BUILDING THE BRAND: You would think a shutout victory over a feisty District 3-A semifinal opponent would cause most head coaches to celebrate.
Not Steel-High skipper Tom Hailey, who watched his team commit 10 penalties and get involved in some of Friday night’s “heated” action with the host Rollers well on their way to a 21-0 victory over Millersburg.
“We always tell the team to take 21 points and turn it into 42. In other words, don’t get complacent,” said Hailey, after the Rollers, leading 21-0 at intermission, stalled on a couple of developing drives in the second half.
“We didn’t score in the second half, and then some things got a little chippy and we fell into that rather than concentrate on what was going on. That was disappointing to us as a coaching staff.”
So instead of offering immediate congratulations to his players, Hailey lined them up in the endzone and watched his Rollers run wind sprints for a solid 10 minutes.
The lesson? Play for the team, not yourself. All part of building a championship-caliber program.
“We’ve got to correct those mistakes and learn how to play as a team for four quarters. They understand it, and that’s the reason we had our little meeting after the game.”
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