This week’s Q&A Ursuline’s Larry Kempe

Ursuline High qualified for the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in Division V, Region 15 after an up-and-down season which resulted in a 4-5 record. The Irish will face perennial playoff team Akron Manchester on the road on Saturday night.

Q. You were hit by a lot of injuries this season. Were you happy with the way the replacement players stepped up into more prominent roles?

A. I just looked it up this week, we filled out 25 accident reports, which is a lot. It forced a lot of younger guys to get better, which I think they did. The misconception is some of the teams we played when we were hurt, they kind of got away from us in the second half. It was not a lack of effort or lack of skill, there were young kids playing against very good teams.

Q. Has that increased playing time — caused by injuries — improved your depth? Do you substitute more in games now and how does that help in a potential playoff run?

A. I think right now we will letter between 25 and 30 underclassmen, freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Right now our rotations, more and more kids are getting looks that didn’t get looks in the summer. My approach is we’re going to play a lot of kids on Saturday evening and we have to win Saturday evening to worry about down the road.

Q. How was the team leadership as you went through the difficult stretches of the season?

A. I think what we’ve had happen is everybody looks toward senior leadership to carry you through. Where we are right now, we only have 10 seniors, what we’re looking at, we had five of those 10 get hurt. We said you are underclassmen but you have to step up and be a leader. Right now we are developing great leadership in our sophomore class and junior class to go with the senior class.

Q. Do the kids have the attitude that Ursuline is supposed to be in the playoffs and how does that help during the season?

A. I’ve been at Ursuline for 10 years and we’ve been in the playoffs in seven of those 10. Because we’re not in a conference, the only thing we have to play for is to get into the postseason and take a shot at a run. That is our mentality now, let’s get in and see what we can do.

Q. What about your playoff opponent Akron Manchester, what kind of team are they?

A. Manchester comes in 8-2 and we’re playing at Manchester. They have a great tradition, on the side of their fieldhouse they’ve got a number of league championships, a number of state playoff games , they are a good football team. On offense they’ve really developed into a spread team but when they need to, they go to a straight T-formation and they are going to power you. On defense they are going to put about eight in the box and force you to throw the ball. They have great speed and they are big and physical.

Interview by Vindicator sports writer Doug Chapin. Email him at dchapin@vindy.com.