FORT DEFIANCE: It’s about respect

FORT DEFIANCE
It was just a lesson being taught to a JV player at the end of a practice, but it was one not lost on members of the Fort Defiance football team.
The player had committed an act that disrespected his teammates, and as part of an apology, had to walk up a steep hill dragging blocking dummies in each hand, shouting the whole time: “I will respect my teammates.”
The act caught the attention of the varsity players at the top of the hill heading into the locker room, who stopped to watch, as the player repeated the trek up the hill four times — the last with the rest of the JV players encouraging him up the hill with varsity coach Dale Spitzer walking beside him.
He said he isn’t as concerned with improving upon 2007’s 1-9 record as he is improving the attitude of his team, on and off the field. The team’s 11 seniors, he said, crafted a mission statement that is the focus for the 2008 season.
“We had some things that we came into this season wanting to improve upon, that had nothing to do with the record,” Spitzer said. “Our team mission statement is to be a team that our school community can be proud of on and off the field.”
Everything else, Spitzer said, is secondary to that.
“If the mission statement is fulfilled, the wins and losses will take care of themselves,” Spitzer said.
For the second season in a row, Spitzer will run a spread option offense similar to ones run by Navy, Georgia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute.
“It’s a triple-option offense,” Spitzer said. “That’s what we do.”
As part of helping his team learn it, and bond with one another, Spitzer took the team to Wofford College this summer in Spartansburg, S.C.
Wofford, who at 9-4 finished 10th in the country in the Football Championship Subdivision poll in 2007, also runs the spread option, and within three days of being at the camp, Spitzer said his players could run it.
Not deep in speed and size,Spitzer said, means Fort will have to rely on technique and on protecting the football. If it does that, Spitzer believes his team can move the ball and score.
“We protect the football — we’re good,” Spitzer said.
He’s counting on his seniors, including quarterback Daniel “Righty” Wright, to provide leadership for the team.
Spitzer expects at least three sophomores to start, with another three to four in the regular playing rotation among the 43 players on the roster. He says they can’t allow themselves to be intimidated playing on the varsity level.
“Physically, they’re as good as juniors and seniors we’ve played in the past,” Spitzer said.
Defensively, they’ll play a 4-2-5 formation, basically an eight-man front incorporating five defensive backs to give flexibility to make adjustments to the opposition. With just 15 days of practice, as opposed to the normal 20, Fort is behind defensively but that’s the same for everybody in Region III.
Spitzer says his group of players, more low-key than in the past, are supportive of one another. They don’t want to be associated with past, off the field issues that are difficult to overcome during the season.
“I think it would mean a great deal to them to have people respect and admire them because of their actions on and off the field,” Spitzer said.