Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Preparing the young Eagles

By VINCENT THOMAS
Published August 26, 2005

Tuesday, after a typical mid-afternoon rain shower, the Springstead players and coaches were back outside on the practice field.

The starters were in a small scrimmage on the far left, nowhere near water or a rest and directly under the watchful eye of coach Bill Vonada. His frustration with the young team was blazing hotter than the bright-yellow sun.

"Would you guys for once take a little pride in yourselves and play 100 percent on every down? Please!" Vonada said.

He was preaching "intensity and concentration" from his coaching pulpit, preparing his squad for tonight's 7:30 home showdown against Pasco. Vonada uses much of his practice time teaching - teaching execution, teaching concentration, teaching commitment. The problem is that he and his fellow coaches haven't had much practice time this week.

"We've had some bad weather," Vonada said. "So we've had to go indoors a lot and work with whatever facilities were available."

This meant clearing out the cafeteria if the gym was in use or spending a couple hours watching film instead of running plays, waiting for the storms to pass.

For a young team with a new quarterback, John Hogeland; new running back, Mike King; and several new linebackers, scrimmaging and simulation is vital.

"Even if you have three full days of running your plays and simulating the other team's plays, it's still not enough," Vonada said. "There's never enough time."

This week's weather hasn't helped. What has, though, is a stripped-down playbook. Vonada has tried to accommodate the inexperienced offense by giving the unit "a few plays and making sure we do them right," the coach said.

In their preseason game against Land O' Lakes, the Eagles had a problem holding onto the ball. But even with the possible wet conditions looming tonight, Vonada was less worried about ball security and more concerned about timing. That gets better with, of course, practice time.

Rain delays also impeded Springstead's ability to simulate Pasco's new spread offense, run by quarterback Tony Smith.

"Pasco's got a really quick and explosive quarterback that can hurt you throwing or running it," Vonada said. "So it would have been nice to simulate as much as you can, but we watched some film.

"Now we'll have to be ready for the real thing."

[Last modified August 26, 2005, 01:36:21]