Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Regina

Head coach: Jason Dumont (1^st season)

Assistant coaches: Ed Hinkel, Jim Poynton, Brad Beane, Mark Mitchell, John Naeve, Dustin Elsberry, Cole White, Phil Arendt, Michael Conlon

Last season: 11-1 (Class A Champions)

Returning starters: Josh Gaffey, Sr., OL/DL; Andy Wiese, Sr., OL/DL; Sam Aitchison, Sr., WR/DB; Aiden Udell, Sr., OL/DE; Caden Shetler, Sr., OL/DL; Blake Chambliss, Sr., WR/LB; Jack Tierney, Jr., FS/QB; Ronan Poynton, Jr., OL/LB; Carson Jensen, Sr., WR/DB

Newcomers to watch: Levi Daniel, Jr., RB/LB; Steven Liu, Jr., WR/DB; Gentry Dumont, Soph., QB/DB; Chris Waikel, Jr., RB/DE; Drew Streb, Soph., OL/DL; Dillon Vittetoe, Jr., WR/DB; Jack Clark, Soph., OL/DE

Playoff history: 17 appearances (1972, 2004-2017, 2019, 2020). Regina won state titles in 2005 (1A), 2010, 2011 (2A), 2012-2015 (1A) and 2020 (A).

District: Class 1A, District 5

District favorite: Regina. District 5 will be among the toughest in Class 1A this season but with nine starters returning, including four on the offensive line, the defending Class A champion Regals enter as the favorites.

Circle the date: September 10 at Mid-Prairie. A homecoming for first-year head coach Jason Dumont who prepped at Mid-Prairie won’t be an easy one as the Golden Hawks return a solid core from a team that went 4-4 in Class 2A last season.

Headliner: Senior two-way lineman Josh Gaffey (6-3, 230) is an absolute force on both sides of the ball, a returning all-state selection and according to first-year head coach and long-time Regina defensive coordinator Jason Dumont one of the best linemen to come through the program in the past 15 years.

Unsung hero: Senior Blake Chambliss (6-0, 185) will look to take a big step forward as a senior after quietly putting together a big junior season. Chambliss caught six passes for 103 yards a year ago but was instrumental in the Regals’ defensive success ranking third on the team with 41 tackles from his linebacker spot.

Keep an eye on: Senior linebacker Aidan Udell (5-8, 180) is a hard-nosed, energy-filled tackling machine that has led the Regals in tackles each of the past two seasons. Udell has already amassed 135.5 career tackles (118 solos) after racking up a team-high 63.5 stops last season.

Biggest question: Can the Regals repeat? The standard at Regina hasn’t wavered over the last decade with the Regals racking up their seventh state title in 11 seasons. After winning its first title since 2015 last year by claiming the Class A crown Regina will now chase a repeat in its move up to 1A.

Quotable: “We were further ahead at the end of the camp last week than we were last year because we do have that experience coming back,” Dumont said. “We have a couple of young quarterbacks that know the system pretty well and then really a lot of the receivers are coming back as well they just weren’t catching every ball with Alec out there. We were able to get things installed a lot quicker than last year but we are going to have to rely on that front seven both offensively and defensively to get started because we have to bring some young guys along.”

2021 Schedule

August 27: Williamsburg

September 3: at West Liberty

September 10: at Mid-Prairie

September 17: Mediapolis*

September 24: at Wilton*

October 1: at Louisa-Muscatine*

October 8: West Branch*

October 15: Durant*

*– District game

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