Senior leaders empower Hanford football team

Rob Oram is excited about his Hanford High School football team this year, maybe more so than ever.

It could be because he has put together a stellar list of assistant coaches for this season. Or it could be the seniors, who have taken it upon themselves to not have a repeat of last season’s 2-8 performance.

In reality, it’s some of both.

Camp, Oram says, has been awesome.

“I like the pace (of camp),” Oram said Tuesday. “I like the intensity. I like the commitment. And today, I liked the competition.”

He said this on a day when his players engaged in some crisp hitting.

“I like our kids a lot,” Oram said. “I like our depth at the skill positions. There are probably 10 guys who could play at wide receiver for us.”

But above all, the thought of those seniors brings the biggest smile to Oram’s face.

“Senior leadership is the big difference,” Oram said. “It might be as good as it’s ever been here. I couldn’t whittle the captain choice down, so we’ll have six captains. Three go out every other game.”

One of those captains is offensive lineman Zach Willis.

“I think our senior leadership is going to be big,” Willis said. “I like playing with these guys. I know I can trust them, and they are my brothers.”

Oram said the seniors took in When the Game Stands Tall, the new movie about the De La Salle High School football team from Concord, Calif., that won 151 consecutive games.

“And they took some of the juniors with them,” Oram said.

So the chemistry seems to be there with this team. But it doesn’t mean everything is perfect.

“We need to improve our consistency on the back end of our defense, and the defensive line needs to improve its physicality,” Oram said. “When we’re physical, it sets the tone.”

To help on that end of things, Oram has brought in some new assistants.

Charlie Hobbick stepped down as Kiona-Benton’s head coach after last season, and he brought his top assistant, Ben Hanson, with him.

Hobbick will be the Falcons’ offensive coordinator, a position he held 10 years ago for Oram when the latter became Hanford’s head coach.

Tom DeWitz will step in as defensive coordinator.

Bob Weissenfels, a former Hanford standout athlete, will coach the defensive backs and running backs.

Weissenfels was a former captain of the Naval Academy football team and a former U.S. Olympian in the bobsled. He also retired after a 24-year career in the Navy.

Oram also has hired Ben Archibald to coach the offensive line. Archibald recently retired from professional football. He played some in the NFL but had great success in the CFL. In 2010, he was named the CFL’s most outstanding offensive lineman.

With that lineup, Oram is happy to run the special teams units.

“I’ll just let everybody else do their jobs,” he said.

That includes the players.

“We want to win games,” Willis said. “We’ve just got to do our jobs. If we do that, (winning will) come.”

That would make Oram happy, too, although he says he’s pretty ecstatic right now.

“I am happy because of our preseason preparation, our dedication to the concept of the team, and our seniors,” he said.

This story was originally published August 27, 2014 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Senior leaders empower Hanford football team."