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Assion: J-M builds on last season's success
Jackson-Milton posted a 6-4 record in 2013, the school’s first winning season since 1997. The Bluejays are off to a 2-0 start in coach Mark Assion’s eighth season with victories over Southington and Newton Falls.
Q. How has the success from last year affected this year’s team?
A. During the offseason they set in their minds that they hadn’t accomplished anything and they have bigger goals and aspirations. So far they have been doing a good job trusting one another and trusting the coaches to put them in position to make plays.
Q. Has the success helped the program in other ways?
A. We had 37 kids last fall, lost seven to graduation and a couple of others to ineligibility. We did pick up a few, we have 35 on varsity. In junior high we went from 17 to 26 kids and our peewee programs is the biggest it’s been in a number of years. So maybe our success did inspires some kids a little bit to come out and play.
Q. Is the program’s success sustainable or is it a case of a couple of good classes back to back?
A. I think it is sustainable. We had a group of kids who as freshmen played a lot in the 0-10 season in 2012. They believed in themselves and knew they were going to be good if they stuck together and played together. Those juniors are our core group and we have a good senior class leading the program in the right direction. With the freshmen and sophomores we have I think the success is sustainable for a long time.
Q. You’ve lost your quaterback, Jeremy Fitzpatrick, top rusher, Tyler Shaffer, and top receiver, Thomas Gatewood, from last year. How have you replaced them?
A. Michael Assion moved over from slot receiver to quarterback. He is a different type of quarterback in that he can’t throw as far as Jeremy but he runs the ball better. That makes us more diversified. Joey Burnside stepped right in for Tyler and has over 300 yards already. At receiver we have several guys who have played a lot and are doing a nice job — Adam Smith, Nate Kramer, Nick Goodlin and Alex Thornburg.
Q. Is there a facet of the team that has been a pleasant surprise?
A. We were counting on our offensive line to play cohesively with four of five returning. We didn’t expect them to be so dominant in the first two games. We weren’t surprised at what they’ve been doing, it’s more along the lines of them believing in how good they can be. The one guy who moved into the lineup, Mason Mercer, has graded higher than the other kids. We didn’t think that was going to happen. Note: The four returning starters are Brandon Eddinger, Colten Nitzsky, Tyler Phillips and Stephen Yuhasz.
Q. What sort of goals has your team set for the season?
A. We talked about not putting the cart before the horse. We have to prepare for every game, week in and week out. If we look at the big picture we only hurt ourselves. We take the first Lego off the pile and go from there. Windham is the Lego this week and Springfield is the Lego next week. We want the kids to just go out and play and do what they’ve been taught to do.
We’ve never put a goal sheet together, we have not had success long enough to do that. If the kids can build on what we did last year they know that’s better for the entire program. They have bought in, they take care of one another and play cohesively and together.
Q. Do you actually have Legos in the locker room?
A. Our locker room is too small to have anything extra in it. But I do have Legos in my classroom where we have some of our meetings. We have fun with it.
Q. What about your opponent this week, Windham?
A. Windham is always tough to prepare for. They play chippy, they’ve got tough, tough kids. We’ve been trying to tell the kids all week that you are human and don’t get cocky. We want them to play with confidence, but know that the Windham kids will knock them down. We look to compete and hope things go our way.