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Click here for the Stuart Raiders 2008 Football Schedule
Click here for the Northern Region (VA) Football Central
JEB Stuart High School Raiders — Northern Region, Division 5, Class AAA National District
Head Coach: Roy Ferri, first year.
Career Record: 7-33 2007 Record: 0-10 overall, 0-6 district.
Returning Starters: N/A
Key Losses: None.
Top Returners: LB Anthony Champ, Sr., 5-9, 175; RB Terrill Hawkins, Sr., 5-8, 165; OL Dragos Matei, Sr., 6-4, 290; DT Brian Saravia, Sr., 6-0, 280.
Fresh Faces: QB Jason Friday, Jr., 6-3, 180; DT Louis Rich, Sr., 6-2, 290.
Game to Watch: Week 1, Aug. 29 at George Mason
Yes, it’s against a Class A opponent. And yes, there will likely be more meaningful, competitive games as the season wears on. But with a 24-game losing streak and a 7-72 record this decade, Roy Ferri’s second term in the Raiders’ oval office begins with this road opener. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And renewing a program outscored by an average of 36 points per game over the last three years (1-29) begins with a single win.
Stadium: Jerry Fauls Stadium (Capacity 4,500).
Third Time Just Might Be a Charm
By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
Fourth in a series.
There is a new and unmistakable vibe at Stuart’s preseason practices this summer. There is energy and enthusiasm. There is organization and discipline. And there, most importantly, is confidence.
That might seem odd for a team that has lost its last 24 games. But it doesn’t surprise Coach Roy Ferri, in the first year of his third tour at Stuart, one bit.
The Raiders’ recent struggles — he says — are over.
“I think there’s no reason we can’t make the playoffs,” Ferri said. “I told them back in January, ‘We’re not doing all of this to go out there and beat Wakefield. We’re not doing this to win one game. We’re doing it to win games.”
Junior Jason Friday, who led the Raiders’ junior varsity team to a 5-5 finish a year ago, will take over the team’s starting quarterback duties and will run a newly installed single-wing offense that will use a lot of spread formations. Friday will have plenty of help in the backfield from senior running backs Anthony Champ and Terrill Hawkins, and will work behind an offensive line, led by senior Dragos Matei, that averages nearly 260 pounds across the front.
“They’re all big and they’re all strong,” Ferri said. “Those guys could all bench press a Volkswagen. So it’s all there. We can run the ball well and throw the ball well and we’ve got the big line to hunker down in front.”
Champ and Hawkins, who transfered to Stuart from Paul VI a year ago, dubbed themselves “Thunder-and -Lightning” a year ago. But the running duo said this week that a new era calls for new nicknames … but that they’d wait until later in the year to unveil them.
That was just one example of the kind of playfulness that abounded as the first half of a Stuart two-a-day practice ended earlier this week. This new-look group of Raiders are filled with optimism.
“I think the kids are already seeing that what we’re teaching them works,” Ferri said. “It’s not like we’re telling them to do the wrong thing. There’s a correction for everything. The practices are filmed and we watch it and show them, ‘This is what you did right and this is what you did wrong on this play.’ With that, there’s a lot more accountability in everything than there had been and the guys are really taking to it.
“There’s a blank slate here, and every kid on the team can go out there and try to win the job. That makes practice a lot of fun.”
Beltway Bound
When Ferri decided to leave his position as Centreville’s outside linebackers coach and return for to Stuart to take the head job this season, he asked a few of his buddies to join him. Ferri had been at Stuart before. He served as an assistant coach for nearly nine years and then returned as the Raiders’ head coach from 1998-2002.
But on this, his third stint, he wanted to add some familiar faces to his staff.
Former Wildcat assistant coaches Jeff Barham and Kevin Pearson took him up on his offer and left Centreville to join Ferri as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, respectively.
“I coached Kevin when he played at Centreville,” Ferri said. “In fact, most of the guys on the the staff I’ve coached at one point or another, which I guess means that I’ve been around for a very long time.”
And all, he said, are excited about the challenge ahead.
“At Centreville we were in the playoffs every year, and it just kind of gets boring,” Ferri said with a smile. “But this? This is fun.”
Quotable
“We went to a passing league this summer with Westfield, Chantilly, Centreville, Stone Brige. Put it this way: The only teams out there without a state championship were us and Woodson … and everyone thought we were Woodson. They’d say, ‘Hey, Woodson, you look pretty good!’ And I’d say, ‘No! We’re Stuart!’ “
— Stuart Coach Roy Ferri
** Note: The first 20 Northern Region teams to be previewed were selected at random. Only the Top 10 teams have been ranked and will be unveiled in order in the coming days.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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