Cleveland Hill’s Daryl Spencer works on his punting execution during practice at the high school Tuesday morning. Spencer, who was the top rusher on last year’s junior varsity team, looks to figure prominently into the Eagles’ offensive attack this season. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com Cleveland Hill football coach Glen Graham admits that there isn’t a lot of veteran experience on the varsity squad this year, but that doesn’t stop him or his players from having high expectations for the 2010 season.

In fact, based on what he’s seen in practice, Graham feels like the Eagles may just be able to overcome that lack of experience with their sheer speed and ability to use said speed in a variety of offensive schemes.

So what’s the moral of the story, you say?

It looks like it will be another year where you can count on the Eagles, at the very least, to be in the running for a trip to Ralph Wilson Stadium.

“This may be as fast of a team as we had in 2008, and that was a fast team,” Graham said. “We ’ve got some versatility at quarterback this year — we’ll use all three in different ways at different times — so people are going to see us utilizing the shotgun spread a little, as well as a little bit of a Wildcat package too. We’ve been working real hard to increase that experience level as quickly as we can, though, because we don’t have a lot of starting experience on the team, even though we’ve collectively played a lot of football.”

There are just seven seniors on Cleveland Hill’s 29-player deep roster this season, led by Jailyn Thompkins, Stanley Smith and Dwayne Gillison. Gillison, a 6-foot-1, 250-pound fullback/linebacker, did not play much due to injury for last season’s squad that reached the sectional semifinals, but both Thompkins (wide receiver/ free safety) and Smith (6-0, 220-pound offensive lineman/defensive end) did – Smith wound up starting at tight end the second half of 2009.

Fellow senior Zach Schiesley also returns and is “probably our best drop back passer,” according to Graham, while jun Daryl Spencer (6-3, 195 pounds) and Cory Davis will also vie for time behind center. Spencer, the JV team’s top rusher last year, will also play running back when not quarterbacking, while Davis should also see some time at running back and defensive back.

Senior Alex Turski (outside linebacker), meanwhile, was the team’s fastest player during the preseason, clocking in at 4.45 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

“Our athleticism is a big part of what we bring to the table,” Griffin said. “We have some size and everyone has a solid work ethic. These kids are used to being successful; they understand what it takes to win on the football field. If we can keep improving every week in practice, it’ll be huge for us.”

Cleveland Hill got a chance to see that athleticism in action this past Saturday when the Eagles scrimmaged both O’Hara and Burgard. Cleveland Hill, like every other team, obviously wasn’t flawless on the day, but Graham certainly saw enough to leave the scrimmaged pleased with the direction his team is headed.

“We were physical, we hustled and we moved the ball against both of those teams,” Graham said. “It was important for the kids to compete against teams of that caliber, even though we did make some of the mistakes you would expect us to make.”

The Eagles will find out how far they’ve come over the past week in working on those mistakes when they travel to crosstown rival Maryvale at 7 p.m. Friday. The Eagles won last year’s battle in the series, so Graham knows his players will certainly have bulls-eyes on them when they take the field.

“The big thing we’ve got to do is continue to find out where everyone fits in offensively, and with our lack of varsity game experience, we’ve got to make sure everyone can play correctly,” Graham said. “I think we’ll find Maryvale playing with intensity, so we’ve got to match up with it or it will be a long night for us. We’ve got great kids this year, though, and I can’t wait to see how good of a team we can become.”

Part of that transformation into a good team could take place in Week Four, when the Eagles face city school Grover Cleveland at Riverside High School. Graham for one is looking forward to city schools being in the Section VI mix.

“I’m excited and I know our kids are too, because getting a school like Grover is going to make our division much more competitive,” Graham said. “Being a district on the city border, a lot of our kids have friends and family who play in the city league. I think it’s going to make the football even more competitive and it’s going to help everyone all around.”

e-mail: jnadolinski@beenews.com