By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Ryan Otis, about to start his second season as Bedford North Lawrence’s head coach, is going to test the middle-out theory. The foundation for success during the 2023 season will be a strong, experienced middle.
With new faces peppered across the field, with only three seniors on the roster, BNL intends to stack the interior. If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the Stars will look to make opponents go the long way around just to get one.
After graduation claimed a huge chunk (10 departed seniors) from last season, BNL will start this campaign with questions to answer.
“We had a big senior class, and a lot of impact players,” Otis said. “It will be a bit of a transition this year, with a whole new back line, new guys on the wings. With so much turnover, we have to find out who will play in certain spots, where is everyone’s best position.”
And then he answered the first question: “The middle of the field will be our strength.”
Second question: leadership. That is usually expected from seniors, which means the responsibility falls to captain Grant Beyers, plus classmates Isaiah Conner and Jayden Duke. They will also be posted in midfield.
“To be honest, we have good morale,” Beyers said. “Everyone is ready to put the work in and work together. Team chemistry has been a big factor. we want to get after it and do well. I think we’re ready to show what we’ve got.”
Third question: scoring. The main weapon will be junior Adriano Sullivan, who paced BNL with 9 goals during last year’s 6-8-2 campaign. Beyers (4 goals) and Conner (2) are also offensive threats.
Final question: defense. Veterans Hiram Mullis and Brayden Patterson will be in key spots, while junior Daniel Loudin-Magnuson will be in net as the last line in goal. That means there are still several starting positions to fill. And they will be earned. “We’re going to scrimmage a lot, try to find out where people fit,” Otis said.
BNL’s goals include a surge up the Hoosier Hills Conference hierarchy (the Stars went 2-3-1 in the league last year) and contending for a sectional title. “Win more games than we lose,” Conner simplified. The Stars fell to Seymour in the sectional semifinal last season.
“We want to build consistency, compete with the teams in our range and conference,” Otis said. “The next step in competing in the conference and sectional.”
“Winning is a big confidence booster, but we all realize winning is not everything,” Beyers said. “We can figure out what we need to improve and work from there.”
BNL will begin the regular season at Scottsburg on Aug. 15.
