Divine Child Football Preview

Divine Child is coming off of a bump 2020 season. They hit some bumps on the road and lost control. They dealt with some key injuries and some tough losses. They lost in OT to Lakeland and in the last minute against Loyola. They finished 2-5 but like we just mentioned 2 of those games were last-minute losses. Divine Child is led by Head Coach John Filiatraut. Filiatraut is a tough but fair coach. He pushes his guys and tries to get the best out of them. He’s a leader first and wants his guys to follow in his footsteps. They are always a well-coached and tough football team. They don’t give up many big plays and like to keep things in front of them. Keep them in front and make the tackle is the philosophy they run on defense. Last year, the offense was averaging 20 ppg. They had games where they struggled to even move the ball. They got shut out to start the year which really makes it look worse than it is. The Falcons like to run the ball and they stay committed to it. Sometimes that commitment can cause them to fall behind in some games. The offense is led by their wall of a man in [player_tooltip player_id="80492" first="Brady" last="Ploucha"]. We’ve recently covered Ploucha but we can give another preview. He’s a 6’5" 270 tackle. He anchors that line and is the leader they call on. He’s a 3-star recruit and has recently signed to play football up at Central Michigan. Defensively, the Falcons are led by future Navy Midshipmen [player_tooltip player_id="99361" first="Lorenzo" last="Vitti"]. Vitti is a CB and is 6’0" 170 lbs. He’s a versatile athlete who they can rely on to shut down the opposing team’s leading WR and then return kicks. He plays with swag and the team feeds off of his energy. The Falcons are in an interesting spot. They’ve had 3 back to back losing seasons since the coaching change. They went 11-2 in 2017 and then haven’t been over .500 since. If they don’t have a big year this year they could begin to look for a new coach. They have some young, but very good, pieces and they likely want to help get the best out of them. I’ll be watching them to start the season and see how they are doing. You can expect a midseason report on them when the time comes.