Published Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997
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1997 season preview
Enthusiasm is back at Mercer
The enthusiasm is back for the Mercer High School football team in 1997.
Coach Frank Makarevich who is entering his 13th season with the Mercer program and ninth as head coach (39-52-1), fielded a team of just 25 players last season. The Mustangs went 3-7 and missed the playoffs. This year 42 players are out for the team and according to Makarevich, are a close-knit group.
``Our morale is very good,'' Makarevich said. ``We're encouraging them to stick together. We like to depend on one another. I'm hoping we can continue our good morale and positive enthusiasm.''
A group of 17 juniors complement the nine seniors back out for the team. The mix between juniors and seniors is a good one as seven letterwinners return on offense and eight are back on the defensive side of the ball.
``Right now we're very optomistic,'' Makarevich said. ``We're returning a lot of starters back from last year but we're going to be young. At any given point last year we had eight sophomores playing. We do have a lot of experience coming back on both sides of the ball.
``We're going to look to that junior class to carry the load. I think how they go, combined with the seniors we do have, is going to determine what kind of success we have during the season.''
Leading the seniors is 6-foot-1, 175-pound quarterback Joe Ziccardi, a two-year letterman who finished last season as the top signal caller in Mercer County.
``Joe is a plus for us,'' Makarevich said. ``Last year at this time he was unproven and he was a little unsure of himself. Right now he has a lot of confidence. We're looking for bigger and better things out of Joe and he's also going to be one of our team leaders.''
In 10 games Ziccardi threw for 966 yards after completing 58 of 137 attempts with 6 TDs and 7 interceptions.
He'll look to his two favorite targets from a year ago _ 6-3, 150-pound senior split end Mitch Berndt and 6-2, 215-pound junior tight end Tom Golden. They were 1-2 on the team in receiving, catching 22 passes for 330 yards and 16 for 222, respectively. Senior split end Ben Burk (6-2, 160) is a third target.
``(They) will be his go-to guys again,'' Makarevich said. ``They'll give us the big-play threat we need.''
Brian Edmonds, the team's leading scorer last year, graduated after gaining 708 yards on 108 carries and notching 78 points. Also gone is fullback Keith Myers who had 783 yards on 129 attempts.
Makarevich expects 6-0, 180-pound senior Dan Urban to take over for Myers at fullback and 5-11, 165-pound junior Phil Erdos to step in for Edmonds.
``Both of them have real good speed, real good size and catch the ball real well. They have good hands coming out of the backfield,'' Makarevich said.
The Mustangs are looking to improve a defense that was near the bottom of the MCAC, giving up an average of 32.9 points per game and 306.9 yards per game.
``We're looking to be better defensively this year,'' Makarevich said. ``Last year we were suspect in many areas and that's one of the areas we're trying to shore up for this season.''
Makarevich said newcomer Ira Bennett (5-8, 205) will play anywhere from inside linebacker to defensive line. Another newcomer will anchor the line at 5-10, 245-pounds _ senior Nick Pollock.
``He's real strong and gives us that real good field tackle on defense,'' Macarevich said.
Urban will shore up the linebacker corps from the outside, along with Bryan Henlen (5-10, 200) who started last year as a sophomore.
Andy Hogue (5-11, 165), Erdos and Ziccardi lead the secondary.
``We were a little leary of playing our quarterback on defense but we look at some of these other schools and they do it,'' Makarevich said. ``Joey will come up and hit you one.''
Mercer plays in the difficult MCAC Class AA division and has to battle the likes of Wilmington, Hickory and Sharon for a playoff berth _ a place the Mustangs haven't been since the District 10 championship game in 1994.
``We're taking a week-by-week type of approach this year,'' Makarevich said. ``We don't want to mislead the kids in any way. I think we'll go from there.''
Makarevich will be assisted by Keith DeGraaf, Rob Kennis, Kent Williams, Jeff Lockard, Craig Gyergyo and John Caparoula.
