High school offseason: Q&A with Garden Plain's Todd Puetz

Published June 22 at 1:30 p.m. | Last updated June 22 at 1:44 p.m.

A weekly question-and-answer session during the summer with an area high school coach. Today: Garden Plain football coach Todd Puetz

Puetz is already off to a good start and the season hasn’t even kicked off. It has to do with an updated weight-room facility that his team has been taking advantage of five days a week. Then there’s the excitement flowing through his team that he thinks is eerily similar to the 2007 3A championship team.

After ending the playoffs early with a loss against Collegiate, how are the players approaching this season?

“We’re building off of that. Our kids are excited about this season. We have a quarterback back there this year that I think can throw the ball well. I think we’re going to be throwing the ball more this year. We’re working on that and getting stronger overall. We open up the weight room in the morning and at night. We’ve got it open five days a week, so it works pretty well for us.”

Are you going to change the way you move the football?

“We’re still going to run it, but we’ve definitely got a quarterback that can throw. We’re going to throw more this year than we ever have for sure. I told the kids as long as we move the chains and are scoring, I don’t care. I will throw it every down if we have to. He’s that good of a quarterback (Aaron Tomlinson) that if we do throw every down, then I won’t be surprised. We’ve got another kid who could compete for it, Nathan Becker. Those two can both throw well.”

Do players get excited about that style of play (passing)?

“They get excited about winning. If throwing the ball is going to lead to us to winning, they’ll like it. If running the ball is going to lead to us winning, they’ll like it. Our quarterback knows that. He can run the ball too. I told him that if we’re going to throw the ball, we’re not going to be able to go three and out.æ.æ.æ. It makes a big difference if you go three-and-out throwing the ball compared to running the ball. You’re going to put their offense on the field a lot quicker than if we go three-and-out running.”

Are these guys coming up from junior varsity?

“Aaron came in and played a few games. In the Conway Springs game, we were down 19-0 and our starting quarterback, Thomas Bugner, cut his hand really bad. Aaron came in the game and threw one touchdown and then threw another one. He almost brought us back. We’re looking to build off of that and see how we do.”

What about on the defensive side of the ball?

“I think we’re going to be fairly strong on defense. We have a lot of guys back — a lot of key players that will help us out in the end. I’m excited about that, too.”

What’s the atmosphere like around the weight room? Are players ready to get back to playing?

“This year it seems like they’re as excited as the year that we won state. So I’m pumped about this season. I think they’re ready to go and they’re excited about it. We’ve got a really tough road. We’ve got Cheney (Week 1). Then we’ve got Conway Springs. Then we’ve got Hutchinson Trinity the first game of the district, and Hutch Trinity beat Conway last year. We have a tough schedule this year, and I think the guys are looking forward to playing it.”

— Chris Elliott