Each week, pngfootball.com will interview an assistant coach off the PN-G staff. The assistant coach works very hard week in and week out to prepare the Indians to play on Friday nights. Their hard work and intense preparation are important to PN-G's success. Many times they are the ones who develop close relationships with their football pupils, and their coaching duties put them on the front lines in game preparation.

September 6, 1999

This week's featured assistant coach:

     Ken Cummings, Defensive Coordinator

Coach Cummings' Background

Kelly Game

     I was really proud of our kids the other night. It was a game where we struggled on offense. We're going to be a good offensive team. In the future we'll be in games where the offense will carry us.

     All the guys really participated. LB Trayce Boudoin, a returning starter, we really expected to be a leader. Cody Clark was on offense last year, and Shawn Lang is another returning starter. Lang made some really big plays. Twice on fourth and short Shawn stopped them.

     You know, the first series of the year and we go out and we're defending our own 14 yard line. We had a lot of returning starters, but a lot of new guys too. We went out there and could have gotten down. We held them to a field goal. I thought that first series was the turning point of the game. The first half we were defending all on our short side of the field. Their worst starting position was their own 40 yard line. After you make a first down, you're in 4 down territory.

     Our two cornerbacks, neither of whom had played a down of varsity, Jeremy Neeb and Ricky Eckart, both got  interceptions. That was a big turning point too. Chris Gohlke had a good game too at free safety. He's another returning starter. He showed his experience. Kelly runs a lot of misdirection. It's real difficult to figure out where the ball is. Chris is real a real aggressive player, and showed a lot of maturity. He stayed back there; showed his experience. Couple of times their big play guys popped out of there and he made the stop.

    The whole defensive unit played well, but it was the returning starters who picked it up and were the leaders.

Beaumont Ozen

     The number one thing on Ozen is they are real physical. Their backs are big and strong and fast. Their fullback is 230, and their tailback is 205. They have good speed for big kids. We're gonna really have to rally to the ball. If we get in a situation of the secondary making tackles, we'll be in trouble. We need to get them at the line of scrimmage. We're gonna really focus on controlling the line of scrimmage and get them before they get going.