Font ResizeThe Susquehannock football team thought it had been practicing for 15 minutes. Coach Tom Waranavage disagreed.
"You just wasted 15 minutes of your life," Waranavage shouted to his team on Thursday afternoon at about 3:15 p.m. "Reset the clock, we're starting over. Twenty-four periods, five minutes each. Wait until the buzzer rings then hit the ground."
As the Warriors did a series of up-downs, Waranavage explained to his players that their effort was lacking and it was not going to be tolerated.
In his eyes, there was a difference between showing up on the field and practicing.
"We expect you to be great every day," Waranavage said. "You know what's expected. You know what we do every day. You know that hasn't changed."
What did change for the Warriors last season was their postseason status. After winning three consecutive YAIAA Division II titles and making the District 3 tournament, Susquehannock lost to West York for its first divisional defeat since 2003, ended up with a 6-4 record overall and a 5-1 mark in YAIAA play and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Susquehannock also has plenty of personnel changes to deal with as well. Sixteen of the 21 starters from last year's team have moved on, forcing the Warriors to play plenty of fresh faces as they look to get back to the top.
It's why Waranavage is clinging to as many constants as he can think of. The coaching staff has gone back to the schedule and format that worked well from 2004 to 2006 after
The regimen is jam-packed and tightly-choreographed, with a buzzer going off every five minutes to signify a new period.
And the Susquehannock
coach is sticking with his philosophy of including all of the players in the action as often as possible.
"We've always had productive camps, and I don't think this one is any different than ones in the past," Waranavage said. "I think if you come to our practices, there's a lot of quality reps that are happening and a lot of our kids get reps.
"We let all our kids get reps. We don't just work with the 'varsity kids,' and our sophomores aren't just bagholders. They get reps and they are expected to play. At some point, those kids are going to play. And it's equal reps."
The coach knows his approach isn't exactly the norm around these parts.
"Maybe we're a lot different than a lot of the people, but they have to get reps to get better," Waranavage said. "And just taking the fact that they become a junior or senior and all of a sudden they are going to know what they're doing, that's not how it works.
"You just don't know what you're doing because you're a senior, you know what you're doing because you've done it."
Waranavage is putting his inexperienced group against the best right away. The Warriors open the season on the road against a Manheim Central program that has won 15 District 3 titles since 1989. That's followed by home games against two more 2007 playoff teams in Daniel Boone and William Penn.
Early season losses helped sabotage Susquehannock's playoff chances last season and a 0-3 start will likely spell doom for its shot at the 2008 postseason.
"It's the biggest opening schedule of our lives," returning starting quarterback Patrick Miller said. "It's a lot different than previous years. But we have to be ready immediately. We can't just walk into the season. We have to come out and bring it."
That sort of mentality is what Waranavage is looking for. The demanding head coach reminded his players what he is expecting of them after the end of Thursday's afternoon sessions, which he called the worst of training camp so far.
"If that's the way you're going to practice, we can leave this field and go up there and breathe dirt and dust," Waranavage said, pointing past Susquehannock's field turf playing surface where the team had been practicing and up to the grass field above. "That dirt and dust has been good enough for three titles, an undefeated season and two 10 win seasons. Those kids would kill for this.
"You guys are practicing on this field like you think you've earned this. You haven't earned any of this."
His senior quarterback said that motivation isn't lacking for the Warriors.
"We don't want to let those teams down," Miller said. "We don't want to be the team that loses it and doesn't represent Susquehannock the way they did.
"We didn't win the division last year, so we have to get back on the horse and do it again. We have to go after that title."
smclernon@ydr.com; 771-2045
