To view photos of the Council Rock North/Father Judge game, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
The script would have been just about perfect if Council Rock North – despite the loss of Purdue University-bound Brandon Cottom on the second play of the game – could have pulled out a win in Friday night’s non-league opener against Father Judge.As it was, the Indians fell to their PCL foe 22-14, but not even a loss could detract from the excitement of a night that marked a new beginning in more ways than one.
For starters, it was the Indians’ first game on their newly installed turf field.
“I know a lot of people in the community worked really hard to make this happen,” athletic director Dan Griesbaum said. “To see it happen on such a beautiful night with beautiful weather in front of such a large crowd of people just added to the excitement.”
Throw in the fact that it was Adam Collachi’s debut as Rock North’s new coach, and it was indeed the beginning of a new era for the program.
“Adam does things the right way,” Griesbaum said. “Football is a priority, but making young men is more important. He holds the kids accountable. He brings the kids together – I see more of a team now.
“He is teaching life lessons. He knows everything that we’re looking to do with our athletic program in terms of using athletics to further develop young men and young women to be better citizens.
“We knew going in he was the guy that was going to do what we were looking to do. It’s not about making playoffs, it’s not about 8-9-10 wins. That stuff is all nice, but there’s a right way to get there, and Adam embodies that.”
The Indians faced their first test under Collachi when they lost Cottom for the night because of an ankle injury on just the second play of the game. It would have been the perfect opportunity to fold, but the young Indians showed their character, opening up a 14-9 lead before allowing 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
“One thing I have harped on with the kids this year is that nobody is ever going to feel sorry for you,” Collachi said. “Someone has to step up.
“A young man like (sophomore quarterback) Brandon Knotts stepped up and had some exciting plays. For every dark cloud, there’s a silver lining. We found some players – some young kids – that stepped up and had great games in their first varsity action.
“You try and mimic things at practice, but nothing’s like Friday night. They all competed, and they all played hard for four quarters. I told them to hold their heads high when they walked off the field because they brought every ounce of emotion and energy that they had in their bodies on Friday night, and I couldn’t have been any prouder with the effort.”
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Indians had seven sophomores, two juniors and two seniors on the field.
“We marched the ball down and had a chance to put the tying score on the board,” Collachi said. “There were some really good things happening, and we have to build on that.”
Collachi took over the helm from coach Tom Coates, and he admits he wasn’t looking to make wholesale changes.
“What I wanted to do was bring some stability to the program,” he said. “I kept some of the coaches around that had some familiarity with the kids. I didn’t want to make drastic changes in terms of what we were going to do offensively and defensively.
“The foundation was there, and the kids were comfortable with the system. We tweaked it here and there, but in reality, it’s what the kids are comfortable with, so that’s what we wanted to maintain.”
Despite the outcome, Collachi acknowledged that Friday night’s season opener was memorable.
“It was really unique,” he said. “It was great watching the field getting torn up right after graduation and seeing it coming together piece by piece. We were practicing on it last week, and the excitement was building up.
“You get tunnel vision during the game, but at one point I looked over, and the stands were packed. It was a hopping place in Newtown on Friday night, and the kids had a lot of fun with it. If you could have flipped a couple of numbers around, it would have been even more memorable, but overall, there was a lot of excitement the whole week.”
On Friday night, the Indians, according to Griesbaum, showed their character in defeat. It is exactly what he was hoping to see when he hired Collachi last winter.
“You look at what he’s doing – the guys stepped up,” the Rock North athletic director said. “They were ready. Everybody has a role, everybody has to be ready to step up, and on Friday night, that happened.
“They had to do it the first night. All those principles he’s teaching – Friday night they had to live it.”
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