The Redbird Word-September 22-23

New Beginnings
By: William Harris ll
Photo by Taylor Lawson
In the last football season, the team had issues with coaching as well as discipline. From a stat perspective, the football team
had a low scoring and high penalty rate. At the end of the season, finishing with a 1 and 8 record Head Coach, Eric Dickerson,
resigned, as well as the other assistant coaches. Later on in the year, the School Board decided to hire Head Coach David Parker.
Parker decided to bring back half of the coaches from last year as well as some new coaches of his own. His whole mission
from day one was to “Change the Culture.” This was not only for the football team but for the entirety of Alton during the
summer. The football team worked out in the new auxiliary gym and also worked on weight lifting.
Then, they took the practices to the field. They also participated in 7-on-7 games. This encourages growth with the new
players as well as provides opportunities to get used to the new offense. The football team also went to a new D1 college camp in
Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo., getting them familiar with coaches and pushing them to further their game.
On Aug. 26, the football team had the opportunity to show what they had been working on during the summer. During the
first half, it was a back-and-forth game, with a long run by senior running back Keith Gilchrese to the 10 and a 3-and-out stop by
the Cahokia Comanches. The game was starting way better than last year. Sadly, the football team did lose.
The coaching staff said to the players that they were proud of them. They also mentioned many things that they needed to fix.
A lot of the things they mentioned had no regard for how they played, but the mentality of how they played. Coach Parker said
to his team, “I was extremely pleased, but also frustrated at times with our play and effort on Friday. We came out strong with
two nice KOR or kick of return (1 for a TD) and were competitive on defense. We struggled at times on offense, effort, and in our
kicking game.” He also added,” The players and coaches feel as though we’re in a better place than we were last season at this
time.”
Parker also said the team needs to improve their kicking game, coverage on KO/Punts and the play in the trenches as well as
work on some small details on both sides of the ball and special teams. "When we correct the little things, I believe the sky's the
limit for us,” Parker said. The football team understood what happened and why. They replied with "Yes sirs" and high spirits for
the rest of the season.
For more information on Varsity and Junior Varsity games, visit the Football link on the Alton Athletics page at
www.altonathletics.org.
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