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preps

Bigham: Complete game takes conditioning

By VINCENT THOMAS and DAVID MURPHY
Published September 14, 2005

Central coach Greg Bigham wants the Bears to be the best conditioned team on the field, no matter the opponent.

"We want to play four full quarters of football on Friday, and the only way to do that is to be in the best condition," Bigham said.

This is especially important since the Bears don't have the luxury of fielding a squad featuring one-position players.

Quarterback Gary Owen, whom Bigham calls the team's best-conditioned athlete, plays on every down except kickoff returns. "And he never asks to come out for a breather, either," said the coach. "Plus he sprints back to the sidelines after most offensive plays, so I can give him the next call."

Bigham mentions tight end Tim Plumadore and offensive lineman Andy Leavine as conditioning leaders. Leavine is 6-foot-6 and nearly 300 pounds. So those end of practice suicide sprints in full gear under the oppressive sun aren't easy.

Plumadore says the intensity of Central's practices have greatly increased since his first two years on the varsity squad. It's not a coincidence the spike coincides with Bigham's arrival.

"This year is totally different," Plumadore said. "We've been practicing at least three hours a day since June. And not once did you go through a drill and say to yourself, "That was easy."

On Labor Day, when most of the country was sleeping in or ending a vacation weekend, Central was on the practice field at 7 a.m., following a 50-0 loss the previous Friday.

Sounds fun, right? Plumadore just smiled and digressed. "It actually wasn't that bad."

Coach Jamie Joyner said he expects Williams to play in college, probably at linebacker, and at an NCAA Division II or Division III school.

[Last modified September 14, 2005, 09:29:30]