Vianney Prepares for Football Season at Jamboree

As the sun began to set Friday evening, the familiar sound of buzzing stadium lights and high school football filled the air at Oakville High School.

For some schools, the jamborees are an opportunity to polish out the dull spots in offense or defense with a week to go before the 2011 season starts. For other schools, the jamborees are about implementing new coaching styles as first year coaches look to make their mark in the record books.

For first-year coach Mike Diffley of Vianney, Friday night was a chance to evaluate his players as they implemented a new offensive and defensive system. Diffley hopes to help the Griffins achieve their first winning record since the 2008 season.

“Today was a great opportunity for us to get off of our practice field and get into some contact with kids from other schools,” Diffley said. “We’re installing a brand new offense and a brand new defense, and in today’s day and age, you don’t have that many two-a-days to do all of that in. But I’m pleased with the kid’s attitude and their effort level and that’s the first thing. If you don’t have that, the rest of it won’t come.”

Rockwood Summit head coach Mike Bellers is looking for his Falcons to improve on last season’s 6-5 record, which put Summit into the playoffs.

“It’s really a practice opportunity that you get against other schools, and I thought that we came out and did everything that we wanted to,” Bellers said.

"We wanted to come out and complete some passes, have a strong running game and run on defense. We had a few too many turnovers that we’re going to have to clean up, but as far as getting the season going, it’s exciting to see somebody else on the field.”

Oakville coach Arlee Conners is also looking for his squad to bounce back from last year’s 2-8 mark as the Tigers lost six of their last seven games.

“We take the jamboree as pretty much a preseason type feel, and right now, we’re trying to find out what guys can do,” Conners said. “We evaluate players, and we evaluate some of the schemes that we’re doing and just make sure that the guys are doing what they’ve been taught to do."

Connors said he felt that the team had good things going on and that what the players most need to work on is their depth.

"Some of our guys in second group seemed a little bit lost, so we’ve got to get them developed and ready because last year one of our biggest things were injuries," he said. "If we can stay healthy, we can be as good as anybody.”

Seckman’s Jamie Critchlow takes over the coaching duties for the Jaguars after serving as the team’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons.

“So far we’ve had some pretty good success but obviously we have some things to work on in practice this week,” Critchlow said. “We had some kids make some plays that we didn’t know how they were going to react to when they got in front of a stranger, so we had some pretty positive things go on today.”

Mehlville coach Eric Meyer likes to use the jamboree as an opportunity to evaluate talent and look for ways to get the most out of his team during every play.

“Jamborees are not about winning or losing, but they’re more about seeing what we can do well and evaluate talent,” Meyer said. “We’re not really worried about down and distances, as we are seeing everyone play and getting the best out of our players."