is reading defenses very well. He’s getting the ball out really quick,” Eberhardt said. “He’s facilitating our offense the way it should be.”
Junior Devon Vandiver and senior Robby Brandt join Chase Viehland at running back. At receiver are sophomore Wes Knuckles, juniors A.J. Pacino and Triston OToole and seniors Carter Lenzen, Collin Rupp and Ethan Richter.
“We have some good receivers, so we’re going to throw the ball,” Eberhardt said. “Chase isn’t going to carry the ball more than 30 times a game, but it will still be in the 20s. We’re going to try to throw it to him and make him more of a dynamic football player, instead of a pure runner.”
All five offensive linemen will be new starters. They are junior Ethan Swartout at left tackle, senior Dawson Kraus at left guard, senior Jacob Leonard at center, junior Ryan Pigg at right guard and senior Logan Riley at right tackle. When Eberhardt dials up the offense’s jumbo package, junior Andrew Buckner and senior Andon Wingenbach come in.
“Every day they have that ‘ah hah’ moment,” Eberhardt said. “We’re trying to get them to focus on their own responsibilities. When we’re doing pass protection, they’re trying to jump off to a linebacker and we tell them to stay engaged with their D-lineman. We’ve got running backs to take care of those (linebackers).”
On the defensive line are Leonard, Riley and Kraus. Chase Viehland, Vandiver and Brandt are at linebacker and the receivers will switch over to defensive backs.
Eberhardt doesn’t worry about Chase Viehland’s stamina playing both ways and on special teams.
“Chase is our dude. He’ll never come off the field,” the coach said, sounding a lot like Toenjes before him.
Junior Landon Richard returns at kicker after making 15 extra points in 2021.
When the Lions need to punt, they won’t line up as a traditional special teams unit. Eberhardt said regardless of the distance on fourth down and where the ball is spotted, Northwest will line up as if it is running an offensive play.
“Not to give away too many secrets, but we’ll be more aggressive on fourth down depending on the situation,” Eberhardt said.
With 89 players in the program from freshmen through seniors, Eberhardt said he’s pleased with the direction the Lions are headed.
“Every kid that was here this summer is still here,” he said. “That makes it nice because we’re trying to install a new offense. The kids are taking to the coaching very well. It’s starting to click in their heads. Before, they were like, ‘How does that work?’ And now it’s like, ‘That makes a lot of sense.’ These last couple days we were able to install more stuff.
“As long as we’re getting better every week, everything else takes care of itself. I’ve never been one to say we’re going to be 7-3. We’ve got two tough nonconference games against Lafayette (on the road Sept. 16) and Marquette (at home Sept. 23). Those will be good gauges about where we’re at.”