|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Battlefield preps for hopeful return to title
Give Battlefield football head coach Mark Cox credit: He doesn’t let success get to his players’ heads.At all.
When the 2007 season began, Cox placed his team in the middle ranks of the Cedar Run District, as did many other local prognosticators. After all, Stonewall Jackson had the dynamic duo in running backs Ryan Williams and Damien Thigpen, and Osbourn laid claim to the Group AAA Division 6 state championship from the 2006 season.
Yet it was Battlefield (9-2) that swept through its entire district schedule, including huge come-from-behind wins against Stonewall and Fauquier, losing only to eventual Div. 5 state runner-up Potomac on opening day and Div. 6 state runner-up Woodbridge in the regional playoffs.
“I never pick us to do well,” said the fifth-year coach. “I don’t want the kids to think they’re doing [too] well.”
Battlefield does have a lot working in its favor this year, though the Bobcats lost a ton of star-power to graduation.
Cedar Run District Player-of-the-Year Erik Patterson, along with first-team selections tight end Austin Tuell, tackle Joe Breithaupt and defensive back Clarence Finny, are all gone this year, as are all-district honorable mentions quarterback Corey Thacker and defensive end Bryant Osei.
On the plus side, all of the team’s prospective starters played on the varsity team last season, including quarterback Bo Revell and halfback Cooper Bull.
When starter Thacker went down with a blood clot last year, Revell came in and won crucial matches, such as the Battle of Bull Run, against arch-rival Stonewall Jackson and a 21-point come-from-behind victory on the road against Fauquier.
But when the 6-foot-6 rising star succumbed to a thumb injury, Bull took his place and, despite being the emergency back-up, led his team to the district title.
“He’s got leadership skills now,” returning senior running back Adrian Ingram said of Revell. “He knows his role, and he knows he has to be quarterback this year, and he’s ready to do his job.”
“What we’re utilizing this year is we have a lot more kids who are returning and are athletic,” commented Cox.
That means the team will not be relying strictly on the catching ability of graduated senior receiver Erik Patterson or the workhorse-like production the Bobcats benefited from out of returning senior back Adrian Ingram.
“We have other running backs who are pretty good,” said Cox, naming Danny Drzal and Gerald Khosa in particular. “We have three running backs that can play well at any given time.”
That also means rusher Ingram, who often handled more than 30 carries in a game as the 2007 season wound down, will be free to run other offensive patterns when Cox needs him.
“This year, I’m not going to have to carry as much of the load because Gerald, he is going to get more carries. He is going to split time,” said Ingram. “And with the new receivers, it’s going to open up the passing games a lot.”
Ingram also should be seeing time again this year on defense and special teams, according to the head coach.
Speaking of special teams, the biggest relapse of the pre-season has been kicker Ben Burden, who had to have knee surgery. Cox did not say how long Burden would be absent, but assured that there are some quality kickers behind him.
As for how Battlefield is approaching this season mentally, Ingram said nothing has changed, despite the fact that the Bobcats are the defending district champs with a nice, big target on their collective backs.
“Mindset’s still the same,” Ingram said. “We just know that people are going to prepare for us and know that we come to play and last year [they] just took us lightly, but it’s not the same anymore.”
One thing that has changed, though, is Battlefield now knows what glory is like and what it’s like to have more of it snatched away.
“The Woodbridge game left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth,” said Cox about his team’s 20-17 regional semi-finals loss in 2007.
“I mean, what can we do?” added Ingram. “Just come back, get to the playoffs, play Woodbridge again and beat them this time.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.