Saginaw Heritage tries to turn difficult 2020 experience into 2021 success - mlive.com

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SAGINAW, MI – Justin Thelen’s first season as the Saginaw Heritage coach was a bit less than ideal.

In fact, it was the opposite of ideal.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting quarantines, Heritage played just five games, losing all five to state powers Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Midland High, Midland Dow, Mount Pleasant and Traverse City Central … with a forfeit to state finalist Davison thrown in to add insult to injury.

But Thelen believes the difficulties encountered in 2020 will pay dividends in 2021, even though the Hawks lost star receiver Chris Parker to graduation and Central Michigan University.

“After last season, we certainly appreciate every moment, any ounce of normalcy,” Thelen said. “It was a difficult year for sure. But there are so many opportunities for us to grow and progress as a program.

“When you only play five games … and only four regular-season games … it’s certainly hard to catch a groove. But no excuses for last year. It’s been a really good summer. We know more about our group and who we are as a football team at this point without having played a game than we did last year after four or five games.”

Part of the positive attitude comes from an off-season of weight room dedication.

“Our players hit the weight room right after our playoff loss,” Thelen said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have worked themselves into being quality varsity players because they’ve pushed themselves so hard in the weight room.

“We’ve got good team speed with a lot of players who have worked hard to get stronger and faster. We’re playing much faster as a group. As we’ve planted our roots as a coaching staff, we’ve done different things in practice to maximize our players’ speed. There were times last year when we look back that maybe we didn’t maximize our team speed.

“We ask our players to play at 110 mph. The guys have really latched onto that.”

Josh Braley, who saw time at quarterback last season after Carter Sullivan was injured, returns at quarterback, with Colin Kraatz, Grant Church, Tyrus McDole, Tyree Alexander and Carrington Pryor among the potential receiving targets.

“Josh has made a huge jump in the off season,” Thelen said. “He’s 25 pound stronger and really explosive. He knows all 11 jobs on offense. He’s a dynamic athlete that we expect a lot from this year.

“Last year, he started out as a receiver before the injuries, so he was limited somewhat in terms of preparation as a quarterback. In the games he played at quarterback, he made a ton of playes with his legs. It was great experience for him. He’s grown a ton since last year.”

But he will not have Parker around as a target.

“Obviously, there’s no replacing a Chris Parker,” Thelen said. “We expect to be more balanced. We have some guys who can take the next step as pass catchers. We have a lot of depth at that position to where they won’t have to be on the field the whole game.

“We have a lot of guys who can play. Last year, we had four or five players who never came off the field. This year, we don’t have any linemen starting both ways. We do have a couple of two-way starters, but they’re going to be able to get some breaks this year.”

The Hawks open the season at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against the new Saginaw United team.

“We’re excited and ready,” Thelen said. “We hope to see a lot of what we’ve done the past nine months come to fruition.”

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