Hurons open Friday at Onaway

?We have a real challenging schedule this year,? said Huron football coach Bob Brietzke. His team kicks off the season Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Onaway against the Cardinals. The Hurons started 2-1 last season before losing the final six games. Brietzke, who is assisted by Mike Kosiara, is optimistic the team can be competitive this season.

?This will be the last year we start with Onaway, because I have been informed Hillman will be the first game next season,? he said. Brietzke announced plans to retire after the season, and is looking forward to one more go-round with the Cards. Onaway has 24 on the varsity, with new coach Tony Hoffmeyer, and 30 on the junior varsity.

There will be no junior varsity team in Rogers City for the second consecutive season, due to low numbers of players out for the squad.

Rogers City started last season with a 44-14 win over the Cardinals. Players to watch for the Cards will be third-year starting quarterback Taylor Beswick and 270-pound fullback Randy Hoffmeyer. Rogers City counters with a solid offensive line and experienced players coming back at key offensive positions.

THE VETERAN coach says he has learned to adapt to his personnel year-by-year, and has tried to keep the game fun for the players. ?I?ve always tried to use the talent that I have available to the maximum. Some years we run more than we throw and some years we throw more than we run. Some years we go shotgun, some years we go option ?I? formation, or the wing-T. We just keep doing what we feel we can do best,? he said.

?I learned to be more positive, to make football more fun. Some coaches are like drill sergeants, and that gets old, especially in this day and age where kids have a choice, either to play football, or golf or run cross country or do nothing. You try to make it fun for the kids on one hand, but you have to have discipline and conditioning. They understand where you are coming from, if you are humane to them and speak to them like young adults. I think they respect us for being that way with them.? Although retirement is still a ways off, Brietzke has given some thought to life without football.

?THE DAY will come, I suppose, at the banquet, when I?m shaking hands with the last player from the last team, where I get a little misty-eyed. But I don?t think it will come during the season,? he said. Brietzke played at RCHS from 1959-1962, went on to play at Central Michigan University, before returning as an assistant coac

h at his alma mater in 1968. Until then, it will be business as usual, he said, with the team going out and winning as many games as possible. Following the Onaway game, the team opens at home September 5 against Boyne City (7-3 in 2003), with Alcona, (2-7) and St. Ignace (9-2) following. Brietzke calls the St. Ignace game the key one in the schedule.

?THERE HAVE been six conference championships in the history of the league. We have won four of them and St. Ignace has won two. They are loaded this year. They have six all-conference kids back. They are a real powerful team,? he said. ?That game is huge for us.?

The Hurons will make long road trips to Pinconning (5-4 last year after five straight 3-6 seasons) and Benzie Central (11-2 in 2002, with four consecutive playoff seasons). To qualify for the MHSAA playoffs, a team must win six games.