Already seven weeks into the season, there’s been a number of teams that have showed notable improvement from their 2015 campaigns. Wesley Chapel sits at 6-0 after finishing 2-8 last season, Middleton sits at 4-3 after finishing 2-8 last season, Wiregrass Ranch has a 4-2 record after going 2-8 in 2015. However, these aren’t notable stories in Pinellas County, where it’s been kind of quiet over the past couple of weeks. However, quietly, the Northeast Vikings have moved to a 4-1 record after their 2-8 finish in 2015.
Northeast is one win away from being in the drivers seat for a playoff spot in Class 6A-District 9, and it’s really helped create a winning culture at Northeast that they haven’t had since the late 90s and early 2000s. For a little bit of historical context, the Vikings were Regional Champions in 1997 under Jerry Austin, and in the span from ’95-’03, they were pretty much a lock for the playoffs. When Mike Jalazo took over in 2011, he would lead the team to their fifth losing record since 2003, before winning a District Runner-Up spot in 2012.
But it’s easy to look past what happened in previous years if you’re Head Coach Jeremy Frioud, especially when you’ve only lost one game on the year to a Clearwater team that will win the district. Frouid is in his third year at Northeast, and in that time, he’s gone 10-15. Soon, that may flip, epsecially if the Vikings keep winning ball games, which it looks like they will for a while. However, it’s not just about the record, but it’s about the leadership and abilities off the field that Frioud in more concerned with than getting victories on Friday night.
“The record is what everyone wants to gawk and talk about. But that’s really not what’s got me hyped up. What’s got me hyped up is the fact that our seniors and everybody on our team are starting to really believe in themselves. These boys at Northeast are becoming men, and that’s what we’re ultimately concerned about,” Frioud said. “The guys are walking around school with their chest up, they’re feeling great.”
In his life, Frioud is learning things that he then teaches his athletes on the field, not just about football, but about life as a whole. “My wife was an Olympic gold-medalist swimmer. She had been doubted about being a distance swimmer, especially being only 5’6″. But she ultimately defied that and won a gold medal. She’s taught me a lot about working hard and outworking the competition. Our motto at Northeast is that if you work hard, you can and will achieve anything,” Frioud said.
During the offseason, the Vikings took quite a hit with the transfer bug, with a couple of key-guys transferring out of the program. Jalynn Williams transferred to St. Peterburg, but he hadn’t played since Week Seven. UTLs Adul Yates and Bryce Green transferred after the spring, but they haven’t seemed to hurt the output of the Vikings in 2016. There’s no hard feelings between Frioud and the three guys that transferred out, and in the grand scheme of things, he wishes them the best in the rest of their football careers. “I’m not going to talk bad about them, I wish them the best in life and just in general. It was a real shame that we lost Adul and Bryce because of their contributions in the classroom and as leaders of our football team, it was really the stinger. We’ve had guys that have stepped up in their place, which has been great to see.”
The transfer of those players have opened up opportunities for new stars to shine, like freshman RB Khaishef Edwards, who is getting varsity reps because of the transfer of Williams. Frioud speaks the praises of his services to the team in addition to what fellow RB Shaquan Johnson have done for the program. Johnson is already a 1,000-yard rusher on the year, and he’s got 15 rushing touchdowns on the season. Edwards has been solid in the passing game with 262 receiving yards (leading the team).
“Shaq has been the poster-boy of Northeast football. There’s no doubt about it. He’s a lead by example kind of kid. His sophomore year when I first came in, people said he was too small to be a running back. But I just really liked him, and I thought he had just a ton of potential, and now he’s the hardest working kid on the team. He’s really the hardest working running back in the county, just through the work he puts in,” Frioud said.
Frioud has brought not only a no-nonsense attitude to the Vikings football program, and it’s really showed. “It all starts with having a coaching staff that’s highly motivated to work and to win. I’m privileged to have a coaching staff that works like ours does. I came into the program knowing how to win. I was at Largo for 12 out of Rick Rodriguez’s 14 years as coach, and we won ballgames. A lot of ballgames. You know, we were 2-8 last season, because we worked 2-8 hard. It’s not just about certain players, it’s about the team as a whole. It’s about sacrificing for the greater good.”
In the short-term, it’s about winning and advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 2012, and the first time in Frouid’s young tenure at Northeast. Friday, they take on Boca Ciega, who sits at 2-2. Whoever wins that game is in the drivers seat for the 6A-9 runner-up spot. From there, Northeast will play Dixie Hollins, Largo, and Lakewood to finish off their season. “I’m really just focused on Bogie at this point,” Frioud said. “I haven’t even looked or thought about Dixie or Largo, we’re really just taking it one game at a time and trying to win one step at a time.”