Progression. It’s always better than digression. It’s a buzzword in football from describing a QB making their proper reads to detailing a teams’ growth via tangible stats like wins and losses. The case (and somewhat justifiably) for digression could’ve have been made for Steinbrenner when they lost their sophomore starting quarterback Cason Byrd to a knee injury in their preseason classic. The challenge was accepted and progression was made, however. All the Warriors did in 2015, was regroup and record a historic season with another sophomore signal-caller at the helm and with their unquestionable leadership coming from a tight-knit group of seniors.
The Warriors went 3-6-1 in 2014 and by all accounts came from nowhere when folks were left wondering what they would do without Byrd as the starter. Enter Colin Wray, who threw for 1,634 yards and senior running back Jayquese Dantley posting a 1,200+ season–enter Steinbrenner’s Defense that was chocked full of talent and the equation was solved leading to a 9-1 regular season and postseason appearance.
It wasn’t just those two players, though. Steinbrenner Head Coach Andres Perez-Reinaldo knew he had something very special all the way back when he took the job, and the seeds he planted four years prior bore trees that produced enough fruit to put Tropicana out of business.
“It was definitely a special year for us,” said Perez-Reinaldo. “Obviously when Cason Byrd went down with a knee injury in the preseason game it kinda took the wind out of us for a minute–kinda made us all take a step back, but I’ll tell you–throughout our program we’ve always talked about the next guy up and every guy being on the same page and that’s what Collin Wray did for us–he stepped up in a big way and it was more than just him–it was our defensive guys stepping up–it was our wide receivers stepping up–all those things happening like our running backs knowing protection schemes and that’s just what led to such a great season.”
When one of the “main” guys go down, however–it can be a slippery slope. Depending on what type of core leaders on the team you have, it can be a team-building moment–or things can go south in a hurry. While there was a moment of decompression needed for Perez-Reinaldo and his squad–they chose for the moment to represent the former–not the later–of the two paths in front of them.
“I think that team was destined to be great, just their work ethic–and we talked about it years ago, when I first took over the job that was my first freshman class here and we kinda pinpointed that group and said that if these guys do the right things, they’re going to pretty special. That’s what happened–these guys got after it in the weight room and did the right things–I didn’t have to worry about their classes or have to deal with any of that–they were able to stay focused on being great on the football field and being great teammates–which makes for a great season. We had everything we wanted from them. They had accountability for each other and it was just a phenomenal year and one that makes you appreciate coaching so much more.”
While momentum isn’t a exactly quantifiable measuring stick in this game–something that’s better left for philosophers and such to apply to certain situations–it can be measured in the sense that the standards set by last years’ team will be either maintained or lost via the wins and losses combined with that overall culture that’s now firmly in place on campus. It will be measured in wins and losses for certain–but it will also be measured by how they go about their business for seasons in the future. The toughest thing can be to fight the complacency and rest on your accomplishments and Perez-Reinaldo understands that challenge.
“I think it’s exactly that,” said Perez regarding keeping the momentum going. “I think it’s not being complacent–not assuming that just because you’ve had one good year that everything is going to be like that–so really understanding the work that those guys (last year) put in and making sure that we keep going and building upon that. Don’t settle on being 9-1…let’s go 10-0, let’s be special and let’s take it to another level. That’s kind of what our motto is right now–and that’s if we want to be champions that we’ve got to do extra of everything. That’s high school football. We’re losing guys–they’re losing guys and there’s other up-and-coming teams in this district that were very young last year that are probably going to make some noise this season.”
There’s also that saying that when you have two quarterbacks–you’ve got none. Not so fast, though. When you have a dynamic such as Steinbrenner’s–you can avoid a lot of the tension and simply bust your butt for the common goal.
“That was one of there big things when Cason went down. He could have moped or distanced himself from the team–but he actually did the opposite. Cason knew how important that was for this group of seniors–he had some great friends in that senior class and he was going to do whatever he could to help out Colin and now as he’s getting healthy and we’re getting both of them back–I mean, right now we’re talking about competing–but when we compete, we’re making each other better.” said Perez-Reinaldo.
Something that could help the Warriors transition from last year to next season is their experience in a spot that most schools simply don’t get the luxury of having nowadays. They’ve got some road graders up front and that’s always a good thing.
“What we’re probably the most excited about this year, is our group up front. We can say at Steinbrenner that we’ve never really had a group like this, this group is returning four out of five starters along the offensive line–which, in high school football is pretty rare these days. We’re pretty darn excited about that. We lost a great running back in Jay Dantley, but we’ve got a great group of guys and we’re going to wait who emerges from that group–but it’s the guys up front that get it done for us and just having those four guys back is pretty special.”