With extra week, young Penn Wood ready for delayed opener

LANSDOWNE – Week 1 of the Penn Wood football season brought disappointment, if not drama.

The Patriots arrived for practice on the first Monday of the season raring to go, only to be met with news that Martin Luther King had to cancel its game scheduled for Friday for COVID-19 reasons.

For a team with precious few returnees from last spring’s abbreviated season, practice time is immensely valuable, so the energy was quickly redirected. And it only grows the anticipation for this week’s trip to Avon Grove for the long-awaited opener.

“Last week, not being able to play that game, we all had intensity, we were all hyped for the game,” senior safety/wide receiver Jayon Hailey said. “But when we found out we didn’t have a game, we just brushed it off and got ready. We had an extra day of practice, everybody came, so it was a good week even though we couldn’t play.”

Instead of a Friday under the lights, the Patriots pivoted. They took their intensity out on an extended practice, full speed, with an emphasis on game situations. With so few players entering the season with varsity experience, the extra session wasn’t a like-for-like replacement for game readiness. But it made the best of an unexpected situation, and it at least left the Patriots too tired for much Friday FOMO.

“Everything we were going to do in the game, we did in practice,” Hailey said. “We all ran 100 percent, we all executed, we were all good.”

A few extra hours of prep isn’t something coach Ato Troop would look askance at. He counts basically three returnees with varsity experience – Hailey, linebacker/running back Mike Keene and quarterback Jason Kempf. Most of that came in last spring’s shortened campaign. For a district usually hit hard by private school recruiting, the postponement of the fall season in 2020 led to more departures than usual, which has left Troop with a talented but raw group of players.

Normally an exuberant and involved coach at practice, Troop has the Fitbit working overtime. With so many young players, practice involves a lot of modeling: Where to place your hands in blocking technique, exact steps and body orientation while running routes, guidance on how to read a defense or a pass pattern. If there’s a question, Troop is usually the one doing the demonstrating.

Troop’s staff has long excelled at skills development in the program, a big piece in the Patriots’ return to District 1 prominence. But rarely have they had so many players starting at so elementary a level at the same time.

Even the veterans like Kempf and Hailey are learning as they teach.

“It takes more time with fresh people,” Kempf said. “But they’re getting the hang of it. They come to practice every day on time, ready to learn. They’re learning fast.”

Hailey and Kempf speak highly of the players on the roster. While the roster might not be as deep in numbers as in years past, they’re heartened by a dedicated corps that is open to learning and carrying on the Patriots’ mantel as a power broker in the Del Val League. Kempf is having to do that with both the quarterbacks behind him on the depth chart and the receivers he’s looking to connect with in the passing game.

“With the younger guys, it teaches you patience,” Kempf said. “You’ve got to help them, and once you help them, they’re going to be good.”

The extra week gives Penn Wood extra time to scout and prep for Avon Grove. The Red Devils lost their opener, 35-7, at Unionville last week. Troop spent plenty of practice Wednesday on matchups for his Patriots, translating the general terms he’s installed over the preseason into opponent-specific strategies.

For Penn Wood, though, so much of the recent focus has been on the players and how they’re learning as a group. And that continued last week, game or not.

“We’re all keeping up the intensity,” Hailey said. “We’re all showing up to practice, everybody is getting everything down pat, I think we’ll be good for game situations. Everyone can help each other on the field. Even if we don’t know everything, we can help each other and help get everyone on the same page.”