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Setting a standard

By Lew Gilliland
The Times-Journal

Published November 23, 2006

Fort Payne High School football coach Paul Ellis said there was a lesson to be learned from his squad’s 41-7 loss at Athens last week.

“The biggest thing is we’ve got to be learn how to play in a … football game of that caliber,” he said. “You can’t overcome that many mistakes. We left one hill unclimbed — to get to the third round. That was our next goal.”

Fort Payne committed eight turnovers in the Class 5A second-round playoff game, and Ellis estimated the Wildcats dropped at least six or seven passes and were guilty of overthrows on a couple more.

“Our defense had four stops in the first half, but we put them on such a short field, it was just too much to overcome,” Ellis said. “It seemed all the things we could have done to hurt ourselves, we did in that game. You can’t throw interceptions. You can’t fumble.”

The loss will go down as the lone blemish in what was a historic season for the Cats.

Fort Payne went 10-0 in the regular season for the first time in school history and won the 5A, Region 7 championship. Unranked in the preseason, the Cats had risen to No. 2 in the 5A state poll by playoff time.

They added an 11th victory by downing Erwin in the first round of postseason play, displaying the grit needed to come from behind against a formidable opponent. It was the same grit Fort Payne showed while winning a top-10 showdown against Etowah in Week 6 and while coming from behind to beat Butler six days later.

There were many heroes for the Cats, including a group of seniors who experienced some tougher times early in their careers.

“The seniors were 1-7 as eighth-graders,” Ellis said. “For them to make that turnaround … it’s huge for them but also for our program. I think this is a step toward building our program to the level we want it at.”

For Ellis, that means consistently winning nine or 10 games in the regular season, consistently advancing deep into the playoffs.

Step 1 will be following a successful 2006 season with another in 2007.

Offensively, fans can expect to see the Cats line up in the spread formation again.

The Fort Payne coaching staff, knowing its roster featured more speed and athleticism than size, decided to adopt the scheme for 2006, and the result was an offense that had little trouble piling up yards and points.

Quarterback Slade Smith passed for 2,056 yards and 29 touchdowns. Halfback Nick Johnson ran for 753 yards and 10 touchdowns and caught 49 passes for 745 yards and 12 scores. Fullback Antwon Appleton ran for 732 yards and six touchdowns.

Junior Chris McElrath got time at quarterback, running back and receiver. He passed for passed for 242 yards and six touchdowns, ran for 164 yards and three scores and had 34 receptions for 460 yards and four touchdowns.

Then there was wide receiver Randy Posey. A senior who hadn’t played football since eighth grade, Posey was Fort Payne’s top big-play threat. He caught 38 passes for 812 yards and 13 scores and also returned four kicks (three kickoffs and a punt) for touchdowns.

All totaled, it was an impressive showing for an offense working out of a new scheme.

“It’s hard for any coach and his staff to say we’re going to [make] wholesale [changes] and do something differently,” Ellis said. “It was scary for us as coaches. The kids were the ones who went out there and made it what it was, from every offensive lineman to all our skill guys. For it to work like it did, I can’t say enough about our coaches and the players.”

Fort Payne figures to be formidable on that side of the ball again next season. Every starter except Posey should be eligible to return, so the unit’s top challenge will be finding a new deep threat to replace a wide receiver who coaches clocked at 4.5 in the 40-yard dash.

“Those kids don’t come around every year, or they don’t here at Fort Payne,” Ellis said. “What we’ve got to do is get a quality receiver out there who can make people pay. That may mean Nick, Antwon and Chris may have to carry a bigger load of the offense.”

It was a tougher year for Fort Payne’s defense, which allowed several teams to pile up big yardage but also had a knack for coming up with a big play when necessary. The unit had more than 30 takeaways and scored five touchdowns.

“I would venture to say [we had] one of the smallest defensive lines in the state of Alabama, in all classifications,” Ellis said. “We averaged about 180 pounds. The biggest kid on our defense was 190 to 195 pounds.”

In defending the defense, Ellis noted it was often on the field for 65 or 70 plays per game because of the offense’s knack for scoring quickly. That’s about 15 to 20 more plays than what coaches would prefer.

The defense will be hit hard by graduation. Six starters — tackle A.J. Springs, end Gavin Ammons, linebacker Ben Barrontine, safeties Jeremy Underwood and Chase Potts and cornerback Timmy Estep — will have to be replaced.

“It’s going to be tough, and the biggest reason is because they’re fighters and they’re leaders,” Ellis said.

Ellis hopes individuals such as freshman lineman Kyle Conkle, sophomore lineman Will Sparks and sophomore inside linebacker Wesley Hairel will be able to help fill the voids.

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