Football, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: LeSean McCoy
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Scoring the game-winning goal after four overtimes against PW. Making it to lacrosse playoffs this season for the first time in the history of Springfield High School and winning the PIAA District 1AA Football Championship.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Taking ice baths in trashcans during football preseason.
Music on iPod: Any techno
Future plans: Play lacrosse at Moravian College and study education.
Words to live by: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
One goal before turning 30: Become a teacher and start a family.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m a really good cook.
By Dan Dunkin
An excellent attacker and midfielder, Springfield Township senior Jack Gozzard has an innate feel for the game.
Before his freshman lacrosse season, though, the most prominent thing Gozzard felt was the pain in his lower back. It happened during his freshman football season, and for a while, the reason for the discomfort was a mystery.
“I had really bad back pains all through football season, and we couldn’t figure out what it was,” he said.
Gozzard went to physical therapy and a chiropractor, but the pain persisted. Finally, a visit to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia determined the issue involved his discs, which weren’t giving his back proper support.
He had to sit out the tail end of his freshman football season, and the back injury sidelined him for all of his sophomore football season. Though it was his secondary sport, it is Springfield Township’s first love, Gozzard noted.
“It killed him,” said Springfield football coach Chris Shelly. “Because he wanted to be with his buddies.”
Though he couldn’t play football as a sophomore, there was just no stopping Gozzard from playing lacrosse for all four years of high school, because that’s what he was determined to play in college.
“I worked hard, trying to get my back stronger through physical therapy,” he said. “Lacrosse has some different motions, so I was able to play (as a freshman).
“It was still tough, but it was something I needed to work through because I couldn’t let it stop me. I had to put football aside because I knew lacrosse was the bigger thing for me.”
Ultimately, after plenty of rehab and a sophomore autumn as a football team manager – a role in which he was as diligent and dependable as he was as a player – Gozzard came back to football. And by his senior season he was a force.
In lacrosse, the 6-2, 175-pounder really broke out the past two seasons as one of the area’s best players, earning All-Suburban One League honors. And realizing his dream, he will play college lacrosse, at Division III Moravian in Bethlehem, Pa.
Gozzard switched to midfielder for most of his senior lacrosse year due to the small-school team’s needs, but he will play attack in college.
“He’s great at distributing the ball,” said assistant coach Bill Krewson, who was the Springfield head lacrosse coach during most of Gozzard’s career. “He’s great at seeing the field and getting everyone involved.”
To top off Gozzard’s senior year, Springfield enjoyed excellent, memorable seasons in both football and lacrosse, and the unselfish, modest, talented and tough Gozzard was one of the key catalysts on both squads. Springfield won the District One Class AA football title last fall, upsetting defending champ Bristol in the championship game, and the Springfield lacrosse team qualified for the district playoffs for the first time in school history, winning a school-record 11 games.
“Ryan Donofry and I (both lacrosse co-captains) set a goal to win 10 games, and we ended up winning 11 and clinching a playoff berth,” said Gozzard. “It was special. A lot of people didn’t expect that out of us, and we really brought it to the table.”
Goal-oriented go-getters like Gozzard get it done, and everybody follows.
“The kids want to do what he does and listen to what he says,” said Krewson. “He shows the things that should be done and the way they should be done.”
The same was true of Gozzard in football. Shelly saw those traits flourish after Gozzard’s return to the sport from his back issues. As a senior, Gozzard really came on strong on both sides of the ball, as an offensive lineman and defensive end, doing the unsung work with great effort. And for those reasons, he won the prestigious Alumni Award, voted upon by former Springfield players.
One of the most satisfying happenings to Gozzard was Springfield’s winning the district despite an offensive line that averaged under 200 pounds.
“That was wonderful for all of us,” he said. “That was our goal. In the beginning of the season, we went into our gym and took a picture of the (district title) banners. And coach Shelly said, ‘This is where we’re going to put our next district championship banner.’ “
“He’s one of those kids who did whatever he could to help the program,” Shelly said. “Fortunately, he healed up enough to play. By the end of the year, he was starting both ways for us. He was undersized but played with a tremendous amount of heart.
“He’s a coach’s dream. He just does everything you ask him to do, and really made some huge plays for us. It was great to see him develop and really maximize his potential. I don’t think he realized how good a football player he could be. He really turned out to be a star for us. The neat thing is all the other guys rallied around him. He stepped up big time and really came into his own as a leader. His play epitomized what a Spartan football player is.”
Gozzard will look back with great fondness on what Springfield’s football and lacrosse teams accomplished during his senior year. A small school stepped up big.
“Considering we’re such a small community, just about 500 kids at our school, and we go out and compete against all these schools … it’s something to be proud of,” he said.
And as much as Gozzard’s coaches think of him, he can’t say enough about his coaches and the impact they had on him and the teams. When asked what he’ll take with him to college and beyond, Gozzard said, “Definitely all the dedication by the coaches. Each one had the same mentality: We know we’re small, and we know we need to go out there and outhustle everyone. That’s the mindset I’ve taken from my four years from my coaches.“
And Gozzard was one kid who made the coaches glad they were coaches.
“You go through those rough moments where you think, ‘Should I be coaching this sport anymore?’ “ Krewson said. “He sends the message that - yes, you should be coaching, because he’s such a good kid, such a big part of the program, aside from his abilities as a lacrosse player.
“He’s one of those players that make you want to coach. There are some players these days … it’s all about them, you can’t wait to see them go. But he’s a kid you want to keep around.”
