NEW PORT RICHEY - Torrential rain and lightning cut Ridgewood's spring scrimmage short Thursday night after the Rams ran about 30 offensive plays in a driving rainstorm.
That was all the work his players needed, coach Troy Cornwell said.
"It was wet and nasty," he said. "The field conditions were getting a little wet and we felt we had proved what we needed to going against ourselves. We didn't feel the need to prove anything else."
What the Rams proved this spring, Cornwell said, is that they're ready to continue building a program that won a school-record six games and played its first playoff game in 2003.
Or perhaps rebuilding is a more accurate term, considering Ridgewood must replace 20 seniors, including Adamm Oliver, the Georgia Tech signee and 2002 Sunshine Athletic Conference co-offensive and defensive player of the year.
"The kids are upbeat, the kids have a good attitude, they get after people, they buy into what we're doing," Cornwell said.
"We're losing some really good football players, but what I think people don't realize is that we've got a lot of kids who have in the system for two years, and that's two years of lifting weights."
BACK-TO-BACK: The departure of Oliver and senior running back/receiver Sean Jester leaves Ridgewood to replace 1,856 rushing yards, 603 receiving yards and 27 total touchdowns.
Cornwell installed the Power-I last season, his first, in part to take advantage of the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Oliver's size and strength in the backfield. Jester provided a speedy, elusive complement to Oliver's bruising power.
Now that his two primary offensive weapons are gone, Cornwell said the names and faces will change but the scheme will remain the same.
"We're still going to be a Power-I football team," he said. "We're going to run the football at people. We're going to try to find mismatches and take advantage of double-teams.
"We're going to run right at them."
Only in the fall it will be Mike Galizia and Andre Richard sharing the load at running back and bearing the burden of replacing Oliver and Jester.
What the newcomers lack in size - Galizia is 5-10, 170 pounds, Richard 5-8, 140 - Cornwell hopes they make up for with speed and athleticism.
"Our philosophy hasn't changed, but maybe the execution has when you go from a 240-pound tailback to a 170-pound tailback," Cornwell said. "It's got its advantages and its negatives. Adamm was very good, he was a horse, but now our tailbacks are a little quicker, the chances of a big play maybe increased.
"What Adamm did every time he ran the ball is he never got stopped at the line of scrimmage. Now, though, we may get stopped at the line of scrimmage, we may have negative runs, more often."
The biggest backfield battle in spring camp was at the quarterback position between returning starter Pete Bennett and newcomer Shannon Eva, a Hudson transfer.
Bennett still has the job, and the coach said Eva definitely will play a role in the offense, perhaps at receiver. That battle will continue in the fall, Cornwell said.
KEEP AN EYE ON: The coaching staff has high hopes for the new left guard, 6-4, 300-pound John Forte. Lining up next to returning left tackle Bryan Presley in the fall, opposing teams will have to watch out for that side of the line.
"He's got good size," Cornwell said. "He's intelligent. He understands the plays. He understands what we want to do. He moves his feet well and he moves people off the line of scrimmage."
TO BE CONTINUED: Fall practice starts Aug. 12. The Rams season begins with a preseason Kickoff Classic on Aug. 29 against Lecanto at 7:30 p.m. at Ridgewood Stadium.
