I enjoyed a Thanksgiving with family and will finish my meetings with underclassmen on Monday and Tuesday and then I will join the rest of the staff in the recruiting process for 2011. We meet with all players and I use the surveys I give them, particularly the input from the Seniors, to evaluate the program and its’ people. Looking at this data we will try to develop a plan to improve BC football for the next group of players. It is easy to focus on what you do right, but attacking the spots where we fall short is harder, but it has the greatest impact on whether we improve. I still believe this Senior class turned us into a Playoff team that was not in the Playoffs and I will always be grateful for their efforts.
Over the Holiday, the BC family dealt with a tragic loss in the death of Julian Pierre who played for us in the to 2002-2005 era. Ju-Ju came from Immokalee, Florida and showed up as a 175 pound receiver and left here as a pretty good 225 pound TE. He was a champion every year he played, and really never left the Bridgewater area once he arrived. BC became his home and family in some sense, and after graduating in 2007, he stayed in the area to work. He was in the management program at Texas Roadhouse. If you have ever been to Immokalee, Florida you would know that in Ju-Ju’s family there is not a lot money. We have told his sister and mom that we will take the responsibility of getting the body back to Florida where they would like to have the funeral. One of the characteristics of a good program and teammates is that the people in it give back when they are needed or capable. The Pierre family needs our BC football family to help them. Beyond his smile which will never be forgotten, I remember at H-SD in 2005 when Jacob Lewis checked a 2-Protection in a (Ace) 2-TE set to throw a post to Brandon Copeland who was manned up on a HSD cornerback. We do not use that protection with that set, but Ju-Ju was smart enough to kick back out and take the Tailback’s block (who was not in the game) and block the wide rusher to the weak-side. The QB was protected, the play went for a TD and we won that game and the title that came with it. Thanks JU-JU, for that and a lot of other reasons I am donating. Always an Eagle. Coach Clark
Details of donation process will be posted on Bridgewater Football face book fan page.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Nice Way to Cap Off a Strong Year
Thanks to the fans who showed up Saturday at CUA. I think for the fifth straight time the visiting Eagles outnumbered the CUA fans on our DC trip. It is great to have a home-field advantage on the road. Although I feel we developed into a Playoff level team that is not in the Playoffs, I have asked the Senior group to not be defined by two close but brutal losses. Their story is the energy and guts it took to hold together after the 35-34 setback to W & L and the ability they showed to refocus and continue to play hard. It is true we are two plays away from being undefeated, but no BC player, coach, or fan should ever apologize for being 8-2 in 2010. These kids were winners (CASE CLOSED).
The two greatest moments of the game were not record setting completions by a QB or catches by a WR, but a catch in the last drive by Joel Gast and a seven yard run to end the game by Michael Ward (who is a LB). These two Seniors are team guys who only could be finishers at the Division III level. Their selflessness in the support roles they played on and off the field during their four years are now etched in a stat book that will last forever. The one catch or one run on a stat sheet represents much more for these two and our program. I am thankful to coach kids who play hard and assign value to football in their lives. These lessons learned transfer beyond the field and therein lies their real value.
MClark
The two greatest moments of the game were not record setting completions by a QB or catches by a WR, but a catch in the last drive by Joel Gast and a seven yard run to end the game by Michael Ward (who is a LB). These two Seniors are team guys who only could be finishers at the Division III level. Their selflessness in the support roles they played on and off the field during their four years are now etched in a stat book that will last forever. The one catch or one run on a stat sheet represents much more for these two and our program. I am thankful to coach kids who play hard and assign value to football in their lives. These lessons learned transfer beyond the field and therein lies their real value.
MClark
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
One More Chapter to Write
Week 10 always brings special challenges to coaches and players. Particularly coming off an emotional victory at RMC last week, it will be real important that everyone in the program stays hungry. There is one more important chapter to write about this team. I told the team in our Monday meeting that what we do at CUA on Saturday will either add to, or detract from the final evaluation of this group.
I want to thank the fans who hung with us and gave us such a large following at R-MC last Saturday. Leaving the field at the half, I know our kids got a charge from your energy as we passed the stands and I hope you can offer the team the same support this week. I cannot recall coaching a team where the defensive group was accountable for 16 points in my 31 years. Overcoming defensive scores is difficult for an opponent to do, but I give a lot of credit to R-MC to sticking with their plan of running the ball and playing defensive football. It gave them a chance to win in the fourth quarter. Those scores and the quick strikes to Beiler really taxed our defense in terms of possession time, and it is not often that your defense plays 95 plays in a “winning” effort.
Still, working hard here and being successful on Saturday is determined by choices and the efforts the players and coaches make Tuesday through Friday to a large degree. Our kids understand that, as we chase win number 8.
The Clark girls are planning a Tailgate by the tennis courts with the Alumni Group so come out in force. If my daughters are involved expect to have fun and be primed before you take your seat.
Go Eagles.
I want to thank the fans who hung with us and gave us such a large following at R-MC last Saturday. Leaving the field at the half, I know our kids got a charge from your energy as we passed the stands and I hope you can offer the team the same support this week. I cannot recall coaching a team where the defensive group was accountable for 16 points in my 31 years. Overcoming defensive scores is difficult for an opponent to do, but I give a lot of credit to R-MC to sticking with their plan of running the ball and playing defensive football. It gave them a chance to win in the fourth quarter. Those scores and the quick strikes to Beiler really taxed our defense in terms of possession time, and it is not often that your defense plays 95 plays in a “winning” effort.
Still, working hard here and being successful on Saturday is determined by choices and the efforts the players and coaches make Tuesday through Friday to a large degree. Our kids understand that, as we chase win number 8.
The Clark girls are planning a Tailgate by the tennis courts with the Alumni Group so come out in force. If my daughters are involved expect to have fun and be primed before you take your seat.
Go Eagles.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Post Emory & Henry Update
It was satisfying that our Senior group could make that run up to the victory bell in Memorial Hall on Saturday. It took a lot of character to shake the W & L loss off and not live in a “could have been world.” I will appreciate the kids who finish and the people who support them along the way. At 6-2, we are exactly where we were a year ago, only we will be facing a better R-MC team on the road who has had the extra week to prepare for us. The open date for them has allowed their new quarterback to get comfortable, and I have always felt they have been one of the more physical teams in our league as of late. All the pressure is on them though, because a loss would be fatal to their post-season hopes.
We will meet with the kids on Monday and try to take the same approach we did two years ago when we went and played Catholic who at 8-1 only needed to beat BC to advance, but tightened up and could not finish off the Eagles. We have enough talent to beat anyone on our schedule, and with nothing to lose, can play loose and with a clear spirit. People with ability and nothing to lose can be a dangerous crowd to compete against. We have not done our best collective work yet as a total team in 2010. Will need to do it to Saturday in Ashland to beat a RMC team with so much on the line.
On a second note our JV team won again on Sunday night at Shenandoah 33-8. It was one of the more impressive JV performances of the year. Great to see the young kids playing hard and well.
~Coach Clark
We will meet with the kids on Monday and try to take the same approach we did two years ago when we went and played Catholic who at 8-1 only needed to beat BC to advance, but tightened up and could not finish off the Eagles. We have enough talent to beat anyone on our schedule, and with nothing to lose, can play loose and with a clear spirit. People with ability and nothing to lose can be a dangerous crowd to compete against. We have not done our best collective work yet as a total team in 2010. Will need to do it to Saturday in Ashland to beat a RMC team with so much on the line.
On a second note our JV team won again on Sunday night at Shenandoah 33-8. It was one of the more impressive JV performances of the year. Great to see the young kids playing hard and well.
~Coach Clark
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