South Kitsap's depth pleases coaches along defensive line

Perhaps no position lost more experience and talent from last year’s South Kitsap football team than the defensive line.

Starters and key contributors Tyler Danison, Brad Feddersen, Matt Foxworthy and Matt Mehs are gone, now high-school graduates.

Mehs, who finished second on the team with 73 tackles, and Feddersen earned first-team, all-Narrows League Bridge Division honors in 2007.

Which leaves senior defensive tackle Brian Kuznek as the only returning starter.

Even so, defensive line coaches Adam Kanouse and Ron Ness are excited about the returning talent.

Corey Galligan will start at one outside position. The 5-foot-11-½-inch, 177-pound converted linebacker hardly is prototypical size for a defensive end. But the senior also is one of the best athletes on the team. Last spring, he ran the second leg for the Wolves’ 1,600-meter relay team that advanced to the state track-and-field meet.

“We’ve got Corey Galligan, who actually is our fastest athlete on the field, at defensive end,” said Kanouse, who coaches the defensive ends. “That will cause a lot of trouble with him coming off the backside. We give him more freedom than most.”

Galligan said the Wolves have good team speed at the position with him and fellow senior end Brandon Lester (6-1, 201).

But he said he still is trying to get comfortable in his new spot.

“I’m just trying to work on technique right now,” said Galligan, adding that his stance out of the blocks in track have helped him with the adjustment. “There’s a lot of room for improvement.”

With the exception of Galligan, both coaches said all of the starters have received plenty of playing time on the line. Ness estimated that senior Andrew Yaptinchay (5-11 ½, 231) received half of playing time at tackle last year.

He likely will be one of the top reserves behind starters Brian Kuznek (6-6, 286), a senior, and Nick Boss (5-10 ½, 234), a junior.

“We want to have fresh legs all the time,” Kanouse said. “It’s a game of speed on defense.”

Boss and Kuznek, who said he is receiving some attention from Washington State University, also are starters on the offensive line.

But both figure to be frequently rotated out by Ness.

Kanouse features similar depth at end, and noted that senior Brad Fairweather, who also starts at tight end, will see the field a lot.

Contact Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer Chris Chancellor at cchancellor@portorchardindependent.com or (360) 876-4414.

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