The Viewfinder: Vidalia football players sweat hard for future

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Joshua Pace, left, and Devonte Loyd do the five sprints portion of their workout. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

Joshua Pace, left, and Devonte Loyd do the five sprints portion of their workout. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

VIDALIA — Vidalia High School football players Joshua Pace and Devonte Loyd have big dreams.

Vidalia High School ninth-grade student Devonte Loyd runs up the levee in Vidalia with a tire strapped to his back while working out for football season. He works out with teammate and fellow defensive back eleventh-grade student Joshua Pace, who first started doing the workouts on the levee. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

Vidalia High School ninth-grade student Devonte Loyd runs up the levee in Vidalia with a tire strapped to his back while working out for football season. He works out with teammate and fellow defensive back eleventh-grade student Joshua Pace, who first started doing the workouts on the levee. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

“I want to play in college and the NFL,” Pace said.

“Playing big time football and making big time money,” Loyd said.

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That is why throughout the summer, Pace, an 11th-grader and Loyd, a ninth-grader, have been putting in extra work.

“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked for football,” Loyd said.

Their workout is pretty simple, but that does not take away from its strenuousness. It involves a pair of cleats, a hill (in their case, it is the side of the levee), and a tire.

The defensive backs that will also play on the offensive side of the ball for Vidalia run up the hill five times backpedaling, then five times side-pedaling right, followed by another five side-pedals. After those, they run five sprints up the hill.

One would think the workout ends there, but it does not. They strap a tire to their backs and run up the hill five more times.

The amazing thing is not that they do the workout in the blazing heat and humidity, it is how un-winded the boys are when it is over.

Joshua Pace runs up the levee while a tire is strapped to his back.(Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

Joshua Pace runs up the levee while a tire is strapped to his back.(Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

“I’m not tired. I just feel good,” Pace said.

Pace started working out like this purely because he had nothing to do during the summer.

“I was bored,” he said. “So I decided to get better at football.”

“It helps keep me out of trouble.”

Assistant coach Rob Faircloth was watching the boys run after being invited by Pace.

“These guys are the epitome of what we want and what we used to be,” Faircloth said.

After an 0-10 season last year and the practices under head coach Jeff Hancock, Faircloth believes everybody on this year’s football team is working harder.

“This is the hardest working team I have ever been around,” he said. “No matter what, hard work pays off.”