MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There are plenty of ways to describe a typical Preston High football fan: Loyal, enthusiastic and supportive. But truth be told, the adjective that encapsulates Knights Nation most completely is probably this one: Hungry.
So what do you need when you’re hungry? To be fed, right? And to be fed right, and although the last few seasons have been rough for head coach Jonathan Tennant’s teams, there may be substantial relief supplies coming from a rejuvenated unified middle school football program, the Preston Squires.
Coach Mark Deep has been involved since its inception six years ago and he’s watched the program progress slowly but steadily, and this season has the Squires near the top of the North Central 7 Conference standings.
“The participation for the most part is growing a little,” he said, “but what we are really excited about is the enthusiasm, dedication and talent in the past few seasons. And this year, the kids are really learning to play as a team, and it’s showing up on the field.”
This season, Deep has seen strong improvement in special teams, line play on both sides of the ball, defensive backfield athleticism, running game consistency and general team cohesiveness. Deep isn’t the only Preston football coach who’s noticed the uptick.
“I think the middle school coaches have done an outstanding job,” Tennant said. “We’re very pleased with their preparation when they come to us as freshmen, and because they already know what they’re supposed to do, it allows us to start right in with adding to the playbook and developing them into varsity contributors.”
Tennant has also observed the benefits of organizing the unified team, rather than having the county’s five middle school teams play each other exclusively.
“Before, we had four or five teams doing four or five different things,” he said. “And the coaching quality and turnover was inconsistent. Now, there’s one message, which is very important, plus the kids are facing teams from Mon and Marion County, just like they will in high school. It really gives them a realistic picture of their future competition and gives them real goals to strive for. I’m more than pleased with the program, for sure.”
While every coach and every team wants to win, the ultimate goal for the Squires’ coaching staff is to develop football players ready to play Knights varsity football, so coordination with Tennant’s playbook and philosophy are key.
“We have them involved in strength and conditioning from January through May at the high school,” Deep said, “and we run the same base packages on offense and defense as they do for Coach Tennant. We use the same terminology as they do, run the same drills and basically try to run the program as close to varsity as we can. Our goal is to produce mature, fundamentally sound 9th graders who love the game of football.
“And,” he said, “if we win some games in the process, well, that’s pretty good, too.”
Of course, the best possible conclusion would be an imminent renaissance of Preston football, which would go a long way to leave the Knights and their fans, if not satisfied, at least full — of happiness and pride.
