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Football: Maine West aims to turn up the progress

When Jason Kradman took over the Maine West program 3 years ago, he knew it would take time for the Warriors to move up. And after going 2-7 in his first year and 3-6 last season, Kradman feels his team is ready to make that next jump.

"We are much further ahead of last year in the development of our guys," Kradman said. "We are more athletic than we have ever been. We had a strong off-season, with 60-65 guys working out all the time."

The Warriors, who had 10 players go on to play college football, return just seven starters from last season. But there's still a large group of players that saw some varsity action last fall.

"We felt like last year made some good progress," Kradman said. "We had close games with New Trier, Highland Park and Deerfield where we were either up or within a TD late. We just couldn't finish. We weren't good enough to win those games yet. We are trying to prepare so if we face those opportunities again, we can win those games in the fourth quarter."

Sam Kindle takes over the reins as the quarterback this season after Jake Riportella graduated. Notre Dame transfer George Markakis will be the backup at QB.

"Sam has been a program guy," Kradman said. "He has worked hard to earn the starting spot this year."

The Warriors feature a solid duo at running back. Marteen Robinson, who was off to a great start last year before suffering a midseason injury, is back. He will be joined by Anthony Henley, a late-year transfer from Evanston.

They should have a solid offensive line to run behind, with returning starters Steve Cutro and Jared Brogni and all-conference tight end Matt Kentgen. Nate Morely, Erik Guzman and Danny Arvizu will round out the offensive line while Justin Lowrey and Phil Holzer also will see action at tight end.

Will Lowery will return at wide receiver while Ricky English should see lots of action as well.

The defensive line also has a pair of returnees in Malik Siem and Mike Milewski. Walter Hutt, Eric Dankowski, Sage Shanahan and Brogni should also see plenty of playing time.

It will be brotherly love for the Warriors as Joe Bellizzi, who is a senior and and Jake Bellizi, who is a sophomore, patrol the inside of Kradman's 4-4 scheme. Krystian Garbicz and Ely Grimmer will be at the outside linebacker spots.

The defensive backfield will have Matt Litas at free safety while Robinson, along with Jonaas Drain and Jaxson Bakulinski, will be at the corners.

Kradman likes the new scheduling system, which will pit his team against Mid-Suburban squads Rolling Meadows and Hoffman Estates rather than teams from the CSL South.

"It should put us on more of an even ground number-wise," Kradman said. "They are schools with enrollments just like ours."

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