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Click here for T.C. Williams’ Homepage on DigitalSports
Click here for T.C. Williams’ 2008 Football Schedule
Click here for the Northern Region (VA) Football Central
T.C. Williams High School Titans– Northern Region, Division 6, Class AAA Patriot District
Head Coach: Dennis Randolph, second year.
Career Record: 4-6 2007 Record: 4-6 overall, 3-4 district.
Returning Starters: 5 offense/5 defense.
Key Losses: OL Carlos Canales; QB/RB Jamal Ford; DB Earl Via; LB Carlton Watson.
Top Returners: TE/DE Brandon Burke, Sr., 6-5, 250; WR James Collier, Sr., 6-3, 175; RB/DB Dominique Copeland; Sr.; QB/P Zach Goehler, Sr., 6-5, 185; WR/DB Tony Richardson, Sr.; WR Marcus Via, Sr., 6-3, 175; OT/DE Jay Whitmire, Soph., 6-6, 290.
Fresh Faces: OL Eric Burber, Soph.; QB Joe Hargrave, Jr.; RB Abu Kamara, Sr.; TE Robert Mannel, Jr.; C Robert Sanders, Soph.
Game to Watch: Week 5, Sept. 26 at Lake Braddock
This Week 5 Patriot District match-up is the Titans first road game — they open with their first four games at their new home field. The Bruins and Titans have alternated wins each of the last seven years, with the away team winning all seven contests. Over those seven seasons, the total point differential is only seven points, in favor of Lake Braddock.
Stadium: T.C. Williams Stadium (Capacity 4,500).
A Call For Change
By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
Fourteenth in a series.
It’s been a busy off-season for the Titans’ coaching staff. And, as it turns out, a good part of it has been spent on the phone.
Second-year Coach Dennis Randolph decided after last season to make the switch from the multiple-set offense that he brought with him to the program a year ago — one that ran most often out of a split-back or I-formation — to a new, spread formation.
“Last year I came in new and brought an offense that I’d used for a long time,” Randolph said. “And I really liked the offense, but we didn’t execute it well. And I realized that every time one of our coaches had a question they had to come to me because they weren’t familiar with it.
“So the main reason we switched is that I’ve got a good group of coaches here and I wanted all of us to get on the same page. I wanted all of us to share in the knowledge and all be in charge of what we’re running.”
The offense is the design
of Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, and will be run this
season not only by Auburn and Troy State on the collegiate level, but also locally by T.C. Williams,
West Potomac and Bishop Ireton of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.
“I wanted all of our coaches to be able to grow professionally, and to be able to have a resource to go to when they had questions or wanted to learn more,” Randolph said. “So with this, you can call up an 800-number, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week if you have a question. Need to know the answer? All you have to do is pick up the phone and call and talk to somebody who knows the system, who put it in and who has run it and had success doing it.”
Of course, it also helps that this new, spread formation perfectly suits the Titans’ players.
Senior quarterback Zach Goehler, who transfered from Wisconsin a year ago, is a drop back passer with a strong and accurate arm. Goehler got substantial work running the new offense this summer, leading T.C. Williams in nearly all of the teams’ 57 summer passing league games.
The Titans also return a host of athletic wide receivers, including James Collier, Tony Richardson and Marcus Via, all seniors.
“Last year we’d get things going offensively, but then we’d drive down the field and stall on the 5-yard line,” Randolph said. “And part of that was the system we were in. This year, we can’t allow that to happen.
“We lost six games last year and with the exception of West Springfield,
which blew us out, the other fives games were lost by less than a
touchdown. We were in every one of those game with an opportunity to
win and we didn’t do it. So we had to look in the off-season at what we
were the things we needed to do to get us over that hump … to finish.
That’s been a theme: To finish strong. And hopefully this new offense will help us do that.”
A Genuine Homecoming
The Titans have waited five long years to be able to dress in their own locker room, walk out their own school’s doors and find their family, friends and fans waiting in the home stands to cheer them on.
The wait is finally — almost — over.
T.C. Williams’ glorious new stadium will be ready for action when Mount Vernon visits August 29 at 5 p.m. in the season-opener for both squads.
The new turf field is in place, and the final touches are being
put on the track surrounding the playing surface.
Renovations to the
bleachers and press box will be done after the football season. A
parking garage located close to the stadium is also under construction
and is set to open sometime in October.
“We’re excited,” Randolph said. “We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. These kids have been traveling; they’ve been nomads for five years.
“As a high school player, you’ve got to be able to walk out your own door and play a football game. And finally being able to do so will mean a lot. We can’t wait.”
Quotable
“I’m not the new coach anymore, so the guys know me now. They know that every coach has a point where you can’t push it anymore — and they know where that point is now. You’ll hear them say to each other, ‘Don’t do that or you’d better do this.’ So from that standpoint, we’re much further along. The tempo has picked up in practice, and things are running much more efficiently. Overall, we’re a lot further along than we were at this time last year.”
— T.C. Williams Coach Dennis Randolph
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Note: The first 20 Northern Region teams to be previewed were selected
at random. Only the Top 10 teams have been ranked and will be unveiled
in order in the coming days.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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