Bruins look for breakout season

By Dave Fawcett

Published: August 27, 2008

Kids looking lost. Mistakes piling up. Coaches helpless to stop the onslaught.

It was only the second game of the 2006 season and already it was clear Forest Park was in for a long season. And nothing, no matter what they tried, worked as eventual state champion Osbourn dominated from start to finish and won easily 34-7.

Some coaches might cringe at reliving such a demoralizing display, but not Charlie Chandler, who was in his first year that season as Forest Park’s head coach.

Instead, Chandler laughed when he watched a tape of that game earlier this month with some of his players and an assistant coach.

“I didn’t shudder in horror,” said Chandler, who originally pulled the tape out in preparation for a scrimmage last Friday against the Eagles, only to have his memory jogged about how awry things had gone that day once he started watching the tape. “It was humorous. I wondered ‘What were we thinking?’ ”

While the loss provided some entertainment for Chandler, there was something educational about it as well.

Chandler could smile after witnessing his team’s struggles because he knows there is a clear difference between what he saw then in his program and what he sees now.

The team without a winning season in its first six full years of varsity competition. The team overshadowed by its more successful district foe five minutes up the road at Hylton. The team checked off as a gimme win and a lock for some opponent’s homecoming date.
No more.

The Bruins are shedding their doormat label. In its place exists an ever-growing buzz.

But, at this point, it’s merely buzz. Forest Park still has to prove it is moving in the right direction after last year’s 5-5 mark.

They return nine starters on defense and some of the area’s top skill kids in players like big man B.J. Scott, do-everything Miguel Marshall and lightning quick Tunde Bakare.

The pieces are there. Now they must deliver. 

“I guess the word is out,” Chandler said.

That winless season two years ago was a wake-up call for Chandler. The Bruins had the kids to be competitive, but he and his assistants weren’t using them properly.

So, to take advantage of their talent and put them where they could help the team most, the coaching staff attended clinics and studied up. The result was the realization that they needed to throw more.

The system, which relied heavily on the spread offense, averaged 20.6 points per game and produced the area’s top passer last season in Andrew Butler (2,007 throwing yards).

Continuity also helped the team’s turnaround. The Bruin coaching staff has only lost one coach in three seasons, helping them to foster a stronger sense of unity.

But perhaps the biggest reason for optimism is that Chandler believes he has become more successful at chipping away at the program’s down-and-out mentality.

For years, Hylton dominated Forest Park.

Before last season, the Bulldogs had beaten the Bruins 10 straight times and outscored them 348-41.

“The name,” Chandler said. “We had to get past the name.”

Forest Park finally achieved its goal last season when it defeated Hylton 27-18 after losing to the Bulldogs 42-14 earlier in the year.

“It was always our mindset that that was the one school we struggled to beat,” said Scott, a four-year varsity member. “When we beat
them, it gave our team a little different attitude about who we can play and beat.”

For inspiration, Chandler uses his own life stories to lift his team’s spirits. He’s been on both sides of winning and losing, having been an assistant on Hylton’s second state championship team in 1999 before coming to Forest Park and, in his first season as a head coach, going 0-10.

Chandler also cites his own playing days. After being told by his high school coach he wasn’t cut out to play college ball, he became a walk-on at Elon before earning MVP honors his senior year. 

“When he gives those underdog speeches, it gets us excited about doing something that could surprise and turn heads toward Forest Park,” Scott said.

Although Chandler knows some are still skeptical about whether Forest Park can become a contender in one of the state’s best districts for football, he also knows more are buying into the system that he and his coaches are implementing.

The other day at practice, he left early, only to hear afterward that the seniors stopped a practice and took control, demanding that their teammates snap to attention.

“That meant a lot,” Chandler said.

So did a compliment from Chantilly head coach Mike Lalli. After the Chargers scrimmaged Forest Park, Lalli told Chandler that the Bruins loved to hit. There was an implicit message in Lalli’s comment, one that clearly speaks to Forest Park’s aspirations this season.

“It told people we’re not going to be a doormat,” Chandler said.
There is no hiding it and no need to. Expectations are high. It may be unfamiliar territory, but that doesn’t stop the Bruins from believing in themselves and what they are capable of.

“With the combination of talent and leadership we have this year, who knows how far we can go,” Scott said.