TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Goal For Shaver, Harrington: First Win

ADVERTISEMENT

By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 3, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Sunlake is already miles ahead of last season - and the Seahawks haven't played a game yet.

As a first-year school, Coach Bill Browning began the program with very little equipment, only a few players and without a practice field.

Oh, and no seniors and only a handful of juniors with playing experience.

"To be truthful, we should have never been playing a varsity schedule last year," said Browning, whose team struggled through an 0-10 inaugural season. "But we survived and it will make us tougher this year. They know what to expect now."

Sunlake will have 14 seniors but only four with playing experience.

"The juniors we had last year had never played football - for the most part," Browning said. "So a lot of our seniors are only playing their second year of football. A lot of the juniors from last year haven't come back this year - for whatever reason.

"We've had more of a turnover than you would think for a second-year school. We're still building from the ground up but we do have some seniors."

Two of those seniors Browning is counting on are fullback Mike Shaver and wide receiver Chris Harrington.

"Both of these guys were starters last year and will be expected to make some big plays for us offensively and defensively this year," Browning said. "Last year, it took a while for these guys to come to the top."

Harrington (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) will be a good target for whichever quarterback Browning selects. Heading into the Seahawks Kickoff Classic game vs. Wildwood, juniors Ryan Horan and Tommy Valez were still battling for the starting job.

"Last year, we came in here pretty much a JV team," Harrington said. "We really didn't know what to expect from the teams last year. We tried our hardest but we fell short. We're really going to pick it up this year. Our offense is going to be a lot better this year. I think we're going to move the ball more and score a lot more points. We are starting to pass more than we did last year."

Shaver emerged as the top running back for the Seahawks, and Browning doesn't think there should be any change this year.

"Last year, we averaged 165 pounds on the line," Browning said. "This year we will be at about 180. We're a little light but the weight we've put on is functional weight. We're much stronger. Last year going into our first game, we had one boy benching over 200 pounds, which is unheard of at the varsity level. Right now, we probably have 28-30 players benching 200-plus."

Shaver, along with the entire Sunlake team, has one goal - get a win.

"We need to get that first win under our belts and work toward .500," Shaver said. "If we don't get to .500, then at least be competitive in every game. Last year, we would be competitive for a quarter and then the game would get out of hand.

"Just having a chance to get some wins would be a good expectation for us."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT