(Exira) As the coaches son, Exira-EHK QB Tyler Petersen has been around the Spartan football program his whole life. In fact, he was a manager on the 2013 state runner-up team.
Now Petersen finds himself in the shoes of the players he looked up to such as Spencer Smith and Drew Peppers. Petersen is in his 3rd season playing at the varsity level. The senior has seen limited action this year, but is back in the lineup and ready to make the most of his final two regular season games. On Friday he’ll be playing at home for the first time this season as the Spartans welcome Ar-We-Va on homecoming.
Petersen admits being coached by his dad Tom can be “Up and down,” but ultimately he’s learned a lot. “You get to live with him so you have to hear some of the stuff at home. He demands a lot out of all of his players, not just me but the offensive line, receivers, subs, and other coaches. As a head coach, he is a pretty demanding guy, but he sets realistic goals. That’s one thing that a lot of people that have played for him would say. He wants the best for everybody. There’s times when if I don’t know what I’m doing or getting confused he can pull me aside and kind of help me look at some stuff that maybe I’m not seeing because he’s been there for 20 years coaching.”
After losing his first game as a starter when he was a sophomore he started to embrace reading defenses. “Went to practice, started watching more film, started to try and break down defenses and work on reads and things like that and the game just became a lot easier for me.”
This week he’ll be going against an Ar-We-Va team that is coached by his cousin, Chris Petersen, “I really do want to win. I really, really want to win. Chris has been talking smack to us all the time. Even the years we haven’t played he still watches us and my dad still watches him because of the family aspect. This is a really important game not only for me, Trey, and my father, but for the team. We really need to get this one and it’ll be a big step going forward.”
Petersen will be a guest on the pregame show Friday. We’ll air the Ar-We-Va at Exira-EHK contest on 96.5 FM KSOM.
