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GIBBON -- Anytime a football team sees a change in coaching, players and schemes, it's natural for that team to have some growing pains.
The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Firebirds have faced their share of challenges already this season in Travis Vorwerk's first year at the helm as head coach, but he's still seen good things from a young group of players.
"We're still running the ball very well, so that's been good," Vorwerk said. "That's one thing that we've been able to continue. We're just not getting the big runs, I would say, more than anything like we've had in the past. We've had some good drives, we're getting yard in our game.
"I think if anything, we're just kind of continuing working on our passing game, so that's kind of been the thing there. But we feel good. We've already played some pretty good competition, too, so we understand that level we're at, too."
Vorwerk, a 20024 GFW grad, has turned to 5-foot-7 sophomore Kellen Nachreiner to command the offense as quarterback this year. While GFW is still a run-heavy team, Vorwerk is trying to get the team more comfortable throwing the ball also and is happy to see Nachreiner step into a QB role when they didn't have one.
"Our quarterback's got some rushing yards, he's a young sophomore kid and he's never played quarterback ever, so that's been a learning experience, too," Vorwerk said. "He's getting better, he's tough, he's a good kid. … He's doing good because we needed him. We didn't have [a QB], so we're happy with what he's doing and he's growing, so we're excited."
The Firebirds are preparing to host the Martin County West Mavericks at 7 p.m. Friday night for their Homecoming game. The Mavericks are 3-1 on the year, coming off a 40-0 win over Lester Prairie last Friday.
MCW opened its season with a 60-0 rout of Windom Area before falling to Mayer Lutheran 41-14 in Week 2 and responding with a 60-16 win at Madelia in Week 3.
"They've got a really good running back [Pierce Rohman, senior]," Vorwerk said. "They brought a lot of players back from last year. I feel like if we can go in there and we kind of do our assignments, we can run the ball. I feel good going into it. I think it's going to be a good game. It's going to be a slug fest. They're physical, I feel like we're physical, too."
The Firebirds do still run the same Power T formation on offense that previous head coach Pat Hentges irritated defenses with, but Vorwerk runs it less often and focuses more on running out of the shotgun.
"We run of of shotgun and we use two running backs instead of three just because of depth," he said. "It was hard for us to find three guys consistently that could do that. We still run the T, we just have had some issues with if a guy gets hurt, we're in a lot of trouble because of that depth. We've got a lot of young running backs that we like, they're just young and varsity is a different level."
The Firebirds have been held to 22 total points through four games and an 0-4 start, something that whittles down to being unable to break off enough big plays on offense.
"We're seeing a lot of guys in the box, so it's just we're not getting past that second level sometimes to get that bigger play," Vorwerk said. "I feel like we've been blocking the plays well, we're just not getting that run. We've had a lot of good drives of 80 yards, but then we're not finishing and it just gets to be hard to drive them all consistently 80 yards."
The Firebirds are coming off of a 34-8 loss to Cleveland, but the final score doesn't have Vorwerk questioning his defense's effort and ability to improve in the second half.
"We must some adjustments defensively," Vorwerk said. "We really liked what we did against Cleveland. We got better, we made some adjustments and the second half we felt like we really did a good job. When you make some of those adjustments, you're gonna have a little hiccups. Matthew Lee has been a pretty steady player there for us and then Cayson Gosewich looks great."
Lee and Gosewich, both seniors, not only are leading the defense, they're also leading the run game. Lee is rushing for close to 100 yards per game, while Gosewich is averaging 65 yards per game.
Overall, however, Vorwerk said the Firebirds need to be more consistent going forward.
"When you have a lot of new players, and we don't ever want to use that as an excuse or anything, but we're playing a lot of guys that have not played [varsity]," Vorwerk said. "We also were abe to get a lot of kids out that haven't played and that was good because we needed numbers. We were low on numbers, so it's just getting them better every game.
"It's a long season, so we are good with spirits. Our kids work hard every day, we're good with all of that, so we just have to stay more consistent and I think kind of believe in ourselves."