OVFL PREVIEW: Raiders get Thunder injection

Photo courtesy Matt Robillard

Last season record through three weeks:
Varsity: N/A
Junior Varsity: 0-3

Last year finish:
Varsity: N/A
Junior Varsity: Missed playoffs

Players to watch:
DB J.J Ross
QB Aaron Stora-Nelson
WR Aaron Baker
LB Kyle Russo

Varsity

Markham Raiders varsity coach Anthony Tombler says putting together the new-look team hasn’t been painless but they’ll be just fine.

“There’s certainly bumps in the road but I’m very happy with a lot of things I’ve seen,” he said. “We certainly have some talent …We played an exhibition game against (Metro Toronto) last week and it was really our first chance to see some of these players play and there were quite a few guys that really opened our eyes.”

This is the first season back for the varsity Raiders since their split with The York Storm who subsequently formed the Newmarket Bucs. Tombler was with the Scarbourough Thunder coaching with the varsity team for the past five years.

At quarterback, Tombler says Aaron Stora-Nelson has impressed him running the ball.

“(Stora-Nelson) really impressed us with his feet. We knew his arm was there from practice but (our exhibition game) was the first chance we actually got to see him really run around the field … against a proper defence,” he said.

Tombler hopes one Aaron will connect with another in the form of receiver Aaron Baker, in his first OVFL season.

“(Baker) has got to be one of the best athletes in the OVFL,” Tombler said. “He has great feet under him, great hands and we’re expecting him to have a lot of big plays for us this year.”

Holding things together on D will be the Raider defensive backs who Tombler expects to be solid. He says there’s not a standout player but they work well together and their collective coverage is solid.

The team starts the season at home versus the Oshawa Hawkeyes and Tombler says they’ll most likely need to control the Hawkeye run game.

“The rumor is they have a good running back so our focus is really going to be to shut down the run game and make them pass the ball,” he said.

Junior Varsity

The first impression JV Raiders coach Erik Salo had when he saw this year’s team was that they were athletic but a little too thin.

“We’re not big on personnel,” he said.

Salo says the team isn’t at a point where players will have to play both ways (offense and defence) and that the starters they have seem skillful.

“We’re not at the point where we’d like to be, unfortunately but the guys that we do have in our starting roles are actually really capable athletes so I’m happy with that.”

Like his varsity counterpart, Salo is coming over from the Thunder and in his first season as head coach. Despite being new to the organization and its players, the coach already sees a lot of potential in the Markham backfield.

He says he expects Marcus Arkaracus and Graeme Ward to push the rock for the Raiders, two backs with different styles. According to the coach, Arkaracus is the more shifty of the two and can play more positions. He has experience as a quarterback, which will likely prove helpful in Salo’s deception-heavy offense.

Graeme, on the other hand, has “incredible” top speed and has more power behind him.

Competing for the starting quarterback job are Jordan Bullock and Matt Prucha. At the time of the interview Salo had made his decision but didn’t want to let it out without telling the two players first. What he would say is that they’re both capable of running the offense.

“They’re both very comparable and that is the decision that I’ve sort of had to toy with a little bit,” he said ”Last time we played… in a preseason game, one of them definitely stood out as the starter.”

On defence, Salo says newcomer cornerback J.J Ross has proved to be an instant leader and a fast learner.

“He’s was just an good all-around, team leader right off the bat. He didn’t wait around to feel out his role,” Salo said. “Good understanding of our defensive system and just really picked up the pace of play very quickly as well.”

Another notable player on D is returning linebacker Kyle Russo, another team leader with a knack for reading offenses.

As for game one against Oshawa, Salo didn’t want to get into the subtleties of his wrinkled offense but said he didn’t want the Hawkeye defence to get comfortable.

“Instead of allowing the defense to do what they want and trying to take apart their weak spots, I want to keep them on their heels and keep them guessing as to what we’re doing so that they have to give us a more honest look,” he said.

On defence, he says they plan to take away the Raiders comfortable plays and force them into plan B.