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Van De Boe, Galasso Are Opposites

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune Correspondent

Published: September 3, 2008

TRINITY - It's been three years since someone other than Tate Humphrey has led the offense at Mitchell High.

But Humphrey has graduated and junior Cody Van De Boe has taken over. Along with being a varsity quarterback for the first time, Van De Boe is learning a new offense.

Coach Scott Schmitz has returned to the Wing-T after utilizing Humphrey's talents in a spread offense.

"He's a different quarterback than Tate," Schmitz said. "What we're asking Cody to do is manage this offense. With Cody, I have a lot of confidence in his passing ability. I think this offense best suits his passing ability. He's a good thrower on the run. He handles the ball well. A lot of things we're going to do come off play-action. We're going to come at you. If you stop us, you stop us."

Van De Boe was the starting quarterback on the Mustangs' junior varsity team that went 7-1.

"It's definitely a big difference from JV to varsity," Van De Boe said. "I definitely have to start getting down when I run the ball. Last year, I could run over people but not this year. There are more athletic people on defense."

Van De Boe also has to get used to not being in the shotgun every play.

"Last year in the spread, I was in shotgun most of the time," he said. "I have to get used to taking the snap from under center."

Enter Tony Galasso.

The 6-foot, 220-pound senior center begins his third year as the Mustangs starting center. It's going to be his job to keep young Van De Boe calm during tough situations.

"Nobody is going to outwork Galasso. He's a really a good influence to that offensive line," Schmitz said. "He's kind of the opposite of Cody. With your quarterback, you really don't want that up-and-down, but Cody has that. Tony stays pretty much even - and that's good. They see him like that and he's always picking other kids up. He's a real tough kid. He's worked hard in the offseason to get his weight up."

He also has earned the respect of the coaches and teammates.

"We have 49 lockers. Locker No. 1 and No. 49 mean something," Schmitz said. "The leader on the offensive line, defensive line and linebackers gets Locker 49. Tony has that locker."

Galasso also has been working with Van De Boe on the change in offense.

"Cody's a very good quarterback," Galasso said. "He's worked very hard in the offseason. He's definitely perfected his precision of passing. He's also taking the necessary steps to perfect his handoff abilities."

Schmitz is hoping these two players can lead the Mustangs to a winning season, something that hasn't happen since 2004.

"I told our kids, 'We've been underachieving too long. It's about time we over achieved,'" Schmitz said. "I don't know how many games we're going to win but I know with this group, we're going to play 10 games and we're going to play 10 games hard. I can't ask any more from a group of kids than that."

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