L-P focusing on ‘little things’ during summer workouts under new coach JJ Raffelson

New La Salle-Peru football coach JJ Raffelson said he’s “big on little things.”

“Little things matter in this game,” said Raffelson, who takes over as head coach after serving as an assistant the past two seasons. “It’s a game of inches, and little things from communication to being disciplined, aligning right and little intangibles that some guys don’t make of importance need to be of importance to us.

“That’s something we’ve been hammering home. We’ve progressively gotten better as this summer’s going on.”

The Cavaliers are focusing on discipline during summer workouts.

“We’re definitely doing a lot of discipline stuff,” senior safety/H-back/slot receiver Rylynd Rynkewicz said. “We’re doing a lot of mentality stuff.

“We’ve really been busting our butts. Every day, everyone’s been coming to practice ready to play. Everyone’s there for each other.”

L-P went 3-6 last fall in coach Jose Medina’s final season. Medina led the Cavs to a 40-49 record and three playoff appearances in 10 seasons.

“Just living by our rules, how we align, how we execute a play,” Raffelson said about how the team is working to improve its discipline. “Even our motto comes down to it, which is W.A.R - ‘We Are Relentless.’ That’s what we live by when we’re out on the field.

“All 11 guys believe in the same thing: hustle to the ball, execute from alignment to their assignment. The kids hear me say that all the time, because that’s the game. Just every day you see the growth. With me being the new head coach here, we’re just putting a focus back on those little things in the game.”

Sophomore quarterback Marion Persich said he feels the team “got a lot more discipline since last year.”

“I really think we’ve been improving,” Persich said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work every single day.”

Along with working on discipline, the team is implementing a new offense under coordinator Jared Mundt, who held the same position for a few seasons under Medina, and adding in some wrinkles on defense as coordinator Pat Carney returned to the team after initially resigning following last season.

“Install is going good,” Raffelson said. “We’re taking our steps. We’re along the right path that I saw fit and our OC and DC saw fit. We’re just taking those right steps within our offense and with our install. If it’s something new or something we’ve done, we’re making sure that the kids understand what they’re doing and then how they’re able to execute it based on what they might see defensively or offensively.”

Offensively, the Cavs will focus on getting the ball to their athletes to make plays.

“There’s different parts to it on all of our formations,” Raffelson said. “There’s wrinkles. Coach Mundt and I meet all the time on how we want to run it and execute it, depending on who we play and what we see from them. We want to utilize our athletes.

“We have good athletes on this field. I think we have a lot of guys who can make plays. It’s just finding ways to get them the ball so they can make something work with it.”

The defense will be similar to what it’s been under Carney.

“We’ll have wrinkles, and we’ll have different ideas based on what we see day in and day out based on our opponents, but we’ll have our defense the way it’s been – play hard, play fast and get to the ball,” Raffelson said. “We preach on pursuit and never giving up on a play. The little things are of high importance.”

Raffelson said he wanted coordinators to lead both sides of the ball so he could focus on the big picture.

“I can be the facilitator, game manager helping on both sides of the ball so I know exactly what the offense is doing and I know exactly what the defense is doing every play,” Raffelson said. “That’s something I really believe in. As a head coach, my job is to be the leader. My job is to see all sides and then help evaluate kids on all sides of the ball, including our special teams.”

The Cavs will get another glimpse at how things are coming together on Saturday at Princeton’s 7-on-7/Lineman Challenge and when they host St. Bede for a scrimmage at 5:45 p.m. Monday at Howard Fellows Stadium.

“So far, the boys are working hard,” Raffelson said. “We’ve had segments where we were up a little bit, and we’ve had our moments down, but the boys are here, they’re working hard and they’re starting to communicate a little bit more.”