Struggling Mustangs work hard through transition

This isn't how the Lakewood Ranch High football seniors wanted their last year of high school ball to go.

The Mustangs are 0-5 after a 36-7 loss against Springstead High Sept. 21.

First-year head coach Christopher Culton’s triple-option attack hasn’t clicked yet, and as a result the team is averaging 5.4 points per game. It’s a hard transition made harder by injuries to five Mustangs quarterbacks across the varsity and junior varsity programs. Senior running back Drake Theriot has had to step under center as a result.

New staffs also evaluate players differently, and that leads to position changes. Senior Stefano Lonardo, a former starting offensive guard, now starts at defensive tackle. Learning that side of the ball hasn’t been easy, he said.

It's all part of a long-range plan to bring success to a struggling program. It's going to take time, something the seniors, unfortunately, don't have.

The seniors, however, aren't giving up on the season. Quite the opposite — they’re more motivated than ever, and believe they have a lot to prove.

“I don’t want to be embarrassed when I walk down the hallways wearing a Lakewood Ranch (football) T-shirt,” center John Riley said. “It’s probably my last year playing football. I want to leave a good impression. We’re 0-4 (at the time of the interview) and I want that to change. We’re going to come out here every day and work hard.”

Riley said his job in the offense has remained similar as the center, making good snaps and blocking the man in front of him. Theriot said learning two different positions on offense has been challenging, especially in terms of making multiple reads on the same play, in a split second. Last year, he was a tight end, so there’s been no familiarity whatsoever.

Does that bother him? Not particularly. He’s become the Mustangs’ workhorse, rushing for more than 100 yards in three of the team’s four games. Like Riley, Theriot just wants to prove this team can win.

“We want to go out there with the teammates we’ve had since our freshman year and finish on a good note,” Theriot said.

If Culton is feeling down, he isn’t showing it. Disappointed in the team’s win-loss record, sure, but he’s said from the beginning that this year would be about more than the scoreboard. It would be about details, and learning how to be a team, and how to act accordingly. The team started the season with 68 players, and as of Sept. 20 was down to 35.

“I love the attrition,” Culton said.

He said it shows him who he can count on in the future. If these kids stick it out through this, they can survive anything.

They have a toughness factor, Culton said, and that toughness is part of the legacy the seniors can leave, a foundation on which future Mustangs will build.

Lonardo agreed, saying “football isn’t for everyone.”

“I like knowing I’m one of 35 people at this school who has the ability to be out here doing this every day,” he said.

I don’t envy the position of these seniors. When a new coach arrives and implements an entire scheme overhaul, sometimes that produces a class of sacrificial lambs, players who know they will never reap the rewards set up, in part, by their efforts.

For their sake, I hope the seniors stay true to their toughness, and grind out a few memorable moments. And hopefully, once they move on, they can look back and say they were the start of something special.