Editor”s note: This is the fifth in a five-part series profiling Lake County”s varsity football teams.
LOWER LAKE — If the Lower Lake Trojans are not vastly improved in the 2012 season, it won”t be for lack of trying.
There is, of course, vast room to get better when a single victory would be a 100-percent improvement for the Trojans, who were 0-9-1 in 2011. But, to be fair, Lower Lake High School”s Mike Huffman came into the head coaching job at Lower Lake in the 11th hour.
“It was a kind of rough year,” he said. “Taking the program over in late August, we had no offseason.”
And in Huffman”s view, shared by most head coaches, the offseason is a critical time for a team to initiate programs and practices. What he initiated included:
— Ten days of spring football, which included bringing in legendary Lower Lake coach Gordon Sadler, who helped fine-tune the option offense with the help of another former Trojan great, running back Zeb Becker.
— Receiver-quarterback, running back and line camps.
— An open weight room, which 25 players took advantage of. Last year the number of players was zero.
“I feel like we”re a thousand reps ahead – over the summer we got a thousand reps in, taking a snap and handing it off, taking a snap and throwing the ball,” Huffman said between two-a-day practices at the start of the 2012 season.
“This year we started in May,” he added. “I”ve always advocated spring practice, but when you”re not the head coach you don”t make those decisions. If you don”t have spring practice you don”t have enough time to do what you want to do because you have to put in the basics first. I took advantage of spring ball as much as I could.
“We did not just let our kids go for the summer and just lose their minds,” said Huffman, sounding somehow motherly.
Huffman”s makeover goes beyond the initiation of a meaningful spring practice. Taking a page from Upper Lake, which credited the role of wrestling team members for a breakout season in ”11, he added coach Ed Fuch”s entire wrestling staff to his coaching crew. No less than five wrestlers are on the squad, including 6-foot-2, 185-pound wide receiver Thomas Cross, 292-pound sophomore defensive end Mike Warren, Dominick Dingess, Ben Illia and William Isaacs.
“A wrestler will be there to the very end, fighting with his heart,” Huffman reasoned.
There is also competition for playing time — rare in recent seasons at Lower Lake — particularly at running back. “Jared Thompson and Jerald Drummond shared the ball last year, but this year I have John Dingess, John Deakins and others,” said Huffman.
But, given the time and effort devoted to quarterback Richard Tucker, whose 1,273 passing yards led the county last year, expect the Trojans to be a passing team. “He threw a lot of picks last year (16),” said Huffman, “but during the summer he came down here three days a week.”
Whatever their offense is, the Trojans will be tested to see how well it works early. Before opening their North Central League I schedule against Middletown, their first three non-league encounters are against Hoopa (away), Arcata (home) and Valley Christian (home).
Other Trojans to watch are:
— Warren, a 3.8 GPA student who, although only 15 years old, will anchor the Lower Lake line. In addition to wrestling and football, he”s a 4-Her who raises champion pigs.
— Defensive lineman Johnny Eggers, who, as only a freshman last season, made 17 tackles against Kelseyville after moving up to the varsity just before that game.
With the disappointment of a winless season in the rearview mirror, Huffman asserts, “We have an opportunity to show what we”re made of. That”s the challenge for us.”
