Stuart Still Savoring Season-Ending Football Victories

J.E.B. Stuart is still riding high after its victory in the Bell Game Nov. 15 and Head Football Coach Vince Randazzo couldn’t be happier for his bunch.

“The kids worked really hard,” Randazzo said when reached for comment last Thursday. “A lot of them had never played football before, or hadn’t until the latter part of last year. But they have good attitudes.”

A good attitude is virtually a necessity to participate in a program that struggles for victories every season, largely because of roster turnover caused by families moving into and out of the area. Such turnover means that Randazzo and his coaches have to continually worry about rebuilding the roster, rather than developing a core of players for two, three or four years.

“The mobility rate at Stuart is the highest in the country,” Randazzo said. “But, I thought we’d be better this season and we were. We instituted a strength and speed program and we were stronger and faster, but coming together as a team was the most important factor.” This season the team improved steadily throughout the season, losing close games early in the season, including an 8-0 loss to George C. Marshall High School. By the final two games of the season, both Stuart wins, the team had made a marked improvement.

“We kept making little mistakes all year,” Randazzo said. “All of the sudden the mistakes stopped happening.” The team and the coaching staff will have a reminder of that improvement all year long, as the bell sits behind the glass of a Stuart trophy case.