Campbell’s Mickey Sikora
After a season-opening close loss to arch-rival Struthers in Week 1 and a blowout loss to undefeated Brookfield in Week 3, Campbell has righted the ship in time for the All-American Conference National Division race with two victories to open the league campaign.
Coach Mickey Sikora is in his third season at the helm of the Red Devils. Campbell is coming off a 7-3 season in which it tied with Girard for the AAC Blue Division title. In 2010 Campbell had a 9-1 regular season, won the Blue Division outright and reached the regional semifinal level in the playoffs.
The realignment of the AAC provides a new challenge for the Red Devils.
Q. After a 1-2 start you have won the last two games. Is there something you can point to as being the difference?
A. I think game experience has been big. The more you play the better you get. We are starting to form the personality of our team, both on offense and defense. Offensively we are running the ball more efficiently, we are making fewer mistakes than we did earlier and I attribute that to playing in more games.
Q. Talk about your team’s reaction to the 58-20 loss to Brookfield in Week 3. After a loss like that some teams hang their heads and others bounce back.
A. The game was close with two minutes left in the first half. They hit a big play on us and on the ensuing kickoff we fumbled and they returned it for a TD. From there it went downhill. Our kids are pretty confident we have a good team and that night just wasn’t our night. We had a good week of practice and faced our first league game against Jefferson. One of our big goals is to win the conference championship and we practiced pretty hard that week and got the victory. We followed up with a win over a LaBrae team that has played a lot of teams tough. We’re on a little roll right now.
Q. Assess the AAC National Division. It appears to be very balanced.
A. The division seems wide open, on any given night any team could beat another. It is very balanced and some good rivalries are forming, so you’ve got to be ready to play each Friday.
Q. Talk about your opponent this week, Liberty, which is off to a 4-1 record.
A. It’s obvious coach (Brian) Jones is doing a heck of a job over there. They have a lot of speed, they will be the fastest team we will face. The key to success is to avoid giving up the big play on defense and we have to limit our mistakes on offense.
Q. What are your team’s strengths?
A. Our strengths on offense are our quarterback, Brandon Reyes, an all-conference quarterback from last year, and our offensive line, which is starting to jell under the leadership of Shaquon McWilson, who was all-state last year.
There is no question having a returning starter at QB gives a calming influence to the offense as a group. Reyes has done a good job being a leader along with throwing and running. He’s been making plays with his legs.
We have a couple of veteran offensive linemen and some younger guys and they are starting to jell together with that game experience. That is coupled with the emergence of Adrien Brown, a first-year starter at running back who can only get better.
On defense, linebackers Charles Smith and Brown have done a good job. Our defense has been solid in our wins, but it is a team effort. In some games we need our offense to keep the defense off the field. It’s been a concerted effort in all of our victories by all three phases. Our defense has improved on a weekly basis and our secondary play has been great.
Q. In what areas are you looking for improvement?
A. We have to limit our mistakes and our turnovers and we have to do a better job staying away from negative plays on offense.
Q. What are your team’s goals?
A. Our first goal is to improve each day. Our second goal is to win a conference championship. Our third goal is to hopefully make a run at the playoffs. We list our goals in that order. We can’t achieve the last unless we accomplish the first two.
Interview by Vindicator sports reporter Doug Chapin.