Coach knows his players, pushes team concept
Navajo Times | Ravonelle Yazzie
Red Mesa’s Tyler Chilly zips past Ganado Hornet Tony Shirley at the 20-yard line on Friday evening during a scrimmage in Fort Defiance.
FORT DEFIANCE
First-year coach Adriel Shirley may be new to the Ganado football team but he’s already developed a history with the kids in his program.
Shirley was hired as head coach this past spring and before he took that job he ran the middle school program for five years.
“It’s good that the kids already know me,” Shirley said. “I’ve coached them in middle school and they’ve all move up to the high school level but they know what I’m all about and how I like to run my program.”
The Hornets will open the season against Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin at Winslow High School on Friday.
Next week they’ll host Many Farms and they’ll entertain Holbrook on Sept. 13. After a bye week, the Hornets will play at Blue Ridge on Sept. 27.
Shirley said they’re going to have their hands full when they play Benjamin Franklin and Blue Ridge, a pair of state playoff teams. Nonetheless, he’s looking at the big picture.
“Our schedule is pretty tough but we’re going to take it one game at a time,” he said. “We’re going to keep working and I want them to be team players.”
Shirley’s task will not be an easy one though as the Hornets lost some key players to graduation.
“We have a mixture of young ones and veterans,” he said. “They’ll need to get used to each other.”
Just like any other football team, Shirley said the big key is to make sure everyone is communicating and staying on the same page.
“That is what we’re stressing,” he said. “That’s something we’re real pushing with our kids, not just on the field but off the field.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow