A new hope at Fort

Dan Rolfe’s teams at Benedictine High School in Richmond weren’t always blessed with the most talent, but they still managed to beat better teams through preparation and execution.

Rolfe, who takes over the head coaching job at Fort Defiance High School from Dale Spitzer, hopes for the same thing in 2009 from his Indians.

“Our goal is to compete in 10 games,” Rolfe said. “We want a chance to compete in every game.”

To that end, Rolfe has more than 90 players who came out for this fall’s team, even after two consecutive 1-9 seasons, with just one district win in the past two years and having missed the playoffs since 2003.

“Everybody’s ready to go again, because with a new coach, you always have new … enthusiasm for the sport,” said senior linebacker Aaron McMillion. “Everybody loves playing football. It’s going to be a great year. I can’t wait.”

It’s not just a new beginning for a football team with a new coach — it’s a new beginning to another season.

“I think no matter how good or how bad the previous season was, that the start of every season, I think if you took a sampling of 100-percent of the coaches, it’s the greatest time of the year,” Rolfe said. “Because everybody’s got a fresh start, the kids are excited, and that’s what I found here.”

Senior fullback Dakota Canipe said there is a different attitude on this year’s team and has already seen improvement, citing a scrimmage win over Fluvanna, a team the Indians lost to in a scrimmage a year ago. Canipe believes the Indians will be much improved.

“A lot of guys last year just kind of jacked around,” Canipe said. “Alright, we’re real serious this year, definitely.”

Though Rolfe expects the Indians to be smaller and not as fast as their opponents, he believes that through execution and hustle, his team will be able to compete with the best in the Southern Valley District.

“When we sat down as a staff, we decided we needed to play quicker,” Rolfe said. “That’s the main goal of what we’re trying to do – offensively and defensively.”

He said that involves making the reads and terminology easier so they can get to where they need to go faster.

“Truthfully, we’re not going to be blessed with great team speed,” Rolfe said. “So what we’ve been trying to preach to the kids is: this game is about quickness. We’re not going to have kids that can just show up and outrun other kids. But, if we know where we’re going and what our philosophy is, we might play faster.”

Rolfe said the team’s strength would be in its linebackers, led by McMillion and junior Ronnie Mongold, and its front seven on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he plans on playing a 4-3 with an I-Pro offense, which he described as a power game with a lot of play action and a short passing game. He expects, also, that no one will have to play both offense and defense.

At quarterback, senior Michael Cook and junior Chris Huffman will get the majority of the snaps, with the Indians relying heavily on Canipe and junior wide receiver Derek Uhler.

As far as past records and the circumstances surrounding Spitzer getting fired after last season, Rolfe said ignorance is bliss, and looks forward without looking back. 

“I’ve told the parents, I’ve told everyone, this is as clean a slate as you’re going to get,” Rolfe said. “And it’s the same when you’re preparing for another team. In a way it’s going to be fun because there’s no prenotions of ‘holy cow, these guys have flat worn us out for the last seven years.’ … Hopefully if we lose games, we lose to better teams.”

Rolfe, for one, isn’t worried about how good those other teams are. He just wants the Indians to be in the game in the fourth quarter, and let what he hopes is his team’s superior conditioning take over.

“There are going to be teams that have more talent,” Rolfe said. “What we want to do is give ourselves every opportunity to succeed as we can. And let the cards fall where they will.”

Said Canipe: “The main thing is, we’re expecting to win this year. Last year, they make a touchdown, it was over to them. This year, it ain’t over.”