[tps_title]Upper Merion Vikings [/tps_title]
Brown setting the bar high for Upper Merion
UPPER MERION >> Victor Brown witnessed first hand the level of expectation Spring-Ford head coach Chad Brubaker sets for his staff and players. The results for Brubaker are undeniable as the Rams have become one of the premier teams in District 1.
Entering his first season at the helm of Upper Merion, Brown is taking those lessons and applying them to a Vikings squad that finished with a disappointing 3-9 overall record in 2016. 
The results so far? Let Brown do the talking:
“Chad set up a program where his guys are able to thrive and that’s pretty much what we’re trying to build here,” Brown said. “The staff and I set the bar and it’s non-negotiable. We did not want to lower that bar. That is one of things that Chad has done really well. He has kept his bar set high for his kids and these guys have risen to the expectations. It gives us an opportunity to have success and play with confidence. So far, my players have earned every bit of that.”
Brown’s hiring and the resulting culture change has had its ups and downs. Some players fought back and didn’t buy in right away. Some continued down that path and left the team. The remaining, however, are slowly paving out the stepping stones that could point Upper Merion in the direction of the Class 5A playoffs sooner rather than later.
“We have come such a long way from last year, strength-wise and conditioning-wise,” senior starting center Nico Palumbo said. “I’m super excited to see how far we can go.
“This year, coaches are big mentors. They’re leading, they’re teaching and it’s a major reason why we’re getting stronger and we’re getting better.”
The numbers don’t fall in the Vikings’ favor. The team returns only five starters on offense, including Palumbo, senior running back Tyrese Leach and junior tackle Will Fisher. Graduation hit the defense even harder, the team only returning David Brown at safety and junior linebacker Mark Picariello. The roster projects to be small … too small for the platooning of players exhibited in the past.
Welcome to two-way football, Vikings.
“One thing we don’t have is a lot of depth,” Brown said. “One of the keys for us is to be able to stay healthy. We had a great offseason and we hit the ground running with our offseason program, our character development and our team building. A lot of guys have bought into what we’re trying to do and the ones who haven’t bought in or struggled to conform to what we were doing, have made significant improvements to get to where they need to be or they decided not to play.
“I’d like to see us healthy and I feel like we should be able to compete based on watching film evaluation from last season. There are things that I feel good about from last season. I knew right away that we’re going to have to change going from a platoon team to having guys play both ways. That’s just the reality of where we’re at right now.”
Week-by-Week
Brown and company are adamant on taking the season week-by-week. Why? Week 1’s demoralizing 34-10 loss to Radnor last season explains why.
“Last year, we came out really slow which was totally unthinkable with our mentality,” Carfagno said. “We had a mentality last year of playoffs and we got cocky about it and played cocky. We were slow off the ball, we thought we were too good. Having that loss, this year come the home game in Week 1, we’ve totally lost that mentality. We need to reach our full potential. We’re working hard to each our full potential each week, each practice, each day.
By Sam Stewart; sstewart@pottsmerc.com
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