PERKINS TWP.
Although the program is coming off a co-Sandusky Bay Conference championship and a first-round home game in the Division III playoffs, some days are better than others for the Pirates these days.
While still putting in the work, some days can be difficult without a head coach, a situation the Pirates find themselves in after Gary Quisno’s sudden resignation the first week of December.
“At first it was a big shock. None of us expected Coach Quisno to leave,” said longtime assistant coach Jeremy Blakely, one of five assistants overseeing the Pirates’ offseason program.
“We wanted to set something else up for the kids to get them in here to do something structure-wise and to also set the point that, just because we won the SBC last year doesn’t mean we’ll win it next year.”
Other assistant coaches in the weightroom with Blakely have included Gary Lill, Alan Speer, Dom Carrozzino and Jeff Harbal.
As one of two area programs to host a playoff game last season, Perkins looks to push itself through a period of uncertainty while looking to stay atop the SBC standings in 2010.


Up an down
In all coaching circles, there can be good days and bad days when dealing with adolescents at the high school level.
But trying to keep a group of 20-25 on a high at all times without a head coach certainly has its moments.
“I’m not going to say that it’s not hard to get kids excited about football when they don’t even know who their coach is,” Blakely said. “But for the most part they’ve done a great job; better than they did the last time, I’ll say that.”
For the most part, it just depends on what day it is.
“It’s up and down,” Blakely said. “Some days the kids can’t wait to see who the new coach is, then other days they are more like, whoever it is, I’m just going to prove to them I can play.”
“We tried to nip it in the bud early. The first day we were allowed to get them in here, we had the program set up, and now it’s three days per week working on speed, explosion and power.”
With the program in a bit of a flux, Blakely and the rest of the staff are stressing attendance.
“Being here every day and not missing is big,” Blakely said. “Having great attendance and not spending an hour in here but putting in the hard work that it takes to prepare for a better season next year (is important).
“Our mentality is we want to be physical, and you can’t really be physical without the weights, so that’s what we’re pushing. We’re going to be physical, and I keep telling the kids when it gets tough in here, that’s not as tough as it will be on Friday nights.”

Explosion time
While it’s important to focus on a particular workout to strengthen a weaker area from the year before, Blakely and the Perkins coaches are stressing the entire package.
“I think you still have to work on the whole body, no matter how you prepare for teams,” he said. “You can’t say because this team was stronger, we can’t work on speed.
“The thing with us — we’re losing a lot of players, especially up front. If we were working on one area more than others right now, it would be explosion and power with our linemen.”
Blakely has the linemen focusing on three power lifts for explosion, including the hand clean and the jammer weight machine.
“I think explosion is the most important thing for football,” Blakely said. “Every day we do those first, then we go to a squat or bench, then there are the secondary lifts.
“But the most important things to me are the explosion lifts. You have to have power and explode off the line. You can be as strong as you want, but if you’re moving in slow motion, it doesn’t matter.”

Keeping up
The goal at Perkins is to have a weightlifting program year-round for athletes, but the school is not quite there.
“It’s a lot harder to keep up now, because you see some schools that keep a year-round lifting program for the whole school,” Blakely said. “That is our goal here — to get to a point where physically we are above the other schools and have a year-round workout program.
“If you don’t, you’re behind because every other school is trying to do the same thing.”
A big part of the evolution of offseason workouts also goes back to attendance, according to Blakely.
“Ten years ago if a kid missed a day or two, it wasn’t unheard of,” he said. “Now if that happens, you are really behind. It has to be a constant effort all the time just to stay even and competitive, or better yet, to rise above them.”
The bottom line for Blakely, however, is the players being physically ready to play on Friday nights.
“You can have the best X’s and O’s drawn up on the chalkboard — and have the best strategies for a team all week,” he said. “But if you can’t physically get the job done that you’re being asked to do, it doesn’t matter how strategic you are.
“Your X’s aren’t going to be better than the O’s without getting in the weightroom, unless you’re bigger, faster and stronger.”