BALLSTON SPA — It would be easy to look at the 2013 Scotties’ 4-5 record from the outside and be unimpressed, as the program missed out on the postseason for the first time in eight years.
But the Scotties finished the season on a four-game winning streak—taking down Albany Niskayuna, Schenectady and Gloversville—and bring back eight returning players on both sides of the ball this year.
For second-year head coach Dave Murello, the upside of ending the season on a winning streak is that it will transfer to the start of this year. One of the smaller schools in Class AA, and only carrying 30 kids on his roster, he mentioned the importance of getting his team to really pull the best out of each other during practice
“I think we were able to hopefully take that momentum through the offseason,” Murello said. “So many of our kids are two-sport, three-sport athletes, that it’s tough to do that. I think more this year, with our staff and working with guys for a second year again; that they kind of know what our expectations are so we can really teach that to the kids and get that across a little bit better. I’m doing a better job of sitting back and learning from each practice and seeing what worked, what didn’t work and how I need to do things differently.”
Murello has seen Section II Class AA success first hand. He first joined the Ballston Spa staff in 2009 when the Scotties stormed to the Super Bowl and lost to Saratoga Springs (the only team they lost to that season).
A member of the 2009 team, quarterback Mike Leavitt, is now an assistant coach alongside Murello after being a student assistant for the University at Albany.
In order to ensure that the 2014 Scotties don’t get off to the start they did last season, Murello has stressed ball security and aggressiveness.
“One of our big things this year is being relentless,” Murello said. “We have a lot of great, very nice kids. They’re good kids. We’re really trying to get them to flip that switch when they’re out on the field and really play aggressively on the field, sacrificing for the guy next to you.”
The Scotties scrimmaged with Bishop Maginn, Lansingburgh and Tamarac.
“We had some issues with ball security—that was one thing that definitely jumped off the page that we needed to work on,” Murello said. “I thought we started fast, which was good and overall we played well and some kids really shined.”
The Scotties will need either Derek Chandler or Luke Kavanaugh, or both, to shine at the quarterback. The two seniors have been competing and will both go into tonight’s opener at Schenectady ready to go.
“We’ll go into the game with both of them ready to play quarterback and just see how it goes,” Murello said. “They both have a unique skill set. Chandler sees the game a little bit slower and Luke is probably a little bit of a better passer, so we’ll see how the game goes and see the right situation for each guy.
Running the flexbone triple option, which Murello said is still the team’s base but expanded upon from last season, will also rely heavily on the three-man rotation at slotback. Returning backs Shane Winkle and Andy Van Avery will mix with Tyler Hall, who moved to the Ballston Spa district in January.
One thing those three have over last year’s running backs, Kiernan Mack and Sam Groves, is size. All are at least 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, said Murello.
“We really made a huge effort to simplify the thinking process [of the triple], so it was easier to understand so we could play faster,” Murello said.
On the defensive side, the Scotties will be again running an even front and stressing one word: “attack.”
“Not necessarily with blitzes, but be more aggressive at the point of attack and add more communication more in the defensive backfield,” Murello said.
