MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On a drizzly Monday morning at Trinity, wet football helmets glistened as the Warriors began Week 2 of the three-week summer workout period, but even through the dreary conditions, something was clearly much different than practices at other schools.
It took less than 30 seconds to scan the field and count how many helmets were running drills — 18. Trinity is attempting to reboot its football program for the first time in five years, and in a school of about 200 students K-12, getting numbers to field a varsity schedule is not easy, but coach Marcus Law and the school administration knew exactly what they were getting into when the decision was announced in March.
“We knew from the start that numbers were going to be low,” said Law, an assistant at Morgantown High the last few seasons. “We just have to be smart. We have to make things simple enough to where a guy knows where he needs to go. We designed the offense according to the mindset that we are going to have low numbers and that we need to keep it simple.”
Law expects more players to show up once word of mouth spreads and the grind of summer vacations is finished, so once the season begins Aug. 30 with a home game against Mapletown (Pa.), the Warriors should field over 20 players.
With 11 players on each side of the ball, that leaves little wiggle room for replacements. That’s something else Law needs to keep in mind.
“An injury to the right spots, that’s definitely a concern,” he said. “We’ve tried to design this thing so we can fill a guy in, like on the offensive line — if a guy needs to go in, the blocking scheme is simple enough that he knows what to do at all times.”
For Nick Beimel, one of three seniors on the team, getting a chance to play high school football is something he always hoped he’d do.
“I’ve played football basically my whole life, and I’ve always wanted to play high school football,” he said. “And now, in my senior year, I find out we’re gonna try to start up a team? That’s what I’ve always wanted and it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t be any more happy.”
Building a football team from the foundation is something that other programs don’t face, which makes the summer workouts even more critical for the Warriors. Including flex days, Law wants to use this time to get to know his players and find out what exactly they do best.
On Monday, Trinity repped five along the offensive line, as the rest worked on route running between the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Beimel is working at both QB and WR, while Johnny Moore, Davon Elridge and Drew Bozick are getting the majority of reps at quarterback.
“We spend about a half hour each day in the classroom trying to get their football IQ up, so we talk about leverage and talk about the small things that they may not know,” Law said. “Ideally, if their football IQ’s low, we need to get that IQ up.”
While none on the roster has competed at the high school level before, the Warriors showed Law there is potential at the skill positions during a 7-on-7 last week at William & Jefferson. They went 4-0 in pool play and lost by four points to Upper St. Clairsville in tournament play.
“Drew is smart and he does take care of the ball, and there’s times when he acts like a freshman, but you see him and think, ‘Ah, yeah, he’s done this before,’ ” Law said. “With Drew, his feet have to be right every time — that’s the type of stuff we’re trying to get across to all of these guys at the point.”
Trinity still has just seven games on the schedule this season, including three at home. Stadium lights are expected to be installed by mid-August.
