Polk County has spent this week focusing on the fundamentals that can make or break a football season.
Finish drives. Execute in crucial moments. Build the confidence that comes with stringing together solid performances.
The Wolverines will look to accomplish all three Friday as they travel to Patton for their final non-conference game, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff that could provide significant momentum heading into league play.
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Polk County (1-2) will be looking to bounce back from last week’s 35-19 loss to Blue Ridge, a game that hinged on just a handful of plays. Senior running back Loreynzo Sanchez provided plenty of highlights with a career-high 293 rushing yards, but special teams breakdowns and a few critical mistakes proved costly for the Wolverines.
Despite the loss, head coach Dustin Fry sees a team that’s fundamentally different from previous seasons – one that’s deeper, more resilient and genuinely buying into a new culture.
“It’s starting to feel like week to week, that it’s a football team that is hungry and locked in and the losses aren’t as debilitating,” Fry said.
The coach is particularly encouraged by how his roster has developed, creating depth where none existed before.
“It’s good when you’re in practice and you’re like all right, twos up, and you feel good with the second team going in there, of being able to function,” Fry said. “We obviously don’t have depth everywhere, we don’t have a ton of guys, but everybody has a role, which has not been the case in the past. The core 13 guys have always had to do everything, and now it’s nice where it is really everybody, whether it’s special teams or as a backup but playing, everybody has a role and everybody’s kind of locked in.”
Even in defeat against Blue Ridge, Fry found validation for the cultural changes he’s been implementing. The Wolverines showed improved physicality and an unselfish approach that hadn’t been there in previous seasons.
“This past week, we really beat ourselves. When you look at it, it was a handful of plays that really got us,” Fry said. “On the lines, we kind of mashed them a little bit, and that’s not really been our MO for both sides of the ball.
“And then, when you look at especially our second half, we were taking guys into linebackers on the second level, and we were finishing blocks and that’s the mentality that you want to have. You want receivers blocking down field and being unselfish. So it does feel like the culture piece that we’ve been working on all offseason and the mentality change has started to settle in a little bit, and guys are buying into that a lot more.”
For Fry, the fact that games are now being decided by just a few plays represents significant progress for his program.
“It’s good to be to the point where three, four, five plays are the difference because that really wasn’t the case last year,” Fry said. “It wasn’t the case, and now you can focus on little things in the details of the game plan that can get you beat and win the game.”
While special teams miscues proved costly against Blue Ridge, Fry views the breakdowns as correctable details rather than systemic problems.
“On special teams, we can be better on that, and that starts with us being a little bit more detail-oriented coaching-wise on special teams,” Fry said. “And then seeing how the attention to detail of the finer parts of the game is very important, and they kind of see how three, four, five plays in the game swing everything when it’s a close game.”
Friday’s matchup at Patton carries weight beyond just completing the non-conference slate. For Fry, it’s an opportunity to build on the momentum and confidence that’s been growing within his squad.
“Obviously, you want to be undefeated coming out of non-conference. I thought we had an opportunity of being 3-1 (before the Blue Ridge loss),” Fry said. “To me, this is a very important game. To go into our first conference game next week, this is huge for momentum, for positivity, to help the guys with confidence and to just get back into that winning form.
“They had a lot of fun three weeks ago when we beat Chase. To get that feeling back I think is important. I think winning promotes more winning, so I think this is a very important thing this week for us.”
The buy-in Fry has been seeking is clearly taking hold.
“It’s definitely a different buy-in. It feels like we’re close to not being a great team, but to being a pretty good team,” Fry said.
