Their first year in 3A was successful; now they try to row the boat even further

If the first year of leading his team in Class 3A taught Squalicum football coach Nick Lucey anything, it’s that the margin for error – particularly in the playoffs – is much, much smaller.

After an undefeated roll to the 3A Wesco North Division title and into the 3A state playoffs, little mistakes ended up costing the Storm in a first-round loss to Bonney Lake.

“Bonney Lake played outstanding,” Lucey said, “but I don’t think we played our best. The 3A level is really, really good. It might come down to a few mistakes that you make that decide the outcome of games. In 2A, you’ll run into that, but it’s usually not in the first round – it’s a bit later.”

Working hard to eliminate miscues was on Lucey’s mind while he was trying to think of a mantra to motivate his team as it prepared for the 2017 season.

“I wanted something that embraces our core covenants of family, discipline and passion and tried to tie in getting everyone to pull in the same direction,” Lucey said.

What he came up with seems to be resonating with his players and has been a rallying cry through summer work.

“‘Row the boat’ is our main phrase,” senior Brian Pullman said. “We’re all on the team. The team is the canoe. Our direction is our compass, and every single player owns an oar. We’ve all got to put our oar in the water to get where we want to go. As a team, we need to keep pushing through the water, go through every obstacle that faces us and get to that championship – get to the (Tacoma) Dome.”

Lucey has used the phrase as a hashtag (#rowtheboat) in many of his social media posts to the team this summer, and at the end of practice sessions oars are handed out to players that have demonstrated best how to row the boat.

“Rowing the boat is like something you want to accomplish,” senior Jose Hernandez said. “It’s knowing that you gave it your all during practice, and we want to be there, at that limit, to give it our all, rowing the boat at the end of the day.”

Despite the loss of an extremely talented group of strong senior leaders off last year’s team, this year’s seniors seems to have the boat pointed in the right direction, Lucey said.

“The seniors from last year taught us a lot,” senior Triston Smith said. “We’ve been a lot more energetic than we expected to be, especially coming from the upper class. We’ve got a lot of guys stepping up in big positions. I think we’re looking better than ever.”

The fact that Smith is back, certainly helps – all he did was rush for 1,352 yards and 18 touchdowns last year at nearly 11 yards per clip.

Garrett Sorenson is no longer there to hand him the ball. He’ll be replaced by Spencer Lloyd, a junior who filled in when Sorenson was hurt early last year.

“He’s put sweat in the bucket and has gotten better,” Lucey said. “He can run the ball, and he can throw it. He’s played linebacker for us, and he brings that mentality to the position.”

He’ll have to find some new targets, as Smith is the only top-five pass catcher returning from a very talented receiving corps. Hernandez is among those expected to step up, along Texas transfer Ja’Lique Martin.

The offensive line has the potential to be quite good, if a bit smaller, with the return of left tackle Josh Jacobson and all-league guard Kollin Johnson. Expected to step up are Dominick Mack, Trenton Creelman and Brandon Gimse, while Pullman will be a physical presence at tight end.

On the defensive front, Johnson should be joined by Carsden Dvorachek and Dan Angel, while Pullman and Will Russell will lead the linebacking corps. The secondary will have to reload, but Lucey believes he’s got the pieces with Hernandez, Smith, Martin, Justin Hulbert, Zach Tucker and Devante Powell.

“I think we’re going to be a physical group,” Lucey said. “We’re going to hang our hat, first and foremost, on running the ball. I think we’ll be really good on both sides. I like our athletes on the outside, and if we can run the ball, it will allow us to do some good things. We’ve just got to keep rowing the boat.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Their first year in 3A was successful; now they try to row the boat even further."