Hillcrest’s Football Comeback Story

Hillcrests+Football+Comeback+Story

Faith Durden, Guest Writer

Hillcrest High School Football is coming back, and there is no doubt about it. It’s absolutely no secret that before last year Hillcrest’s football program was struggling: only winning one game in about five years. However, that losing streak seemed no more once new Head Coach and former NFL player, Marquice Cole, took over.

Coach Cole has some big plans for our football team, his Alma Mater. The first plan is to shape the boys of this generation into young men and to win some games.

Hey, but don’t think Cole does all this on his own, he has a team of coaches that all bring something to the table, and when I say team, I mean it literally; there are enough coaches to play the game themselves. Most of the coaches played football themselves either here at Hillcrest and on to college, or at another high school.

One thing these coaches instill in their players is that they are student-athletes and school comes first. Period.

They teach them that they are a team, and on a team if one person messes up, everyone suffers. A varsity player was asked about his coaches’ rules in the building, and his responses were very interesting. Conrad Kerr, a junior here at Hillcrest High School, told me that some of the things his coaches require of him on the field are to work hard, play though the whistle, and sprint through the line. In school, they require him to go to class everyday on time, pass all five classes, be respectful to all teachers whether they are his own or just staff in the building, and stay off his phone.

When he doesn’t do what is required of him, the players pay for their actions in practice. The players do log rolls for two-hundred yards until the coaches say stop, and as a team the players are required to run laps around the baseball field, times two for varsity players, and they run for all levels.

So let’s say a freshman got in trouble in class, every player would still have to run one lap, if the player that got in trouble was on varsity, it would mean two laps instead of just one.
Under the direction of Marquice Cole, the Hillcrest football program has a record of 7/14. Winning four of the nine games last year and three so far this year. With this steady improvement, there is no telling how far Hillcrest can go. Some of the coaches’ methods may seem harsh, and over the years many players have quit simply because things seemed too hard, not fair, or they just plain didn’t want to follow the rules.

However, the young men that stayed on the team, regardless of the punishments, have learned many lessons in the game of football and in their everyday lives. The best love is tough love.

Come out every Friday whether home or away, to support our players. Don’t forget our Homecoming game is September 23rd against our rival sister school the Bremen Braves.

#BleedBlue