Todd Miller
School: Class 4A Pine Creek Eagles, Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak League, ranked No. 9 in The Denver Post/9News 4A poll.
Record: 4-0 overall, 2-0 league in 2008; 29-8 career.
Coaching resume: Six-year assistant at Rantoul (Ill.) High School; assistant at Pine Creek from 2002-04, in fourth season as Eagles head coach.
Life lines: Age 36, native of Evansville, Ind. Graduated from Reitz Memorial High in Evansville, 1991, and Eastern Illinois, 1997, earning degrees in physical education and health; master’s in administration from the University of Phoenix, 2006.
Back in his day: Reitz Memorial Tigers fullback and running back, honorable mention all-state and all-area, 1990; linebacker at Eastern Illinois, 1992-96.
Last week: The Eagles gave Miller, a birthday boy last Friday, a party in a rough neighborhood. Not many teams go into Guy Barickman Stadium and shut out Fountain-Fort Carson. Miller called Pine Creek’s 17-0 victory “a special game,” one prominent in the program’s 10-year history.
Consider the Eagles vs. Trojans a rivalry. They tied for the past two league titles. Pine Creek won the 2005 league championship, and Fountain-Fort Carson was second. It’s the north Colorado Springs area against the south with both schools having strong and proud military ties.
No matter that the Eagles have only 12 seniors, Miller said, “it was the first time we weren’t intimidated” against the rough-and- tough Trojans. Quarterback Josh Chance rolled to 110 yards rushing, mostly behind linemen Kai Jarmusz and Ryan Lockwood. Connor Stevens ran for another 77 yards and was instrumental at linebacker as Pine Creek, which has not allowed a point since the second quarter of the season, permitted the Trojans only 72 yards on the ground.
Miller is pleased with what he termed a Midwest blue-collar approach among his Eagles, a welcomed trait for a program that hasn’t made it out of 4A’s first round the past three seasons.
“The kids have bought into it,” he said. “We talk about our season being 10 chapters long. . . . I just don’t think we’re good enough to overlook anybody. We have to play with such emotion to play at a high level. We’re one injury away from being in trouble.”
Compiled by Neil H. Devlin, The Denver Post
