LAKELAND – For two seasons, the Storm encountered anything-but their nickname. Victory Christian under Head Coach Tommy Lewis’ direction was 23-5–making a finals appearance in 2013 and finishing as the Class 2A State Champions last season. Then this year’s campaign happened. The first four contests, VCA was 0-4 having been outscored by their opponents by a combined score of 72-13. Although the opponents were Pasco, Berkeley Prep, Northside Christian and Admiral Farragut–that four-game stretch that in recent past the Storm were reasonably expected to finish 2-2 if not 3-1, but they’re champions for a reason.

Enter newly-minted QB Dalton Jenner, a transfer from Lake Gibson. Jenner (6-4/210lbs) was expected to enter the equation as the captain of the ship for VCA–but the shoes he was trying to fill were those of Caleb Lewis, the son of Coach Lewis. Those shoes–and those expectations–might has well have been Shaq-esque in their stature. Caleb Lewis as the QB the past two seasons had thrown for 5,647 yards, 60 touchdowns and 21 interceptions–not to mention helped lead his squad to the title.

The adversity at the beginning of the season simply gave Coach Lewis and his staff a chance to instill their message–a simple-on-the-surface, yet extremely complex and mature message to grasp. Once that message was received, Jenner’s responsibilities to his teammates and visa-vera became rather easy to apply. Following that 0-4 start, Victory has won seven of their last eight games and are one win from defending their title in Orlando. Jenner has thrown for 1,904 yards this season with 20 touchdowns and 8 interceptions for Victory Christian.

We spoke with Jenner following Victory Christian’s win over Foundation Academy and about his thoughts on the season. He also gives us the message from his head coach and what Jenner and his teammates decided to do about it.

BCP: How does it feel to get that “redemption win against Foundation Academy and your thoughts about being so close to defending the state title?
Jenner: “It feels great–especially coming back and beating Foundation. It was another nail-biter and it was tough in that first half, but we stuck together as a team–that’s what I value the most out of that win–we just hung together from first-to-fourth quarter. If we pass University (Christian) this week–Orlando’s got a nice ring to it.”

BCP: What was the magic ingredient to getting things going–or was there one?
Jenner: “It was just us coming together as a team. We were a little shaky at the beginning–we were still learning–most of us are new to each other–then we just hit it off. I can say the beginning of the season wasn’t our best, but then again–our mistakes don’t define us, either. We just keep going and try to improve the chemistry each week.”

BCP: Did you process what the expectations would be like before stepping out on the field this season? Was there pressure considering the shoes you had to fill?
Jenner: “At first I really did feel some of that when I came to the team, I’ve got some big shoes to fill. Eventually I felt like it didn’t matter and I just gave all that I could give and expect that from my teammates. We’re not the same team as Victory was last year–or the year before that–or the year before that.”

BCP: What’s it like playing for Coach Lewis and what was his message to you guys that started this turnaround?
Jenner: “To me he’s the best coach around in Florida–the biggest thing he stresses to us would probably be to put our Faith in the Lord. That’s a big thing he stresses to us and that we all do. Everyone has bought in and it’s gotten us this far.”

BCP: What was your response to his message–and was it just that you need a little more Faith?
Jenner: “We started thinking to ourselves that we had to sacrifice and bleed for our teammates. He did stress that we needed to become more of a team. That was a big point that he hit on. The only was for us to that was to stop playing selfish–to bleed and to sacrifice and to play for one another.”

BCP: It sounds like Coach Lewis was channeling his inner Coach Belichick–aka–DO YOUR JOB!
Jenner: “Ha! Absolutely. Those were the exact words from him.”