G.B. West keeps positive focus

Ty Thorpe is the type of player you want stepping off the bus first for road games.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder easily sticks out among his peers because of his physical presence, but at the same time the soft-spoken senior doesn’t look down upon anyone and would prefer not to be the center of attention.

Thorpe will find it challenging to do the latter this season since he’ll be taking snaps from behind center each play for the Green Bay West football team.

“Last year, he played tight end for us and did OK,” Green Bay West coach Tommie Williams said. “Everyone was telling me that he can play quarterback, so we looked at him in the offseason. He can throw a pretty good ball. He’s a great leader that kids rally around, which is important at the quarterback position.”

Every position and player will be of great importance to the Wildcats, who don’t have the same amount of depth as a majority of the teams they’ll face in the Bay Conference.

But rather than look at the numbers as a weakness, West is looking at its roster as a strength since the players on it believe they are closer than most teams.

“It’s a family atmosphere out here,” Williams said. “The numbers are down, but they just want to play hard and win a couple football games and eventually go to college.

“We have 12 seniors this year and they’ve all played since they were freshmen, so they are a close-knit group. They are accountable to each other. They like to play for each other and they like to hang out with each other.”

Williams and his players are more familiar with each other as well entering his second season as head coach.

“It’s nice because we have that year under our belt,” West senior fullback/linebacker Tyler Offield said. “He knows what to expect from us and won’t let us slack off. He really pushes us to be better than we were last year.”

The Wildcats are hoping to have better offensive output this season with Thorpe at quarterback.

However, a majority of the optimism for the unit is a credit to the experience returning up front on the offensive line, which consists of senior Antonio Cuellar-Trejo, senior Robert Pamperin, senior Brody Slack, junior Kislam Robinson and sophomore Jason Wright.

“They are our superstars,” Williams said. “They are the guys that make this team. Without them, we have nothing else.”

Brandon Dudley will benefit from running behind the experienced line. The senior running back/linebacker missed time last year with a broken hand and also is benefiting from going out for track and field for the first time last spring.

“He got his speed up,” Williams said. “We hope to get him a lot of carries.”

It will be a tall order, but Dudley feels he is ready to see an extended workload this season. West’s collective endurance will no doubt be key to its success.

“We have to condition,” Dudley said. “We conditioned a lot more this year than last year just because of numbers. You’re going to have to play all three sides of the ball.”