The record will say SLUH’s freshman football team finished at 4-5, a subpar season if you are simply looking at the record.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. The picture at left, a blocked extra point attempt by Hazelwood West, in the final game of their freshman season, tells the story:
A hodgepodge of SLUH players in white, scrambling to get the football; a football in mid-flight; a mixture of uncertainty and determination, all framed by the golden fall afternoon that was Oct. 20, 2011.
The players would get to this football but would lose the game 21-18, and suddenly, the journey that began for these boys in August on a 100-degree practice field in St. Louis’ Forest Park was over.
54 young men were given Jr. Billiken freshman football jerseys last August, and there were 54 different experiences. But the season accomplished exactly what freshman football is supposed to do: Learn how to be a team.
Among the highlights:
- The opening game, a 24-7 victory over MICDS. It was clear you could tell the boys who had played junior league football from the ones who had just put on pads for the first time in their young lives. Andre Colvin (right) was given the job of running back and never let go.
- Five days later, the second game. A “welcome-to-high-school-football” shellacking by Webster Groves, 42-0. But late in the game, Coach Tom Wilson started subbing at will. Every kid got to play in this one. I never saw so many smiles after a loss.
- The thrilling win over Vianney Sept. 22. Came down to the last play, but SLUH prevailed.
- The day Air Force One flew over the field, Oct. 4, creating a buzz in the stands and on the field. President Barack Obama came to St. Louis for a fundraiser, and the Normandy High School field was just below the plane’s landing path. Ann Larson, mother of No. 35 Arthur Larson, asked her son after the game what he thought about Obama’s plane flying over. Arthur’s response: “What plane?”
- The deep baritone voice of Wilson, cajoling, encouraging, and sometimes downright yelling at the boys when they needed it, in a voice you could hear all over the stadium. He’s what a freshman football coach should be: Tough, stern and a teacher of the game. He was helped this season by assistants Kent Kershenski, Tim Flaherty, Dan McGuire and Sterling Brown.
- The emerging stars, such as Colvin, Parker Pence, Max Kavy, Andrew Hunt, Dan Tarlas (below), Spencer Chipley. That’s this year. Over the course of the next three years, other key players will emerge as well, soaking up every lesson nine football games taught them. It’s a journey, and these boys understand that.
My 15, Jack McCarthy, plans to regularly visit the weight room after the season, and that’s a good thing because a mom looks at the size of the players in the other uniforms — especially the ones lined up opposite your son. Jack’s approaching six feet, but he sure didn’t look like it from the last row of the bleachers.
He won’t just be hitting the weights. He’ll continue to hit the books, too.
Therein lies the greatest lesson these 54 young men learned these last three months: How to manage their time in a demanding curriculum while playing a sport that demands a great deal of it. It’s called growing up.
Then I ask Jack: What do you like best about playing football?
“Hitting people.”
A mother is not supposed to smile at that, but I do.
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