Retoriano Cornered, Bobcat Royalty on Scene
9/12/2009 5:43:50 PM | Football
Kevin Retoriano's smile said it all.
"It's fun," Retoriano said with a grin Friday about his move to cornerback for Saturday's Bobcat home opener against Dixie State. The All-Big Sky senior safety makes the move after missing last week's season opener at Michigan State with an elbow injury.
For MSU defensive coordinator Jamie Marshall, it's about following a simple philosophy. "We want to get our best players on the field," he said, "and this lets us do that." Retoriano is slated to start across from Zach Coleman, with Michael Rider and Jordan Craney at safety.
Bobcat head coach Rob Ash echoes Marshall. "Michael Rider is playing so well, so this lets us have him and Kevin and Jordan or Anthony (Cosme-Peko) on the field at the same time."
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Montana State sold out of reserved tickets Friday, but will sell Standing Room Only tickets on Saturday until capacity is reached. Tickets are on sale at the ticket booth in front of Bobcat Stadium.
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Montana State welcomes back several favorite sons for the 2009 season opener. NFL Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud returns for Saturday's game, along with famed running back Don Hass, The Iron Tumbleweed. Along with legendary Bobcat Sonny Holland, that unites three of MSU's four players whose jersey numbers are retired. The fourth is Bill Kollar. Bobcat Hall of Famer Rocco Perciavalle is also in town for the game.
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Bobcat coach Rob Ash says that this year's Dixie State squad barely resembles the team that came to Bozeman two seasons ago. "We took advantage of some things that would be typical of a team moving up" in classification, Ash said of that Dixie team which was only two years removed from junior college status. "We scored in the kicking game in some unusual ways, and I know they're much better in that phase, and in the secondary. This is a much-improved football team, which you would expect."
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Dixie State's quarterback two years ago, Skyler Ence, starts at receiver for the Red Storm today. Montana State's starting quarterback in the last two games of 2008, Mark Desin, starts at receiver for MSU this afternoon.
