Round Lake maintains positive outlook

The term “quarterback controversy” has a bit of a negative connotation.

And what’s going on at Round Lake is anything but negative.

The Panthers prefer to look at their quarterback situation as a competition rather than a controversy. And head coach John Coursey loves a good competition.

He’s not sure if Anthony Gutierrez will be his starting quarterback, or if Anthony Burton will get the nod. Maybe both will play equally.

All he knows is that he likes the fact that both are in the race for the job.

“It’s a nice situation for us to be in,” Coursey said. “With our numbers, we don’t always have this kind of competition at all of our spots. It’s going to be a battle between those two. Whoever starts at quarterback for us will really earn it. This is a very competitive situation.”

With Gutierrez and Burton leading the way, the Panthers hope to be more competitive overall this season. They finished with a 1-8 record in 2010.

“We’ve really struggled the last few years,” Coursey said. “But I feel really good about things this year. I feel like we’ve shored up some things, especially the level of our football knowledge. We have a lot of experienced seniors.”

Two of those seniors are Gutierrez and Burton, who happen to be close friends.

Gutierrez started at quarterback last year and has a strong arm.

“He’s a real cerebral player,” Coursey said. “But he’s also a very good athlete.

“Burton is also a good athlete. He’s that kind of high-energy guy with a motor that never stops. He played some fullback and linebacker for us last year.”

Gutierrez and Burton are two of the offense’s eight returning starters, which includes running backs Daniel Vega and Jorge Venegas.

“We’re going to try to run the football in our three-back, flex-bone offense,” Coursey said. “Daniel and Jorge will be integral parts of our offense, along with our quarterback.”

Defensively, the Panthers will be strong at linebacker with the return of Venegas, Luis Aceves and Eddy Aceveda.

“We’ve got a lot of good kids on this team,” Coursey said. “They’re hungry and they’re confident and they enjoy playing. We’re looking to play good sound fundamental football and really improve.”