The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
High school teams kick off practices
After state semi run last fall, same level won’t suffice this time for Pirates
The 2016 Perry football team achieved more than any other team in program history.
The Pirates recorded an undefeated regular season for the first time, ran the table in the Chagrin Division of the Chagrin Valley Conference and advanced to the state final four for the first time. Their postseason analysis? They failed. As the sun crept over the horizon at Alumni Stadium on July 31, a seasoned team took the field for the first day of practice in what the Pirates view as an opportunity to address what they perceived as a failure — not ending the 2016 season the way they wanted to end it.
“That’s everything we build our offseason on,” Perry coach Matt Rosati said. “We want to get to that (next) level, and we have to improve to do that. That failure was a great motivational tool for us. We are motivated by failure.”
Just like they feel 2016 was a failure in that they absorbed a not-as-close-as-the-score might-indicate 52-27 shellacking at the hands of Steubenville, in which Perry surrendered 482 yards of total offense.
Junior Jacob Allen said the team hadn’t, as of the morning of the first practice, watched that game film together.
But they talked about viewing it later in the day to show them where they were last November and what the need to do to take it a step further this year.
“We want to get all the way (to the state final) and win it,” said Allen (40 catches, 912 yards, 12 touchdowns as a sophomore receiver last year). “We did a lot wrong in that game. We didn’t come to play honestly. You could tell how we looked — we obviously weren’t there to play.”
In truth, it was a stellar season. Winning 13 games in a row and getting to the Division IV state final four for the first time in school history says something. But Rosati joins his team when it comes to viewing last year as an opportunity lost and a slap of reality.
“Failure is what is really driving us,” Rosati said. “The fact we don’t want to be good at failure. We want to improve on what went wrong against Steubenville and be more physical. That’s a point we focused on. “We don’t want to fail.” So the Pirates have taken every measure possible to put themselves in the best position to not have that happen again this year.
First off, defensive coordinator/strength coach Mike Crissinger put the team through rigorous weight training throughout the spring semester in school, and also in the June and July months.
Additionally, more attention is being given to dietary and sleep patterns. For instance, the team had a catered lunch of chicken and rice on the first day of practice July 31.
“We’re really focusing on nutrition, things we eat before practice, things we eat after practice and our sleep patterns,” Rosati said. “We feel on a high school level, these are the things you need to do to be an elite team, and if you’re not doing this, others are and they’re going to pass you by.
“These are things five years ago we would not have paid as much attention to, what kids eat and how much rest their bodies need. We’re trying to be as cutting edge as we can with this.”
Combine that with the talent and experience Perry returns this season, and there are a lot of positives to count even before the first whistle at practice was blown.
Perry graduated only seven seniors last year — a list that includes all-Ohioans Andy Foley, Josh Petruccelli and Seth Smith — but returns a ton of talent, including quarterback Kolston Brewster (2,888 yards passing, 27 touchdowns) and defensive lineman Nick Mason (92 tackles, nine sacks, 22 tackles for loss) — just to name a few.
Add in newcomers such as speedy senior receiver Josh Martin, a state qualifier in 4x100 in track and field, and impressive freshman running back Jalen Anderson (6-1, 195), and the Pirates have plenty of tools to work with.
“I would definitely say it’s fun,” said Brewster of the skill set around him. “You feel like you’ve got guys everywhere. There’s not one missing piece. That’s a comforting feeling.”
The Pirates kick off their season Aug. 25 against Riverside. There is plenty of work to do before then, though.
But every time the Pirates have any inkling of letting down in practice, all they have to do is harken back to Nov. 25, 2016, to remind themselves that while 13-1 was nice, they finished one step short of where they wanted to be.
And to them, that’s a failure.
No matter how hard it seems to fathom that.
“We want to play in December. That is our goal, the No. 1 thing we want to do,” Rosati said. “We feel it will be a failure if we’re not.”