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Show WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25201 Dixie State College soccer takes on the UNLV Rebels at 5 p.m. Saturday at home Brumfield football era begins with focus on completion BY ROBERT LOVELL StaffWnter As the Red Storm football team prepares for its first game on Aug. 28 against Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo., coaches and players agree that finishing is the key to winning this season. After going 4 in its first eight games last season, the Red Storm finished with three straight losses to end at 7 for the second straight year. As a result, first-yehead coach Scott Brumfield expects the team to focus on commitment this season. I really emphasized the word finish this year, Brumfield said. Finish everything were doing, finish your practices, finish your school, finish everything." Senior linebacker Keaun-te- a Bankhead, a communication major from Seattle, echoed Brumfields emphasis on the word finish. Last year we had three or four close games, and we just couldnt finish them, Bankhead said. If we get those close games, thats eight wins right there. Bankhead will be one of the leaders on defense this season under the tutelage of new defensive coordinator Cole Wilson, and despite the fact that they lost all but one starter in their secondary from last season, Bankhead O )' W; ! A - 4-- i V 4-- ar Red Storm linemen practice their stance in a recent drill for preparation of the 2010 season. DSC opens its season on Saturday in Alamosa, Colo., against the Adams State College Grizzlies . has high expectations for the defense and believes their play will produce opportunities. "We feel like if we can get the ball and creto guys ate turnovers it would get our offense the ball to put points on the board, Bankhead said. He also expects some shutouts and the defense to keep their opponents scoring average below 2 1 points and possibly below 14 points per game. Brumfield is looking to Bankhead, sen 1 1 ior linebacker Nick Cragin, and senior defensive lineman Nick Rocco to anchor the defense and step up as the leaders on that side of the ball. He hopes they will help deliver on the goal of limiting opposing offenses. Brumfield has expectations of offensive players as well. Senior Braeden Dillon is a center; returning senior tight end Alex Nelsen, junior running back Jesse Ence, senior wide receiver Kyser Christensen, and senior running back ue Adam Wells will all be looked upon to lead the Red Storms offense. Returning at the wide receiver position is Christensen, a senior integrated studies major from Boise, Idaho, who, despite having missed the second half of the season with an injury last year, still racked up 450 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Under new offensive coordinator Philip Rauscher, Christensen expects to run the ball a lot this year and knows how important it is to score in order to keep the pressure off the defense. Weve got to put a lot of points on the board, Christensen said. We expect to have good pass protection from our offensive line." Southern Utah native and Pineviey High School graduate Nick Marinko, a sophomore, will be seeing time at quarterback this year. Though he is young with limited playing experience, Christensen said he has seen good things from him this The Dh mens soc lay Dixie State College athletics begins its fifth year of competition in the NCAA Division II ranks and third season in the PacWest Conference this fall. And last seasons results indicate an upward trend toward success for the Red Storm athletic program. Nine of the 10 DSC sports teams compete in the PacWest Conference, and in 2009 they produced some of the best winning-percentagof the nine-teaconference. Leaving the junior college competition behind has not worked out for all teams at DSC, but most Red Storm teams are performing well. Red Storm teams won two conference titles. The mens basketball team shared the wintitle with BYU-Hawai- i, 87 its conferof ning percent ence games (14-2- ). The m womens soccer team (13-1- ) produced a whopping 93 percent winning percentage on its way to claiming the title outright. Red Storm golf, volleyball, women's basketball, baseball, and softball teams completed finishes in 09 as well. Another notable achievement was by the women's tennis team, which finished fourth in the conference and spent multiple weeks ranked in the NCAA's top 50. second-plac- e Collectively Red Storm teams had an average ftnish- - ing place of 2.6 in last sea- sons standings. The football team competes in the Great Northwest Conference due to the absence of football in the PacWest. Its fourth place finish in a conference was not factored into the 2.6 five-tea- m place average. The high number of wins and percentages are products of the consistency that comes from DSC becoming a four-yeinstitution. ar Red Storm womens soccer coach Linda Huddleston knows about building success. Huddleston has accurecord in the mulated a 3 PacWest over the first three seasons of DSC's membership in the conference. Huddleston said the source of the consistency is having junior and senior leadership. In the junior college years, the turnover was quick and now with DSC being a four-yeinstitution, coaches can build sustainable programs that perpetuates success. We had four seniors from last years championship team that were recruited as junior college athletes but ended up stay ing and took advantage of the schools move to four-yestatus, Huddleston said. They were our first s to group of four-yedewith graduate grees, and one of the strengths of our team was their maturity. Red Storm success has impressed PacWest Com -6 two-ye- ar ar ar student-athlete- ar missioner Bob Hogue. Hogue said DSC athletics finished second in the Commissioner's Cup award, which is an award based on points accrued by each school's sports teams final standings. Dixie State has just had phenomenal success in their transition to NCAA Division II, Hogue said. It is remarkable when you consider they were a junior college just a few years ago. My hats to off to the the administrators, to the coaches and the faculty. They have all done an outstanding job getting the program competitive in the NCAA Division II ranks. When a college exits the junior college environment and enters the realm of NCAA stature, the athletic department takes on a considerable workload. Thousands of rules on hundreds of pages in the NCAA handbook have to be studied and constantly reviewed to make sure no missteps create violations by coaches and Hogue said the responsibility of this policing has been superb at Dixie. There are a lot of compliance demands an athletic department has to adhere to, and it is a credit to Mo h di(DSC compliance rector), former DSC athletic director Dexter Irvin, and student-athlete- behind-the-scen- s, es studen- t-athletes. Eck-rot- see ATHLETICS page 5 BY ROBERT LOVELL Staff Writer s by supporting Dixies ath- goal in tl and his b letic teams. Both coaches and players complete t agree that they will take the Though th scored season one game at a time. ergy in tl Certain games are highlighted though, like the first DSC play goal for home game on Sep. 4 utes latei against last year's confeStorm a rence champion Central Sophor Washington and the season rival finale against Southern Utah University ATHI Cedar City on Nov. 6. continu in-sta- te is coaches i NCAA er sa has gard has them a m Hogue State DOcchio shines on the field too. colleges She is a four-yestarter at Dixie, e. mid-field- er es e, and coach Linda Huddleston looks to DOcchio to be one of the leaders. Im looking to Becca for that leadership," she said. "Shes got a org gram ar Senior defender Rebecca D' Occhio leads the Red Storm women's soccer team on the field, but she is defined by more than what happens on the field. DOcchio, a senior business major from Las Vegas, is the perfect example of a Workbusy student-athleta ing job, participating in college athletics, and doing well at school is demanding, but DOcchio has done just that and done it well. I think time management is probably the best thing you have to figure out when youre a college student, D'Occhio said. Erin Beeston, a senior integrated studies major from Edmond, Okla., and starting outside for the Red Storm, said D'Occhio is an example to her. Business is a hard degree," she said. "So for me looking at her, shes a good example of what student-athletreally are about." Fellow Red Storm defender Whitley Davis, a junior psychology major from Sandy, agreed with Beeston. She said on road trips DOcchio always has her books out doing her homework and studying instead of putting it off until the last minute or on the bus ride home. As for the other half of the phrase student-athlet- fflrn in in a summer. Nick Marinko is playm? , gainst V at quarterback right now,"" Commun he said. "Hes doing a good The gai o lisions, job; hes reading the dec shoving fenses well." With Brumfield now at spectator the helm leading the Red about cal Storm this season, there has ;ials, anc been a change of mindset fans blov and culture. This summer la additic the coaching staff has really mg set uj Storm go tried to keep things upand fast Try tell paced. tempo Hansei at Our games are going to be very exciting, fast and day the g fun to watch, Christensen WWCC tree gams said. We have a really Sophor good offense, really good defense, theres going to be Kody Hu some big hits and some r- down the 17th min eally big plays." loose bal Brumfield and Christensen agree that more st- fort othei udents and fans attending plays we games this season would Red Stor help generate energy for the draw firs WWCC. team to draw from. They Sophor encourage the students at Dixie to have pride in their Francises school and show that pride head a bi DSC pursues PacWest titles Storms DOcchio on top of her game in school, soccer BY DEVELON ISOM Staff Writer i .printed sitroning II st sion Hogue College c quality tc Conferen t V attr to tl helps letes leges. - rgreat knowledge of the game and I shes an incredi- - 5r ble player. The r g strength of our team is our de- fense, and shes 5 the anchor of that,! shes the heart of Rebecca D Occhio, a business major from Las Vegas, practices soccer dr that. Her dedication and effort goes noticed Huddleston is by those around her. also counting on DOcchio in mind. and a few other upperclassWe were conference can men on the team to help the champs, so hopefully we do that again and look founderclassmen along. rward to going a little further Im doing something new in regionals this year, D'Othis year because we have a cchio said. d team," said pretty Soccer and school arent th Huddleston. "I ask some of those people like Becca to be only things that consume a mentor to the others. I look DOcchio s time. As an efor her to tell them how to do mployee at Barnes and Noble, she takes plenty of time to the technical things and tactical things. back and read some books. But when it came to picking D Occhio s behavior, vifew favorite books, she was sion on the field, and knowlstumped. edge of the game will be an Thats so hard to choose invaluable part of the team I was younger, for When this year since there are 13 fifth grade we read The underclassmen, including Outsiders. I love that nine freshmen, Huddleston said. book, DOcchio said. think I might go just go DOcchio said she looks that one. forward to her senior season with nothing but team goals see DOCCHIO page A good-size- si' We 111 PacWest tiftrl tu dest the en Hogue sc beautiful DOC continu A love H'Occhii HOcchi rotnmai Nth son cooked dinners. Shes r t i 1 A |