Western has spirit of 2003

Western Albemarle football coach Ed Pierce doesn’t have to think too far back to remember how it feels to finish a regular season undefeated. Pierce led his 2003 team to a perfect 10-0 record, Jefferson District championship and appearance in the postseason.

In 2009, Pierce and the Warriors are halfway there.

This year’s group has started the campaign unblemished, with a 5-0 overall record, despite being undersized and undermanned in many cases.

Consider that Western has fewer than 30 members on its varsity squad, with just about everyone playing on both offense and defense.

To say that the ’09 Warriors have overachieved is one way to put it, but Pierce noticed early on that they share one key element with the ’03 team.

“We’re a whole lot different [than ’03]. We’re built differently,” Pierce said. “That group had a massive offensive line, Brian Lescanec was the running back — just a big, strong powerful kid. We’re a whole lot faster than that team was, but the common thread is the heart of both of those teams.

“These kids are intense and focused, they just don’t want to lose. They support each other, and so did that ’03 team, so that’s really special.”

A major part of Western’s success has been the play and leadership of quarterback Stephen Schuler. The senior signal-caller leads the area in passing yards (1,060), total touchdowns (19), passing touchdowns (17) and points scored (114) and has thrown just two interceptions.

He is also a threat to run the ball, and has led the team in rushing on more than one occasion. However, Schuler is the first to admit that it’s the other guys on the team that have really made a difference.

“I don’t think I’m really doing anything special,” Schuler said. “I get Dom [Losco], Christophe [Drapanas], Tyler [Ward], Nick [Kuzjak] — any of them — the ball five yards [downfield] and they can make something happen. So a lot of the credit doesn’t go to me, it’s those guys.”

Schuler credits his offensive line for protecting him and opening holes for him to run through, and touched on the importance of having so many classmates who have shared experience on the varsity level since their sophomore years.

“We’ve been together for a while now, and we’re good friends in school, so it really helps,” Schuler said. “I’m good friends with almost everybody out here, so I think it all really helps a lot when you’re on the football team, because you can trust one another a lot easier than if you didn’t know somebody very well.”

A three-sport athlete, Schuler has also been a member of the varsity basketball and lacrosse teams at Western Albemarle since he was a sophomore. Pierce recognized Schuler’s talent and potential long ago, and knew there was something special about him, both on and off the playing surface.

“He does everything well,” Pierce said. “He’s throwing the ball extremely well, making good reads, and I’d like to think that this game has really slowed down for him a lot. I think three years of playing the position, three years of being in tough situations and seeing a lot of different coverages in front of him, has just made him very comfortable in there.”

Pierce noted that when the Warriors ran a ‘quick kick” formation in last Friday’s game, Schuler was the first one down the field to make a solo tackle.

“When we run a sweep with our running back, he’s got to be a lead blocker and he always gives us that block,” said Pierce. “He’s a physical, competitive, smart, talented kid. You combine that with really good leadership and you’ve got a special player.”

Western travels to Charlottesville (3-2) this evening to face a much-improved Black Knights team in a matchup of the Jefferson’s only unbeaten squads, with both teams sitting at 2-0 in district play.

“We know we’re going to have a battle,” said Pierce. “We’ve watched them on film, and they’re strong, they’re big and they’re athletic and very well coached, so we’ll have our hands full.”

Schuler and Pierce agree that the Warriors must stay focused on Chris Fraser’s Charlottesville team first and foremost if they want to end the season with the school’s first trip to the playoffs in six years.

“It would be awesome if we could go undefeated, win the district and make the playoffs, but you don’t want to look ahead,” said Schuler. “You’ve just got to take it one team at a time.”

The road won’t get any easier if the Warriors pull out a win tonight, as two-time defending JD champ Monticello comes calling next Friday. After that, the Warriors will still have to face Orange County, Goochland and William Monroe.

“We still have very, very good opponents in front of us, we know that,” said Pierce. “If we’re not playing as well as we can, anybody on that schedule can beat us.”