It's the longest streak in school history.
The Western Albemarle High School football team has made it to the playoffs three straight years heading into 2012.
With a new coach, the Warriors don't want that streak to end.
Before resigning in January, Ed Pierce led Western Albemarle to 33 wins in five seasons as head coach, including a Jefferson District title in 2009.
"You're coming into a program that's in pretty good shape," said WAHS head coach Ed Redmond. "It's not a fixer-upper."
Western hired Redmond to replace Pierce in March. The New York native brings 30 years of coaching experience to Crozet at the high school and college level.
"When it comes time, kids know there's a leader there with some excitement," said Redmond. "That's the guy that they want to follow."
"He's a good coach," said WAHS senior middle linebacker/guard Tommy Mullin. "He's a no nonsense type guy, which is what we need. He's all fun when we need fun. He's a great football coach, and it's something we need."
"I think it will be good," said WAHS senior wide receiver/outside linebacker/safety Daniel Kuzjak. "I think it will be a plus for the program. He has a different style of coaching. He's got a lot of experience under his belt. He's coached for a lot of years. I think it will be a good change for the program, get some new blood in there, and maybe change things up."
Kent Henry enters his second season as Western's starting quarterback. The junior threw for 1,863 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2011, completing 57% of his passes with only six interceptions. He added 960 yards and ten TDs on the ground.
"He's a good listener," said Redmond. "He's an attentive learner. He's a gamer. He's athletic and can make plays. He will be our leader on offense. There's no question, and I think he's accepted that role."
"I'm comfortable with him back there that he knows what he's doing," Mullin said. "If he knows what he's doing, then the whole team knows what we're doing, so we can be good."
Junior Nicholas Drapanas hauled in 451 yards receiving and seven touchdown catches as a sophomore to earn second-team All-Jefferson District honors.
Kuzjak had five touchdown catches and 409 yards receiving as a junior.
The team finished 6-5 last season, scoring almost 30 points a game, but giving up over 23 a night.
"Defensively is where we really have to improve," said Redmond. "I think we really have to put our foot down and sort of become a tougher team. I've talked a lot about toughness already with the kids and trying to create a mindset. That's really where it starts."
Henry, Kuzjak, and Drapanas all return to the defensive secondary this season as starters from last year.
Kuzjak and Drapanas earned first-team All-District in 2011 with Kuzjak garnering second-team All-Region II honors.
With a variation of the spread offense still in place, the Warriors want to take the next step after two straight first-round playoff exits.
"I think the bar has been set with a lot of my friends and a lot of people that have come through to make it to the playoffs," said Kuzjak. "Hopefully this year we can do that they've done in the past and maybe win some games this year once we get in the playoffs and see how far we can take it."
"The expectation is to get in the playoffs," said Redmond. "That's clear. They've done it three years in a row. Now, that's the bar, and then we've got to get beyond that. It's not just good enough to get in, now we want to get in and win."
"The one thing we haven't been able to do since I've been here is finish in the playoffs," said Mullin, who earned second-team All-JD on the offensive line last season. "We've been getting to the playoffs. We just haven't been finishing. This year, that's one of our main goals. I think we have the talent to do that. We have the talent to get to the playoffs. All we have to do is finish that."
Western hosts Albemarle Friday night, August 24th at 7:30 to open the season.
Western Albemarle graduated Jefferson District Division 3 Defensive Player of the Year Austin Ellis, who also had 936 yards receiving and seven touchdown catches to earn All-JD first team at wide receiver.
Kicker Pete Barbour graduated as well, along with second-team all-district offensive linemen Zack Robb (center) and Joe Howard (guard) and second-team All-JD defensive back Tanner Knight, who also played running back.
