John Paul II hopes to improve from last season’s 0-10 record

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the ninth in a series of previews of area high school football teams. Miss the first eight? Visit islandpacket.com/sports for those previews.

The John Paul II Catholic School football team hopes this will be the season where they find their identity. After going 0-10 a year ago, the Golden Warriors are hungry for the taste of victory.

And with a 26-20 double-overtime win Friday night over Hilton Head Christian, they’ve made a good start.

“We’ve been thinking about it since spring,” Nyleem Wright said. “Even going into basketball season, I was thinking about it.”

“We can’t lose to ourselves,” said head coach Kevin Wald. “We can’t have fumbles, we can’t have false starts and other blunders such as the quarterback going one way and the running back going the other. Everyone has to be on the same page, know their assignments and execute. I believe the streak will be over soon.”

Their closest margin of victory last year came against their cross-town rival Hilton Head Christian, which featured Zach Doe. But the running back transferred to John Paul, and Wald is excited to have him in the backfield. At Hilton Head Christian, Doe rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

“He’s so polite and respectful,” Wald said. “He brings a lot to the school. He’s in the National Honor Society. To the football program, he practices hard, he’s on time and works hard in the weight room. He’s a junior but he acts like a senior.”

And the Golden Warriors have another weapon in Elijah Moreno. Wald believes he can make his presence felt on both sides of the ball.

“I think Elijah Moreno has had a good camp so far,” Wald said. “Last year, he was kind of learning the game, but this year he’s picking up where he left off. I think he can be a real dangerous receiver and a defensive back.”

However, John Paul will be without Rashad Battiste, who accounted for nearly all of the team’s offense last year. Without Battiste, the Golden Warriors will have to find several guys who can score in every facet of the game. Still, Wald likes how far his team has come and where they are headed.

“We run a pistol, spread option oriented offense,” Wald said. “It’s coming together. It’s the same system I’ve had for a number of years. The guys that played last year have retained a lot from last spring and summer, which has allowed us to be a little further along than we were last year. We feel like we have a chance to have a pretty dangerous offense.”

Sam Summa will direct the offense this year. The 6-foot-4 freshman quarterback has shown the coaching staff why he deserves to be under center, and Wald is delighted to have a QB he can groom for the next four years.

“He has good height, weight and intelligence up top,” Wald said. “He throws the ball pretty accurately. I think he has a lot of potential. He has to continue to work hard. He can’t get lazy when he gets tired. If he’ll push himself and be motivated, I think he’s got a good future.”

Wald knows no matter who they play, they won’t cut his team any slack just because they’re young. He expects their opponent to play with a lot of intensity and he expects his guys to do the same.

“I think we’ve good some good speed,” Wald said. “As long as we keep them focused and continue to show them the bigger picture, I think we will be okay. We can’t make excuses. Nobody cares if you’re young or not. We have to go out and play.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 5:59 PM with the headline "John Paul II hopes to improve from last season’s 0-10 record."