Young Desert Shields picked No. 1

Bob Cloud

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

* One in a series previewing the area's prep football teams. Thursday: Mojave and Palo Verde.

George Perry may not be anxious to say it, but his Cheyenne football team looks to have the tools in place to make another run at a state AAAA championship.

The Desert Shields cruised through an unblemished regular season a year ago, only to come up short in a 14-0 loss to Wooster in the state final. Though he returns just seven starters from that 11-1 (7-0 Sunset Division) team, Perry's charges were unanimously selected No. 1 in the Sunset in the SUN coaches poll.

"We certainly hope we're successful," he said. "We're a very young team this year. We're excited about Friday night (at Rancho) because we'll get to see where we are. We've had good scrimmages against ourselves, but that doesn't tell us much. We just want to continually get ready for our league opener.

"The only expectations we have are the ones we place on ourselves. What is written or thought about us really doesn't matter. We can only do what we can do. If our kids compete like we think they can, we could be very good. If not, then it could turn out to be a rebuilding year."

Offensively, Cheyenne figures to have depth at the skill positions. Senior Rusty LeBlanc (5-9, 185) and junior David Childress (5-10, 235) will share time at fullback, with Travis Debourg (5-9, 159, Sr.) and Jeremy Rogers (5-8, 169, Jr.) working at tailback.

Senior quarterback Jason Schmidt (6-7, 200) has spent the summer working on his throwing technique, which Perry said will allow the Desert Shields to go to the air with more frequency this fall.

"He's smart and he knows our offense backwards and forwards," said Perry. "We worked with him on his throwing mechanics over the summer and he's improved. We've never thrown the ball a whole lot, but we think we might be able to open things up a bit this year.

"We have a little bit of depth at the skill positions. We're at least two deep, with little falloff between the first two players. After that, it does drop a bit, but we should be fine."

Juniors Robbie Ryan (6-3, 276) and Gordon Lau (5-11, 200) look to land roles on an offensive line which will be young, but features good size.

"The offensive line will be our weak point at the beginning because the kids are young and haven't played much together," Perry said. "It's a case of them needing to work together and jell. I think they'll get better with playing time."

Defense will be an unknown for Cheyenne as the season opens, as returning starters are few and far between. However, the Desert Shields have talent on hand, and Perry believes over time his troops will prove to be a solid unit.

"We really don't know much about our defense," Perry said. "It's a brand new defense -- we only have two starters back. Friday will be a big test, because then we'll know just where we stand."