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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Huntington hopes changes will bode well in ’09
Huntington High football Media Day on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON — Several changes will be noticeable when Huntington High lines up on the football field this season.
Gone is the natural surface of Bob Sang Field. It has been replaced by a FieldTurf surface that was installed this summer.
Gone is former coach Zach Wilson. First-year coach Billy Seals takes over in an attempt to turn the program around.
And, according to Seals, gone is the attitude of a team that won just one game in each of the last two seasons. That has been replaced as well.
“I’ve seen a difference in our kids. Slowly but surely, we are changing the attitudes of these young men,” Seals said. “We’re taking steps in the right direction.
“I’m not going to ask them to give me 150 percent. That’s unrealistic. I just want them to give me all they’ve got.”
Coming into the new situation, Seals was inundated with talk of how things had been the last two seasons. Players talked about it. Parents talked about it. The community talked about it.
Seals ended the talk quickly.
“I don’t care where you’ve been the last two years. I wasn’t here for any of it,” Seals said to his team during a summer practice. “Obviously what went on the last two years didn’t work, so it’s time to throw that in the garbage.”
Thus, the rebirth of Huntington High has begun under Seals. The ascent up the ranks of West Virginia’s Class AAA isn’t going to be easy, especially when the Highlanders open the season against defending Class AAA champ South Charleston.
Seals said he thinks his team has the athletes to play with anyone in the state. But what he needs to win are athletes with attitudes.
“I would put us in the top three or four programs in the state athletic-wise. We have a lot of kids that are 6-3 (6-foot-3) or 6-4 that have good hands and can run well,” Seals said. “But I’m going to find out who is tough and who doesn’t have what it takes. Our kids have taken it upon themselves to tackle the challenge.”
Huntington High has several weapons offensively from which to choose. Quarterback Tyler Hutchison returns as the leader under center while running back Gary Felder is likely to be the most explosive player in the Highlanders’ arsenal.
“Gary Felder is a kid, in my opinion, that is at least a 1,000-yard back if not a 1,500-yard back,” Seals said. “Our offensive line has to get their schemes so Gary can hit the holes.”
Hutchison will also have an array of receivers to throw to, including Christian Eschleman, Brandon Eubank and Davante Marable.
As they have been the last two seasons, the offensive and defensive lines are the biggest question marks for Huntington High. Last season, the Highlanders allowed more than 200 yards per game rushing to opponents.
Seals, a former defensive coordinator at Morristown-Hamblen East in Tennessee, takes that statistic personally.
“The bottom line is that I think teams are going to line up against Huntington High and try to run the football,” Seals said. “We have to shore up the run. Defensively, that’s our top priority. In high school, most quarterbacks are not good enough to throw the ball 30 or 35 times and beat you. We want teams to have to do that.”
After opening the season at South Charleston on Friday, Huntington High will christen its new turf on Sept. 4 against Spring Valley.
