Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing in at 170 pounds, Cole Kreider enjoys great reach and possesses an excellent vertical jump.
The Central standout, one of three returning Scarlet Dragons' seniors to see starting time on both sides of the football last season, figures to use both attributes in abundance this fall as a wideout and cornerback.
Kreider intercepted four passes last year as a junior, and will join fellow seniors Brad Dick (center/nose guard) and Todd Slick (fullback/linebacker) as two-way veterans on the field for Central this season.
"Offensively, I would think I'd be one of the top targets in our passing game this year,'' Kreider said. "Defensively, I'm always anticipating passing plays by looking at the [opposing] quarterback's eyes and watching the [opposing] receivers' hips.''
Kreider anticipated passing plays from his cornerback position well enough last year to make four interceptions and earn a Second Team nomination on the Mirror's 2011 Blair County All-Star Football Team.
"He's a second-year starter on defense who also played a lot on offense for us last year,'' Central coach Dave Baker said of Kreider. "He has length, and some really good hands to catch the ball, and he also possesses some speed.''
Central went 5-5 in Baker's first season as the Scarlet Dragons' head coach a year ago. Baker has a solid group of seniors led by Kreider, Dick and Slick, a large and talented group of juniors, and a promising group of sophomores to work with this fall.
"I would say that the outlook this season is more promising than it was at this time last year,'' said Baker, who previously served as the long-time head coach at Williamsburg before coming back to Central, his high school alma mater, to become the Dragons' head coach last year. "I liked last season. I got a lot of cooperation from the school administration, and we kept the same coaching staff from the year before, so we didn't have to involve a lot of changes that would become problems.''
Central's constancy will continue this season with veteran players like Kreider back in the fold.
"We expect to use him as one of our receivers, and he'll be a defensive back for us again,'' Baker said of Kreider, who is also a member of Central's varsity baseball team. "He's a pretty good all-around athlete.''
