Published: August 23, 2008 11:17 pm         

Big shoes to fill

There’s a new coach in the Black Bears’ den this year.

Coach Todd Beer is leading Pawnee. The goal, Beer said, is to finish as high as possible in district play, or best case scenario: win the championship.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “I think we have a chance. I think there’s about five teams in this district in Class A, so it’s going to be a tough chore. Pretty good competition across the board.”

Being the new guy in town, Beer said he’s enjoying Pawnee football so far.

“Our kids work pretty hard,” he said. “I like their attitude, good attitudes. We have good numbers, a lot of kids out here.”

He added that he was drawn to Pawnee because of the Black Bears’ tradition.

“I’ve been in good programs, but I just wanted to be somewhere I got a chance to win, and I feel like this is a place where we can win,” he said.

Beer said practices have been good but the past couple of weeks’ excessive rain isn’t ideal.

“We haven’t had many dry practices, makes it a little tough when you're working offensive stuff,” he said, even as the rain began to fall. “But overall, I think they’ve adapted, they've pushed through, stayed fairly concentrated. But we like a little sunshine.”

Senior Zach Allen said Beer was the right man to fill former coach David Ellis’ shoes.

“Having Coach Ellis leave, he’s kind of leaving us out in the rain — literally, out in the rain,” he said with a laugh as the drizzle became a shower. “But (Beer) came here, stepped up and just got us together as a team.”

Allen added that Beer stands out from other coaches because he cares for the players.

“The way he treats us kids — he looks out for the best of us,” he said. “Always, his No. 1 is about us, nothing else. Just us kids and what we want in life.”

Senior Gavin Pierce said Beer is taking the team and practices in the right direction.

“He works us pretty good,” Pierce said. “He wants us to be quick, which is what we need since we don't have a lot of bigger guys.”

“We’re doing pretty good. We’re doing way better than we were at the beginning. We just got a lot of younger guys that need to step up.”

     

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