Two weeks into the season we are excited to be 2-0 but the challenges only get bigger in that the Ferrum team we will play on Saturday is the most athletic and probably the best team we have faced thus far. Coming off of their last second loss to Emory and Henry and with two weeks to prepare for us it will be a game where our “A” game will be needed. Their wishbone offense is a tough game prep on a short week for us. The fact that Ferrum has only played one game (vs. E & H) makes the game planning a little easier and we can make it as much about us as them. In the final two games before conference plays start there are a checklist of questions we have to get answered. I hope the quality of our competition will harden us for the ODAC run that follows.
On the down side, today was a difficult day for us, in that we learned that David Arguad our captain and Senior starting TB will be lost for the season with a knee injury. Beyond the impact it has for us on the field (we are losing a multi-purpose TB who was a complete player) the real pain involved here is for David as a person. He was coming back as a fifth-year senior and brought a level of maturity we don't see often in Division III. As I told the kids, football is a great game but sometimes it matches life in that it is not fair and just plain sucks. It was not fair to David today, but he is also a great student who has been able to treat football for the bonus it should be. He will be a success story without it, but will be missed by BC on the field.
We hope that Teley Tate will continue to improve and Nate Jackson and Brad Jones both showed up in August prepared to play and will get their chance. It is a business where things can change quickly and the staff conversations we had two weeks ago about how we were going to keep our stable of running backs happy was a lot of wasted time minus David and Darrin McKenzie now.
Our JV group beat Shenandoah last Sunday 24-3. JV games, although they put pressure on our varsity game prep, are fun. Our kids play hard, everyone plays, they want to win, but nobody loses sleep over the score at the end. It's athletics at its’ purest I guess. But as coaches, it gives us a peek at the future and playmakers usually show up during these games. They are easy to find.
On a fan note, Peggy Erwin whose son played for us and she has been a loyal fan ever since does great photography work at our games and at Bridgewaterphotos.com players, parents of players, and fans have access to her work. Things are reasonable and a great way to capture a memory.
-Coach Clark
(Click HERE to send questions or comments about the BC football program to Coach Clark.)
