Spend a few minutes at Jamesville-DeWitt football practice this month, and it quickly becomes apparent that the right combination of work ethic and attitude is on display.
Instead of feeling glad to get a water break, the players are mad that it broke up a goal-line drill that they wanted to finish. Yet they turn right around and willingly go through punishing drills that test strength, agility and endurance.
Head coach Eric Ormond said he knows from where this good approach springs.
“This is a team that wants a sectional title,” said Ormond, knowing full well that 21 years has passed since J-D climbed to the top of the Section III ranks.
To get it, J-D needs to traverse through a Section III Class A ranks made tougher by the addition of two former AA schools, Auburn and Central Square.
But it does so with 20 seniors on its 27-man roster, all of them relatively battle-tested and eager to go after reaching the sectional Class A semifinals a season ago before losing a wild 56-42 decision to Indian River.
As one of those seniors, Adam Honis, points out, it’s a well-conditioned group, able to play well late in games, as it showed in 2017 with, among other things, an overtime win over neighbor and rival East Syracuse Minoa.
Honis is one of three players in the mix to serve as J-D’s quarterback, along with Nick Brotzki and Ryan Vespi. All could start, but Ormond said that, whoever does, the other two can accept their roles without complaint.
“All three are completely selfless,” he said.
Whoever does get the nod will have the benefit of Evan Dougherty returning at running back in J-D’s spread offense. Vespi is one of several options at wide receiver, joining Pat Murad and Kaleb McCloud, along with slot receivers Zach Goodson and Kelvin Hunyh.
Guard Steve Baker is the lone returning starter on the Rams’ offensive line. It will be up to the likes of Mateo Santos, Nick Abbott, James Richer and Chris Parker to fill the other roles on the line.
Defensively, J-D likes to use three linemen and five linebackers, with some of those linebackers drifting into pass coverage. Santos and Baker rotate at nose guard, helped by ends Caleb Patterson and Shane Wright.
Brotzki could find himself in the rare position of starting at quarterback while also taking on middle linebacker duties.
With Parker, Dougherty, McCloud, Max Chirco and the twin brother duo of Will and Quinn Walton on hand, the Rams can offer a deep rotation at linebacker, helping a secondary where Vespi and Goodson are at cornerback next to Hunyh at safety.
J-D starts out where it wants to return to in November – the Carrier Dome, meeting a tough Section IV foe in Susquehanna Valley during the Kickoff Classic.
And it doesn’t get easier from there, the Rams going to Honeoye Falls-Lima before a lineup of Class A foes that includes Indian River, ESM and defending champon Whitesboro, plus trips to Auburn and Carthage.
Goodson said everyone on J-D knows their roles and that they’re committed to the hard work it will take to navigate through this difficult slate and, perhaps, end two-plus decades of title futility.
