Sports
Unexpected Football Quarterfinal Run Has Hartman and Evergreen Park Thinking Bigger
In his first year as the Mustangs' head coach, Dan Hartman outdid his own expectations and pushed his team all the way to the Class 4A state football quarterfinals.
Evergreen Park coach Dan Hartman never expected to be playing in the Class 4A state quarterfinals when he first took the head coaching job last summer.
After a couple of tough seasons under the former coach, Hartman wanted to get the Mustangs back in the playoffs and back to respectability. He was thinking baby steps. But there was Evergreen Park, playing for a chance to be a part of the Class 4A “Final Four” on its home turf Saturday night.
The Mustangs gave Richmond-Burton their toughest playoff test yet, holding the Rockets to their lowest scoring total since Week 1 of the regular season in a 7-0 loss to the No. 1 seed.
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“We’re extremely proud of the kids,” Hartman said. “We never anticipated making it this far as my first year. It’s a group I’ll never forget; just a shame it had to end like this tonight.”
Evergreen Park stumbled out of the gate, going 2-2 in its first four games to open the season. But the Mustangs rallied to win six of their final eight games and were 4-2 in the South Suburban Red.
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Although seniors Victor Baker and Jared Jackson didn’t have their best game on Saturday, combining for only 1 rushing yard against Richmond-Burton, the two gifted running backs were Evergreen Park’s leaders from day one.
“The senior group was top-notch with Victor (Baker) and Jared Jackson and linemen James Annang , Blake Cermak,” Hartman said. “It was a great group and they really led us all year long.”
Hartman will go into his first full offseason with plenty of stuff to figure out. He’ll have to replace Baker and Jackson in the backfield along with defensive stalwarts like Wendell Lamar and Teddy Wayo. In total, 16 seniors will graduate off of Evergreen Park’s 2011 team.
With quarterback Brandon White returning for his senior season next year, Hartman will have some continuity in the backfield, a good start to achieving already-raised expectations.
“Brandon will be a guy we’ll spend a considerable amount of time with in the offseason,” Hartman said. “We’ve got some linemen coming back, so hopefully we’ll piece it together and be back here next year.”
