Coaches work up plays they think will work and the players work on conditioning.
All summer long the Rockets’ Football facebook page was active with posts about what kids should be working on to be prepared for the rigors of the start of the season.
Photos of community service, older players working with little gridders and the #NextStep23 photographs and videos of workouts the kids were taking part in, learning the discipline of fitness.
“Every week the Touchdown Club provides food, equipment, program needs and scholarships to over 200 student athletes in our community.” their Facebook page states.
They give away $250 every quarter of every home game and $5,000 in the final quarter of the last home game.
All of this, like the practices they are currently involved in, helps the Rockets get prepared for their season.
This is the second year for Reynolds and his staff. The Rocket’s haven’t had a winning record since 2016. They were 3-7 last year under then first-year head coach Reynolds.
He sees opportunities to improve from the tough season.
“We hope to do better than last year’s 3-7. We really should’ve been at least 5-5,” Reynolds said zeroing in on a specific game especially.
They will be playing a scrimmage at Saegertown next week and then they open the season with two road games against Franklin on August 25 and Sharpesville the following week.
“We’ve got real good numbers, we’re feeling positive about the things the kids are doing, we have real great buy-in, and this is a hard working crew,” Reynolds said. “Kids are willing to work hard both in the classroom and on the field so we’re looking for good things this year.”
“We’re really proud of what they did last year, we had a 96% eligibility rate on the season,” he said, emphasizing his players seldom had to miss a game, or practice due to bad grades. They do have tutors to help them if needed. “We emphasize to them that they are students first. So helping these kids in the classroom as well as on the field is a big deal for us.”
They have a strong group of juniors coming back with good playing experience and a lot of good athletes. “Our team has a large population of multi-sport athletes. These guys work hard balancing workloads, academics and the demands of sports.”
Reynolds said they are working through key positions with Ian MacDonald and a couple others doing really good work at QB.
Titusville is in a very tough region with perennial powerhouses Oil City and Meadville. Last year they beat Franklin, Conneaut and Maplewood only, so they are looking to improve on that.
“The biggest thing we’re talking about this year is just dealing with the adversity of playing football. Facing the challenges you face on Friday night and being able to come together as a team and deal with those things,” he said.
Coach knows the community is there to support the team and they want them to succeed and bring a winning tradition back to Carter Field..
“There are people who come to the games who don’t even have kids here anymore. We do get a lot of support from the local community and the local (civic) clubs. The kids do a lot of community service too, so it makes it kind of special here on Friday nights. This is one of the best facilities in all of District 10. The kids know when they step out on the field on Friday night it is a whole community involvement. It’s really special.