Tinker Hopes to Lead Warriors Back Into Playoffs

When Brent Tinker took over as head coach of the Fox Senior High football team earlier this summer, it was a smooth transition with a team he was all too familiar with. Tinker spent the previous three seasons as a defensive coordinator at Fox before then-head football coach Nick Gianino took over as the school’s athletic director.

With the start of the 2011 season just hours away, Tinker believes his Warriors are headed in the right direction.

“It’s a work in progress,” Tinker said. “The kids are taking into the program and taking pride in themselves. We have to be better in the fundamentals. We need to become better blockers, better tacklers and overall become more consistent on the field.”

Fox returns six players on offense and six on defense, which should prove to be a valuable asset for the Warriors, who posted a record of 1-9 overall last season and 1-7 in the Suburban West Conference.

Senior linebacker/tight end Brandon Penrod returns as one of the more experienced players on the Warrior defense after racking up 57 tackles as well as one sack and one interception during the 2010 season.

“Brandon has probably as much experience as anyone else on the team,” Tinker said. “He needs to be that big time contact kid for us if we want to be successful this season.”

Ryan Halloran will serve as one of the cornerstones of the offensive and defensive lines this season as the senior makes use of his hard work in the weight room during the off season.

“Ryan’s been a project kid over the last four years and has become very good fundamentally,” Tinker said. “He’s put in a lot of work in the weight room in the off season and we’re really proud of him.”

Senior Mitch Emily will join Halloran on the offensive line while also seeing time at linebacker this season. During the 2010 campaign, Emily recorded 44 tackles and led the team with four sacks.

“Mitch is a very good athlete,” Tinker said. “He’s also one of the most consistent kids on the team and is also one of the more well respected players on the team.”

Chris Repple rounds out the trio of senior linemen returning this season and he plans on see playing time on both offensive and defensive lines.

“Chris is really taking the appropriate steps in order to improve his game this season,” Tinker said. “Consistency is going to be the biggest thing for Chris in order for us to be successful this year.”

At linebacker and tight end this season is senior Jake Sansoni, who amassed 39 tackles on defense as well as one interception.

Jake played a lot for us last year,” Tinker said. “We really need for him to step up for us in order for us to be the team that we want to be this year.”

Senior Cameron Blanton will see playing time at defensive back as well as running back this season after recording 36 tackles; two interceptions and one fumble recovery last season.

“Cameron’s pretty darn explosive,” Tinker said. “He’s a player that we feel has a lot of ability on both sides of the ball.”

The Warriors open up the 2011 season at home this Friday evening against Suburban West Conference rival Parkway South at 7 p.m.