Tigers want to forget about state title as they prepare for opener
Published Thursday, August 21, 2008
CENTREVILLE — The Centreville Academy Tigers might have won the Class AA state championship last season, but the Tiger coaches know that won’t help them one bit Friday night when they travel to face Brookhaven Academy in the 2008 season opener.
“(The state championship) is something they’ve got to put behind them,” Centreville assistant coach Brian Stutzman said. “Last year is over with, we’ve got to put that behind us and move on.”
However, it’s one thing to tell the players that, but it’s quite another to get them to believe it.
“We’ve been preaching that, but sometimes I know they don’t understand it,” Stutzman said. “Our biggest issue seems to be convincing them to move on. It goes back to leadership and we’re looking for the seniors to step up and be leaders.”
Stutzman knows that the Tigers must come out of the gate quickly as they are facing a largly unknown opponent in the Brookhaven Academy Cougars.
The Cougars finished the 2007 season with an 8-4 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Oak Forest.
“The challenge is, we don’t really know much about Brookhaven,” Stutzman said. “Bervert davis came in and took over as their head coach. He’s been at Brookhaven before and won a state championship. We don’t really know what he’s going to do.”
Stutzman said that the key to stopping Brookhaven will be containing their running back Kolby Byrd.
“We know they’re going to pound it in some fashion,” Stutzman said. “They’ll give it to Byrd and let him run.”
Pounding the ball is what Centreville does best. The Tigers have bruising junior running back Zack Sinclair, who rushed for 1,240 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, and plan to use him a lot this year as well.
Stutzman said the play of Centreville’s offensive line will be key to victory not just in Friday’s game, but throughout the season.
“It all starts with the offensive line,” Stutzman said. “For us to tick, our offensive line has to work, take charge, come in low and hard and dominate. Hopefully they’ll open up holes for Sinclair and (quarterback) Kyle Brown. Those two are our wheels that make us go, but it all starts with the offensive line.”
Stutzman said this week of practice hasn’t been very good because he feels the players are anxious for the season to start on Friday.
“I think a lot of the problem is we’re ready to play a real game and not just a scrimmage,” Stutzman said. “We’re ready to go four quarters, play and get back into a groove.”