Football teams begin contact drills today

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Football teams begin contact drills today

Sports

Thursday, 12 August 2010 07:05

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
If they’re not sweating bullets they’re dodging raindrops.
Football practice in Osceola County is under way.
Teams at the county’s seven public high schools went through the first official drills of the season Monday as the squads successfully beat the heat and, later, dodged the thunderstorms.
“We timed it just right,” Liberty Coach David Benson said. “We got off the field just when it started to rain.”
The Chargers, 8-3 last season and a serious challenger for the 4A District 7 championship, split their workouts between morning conditioning drills and on-field workouts in the afternoon.
“If you’re out there (on the field) constantly all day for a week, it gets to be a little too much,” Benson said. “We like to split it up.”
But, today, the first day contact is permitted, the Chargers will do the traditional two-a-days, Benson said.
“We’ll have a scrimmage at the end Saturday, after our last practice of the week,” he said.
Chargers senior offensive lineman Stefan Morales, starting his fourth year in the program, said he now views football practice, “as part of a lifestyle.
“We’ve been doing it so long, you don’t think about it that much. It’s just what we do.”
Liberty is one of five county teams adjusting to new head coaches. Benson, with the team since the school’s inception, replaced Doug Nichols last spring.
“Coach Nick leaving was a big shock; he was like a father figure to us,” Morales said. “But, Coach Benson has been here all along, so it’s OK.”
Linebacker/fullback Evan Durand said the team’s goals haven’t changed.
“Playoffs,” he said. “We want it more than ever.”
One of the teams the Chargers must defeat in order to reach the playoffs was at work 20 miles away in St. Cloud Tuesday morning, where Coach Bill Buldini, another new head coach, was putting his squad through drills.
“Everything’s gone well so far,” he said. “No problems, didn’t have to miss any practice (Monday) because of rain.”
The Bulldogs, 7-5 and a district runner-up last season, seek a third straight playoff season. That’s never happened at St. Cloud. It will be difficult after most of the team’s defense graduated last year.
Two players who will be responsible for guiding the team to the regionals are juniors Jeff Spelman and Irving Huggins, both linebackers.
Not surprisingly, they seem confident that the Bulldogs will reach the playoffs again.
“Not only that, we want a state championship. The whole thing,” said Spelman, who had 55 tackles to lead all returning players. “We’ve only got two defensive starters coming back, me and Melvin Manning, but we have a lot of good, young players coming in. I’ve played on the varsity since I was a freshman, so I’m ready for a leadership role.”
Huggins moves to outside linebacker, but he will also continue his role in the offensive backfield, where he was the leading rusher last season.
“It’s good that I’m playing linebacker, too. It makes me more aggressive when I’m running the ball,” he said.
The offense, with Phillip Steinmetz, the county’s top returning quarterback, should be explosive, Huggins said.
“We’re doing the same things as last year. We’re going to be all right,” he said.
St. Cloud’s regular season opening opponent, Osceola, is working under Doug Nichols, who returns to OHS after three years at Liberty.
“No problems at all, so far,” Nichols said. “It’s going OK. Seeing the kids all summer (for conditioning drills) gives you a pretty good idea of what you’ve got, so we’re in pretty good shape. Of course, you never know until you get out there and play somebody.”
Senior D.D. Montgomery is one of a few returning starters from a Kowboys squad gutted by graduation. All the starters from the 2007 state finals team have moved on, making OHS, for the first time in years, an afterthought in many playoff conversations.
“That’s what you’re going to hear, that we don’t have anybody,” Montgomery said.
Teammate Oscar McGee, a senior defensive back, said that’s all right with him.
“I like it that way. No expectations for us, so we’ll see,” he said with a grin.
Montgomery said the hot August practices don’t bother him.
“We’re all in shape. That’s why you work all summer. Our goal is that we want to be in such great shape that we’re fresh when the other team wears down. You just have to push yourself,” he said.
Senior running back Defario Phillips said, “Marc Deas (who graduated after last season) told someone that the workouts they’re doing at Georgia aren’t as hard as what we do here,” he said.
The Kowboys will scrimmage Saturday.
Gateway, Harmony, Celebration and Poinciana also are working daily.
The Kickoff Classics are scheduled for Aug. 27, except East Ridge at Liberty, which is 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26.
“We did it that way in case it rains, then we can go Friday if we have to,” Liberty’s Coach Benson said. “If it rains both days, we’ll just have to get wet.”
Liberty’s spring game in May against Lake Region was delayed one hour by lightning, but the Chargers won, 14-0.