COAL MOUNTAIN — It’s still four months till Christmas, but new North Forsyth football coach Robert Craft can’t shake that feeling that he is displaying a few Ebenezer Scrooge qualities.
Craft's Raiders are coming off a surprising, if not impressive, 34-14 win over Sequoyah in their season-opener. It was their first season-opening win since 2013 and already puts them halfway to their entire win total from 2015 (2-8).
Certainly seems like cause to celebrate, right?
Humbug, says Craft.
“We’re very pleased with the win. It’s a great way to start the season for sure,” he said. “It was important for us to get some success early. But that game was far from perfect. We made a lot of mistakes that against the better teams on our schedule would certainly have created a different outcome.”
Of course, Craft, like most coaches, is trying to temper the excitement that he says already is permeating the school halls and community. He doesn’t want to play the role of Scrooge but knows that there are larger prizes out there to be had.
“It’s great to see the excitement around the school, and the people in the community were congratulating us all weekend,” Craft said. “I know the players appreciate it because they know hard they have worked this summer. And so do we as a coaching staff.
“But, it’s just one game. The first one. The kids can’t get ahead of themselves. We still have a very tough schedule ahead and right now we’re 0-0 heading into our game this week. Last week is over.”
Maybe so but the Raiders certainly have plenty of positives to work with as they prepare to travel to Johns Creek on Friday in their first road test of the season.
Junior quarterback Ben Bales threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns and the Raiders (1-0) scored the final 27 points of the game and erased a pair of Sequoyah leads. The defense held the Chiefs to just 157 yards of total offense for the game.
As Craft reminds, however, it was just one game. Yet, it was the kind of game that may have tripped more recent Raiders squads -- especially after Sequoyah opened the game with a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Craft said that’s when he saw the first sign that maybe things were going to be different.
“Right after (Sequoyah) scored on the kickoff the kids just got together, and the offense went right out there and went to work,” Craft said. “There wasn’t any panic. The guys went right down and answered with a really good (scoring) drive. I think that’s when I saw the kind of fight and resiliency that you want to see from your team as a coach. At some point in every game something bad is going to happen -- a turnover, a penalty -- that changes the momentum. It’s how you respond that makes the difference in whether you can change it back to your side.”
Usually it takes a full season to instill a complete mindset change in a struggling program -- so what's Craft's secret? Some sort of magic spell?
“No, nothing like that,” he said. “What we really worked on was instilling that attitude of responding in a positive way to negative things that are going to happen during a game. I really feel like the kids have made a lot of progress mentally, which is a huge part of sports; finding that confidence where you can be successful.”
Craft also said they aren’t mincing words, and pictures, when it comes to breaking down film.
“We’re showing them the good, the bad, and the ugly,” he said. “They see the good stuff but they also see the things that need to get better. There is still a lot to work on. But what is exciting is they won last week and they are looking at the film and asking us what can they do to get better. That is what you want to see.”
With nine games to play (at least), Craft and his team know there is a long way to go. But after such a positive start to the season is the coach getting set for a Dickens-like transformation?
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “It’s still a little early to start getting too excited. We have a tough schedule ahead. Every week is new.
“It’s really more about the process. The hard work the kids have been doing is the difference right now. If they keep that up, maybe I can. After the season.”
