Blazers should win homecoming

An opinion

Blair's varsity football team is 0-5 thus far in their season, but they are bound to start winning Friday, Oct. 8 in the homecoming game against the Wheaton Knights. Blair will come away with the victory as the team comes together.

The first few weeks of the season have been difficult for the team, which has had a tough schedule. Blair has played against perennial powerhouse squads such as Damascus. At the time of the game, the Damascus Hornets were ranked number two in The Washington Post's top 20 area teams.

Despite the lopsided final score of that game, the Blazers played solidly. The team hung in there and basically ended up giving the game away with costly turnovers.

Part of the problem is the relative inexperience of the Blazer roster. "[The team is] improving. It is a young team and has a lot of inexperienced players," says assistant coach James Short, who has had the head coaching position on the team for the last nine years.

The starting quarterbacks are junior Aaron Simon and sophomore Russ Williams. Both of them are making the transition to playing at the varsity level; Simon started at quarterback on the JV team last year. Rookie head coach Jeff Seals acknowledges the differences between JV and varsity. "[There is a] whole different story between Varsity and JV," declares Seals.

The initial failure can also be attributed to the strength and work regimen of the players. "Strength is a big thing. [Right now, we have] a lot of kids who don't go to the weight room," asserts Seals.

However, the Wheaton Knights are a fundamentally solid team. As of Oct. 1, the Knights are even at 2-2. According to Seals, the Knights do not make a lot of mistakes and are going to be a worthy opponent.

The strong point of Wheaton's team is their quarterback, who is armed with decent receivers. This will be a true test of the Blazers' secondary, who have proven themselves thus far. The secondary has been the best part of the defense, according to Short.

Short has also noticed improvements in Blair's offensive attack and their scoring ability.

With a more powerful offense capable of scoring and with the secondary playing at a high level, Short forecasts a victory. "We have a great chance of winning the homecoming game," hopes Short.

Seals expects a win every time the team steps on the field. "We go out to beat everybody," says Seals. However, he also understands the extraneous factors that could affect the team's performance. "All kinds of things happen when dealing with kids," says Seals, referring to problems at home, at school and with peers that could affect their performance.