Schuylerville ready for another run at title

Schuylerville >> When a team loses a Super Bowl 40-8 – at any level – the game film from the defeat isn’t must-see TV in the offseason.

But Schuylerville High School isn’t most football teams.

“For the senior group, that’s definitely some motivation,” senior quarterback Will Griffen said, of the 2014 Section II Class B Super Bowl loss. “Over the summer we go home and we always go to a friend’s house and we watch that Schalmont game on Time Warner, and we’ve watched it probably 20 times this summer. It’s definitely some motivation for us.”

The fact that his players had watched the game so many times came as a bit of a surprise to head coach John Bowen.

“I was sitting at home (one night) and they were playing replays on Time Warner of the game and I was a watching the Class B game and I came in and said, ‘You know what I was watching yesterday afternoon fellas? I was watching the Super Bowl,'” Bowen said. “And they looked at me – and I didn’t know this – they looked at me and said, ‘Coach we’ve watched that game 30-40 times.’ I said, ‘What?’ They said, ‘Yeah, if we’re sitting around or we’re all hanging out we watch the Super Bowl.’ They watched that game more than I have and I consider myself a little bit of a film junkie. They’ve watched that game far more than I have, which really struck me that they want to keep fresh in their memories the hurt of getting to the table, but not being able to eat necessarily, to continue to keep them motivated. That stuck me, just not necessarily knowing the psyche of these guys to see that, that’s where their minds are, that they’re not taking anything for granted and that they want to make sure some of the emotion that they felt last year and carry it over.”

Coming off a 9-1 season that included that 40-8 loss to Schalmont in the Class B Super Bowl, the Black Horses have returned the majority of their starting lineup on both sides of the ball.

However, Bowen has made sure he’s stressed to his team that their success this year will be earned, not given to them.

“Any coach would love to have the number of returners that we do,” said the head coach entering his third year. “When you’re in that situation, though, you start getting a lot of people giving you – maybe – unearned praise. Right now, for our coaching staff that’s the biggest concern coming into it is making sure that the boys are not believing in the outside noise coming in. They just have to make sure they understand that we got to the point last year through hard work, through sacrifice, through what we did here on the field. That’s not going to be handed to us. The target’s probably a little bigger. Last year we were a little ahead of schedule.

“We know this year that we have a few key seniors that aren’t here. Granted there wasn’t a large number of seniors, but those seniors meant a lot to us. We’re hoping the rest of the crew elevates their game so we’re able to negate those losses.”

With the large number of players coming back, the Black Horses have been able to pick up right where they left off last season.

“No matter whether we’re talking offense or defense, I think every skill set – if you understand the game – if you’re talking your secondary and how they mesh with the linebackers or whether you’re talking about your backers meshing with your defensive front, the year all of those guys have had together and the year to mesh and develop I think you’re going to see (the results),” Bowen said. “That is part of what has helped flatten out that learning curve for us this year.”

The term ‘mesh’ was what Griffen used to describe the way the Black Horses’ offense has looked so far.

“We’ve been meshing well,” Griffen said. “The line has been doing great. The running backs have been finding their holes. We’re looking good.”

With his time ticking in a Black Horses uniform, Griffen is looking for another quick start to the season.

“It’s huge. Obviously you don’t want to lose your opener,” said the senior. “You want to go out there, beat Johnstown and keep it going from there.

“End game is to win, but you have to take it one step at a time. Week 1, Johnstown, then go on from there.”