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Sports

Hinsdale Central Football Opens Practice, New Season

New head coach Rich Tarka likes the progress his team is making as the Red Devils begin practice.

Coaches were barking instructions, linemen were hitting foam-padded blocking dummies during drills, and footballs were flying through the twilight sky as the football team officially started practice for its 2011 season Wednesday evening at Dickinson Field.

The only elements missing from the season’s first practice session were players wearing full pads and experiencing full contact. But donning the pads—and getting popped—will come soon enough, new head coach Rich Tarka said.

“These first days are a little bit of a half-step backwards because you don’t have the pads on,” said Tarka, . “But I think we’re still teaching and learning and the kids are getting a lot out of it.

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“Next week we’re going to mix up a little bit, be physical at practices and then lay off the following week just so we get them to understand the tempo we want them to play at the style we want to play.”

Be it coach or player, everyone was glad to get back on the field.

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“It felt pretty good,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Mike Pircon, a returning starter. “I think the team is really coming together. I think we made improvements from last year, and overall we’re just looking a lot better. I feel that we can be a very good team in the [West Suburban Silver] conference this year.”

Tarka likes the progress his club made during summer workouts. He’s looking to build on that as the Red Devils prepare for their season-opener Aug. 26 at St. Charles North.

“It’s good to get going,” said Tarka, who prior to taking over at Hinsdale Central was head coach at Rich South for six years (2003-2008). “We’ve had a whole summer with these kids and we accomplished a lot this summer. It felt natural to pick up where we left off. Ninety-five percent of our offense is in, and defensively we’re becoming a better team so I’m pretty happy.”

Tarka also spent four seasons as head coach at Crete-Monee from 1997 to 2000, and led Crete-Monee and Rich South teams to a combined five playoff appearances.

Making the playoffs has come second-nature to Hinsdale Central over the years. The Red Devils qualified for postseason play nine consecutive seasons from 2001 through 2009, but missed the playoffs last fall after going 4-5.

Graduation decimated Hinsdale Central’s nucleus. Gone are linemen Jack Allen (now at Michigan State) and Scott McDowell (Illinois), starting quarterback Alex Hodakowski and linebackers Pat Foley, Keith Hahn and Jake Knowles, who also started at running back before an injury ended his season. 

Despite these losses, Tarka believes leaders from this year’s senior class are stepping forward, and will rise to the occasion in order to fill the on-field voids.

“There’s some good senior leadership on this team,” he said. “And they have stepped up. We’ve seen some players who didn’t contribute a lot last year step up and become contributors and guys that we’re going to count on this year. That’s part of the nature of becoming a senior. So we have every confidence that we have a lot of people that are going to step up.”

Pircon is one of the senior leaders Tarka is counting on.

“This year we’ve got some great underclassmen; we’ve got a number of returning starters, as well,” Pircon said. “I think our O-line’s coming together real nice, our running backs. We have a good quarterback, Danny Callahan. I feel he’s going to do very well.”

A week after their season opener against St. Charles North, the Red Devils face Leyden in their home opener Sept. 2.

“They’re excited about the season and the potential we have if they follow the program and do the right thing,” Tarka said.

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