Prairie Ridge looks to speedy Tyler Vasey to be playmaker for the option

CRYSTAL LAKE – Opposing defenses got a taste of Prairie Ridge sophomore Tyler Vasey in the first two games of the spring season and found him not at all appetizing.

At running back, Vasey ran for 261 yards and averaged 18.6 an attempt before suffering a broken collarbone in the third game.

They will see a lot more of Vasey this fall as he takes over at quarterback, where the Wolves hope he can use his speed to spark their triple-option attack.

“He’s dynamic. He’s fast. He can make big plays. He can make something out of nothing,” Wolves coach Chris Schremp said.

Vasey recovered from the injury midway through the baseball season and started at second base for Prairie Ridge’s Class 3A state runner-up team.

Now, he will return to the position he shared with fullback Nathan Greetham their freshman season, when the split time as the junior varsity quarterback.

“I feel like our offense is moving fast,” Vasey said. “[In the spring season] we only got two weeks of preparation, which hurt our offense. We didn’t get to do our steps as fast as we could. It eliminated a lot of stuff. Now, we’ve had four weeks of summer camp, and we’ll have three weeks before our first game. We have a lot of time.”

Prairie Ridge, beset by injuries, particularly on defense, went 3-3 in the spring season. Schremp was grateful that Prairie Ridge was one of three Fox Valley Conference teams (along with Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South) to play six games with the COVID-19-riddled season.

Still, there was a very different vibe.

“Most of the kids were like it was a surprise at the end of the week when we were able to play a game,” Schremp said. “It feels close to a football season now, even at practices. There’s more of a sense of urgency and it’s like, ‘All right, we’re playing.’ There was always that cloud over your head in the spring. It was such a weird feeling.”

Prairie Ridge enters this fall without some of the big-name players it had in the past. It will be the first time since 2009 one of the Evans brothers is not on the roster. Shane, Samson and Carter all went on to play NCAA Division I football, and the Wolves won three Class 6A state championships over that span (2011, 2016 and 2017).

But the tradition should count for something.

“It’s everything,” said linebacker Matt Fryer, a third-year starter. “Last year, it was really hard to keep up with it. That bothered me personally. It’s been like that the last however many years, and we’re going to get right back to it.

“We had a really good summer camp. There’s a lot of new guys filling in and stepping up to the plate. We start building them as freshmen. You don’t just start learning your position when you start [on varsity].”

Fryer, offensive-defensive lineman Jack Schnoor and defensive back Mason Loucks all started on the 2019 Class 6A state runner-up team. Schnoor will play at D-II Minnesota State next season.

“So far, everything is on track,” Schnoor said. “The returning guys are carrying what they need to be doing, and the new kids are showing up and being competitive. We’re playing to win everything we can. We want to beat Cary. We want to beat Huntley. We want to win as much as we can and go for a state run.”

Sam Schultz and Matt Nygren return on the offensive line with Schnoor. Zach Bentsen got some carries at running back in the spring and returns. Greetham, a junior, will play fullback and sophomore Drake Tomasiewicz will man the other running back spot.

Schremp feels like the Wolves have the right type of players to fit what they want to do.

“We need smart, athletic guys,” he said. “We don’t need big guys, crazy Division I players. It’s nice to have them, but you don’t need them to execute things. We may not have big-name Division I guys, but we have a lot of coaches’ favorite guys who will just ask what their job is and do the dirty work for you.”