Working together and building chemistry is certainly important for the players on a football team.
It may be even more important for a coaching staff.
All members of the Clay-Battelle football program are finding that out in Aaron LaPoe’s first season as head coach of the Cee-Bees. The season got off to a great start with a dominant home win in Week 1, but three straight losses were tough to swallow.
But a 35-13 win against Hancock (Md.) last week gave C-B the boost it needed heading into the second half of the season.
“We’ve got a wave of positive emotions,” LaPoe said. “We feel like we’ve learned some valuable lessons.”
Up next on the journey: C-B (3-3) travels to No. 8 Meadow Bridge (4-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.
This season has been a learning experience for the new staff and the coaches have seen what it takes to build a game plan around their players’ strengths. It may have taken some losses to get to this point, but the big win against Hancock allowed the staff to unleash some special moments for their offensive playmakers.
“Our offensive staff has started to gel as well as our offensive line has,” LaPoe said. “It was the first game where we ran some of our offensive plays perfectly. Our offensive staff was really communicating well and anticipating what we could call next.
“We were really on the same page all night. Sometimes, a new coach comes on, and there’s a new system for the kids. It’s also been new for us coaches. It’s taken us a while to find a good system that fits our kids. We’ve been learning the kids’ strengths, and that took some time, but I truly feel we found the right answers last week.”
Wide receiver Landon Savage caught two touchdown passes and totaled 127 receiving yards last week. The senior played a big role in getting the offensive unit to play to its full potential.
“It was really amazing to see my team play as a team,” Savage said. “To be able to be that dominant on offense makes it really easy to distribute the ball around. Whether that is through the run game or the pass game, which makes it easier to call plays and run our offense.”
As a senior leader, Savage has taken some of the young players under his wing this season. With underclassmen now at quarterback, running back and all along the offensive line, the future is bright for the Cee-Bees. What’s even more encouraging is the impact they are making right now.
“Our young guys work every day to improve and get better and get to work along with the older guys,” Savage said. “It’s not surprising at all that they are good enough to step up and help the team. We get coached every day on how to do our job to the best of our ability, and I believe that the young guys pick up the offense and the defense really easy because of how hard they work.”
LaPoe said he had an “ah ha” moment seeing last week’s game unfold, and found it funny when West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown had a similar notion during the Mountaineers’ recent big win against Oklahoma State.
“Give great effort, do your job and be a great teammate and eventually good things are going to happen,” LaPoe said. “I’ve been telling them that, and it took a while for it all to happen, but the good things definitely happened last week against Hancock.”
This week, the Cee-Bees have a three-and-a-half-hour road trip to Meadow Bridge. The team will leave school early on Friday to make the drive to Fayette County in the southern part of the state.
The bus will stop at Babcock State Park, where the team has rented a pavilion to eat lunch, before completing the trip to Meadow Bridge.
“The last half of the drive is the windiest roads you can think of,” LaPoe said.
Meadow Bridge has wins over Van, Pocahontas County, Wyoming East and Gilmer County. The Wildcats’ lone loss is to Bath County (VA).
“They’re really big and physical,” LaPoe said. “We feel that some of their strengths play into our strengths. We’re excited about the opportunity. This will be another step in a positive direction.”
