The new head football coach at Old Town High School is only a couple years out of college, but he has a wealth of experience as a former college football lineman.
That new level of knowledge and intensity from first year coach David Gross is already motivating his players as the Coyotes offensive and defensive lines get ready to battle it out in the trenches this fall.
“I really like how he treats us up front. He was an O-lineman at UMaine, so he really gets it,” said senior lineman Josh Wolfertz, one of the team’s leaders on both sides of the ball. “He really caters to us.”
Gross previously coached the offensive and defensive lines as an assistant for the team before being named as the head coach this spring at just 23 years of age. He played on the offensive at the University of Maine before injuries plagued the end of his college career.
“Blocking is the pride. It always starts up front,” Gross said during a team practice this week. “We tell our linemen all the time, ‘You’ve got to do the dirty work.’”
That might mean other players get the credit instead of them, but Gross said that lineman should be prepared to make their teammates look good without getting much attention for that work.
“And that’s OK, because that’s life,” Gross said. “I tell them all the time, ‘You take these morals that you’re learning playing offensive lineman to the real world, you guys are going to be just fine.’”
The message seems to be resonating with the team.
Junior tight end and outside linebacker Brandon Schanz will spend plenty of time blocking on the end of that offensive line, and he’s looking forward to it.
“He always says, it’s built through the trenches. Every good team is built through the trenches,” Schanz said. “They have the big guys up front, and then everything else follows that.”
Schanz said Gross has brought a “different level of intensity this year” and expects the Old Town team to have a strong season.
“It feels like a big family right here,” Schanz said. “I love all these guys, we all love each other. And we come out here and we grind everyday together, and we get better together.”
Another leader in that big family will be quarterback Ethan Closson, who can be a dynamic threat both by air and on the ground.
“We’re all bought into the new system,” Closson said. “We don’t like how last season ended. We don’t like losing. But we’re coming for those wins this year.”
The Coyotes went 4-6 last season and finished that campaign with a 29-0 loss against Foxcroft Academy.
Closson is ready to hit the ground running and improve on that record this year.
“We have a nice team. We’re pretty stout all around, so I think I just need to be able to lean on my guys, and trust everybody,” the quarterback said. “And everybody is going to play a big part in everybody else’s success.”
And he knows that the offensive line will need to be a big part of his success.
“That O-line is great to be behind. They grind, they get after it,” Closson said. “So it’s nice having a big group of guys upfront working hard for you.”
Wolfertz, who calls offense his “bread and butter” and is happy to block anywhere the team needs him, is ready to help protect his mobile quarterback.
“He’s moving around a lot, so I’ve just got to mirror my guy and do my job,” Wolfertz said.
The team leaders seem to be bought in with Gross’ new culture based around relentless effort.
Closson said that Gross “sets the bar” for the Coyotes squad. And it helps that Gross is not far removed from being a player himself.
“I think he’s able to relate with us very well, because he’s fresh out of the game. He knows how it feels, he knows what works,” Closson said about Gross. “He’s a very relatable guy to be around, and have him coaching us. He knows what it’s like to be in our shoes.”
Gross is working to create an ethos of nonstop effort from whistle to whistle, while emphasizing that each and every team member from the starting quarterback to the scout team noseguard has a critical role to play.
“We keep telling the kids, ‘You play football this way because you love it,’” Gross said. “Football is a short period of your life. You only get four years to play high school football. So if you’re on the field for us, you’ve got to be full speed.”
