Northeast Football Team Positioned For Big Improvement

By Colin Murphy

The way the players of the Northeast High School football team see it, there’s nowhere to go but up.

“We’ve got to improve on 2-8,” said junior starting quarterback Eric Grantland confidently during a break from practice on August 18, referring to the Eagles’ 2010 record. “This summer everybody was in the weight room, everybody’s working hard. We’ve got really smart coaches who know what they’re doing, and we [as players] get along really well. We’ve got a good game plan for this year and we’re going to do the best we can,” he added.

Grantland is one of several starters returning for what is sure to be an improved Northeast offense in 2011. All-County wide receiver Nick Marshall and the running back tandem of Kenny Claggett and Blake Russell had fine seasons in 2010, and second-year Head Coach Kenny Fowler (Northeast High School ’94) is confident his young offensive line will benefit from the leadership and experience of his skill position players.

“We have a lot of returnees, and some really good senior leaders who are extremely hard workers,” said Fowler during the August 18 practice.

Coach Fowler noted the player pool during tryouts was the largest in years, forcing his coaching staff to make cuts for the first time in recent memory. “It’s a good problem to have [being forced to make cuts], and the guys we do have we’re conditioning hard. We have some hard-working kids.”

The competition just to make the team is but one aspect of the improved intensity, which is clearly evident in the Eagles’ preseason workouts. Even though rain, thunder, and lightning have forced the team indoors on multiple occasions during the first week of practice, the players remained focused and diligent while running sets during the August 18 session, despite having to practice in the only space available: the school cafeteria. Amidst an array of potential distractions - multiple members of the media were on hand to take photographs, and the echoes of the girls’ soccer and field hockey teams doing conditioning drills through the hallways made for a noisy background - the Eagles were focused and intent while absorbing every instruction of coach Fowler and his staff.

‘Marshall spoke of the commitment evident in his teammates in the less-than-ideal setting of the cafeteria as an indication of the Eagles’ team-first philosophy. “We work together as a family,” said Marshall between walk-throughs, “and we’re doing everything we can to get better.”

For Coach Fowler, he sees the team showing solid progress at this early stage in the season despite the challenges presented by the weather. “We’re doing pretty good for the first week of practice. The weather’s been against us, but we’re looking alright.”

Fowler noted the most important thing for his players is for them to continue to develop their individual leadership skills. “We had a lot of kids quit last year because they didn’t want to do the work. We’ve really tried to instill hard work ethic in them. We have some hard-working kids this year… But I don’t want just my captains to be the leaders; you try to teach every kid to be a leader, to lead by example. I want to have a whole group of leaders out there,” concluded Coach Fowler.