This past season St. Ed’s was only a dozen minutes short of being the first prep football team to claim a second Sunshine State Athletic Conference Championship. The Pirates entered the fourth quarter of the Nov. 19 title game up 14-0, only to see St. Stephen’s Episcopal rally for a 21-14 victory.
The entire Vero Beach sports community followed an improbable and inspiring run for the trophy that St. Ed’s first claimed in 2010, and it was accomplished against stiff odds by a team that finished 7-5 despite being severely undermanned from day one.
And it left one huge, gaping question mark: Will we see a full-fledged St. Ed’s varsity football team on the field in 2017?
“I’m a firm believer that you do your job and let the chips fall where they may,” head coach Bill Motta said. “My job is to coach football and develop a program that is not watered down so much that the people who are a part of it – of have been a part of it – are not proud of it.”
That has already been accomplished in the eyes of many. That 2010 SSAC championship season was Motta’s first as head coach. He has compiled a record of 40-31 over seven years with his teams often competing against squads with superior numbers and even a few big-time college recruits. Along the way some of his best athletes transferred to schools for greater exposure with higher-profile football programs.
The breaking point came too close for comfort in the season just concluded. A low turnout and the inevitable intrusion of injuries left the ranks drastically reduced.
“At one point we got down to 12 people and it possibly looked like we may have had to forfeit all of our games,” Motta said of an early-season numbers crisis. “But the boys and the coaching staff just kept on track and we kept our eyes on the target. We worked through it all and got better each week. We peaked and took it right into the finals against a really good St. Stephen’s team.”
The only thing missing was a storybook ending. Twelve seniors will graduate from a roster of 18, although the average numbers of players available in any given game was closer to 16. That leaves only six potential returnees for next year. The middle-school team was disbanded when only seven kids signed on. Therein lies the uncertainty about 2017.
“It’s a full go as far as I am concerned,” Motta told us. “There has been a rallying cry from alumni as well as players both past and present. The school remains committed to having a football program, and I remain committed to the school. So we are moving forward.
“We’ve got a jamboree scheduled for the spring. With the exception of two games, the schedule is complete for the fall season. I have sent our equipment out for reconditioning.
“I’ve talked to people around the school and upwards to 20 guys said they are going to come out. So we might have 26 guys out for spring practice. The six guys coming back are all experienced linemen. We are going to be deficient in the skilled areas, but our line play was the reason for our success in 2016. If you want to build anything you have to start with a solid foundation, and in football that always means the offensive and defensive lines.”
So the wheels are turning, the preparations are ongoing, and the plans for 2017 are in place. The key will of course be how many kids actually show up and then stick it out through the spring and hot summer. The door is wide open for an opportunity to play high school football under a head coach obviously passionate about his mission.
“We’ve got a unique setting here because I get to work with most of these boys for four years,” Motta explained. “That’s unlike bigger schools where they have freshman and JV teams. I set out as a coach to watch the boys grow and evolve into young men and leaders.
“The guys on this (2016) team put their egos aside and worked together. They were not stat driven. We had leaders with character and integrity. They pulled together and did what they did.
“They knew going in that they had to leave everything on the field. There wasn’t an ounce of energy they had left after any game. That is just a phenomenal thing. They will be able to hold onto that and know they can get through anything.
“I would have to say that this was one of my favorite seasons.”
Next week Motta addresses the reasons behind the downturn in participation and the challenges St. Ed’s and other small schools face in maintaining a viable varsity football program.