This is a variation of the football preview story we wrote for the Titusville News-Journal.
| That very distinctive sound heard around the corner from Pasquale's Pizza is music to football lovers like head coach Mike Reynolds - it the crack of good shoulder pads coming together with force and determination. It's the echo off the historic concrete Carter Field football stadium of whistles, grunts from hard working players and the occasional up-level voice of a coach teaching passionately about the disciple and stray of being a football player on a football team. A lot of learning takes place between the conditioning and drills. |   |
The brown and gold are poised for a pretty solid 2024 campaign with a talented senior class that saw the school’s first winning season since 2016 last year as juniors.
A couple weeks of practice, a couple scrimmage games and now that are looking forward to their season opener on the road up in Corry on Friday.
A couple weeks of practice, a couple scrimmage games and now that are looking forward to their season opener on the road up in Corry on Friday.
This season was supposed to be their breakout season with a playoff berth in the end. The region they had been playing in with Oil City, Franklin, Warren, Conneaut and Meadville was definitely getable for the Rockets. Oil City will be without their offensive machine Ethen Knox for the first time in four years and other than Meadville, Titusville was looking at teams they had beaten last year.
However, they won't know how they'd fare because in the off-season District 10 said, wait a minute, we’re going to try to lump a bunch of AAA teams into two regions. So Titusville and CASH were moved into a region with Mercer County powerhouses Grove City, Hickory, Sharon and Slippery Rock. They make up the new Region 4. The district also created a second all AAA region with Fairview, Fort LeBoeuf, Girard, North East, Harbor Creek and Corry.
Despite the change, Reynolds remains enthusiastic and the goal remains the same. “This is a great opportunity,” he noted with a schedule that also includes Warren, Corry, Girard, Fairview and North East.
It will be a good indication who the top 3A teams will be at season’s end.
However, they won't know how they'd fare because in the off-season District 10 said, wait a minute, we’re going to try to lump a bunch of AAA teams into two regions. So Titusville and CASH were moved into a region with Mercer County powerhouses Grove City, Hickory, Sharon and Slippery Rock. They make up the new Region 4. The district also created a second all AAA region with Fairview, Fort LeBoeuf, Girard, North East, Harbor Creek and Corry.
Despite the change, Reynolds remains enthusiastic and the goal remains the same. “This is a great opportunity,” he noted with a schedule that also includes Warren, Corry, Girard, Fairview and North East.
It will be a good indication who the top 3A teams will be at season’s end.
Reynolds said they are moving forward with the only goal they've ever had in mind - build Rocket football to compete against whatever opponent is in front of them.
“It’s really about the team and building this program." Reynolds said. "And the guys really understand that everyday we’re working toward our vision of what a team looks like in terms of honoring our family and our community of student athletes, building lasting relationships and competing for a District 10 championship,”
Reynolds, standing on the sidelines of Carter Field, was looking over practice with 40 someo dd players and coaches broken up into groups for drills. “We really love the chemistry of this group.”
Reynolds conducts practice almost like a symphony. He has many parts moving at once in many areas of the sport’s complex. Over a half dozen coaches are doing their part to teach the program, including one donning a blocking pad being knocked on his derriere by a kid stronger than the coach realized. “That’s good, good hit” said the coach as he gingerly got back up and found his sunglasses about six feet away on the turf.
“It’s really exciting having a new year in front of us and working through our system and all the fundamentals necessary to help us be successful,” Reynolds said smiling optimistically.
“It’s really about the team and building this program." Reynolds said. "And the guys really understand that everyday we’re working toward our vision of what a team looks like in terms of honoring our family and our community of student athletes, building lasting relationships and competing for a District 10 championship,”
Reynolds, standing on the sidelines of Carter Field, was looking over practice with 40 someo dd players and coaches broken up into groups for drills. “We really love the chemistry of this group.”
Reynolds conducts practice almost like a symphony. He has many parts moving at once in many areas of the sport’s complex. Over a half dozen coaches are doing their part to teach the program, including one donning a blocking pad being knocked on his derriere by a kid stronger than the coach realized. “That’s good, good hit” said the coach as he gingerly got back up and found his sunglasses about six feet away on the turf.
“It’s really exciting having a new year in front of us and working through our system and all the fundamentals necessary to help us be successful,” Reynolds said smiling optimistically.
And why wouldn't he be optimistic? Last year’s talented junior class included incredible offensive outputs from its three top weapons, Jaxon Covell, Kam Mong and Ian McDonald. The trio combined for over 4,000 yards of total offense. Covell had over 2,000 yards himself including 1,353 on the ground. Reynolds knows having three explosive weapons keeps opposing defenses off-balance.
“Last year, our offensive output was great. We’re going to still continue to work and score points,” he said. “But we struggled defensively for about three weeks at the beginning of the season. Our coaching staff and our kids did a really great job coming together to improve on the things we didn’t do well and this year, defense is a big focus for us.”
Reynolds also noted some key errors on special teams cost them a couple games they maybe could have won.
“Last year, our offensive output was great. We’re going to still continue to work and score points,” he said. “But we struggled defensively for about three weeks at the beginning of the season. Our coaching staff and our kids did a really great job coming together to improve on the things we didn’t do well and this year, defense is a big focus for us.”
Reynolds also noted some key errors on special teams cost them a couple games they maybe could have won.
| “The big focus for us is, we’ve got to get better every week. We need to be better today than we were yesterday and just keep pounding those fundamentals, execute quickly, protect the ball and play good defense, he said. “One of the things I’m really proud of is that our seniors understand the need to teach the lessons they’ve learned to the juniors, the sophomores and the freshmen. It has been stated as a goal that we want to pass down what we’ve learned and that is a really important component of being successful and building that culture we love so much.” | 8/23 at Corry, 7 p.m. 8/31 at Girard, 7 p.m. 9/6 Grove City, 7 p.m. Carter Field 9/13 Conneaut, 7 p.m. 9/20 Warren Homecoming, 7 p.m. 9/27 at North East, 7 p.m. 10/4 Hickory, 7 p.m. Carter Field 10/11 at Slippery Rock, 7 p.m. 10/18 at Sharon, 7 p.m. 10/25 Fairview, 7 p.m. Carter Field |
They will get to work out some things hosting Saegertown and Mercyhurst Prep for back to back scrimmages on August 17 before their first regular season game on the road. They have their home opener in the third week of the season on September 6 against Grove City.
“We’re very confident that we have a mature group of kids that can go out and compete for a District 10 championship and that is ultimately what we want to do day in and day out.”
“We’re very confident that we have a mature group of kids that can go out and compete for a District 10 championship and that is ultimately what we want to do day in and day out.”
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