SportsNut Jay Courtland checked in for his second trip out to local practices and scrimmage days — this time with the Whitehall Vikings. Right away, a couple of names kept popping up: Hunter Osborne and Corde Anderson. The pair looked like the best overall athletes on the field, the type of guys you notice every snap. If Whitehall’s going to reload instead of rebuild, those are the dudes who’ll lead the charge.
Head coach Tony Sigmon summed up the challenge of this time of year:
“For these kids, the grind is real. They’re in the building by 7:30 in the morning, and some don’t head home until 6:30 at night. Class, football, repeat. It’s a schedule that demands as much mentally as it does physically.”
One of the players balancing that grind is new quarterback Cole Essebaggers. He’s a smart kid with a high football IQ, but he’s not cut from the same cloth as some of the now-classic Whitehall QBs. Kyle Stratton and Camden Thompson come to mind — guys who were ultra-athletic and could stretch plays with game-saving moments. Essebaggers will be asked to do it differently: stay steady, make good decisions, and let the Vikings’ run game carry the load. A run game that they will need tonight against Hudsonville Unity Christian (stay tuned for updates on our socials).
That’s the backdrop to this season. Whitehall is coming off a dominant four-year stretch, winning 37 games against just nine losses and cementing itself as one of the premier programs in the area. Last year’s senior-heavy squad featured some of the best talent the school has ever seen. This year’s group is still searching for its identity, and it’ll take Osborne, Anderson, Essebaggers, and others stepping into bigger roles to find it.
If you ask Sigmon, though, the formula hasn’t changed.
“The expectations for this group are the same as any of our teams before them,” he said. “Our goal is to compete for a conference championship, play a tough schedule, and be physically and mentally prepared to make the playoffs and hopefully play as deep into November as possible.”
It’s a tall task for a team breaking in new starters and trying to match the success of last year’s senior-loaded roster. But around Whitehall, the message is simple: the standard is the standard.
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