Vandals to travel to Gillespie for opener

VANDALIA – With high temperatures projected in the 90s for Friday, the Vandals have already begun preparations for keeping themselves healthy during the season-opener.

After Tuesday morning’s practice, players were each given a bottle of water, and coach John Stout said that he and his coaching staff are watching players throughout the day at school to make sure they are staying hydrated before traveling to Gillespie.

“We started talking with them about hydration on Tuesday,” Stout said. “They will get in trouble if we see them in the hall without the water bottle.”

And, of course, there has also been some game planning.

Last season, Vandalia won the season-opener, 42-14, but the Vandals also lost five more seniors than the Miners.

Among Gillespie’s returners are several skill players and quarterback Michael Henderson, who gashed the Vandalia defense with six passes of at least 10 yards, including a long throw of 45 yards.

He will be looking to lead Gillespie to the playoffs this season, as the Miners were selected to finish third in the South Central Conference preseason coaches’ poll.

“You’ll see more variation on defense, because after last year, we thought maybe we were too conservative on defense,” Stout said. “Our edge people are pretty good this year, even though nobody has ever heard of them.

“We can get some heat on (Henderson) with those guys.”

For Vandalia – which was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll – Stout has decided to use junior Collin Nestleroad as his quarterback. Sophomore Tucker Willms had been the other candidate.

Nestleroad has the edge in experience coming into this season, having played in most games last season, including the playoff loss to Carterville.

“We’re going to go with Collin at quarterback,” Stout said. “Both guys bring a lot of stuff to the table, so you’ll probably see Tucker some, too.

“Collin has a little more experience in varsity athletics, and that makes sense in the first game with an inexperienced team,” he said. “He’s been running the option well, and I’m an option kind of guy.”

Otherwise, expect to see a lot of different players in action.

Stout said there will only be 3-4 athletes playing on both offense and defense, because there are many players with similar abilities fighting for the same spots on offense and defense.

“We’re pretty clear on who is going to be doing what,” Stout said. “I feel confident that our kids will be OK on Friday, because we aren’t playing that many kids both ways.”

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. in Gillespie.