Just as it was last season, Saint Mark's football team could find themselves in a week four showdown between unbeaten and top ranked teams. In that meeting, Archmere Academy won an overtime thriller, that's likely still fresh in the minds of many in the Spartan community. And with both teams facing favorable match ups this weekend, the anticipation for the rematch will start before the final whistles on week three have blown. For the coaches, the situation adds a different element to the game week preparation. Not only do they have to install a game plan, they have to make sure their squad stays focused on the job at hand. It is a situation that every coach and staff finds themselves in at one point or another.
I think every coach is worried about kids looking at the schedule and circling games on the calendar. We preach to the kids all the time to take things one week at a time. - Joe Wright
When asked how he and his staff are approaching this week's opponent, Joe Wright replied: "I think every coach is worried about kids looking at the schedule and circling games on the calendar. We preach to the kids all the time to take things one week at a time. Our staff is constantly communicating to the players that we only worry about ourselves and what we can control. We need to get better each day, each week if we want to be playing late into November. This week we are working on getting ourselves better to beat Charter. That is the number one priority." The Spartans will enter Friday night's contest as considerable favorites, though no opponent should be taken lightly.
Wilmington Charter opened in 1996, but wouldn't field a team of their own until 1999. Prior to then , students from Charter competed on Wilmington High School's team. The program has only seen two winning seasons, with the last coming in 2010. Tyran Rice's squad that year went 7 - 3, just missing out on the playoffs. Since then The Force have experienced little gridiron success. A division I school by enrollment, Charter made the decision to play a straight division II schedule. A development that Coach Brian Winnington hopes will help the team improve on last season's 1 - 9 record. Charter has big school numbers, because they share the same building with the Cab Calloway School of Arts. However those students haven't offered much of a boost to the football program, with relatively few coming out for the team. A fact that this year's squad, with only 37 members, would attest to.
Despite the low numbers, Charter is not without quality athletes. QB/SS Daniel Shields, RB/CB Dominic Ball, WR/OLB Dylan Craig and WR/DE Elijah Banks are standouts on both sides of the ball. They return a veteran line led by Jerry Lu, and have a solid kicker in Jesse Rodriguez. On paper, The Force doesn't appear to be a major obstacle in Saint Mark's path.. However they do have players that could make things interesting if the Spartans don't come to play. Every opponent offers a different challenge, something Joe Wright spoke of when asked about his thoughts on the game: "Charter is a D1 football team that is well coached. They are running a little different look on defense then we have seen the last few weeks. We have been practicing against it and our scout team has done a great job of getting us ready, but game time is a different beast." For Saint Mark's it's simple, keep you eyes on this week's prize, and the next will be even bigger.