There is a new feeling around the Everett High School football program this week. So new, in fact, it is unfamiliar to the entire squad of Seagulls.
It is the feeling of being an undefeated varsity team.
OK, so it’s only one game. But with Friday’s 36-35 overtime victory against Shorewood in the season opener, Everett has an unblemished record heading into this week’s game against cross-district rival Cascade.
And after three straight years of going winless until the final game of the season, all this is special stuff for the Seagulls.
“The kids really worked hard this summer and in the spring as well,” said first-year Everett coach Doug Trainor. “They worked hard in the weight room, at the camps and at all the spring practices … and it was a little bit of a grind for them. So for them to see their hard work pay off, I don’t know if it was a life-changing moment, but it was definitely a program-changing moment for us.
“School hadn’t started yet, but we had quite a turnout from the student body (for the Shorewood game). And it was really neat to see our kids sing the fight song in front of the student body. That was awesome.”
Taking over a new program is often difficult, but taking over a program with just three wins in as many seasons can be particularly challenging. The first step, Trainor explained, was “to establish a work ethic. Not that the previous staff and the kids didn’t work before, but they hadn’t done it our way.”
After laying out the new staff’s procedures and expectations, Trainor and his assistants then set about developing consistency. The idea, he said, is that players will “go to practice every day and for every minute.” And to date “they’ve put so much energy and effort into it. … We’re not all the way there yet, but I’ve got to say they’ve exceeded our expectations to this point, for sure.”
The goal now, Trainor went on, is to take all the lessons and good feelings of Week 1 and carry them over to Week 2. Because as much fun as it was to beat Shorewood, “it was just the first game,” he pointed out. “We have nine more of these.”
And as the team prepares to face Cascade, the mindset is that “we’re just interested in winning this week. It’s so cliché, but we’re going to take (the entire season) one game at a time. We’re just interested in being 2-0 at this point,” Trainor said.
Cascade, meanwhile, will be trying to bounce back from opening with a discouraging 36-7 loss to Arlington, a game in which the Bruins committed seven turnovers. Even though Cascade coach Shane Keck knows the rivalry with Everett “is unique and special,” his greater concern is getting his players “to focus on Cascade and to take care of our own business.”
“We’re just trying to get this thing cranked up for the long haul,” he said. “We’re just trying to get better week to week, and we’ve got a long way to go.”
Like Trainor, Keck is in his first year with the Bruins. And like Trainor, Keck is trying to restore a program that has lagged in recent years.
For the two teams, he said, Friday’s game “is important for both of us in terms of building our programs back. Both Doug and I are trying to make it special to play football in Everett again.”
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