Huskies Hunt for Top Spot with Their Fists

Flint Hill's pursuit of a fifth consecutive Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference title has a long way to go this year, but it's a far cry from starting a football program from scratch.

However, Flint Hill head coach Michael Wright sees a strong similarity between his current squad and the one that pulled together to resurrect the school's football program eight years ago.

Wright said, "It's so much similar to probably the very first team I coached, when they kind of all had that gleam look in their eyes, where they're hungry for information. They're eager to do what you ask them to do."

In the admissions office on the Flint Hill campus where Wright works, he keeps a photograph of that first team, a raw group that spent its first season competing at only a junior varsity level.  

"I keep a picture here of the young men that started football when we first arrived here, about 22 to 23 young men, and probably three or four of them had some experiences playing football," Wright said. "So, they were the cornerstone of getting people to understand what we wanted to try to achieve, doing the things we were about, and helping us stay on the map as we kept progressing along the way."

In recent years, Flint Hill has certainly got on the map. The small school lists a number of players still in the game in the college ranks on their athletic website, and compiled 7-3 and 8-3 campaigns in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The wins have the Huskies hungry for more. Explained Wright, "Everybody always want more when you've won. Everybody does."

Those wins did not seem to come last year when Flint Hill fell to 4-5, though they retained their crown as champions of the MAC, which includes Georgetown Day School, Maret, Potomac School, St. James and Sidwell Friends.

This year's team sits at 1-3. Although they opened with a 40-27 victory over Covenant, the Huskies have since dropped games to Episcopal, Blue Ridge and Benedictine by an aggregate score of 107-36.

"Record-wise," said Wright, "obviously, you know, we've started off slowly in those regards. We played some terrific teams, as well. We wouldn't have it any other way."

With the full slate of MAC games ahead, including this Saturday's match-up against Sidwell Friends, Wright was succinct when asked which games were the most important: "All of them."

In those games, like the ones before them, the Huskies will rely on a mix of younger and older players.

Out of the 44-man roster, 24 are juniors. Leading the way is quarterback Andy Rehburger, a team captain who Wright describes as "a quiet leader." Rehburger knows the offense inside and out, and is trusted by Wright to sometimes call plays.

Of the 12 seniors, running back Alex Callahan, according to Wright, ended last year with 150-plus-yard games in the Huskies' final three games and is starting to return to form. Sam Crummer and Harrison Gray are major presences on the line.

Jerrod Reed, who started as a freshman in 2009, is also a big part of the Huskies' game plan this year.

Wright is looking for each of those players to continue to lead the way.

"I want all those guys to continue to take steps forward, particularly the ones that we're gonna also have to count on," he said. "I mean, they're gonna have to make big plays here and there."

In order to make that progress, Wright mentioned two key areas.

The first is to focus.

"I try to remind our players, we don't want to take anyone lightly. Anyone on any kind of day can beat us if we think we're too much, so we have to make sure that, every day, we come out," Wright said.

The second element is the team's spirit.

With the success they've had over the last few years, the Huskies face expectations from their coaches, from their families and from themselves.

"All that can weigh on you…if you're not trying to understand what you need to be doing," Wright said. "And so, with that, we gotta have each other on the same page and be together about it."

That is especially true for this year's team. "We've had certain individuals that help do certain things in various years, although I've always stressed balance and togetherness, and then this year, even more so," Wright said.

Wright boils that theme of togetherness down to a simple analogy.

"We talk about finger-fist. You know, a finger is separate and individuals, and as a fist, we're together, we're united, and it's hardest to break a chain that way. So our philosophy is finger-fist," he explained.

If the Huskies stick together, Wright's team could well have a reason to think of a finger at the end of the season: an index finger held high, the number one, as champions again.

Flint Hill will host Sidwell Friends at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.