New look Wildcats working hard to prepare for football season

Louisburg quarterback Blue Caplinger finds some running room thanks to a block from lineman Kiefer Tucker during the final day of the Wildcats’ team camp on June 16. 

 

The Louisburg High School football team had a little different look to it when it took to the practice field earlier this month.

Not only do the Wildcats have a new head coach in Robert Ebenstein, they also have four new assistants. Ty Pfannenstiel and Pete Skakal are new teachers at LHS this year and moved into the assistant role, as did Louisburg graduates Drew Harding and T.J. McKiearnan.

Jeff Lohse returns as defensive coordinator after serving as co-head coach with Gary Griffin last season, who retired at the end of last school year.

Add to the fact that Louisburg graduated 16 off of last season’s team, many of whom were starters off of a regional championship squad, and the Wildcats have some rebuilding to do.

Although many of the faces have changed for the Wildcats, the way they work on the practice field hasn’t. The Wildcats took part in their team camp that began on June 12, and have also hit the weight room hard as they prepare for the 2017 season

“There are no major changes in our approach to summer,” Ebenstein said. “We just want to focus on the kids working hard and meshing with some of the new coaches we will have.”

The Wildcat players did a lot of that during their 5-day team camp that wrapped up on June 16 as they had 53 come out for the summer workout. Louisburg installed a lot of its offense during that time and worked on fundamentals for both sides of the ball.

One thing that will be different is the way they communicate on the field and play-calling.

“For the high school camp our goals were to work hard and learn new terminology,” Ebenstein said. “We lost a lot of players on both sides of the ball so we wanted to see these kids come out and work hard in an attempt to earn a spot come the start of the season. We also are changing our offensive terminology so that was a major focus of ours at camp.”

Along with the high school session, Ebenstein also held an elementary and middle school camp as well. Louisburg had 58 children attend the youth session and had 49 at the middle school workout.

“Overall I thought camp went very well,” Ebenstein said. “I am very excited for the future of our program based on the numbers of the youth and middle school camps. I think every kid that was there had a great time and learned something.”

With new personnel comes changes to any scheme and the offense will have a different look to it, but the foundation that defines Louisburg football hasn’t changed.

The Wildcats showed a lot of shotgun sets and different formations during its camp as they try to give their Frontier League opponents an alternate look.

“Terminology is definitely different, but our kids are doing a great job of picking it up,” Ebenstein said. “I was very impressed with their mental focus during the week of camp, they did a great job. The offense may look different at times, but when you break it down it is still the same principles as before, establish the run and take advantage of play action when we can.”

Although camp is over, the Wildcats are still busy trying to get better before the first day of practice hits in mid-August. Louisburg will scrimmage Prairie View for a second time, and will also have 7-on-7 workouts every Monday in Paola.

The Wildcats will also hold lineman skill practices, along with team review sessions starting in July. The players will also be in the weight room three days a week.