WS Chronicle

The Reagan Raiders JV football team finished the 2018 campaign with an unblemished record. The Raiders finished the year at 9-0 and were the only unbeaten JV team in Forsyth County.

Chris McCoy, JV head coach, says he knew this team had the talent to be good, but he didn’t know they were talented enough to “run the table.”

“We had a lot of skilled guys on offense and a lot of tough guys on defense and it worked well together,” said McCoy.  “They put in a lot of work during the off-season and this was the first time in a while that we were able to keep a lot of our sophomores down on JV and they contributed a lot.”

“That’s why we tell our kids all the time that hard work in the weight room pays off,” he continued. When we put those guys that worked hard in the off-season with a talented freshman class, it turned out to be a special group.”

This was the first time the Raiders JV team finished the season undefeated. McCoy says it gives him and his staff great pride to accomplish such a feat.

“It was a challenge trying to keep everyone focused, especially the last two games of the year. You know how it goes when parents catch wind of what’s going on and feel like their kid is the best thing since sliced bread,” he said jokingly.

The Raiders began the year outscoring their first two opponents 74-6. McCoy said he knew this team had what it takes when they defeated Mt. Tabor and East Forsyth.

“When we beat Tabor and East, we knew we had a different type of group here,” he said. “It’s been five or six years since we have beaten East Forsyth or Mt. Tabor. Those games were the tell-tale sign that we could do something, something special.”

The season could have taken a turn for the worse when starting quarterback Kam Hill went down with a season-ending injury. As a stroke of good fortune, the Raiders had been working on a new formation at practice that proved to be their saving grace.

“Someone in practice said, ‘Let’s work on a set where the running back is the quarterback, because we only have one quarterback,’” he continued. “When it happened, Coach McGee said ‘This is your worst nightmare.’  I told him it was, but it wasn’t because we were prepared.

“I commend the receivers for sticking it out, because we went from a passing offense to a run-heavy offense. With Kam at quarterback, we were able to spread it around, but when he got hurt we cut it back to only five or six passes per game.”

McCoy credits running back turned quarterback Bryson Canty for his seamless transition. He says Canty wanted to do whatever he could to make the team better.

“Bryson Canty did a great job and when he did not succeed throwing the ball, he got mad at himself. I had to keep telling him that it was OK because he was not a quarterback. That kid just wanted to be the best that he could be wherever we put him on the field.”

When Hill went down due to injury, the staff decided to cut many of the plays out of the offense to simplify things for Canty. McCoy says this allowed his players to play faster, because they did not have to think about what they were supposed to do, they could just react.

The biggest contributor to making the new offense click was the offensive line, says McCoy. He called the offensive line “the backbone” of the team, once Canty took over under center.

On the defensive side of the ball, McCoy says he was really proud of the job his group did as a whole. He feels as though his defensive line is one of, if not the best, in Forsyth County.

“The front four is concentrating so hard on getting to those offensive linemen, it allows our linebackers to run free and make plays,” he said. 

McCoy said this season can give a lot of momentum for his younger guys as they step into leadership roles next year. He said he had too many players to name for their key contributions on the season, but thanked all his players for their tremendous effort on the year.

“Our freshman class was special and I hope we can retain a lot of them on JV, because we had a lot of gems,” he said. “We expect good things. An undefeated season, I don’t know, but we expect good things and to be very competitive every week.”