Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Daily Pooch Punt: 4/4/2007
This one is on you, River City.
It’s not totally on Steve Issacs when he trades in his blue and yellow Western Albemarle football polo for a purple and gold Waynesboro T-shirt.
Nope. Nobody is worrying about Issacs. He’ll came over that emission-fogged crag we call Afton Mountain, flash that Group A state title ring and bring with it a fun-as-hell-to-watch and just-as-hard-to-learn single-wing offense. Over time, it will succeed and all could be right with the football world in a town that craves a state title more than a new business out on the West End.
Nobody is worried about Issacs; everybody should be worried about you.
Because it’s up to you.
It’s up to the Waynesboro Quarterback Club coaches to sit down with Issacs, pick his brain, scour his playbook and start getting these kids in tuned with the single wing long before they don varsity pads.
It’s up to you, Little Giant fans, to put more than 30 fans in the stands in Friday night.
(And don’t give me that message-board malarkey that success equals fans in high school football. You know where you can shove that. This ain’t the pros, folks, where success equals fans. This is high school, your sons, your cousins, your grandkids playing a sport where fans equal success, not that slack jawed vice-versa excuse you hide behind like a larger-than-life offensive line.)
This one is up to the students and returning players. Students who know that the football team will need their help, even if it doesn’t mean slapping on a set of shoulder pads. Returning players who know that the single wing may mean they won’t throw as much, or will have to take a hit instead of delivering one.
Issacs resume doesn’t speak volumes when it comes to records. He compiled a 24-43 record in seven seasons at Western Albemarle. His career record is 112-122.
But he did bring a state title to Bath County. When those freshmen when he arrived in Crozet turned into seniors, he led them to a 10-1 season — their only blemish a playoff loss to Dale Spitzer’s Indians of Fort Defiance.
We’ve watched a 0-10 Stuarts Draft team still pack its place two years ago.
We’ve watched Derek McDaniel turn Wilson Memorial from laughing stock to playoff team over three years.
We’ve watched Robert Casto lead his Gladiators to a second title at Riverheads.
And we’ve watched the stands at Waynesboro on Friday nights clear out like factory at lunchtime.
Now we get to see what Issacs can do.
It’s going to take your help.
Yep, this one is all on your Waynesboro.
All on you.