Mercury-area teams appreciate return of football camp following abnormal 2020

Pope John Paul II junior Markese Williams forgot some things about what a typical high school football training camp entails.

“How much my legs hurt after camp,” was one memory in particular Williams was reminded of after the Golden Panthers’ first day of two-a-days this week.

In fairness, Williams only went through camp one other time as a freshman two years ago.

Last year’s summer and season at Pope John Paul II and other schools around the Mercury Area were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 high school football season is off to a more traditional start as teams begin training camp this week with the their first games scheduled for Friday, Aug. 27. The area’s football players are excited to return to a normal football preseason — even if it does entail some of the things they might typically groan about.

“I hate to say it, but I’ll wake up and be like, ‘Dang, I don’t want to wake up.’ But then I just think back to what last year was like and I’m thankful that we’re back,” Williams said.

Area football teams went into last summer with many school districts still in the decision making process on whether to allow fall sports. Voluntary workouts were allowed in July with the status of most teams’ seasons still up in the air.

The Boyertown, Methacton, Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley, Spring-Ford and Upper Perkiomen football teams kicked off their seasons Sept. 25.

Pope John Paul II, Upper Merion, Phoenixville, Pottsgrove and Pottstown had their seasons postponed, or in some cases originally cancelled, before eventually getting to play three to five games in October and Novemeber. Norristown didn’t play until the spring.

“It was kind of an emotional roller coaster,” Pottsgrove senior running back and linebacker Shane Caffrey said of last summer and fall.

Teams didn’t have the chance to get together in the offseason and had their preseasons condensed before playing shortened schedules.

“COVID really did knock us off base last year,” Pottstown senior offensive and defensive lineman Johnny Cranford said. “We really didn’t get to have the opportunities that we have this year.”

Even 12 months later COVID is still a threat — cases and hospitalizations across the state are higher than what they were this time a year ago — and precautions still abound.

Personal water bottles were noticeably placed spaced apart along the sidelines at Pope John Paul II. Students will wear masks in school at Pottstown.

The hope is that with a year of experience attempting to play safely amid the pandemic, school districts and teams can continue to find ways to keep things as normal as possible with safety in mind.

“Obviously we’re still going to deal with it this year,” Hawthorne said. “But who knows. It’s day-by-day one day at a time.”

“I one hundred percent believe our administration did the right thing in terms of how they handled the situation last year. They had the kids and the community in their minds.”

But football-wise things are different this August with full teams in helmets and pads and a full slate of games on the schedule .

“It’s good to be back, normal camp, normal preseason,” Pope John Paul II senior quarterback D.J. Clarke said.  “It’s good to prepare. … You know you’re going to have a season, you know you have something to prepare for. I guess you have a sense of direction. It feels good.”

Last season, full-team activities were limited to practices and game days.

Following an offseason where all in-person activities were cancelled, teams’ workouts last summer were limited to smaller groups out on the field.

This offseason teams returned to the weight room and held voluntary workouts and spring practices. There was a lot more time spent together.

“All those things, the fund-raising, community service, weight lifting conditioning, I think we got it all back this year,” Pottsgrove coach Bill Hawthorne said. “You miss the value of it when you don’t have it. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone and we missed all of that. …  You really just missed everything that creates that true team bond and true team trust for any team that’s going to be successful during football season.”

Activities like slip ‘n’ slides, corn hole, movie night and other team bonding activities were sorely missed last season and have been used by teams this season to build up some of the team chemistry that was missing last season.

Pottstown coach Jeff Delaney said a water balloon fight last week highlighted some of the impact those type of experiences have.

“It was the first time they worked together to all peg me,” Delaney said.

The impact of constantly being around their teammates this summer has already been felt by the players early in camp as well.

“It does build chemistry because now I’m seeing them all day, every day, getting used to them all that,” Pottstown senior offensive and defensive lineman Josiah Wilson said.

“We didn’t have that trust because we didn’t know each other,” added Trojans’ wide receiver and defensive back Anthony DiPietro said.

There were other smaller things missing last season which may have been taken for granted in seasons past.

With thunder storms forecasted during the first week of practice teams were able to use the gym inside — something that wasn’t allowed last summer.

Pottstown concluded its practice Tuesday with a film session inside the school — another thing the Trojans weren’t allowed to do last season.

“No, not really because we weren’t really allowed in the schools and stuff. We had to be outside,” Pottstown junior quarterback Mason Miller said when trying to recall any film sessions in 2020.

The first week of football camp is always a marquee moment to kick off area high school sports. This season it has more sentimental value as well — making those early morning practices a little easier to wake up for.

“It’s definitely brought more normality back to football than what it was last year,” Pottsgrove senior Max Neeson said.

“We’re hype,” Miller said.