GREENFIELD — The Greenfield High School football team had its first padded practice Thursday, with coaches and players eager to finally be able to go full-bore at Vets Field.
The Green Wave got after it early, with the energy level rising during the Boilermaker drill. The drill tasks a down defensive lineman and a ranging linebacker to tackle a running back coming behind three offensive lineman in a confined space.
The players noticed the level of intensity rising once the pads began to collide.
“A lot more drive,” senior lineman Cam Lackey said. “There’s a lot more energy behind everything.”
After a 7-4 campaign in 2018 that saw Greenfield miss the playoffs, the Green Wave are going through a period of transition.
The program graduated its starting quarterback (Owen Phelps), running back (RJ Byrd), fullback (Nate Haselton) and No. 1 wide receiver (Danny Vega), leading to younger players being forced into big roles on the offense.
The Green Wave will sport a young team, with 28 players showing up to practice, but the experienced players have been pleasantly surprised with the progress the younger kids have shown.
“We lost a lot,” Lackey said, “but I really feel with the new kids coming up, I have a lot of faith they can get everything done. It starts up front but there’s 11 men on the field. Everybody has to do their job and that’s how we’re going to win football games.
“We’ve seen them all since middle school,” he continued. “We’ve been out there with them and they’re all so much better, high spirits, a lot more energy, a lot more strength behind what they’re doing.”
While Greenfield lost the bulk of its top offensive skill position players, the majority of the players in the trenches have returned, an area that should be a strength of the team.
Senior Jared Hart, who is expected to pick up a bigger role with the offense this year as a running back, said he enjoys running behind the big men on the line.
“It starts up front,” Hart said. “They always get the job done up front, just like last year.”
The goal for the Green Wave this year is simple — make the western Mass. playoffs.
Last year’s Intercounty League North Division champion Turners Falls announced it was suspending its season on Thursday due to a shortage of players. With the defending champions no longer competing, this year’s league title is even more up for grabs.
Senior lineman Colby Avery has seen a noticeable difference in intensity with the 2019 Green Wave than he has in years’ past, giving him the confidence his squad can achieve their top goal.
“Last year, we were two points off from making the playoffs,” Avery said. “This year, I feel like we have the energy to make that final push. I feel like we’re going to do everything we can to do that. Last year, we had a lot of people butting heads. At the end of the year we had to have meetings for our team. This year, it feels like a family and we’re only five days in.”
That family bond has been growing throughout the offseason.
The seniors got the team together for offseason workouts, and tried to go out to eat together to gain the chemistry they didn’t have a year ago. The team also got together a week before the season to serve food for area senior citizens at the John Zon Community Center, trying to build that bond before practices got underway.
Through five practices, those workouts and team dinners have paid dividends on the gridiron.
“This team hasn’t done anything in years,” Lackey said. “With this family bond we have, it’s a lot more energy than I’ve ever seen playing football. We’ve all been around each other for years. It’s bringing everything together.”
While the team chemistry is growing, Greenfield knows it still has work to do on the field to get the performance they need on Friday nights in the fall.
As seniors, Lackey, Avery and Hart are trying to take on a leadership role and mold their younger teammates into being the players they need to win games.
“We need to be more physical, a lot more conditioned,” Avery said. “Kids can’t be afraid to step up and make a big play and do something for the team. Just don’t sit back and have the upperclassmen do the job. You have to go in there and show what you can do.”
The Green Wave are scheduled to open their season Sept. 13 on the road against Smith Voke, with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.