High School Football Preview: Xavier Prep Saints
The biggest news this off season in high school football was the hiring of former Carolina Panther and Cleveland Brown, James Dockery, as the new head coach of the Xavier Prep Saints.
A team that went just 4-6 a year ago with a talented offense but a defense that gave up an average of 35 points a contest, Dockery is hoping to bring a new energy and focus in 2017.
“You guys want to go to the playoffs you can do it, but you got to put in the work alright? We got to learn how to finish.” Head Coach James Dockery stated.
A high powered offense a season ago that averaged 330 yards a game and kept them right in it most Friday nights. They are returning many key pieces so they know they will find the end zone but stopping the other team from scoring will be the difference maker.
“I mean some big time players like Chandler Barbato, Braxton Wehrli, Fabrice Voyne, those are guys that any given time can take the ball all the way to the end zone. We have to get better in the trenches. Finding guys that are tougher, going to be up in the box closer to the line of scrimmage and playing a physical brand of football that we want to play.” Dockery added.
The big games they came to play, winning the Battle of Cook Street against Palm Desert and tough battles against the DVL’s best teams, but it was the games they were the favorites like giving up a two touchdown lead handing Indio their only DVL win of the year.
“That’s been on my mind ever sense it happened, it won’t happen again.” Chandler Barbato said.
“It’s definitely something we’ve talked about, comes down to a lot of effort and being prepared for those games mentally and physically. A lot of times we come in and the energy is not there so we need as seniors to pick that up this year. We will come in the 2nd half and going to fight hard.” senior Adam Gill said.
