Sports
North Shore Country Day: Football Has a Reversal of Fortune
In the first three weeks, the Raiders have defeated three teams that beat them in 2010.
When North Shore Country Day football coach Jim Deuble looked at his team’s 2011 schedule in May, he knew the Raiders would have their work cut out for them.
In the first three weeks, the Raiders would face three of the five teams that beat them last season.
“If we were to come out 2-1 in the first three games, we all would’ve been satisfied,” Deuble said.
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His players had different ideas. North Shore sprinted out of the gate to three straight wins, outscoring the opposition 116-47 during that stretch, including a 39-0 win over Rockford Christian last week.
“We’re playing pretty well on both sides of the ball and the kids are into it,” Deuble said. “These first three games, we had a chip on our shoulder because we got beat by all three of those teams.”
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It all started during the offseason with a dedicated training program and 41 students--an astonishing number considering there are roughly 100 boys in North Shore’s Upper School--who came out for football this fall. It’s the highest number of participants Deuble has had during his tenure at North Shore in Winnetka.
The Raiders lost five seniors from last year’s team, which finished the regular season at 5-4 and lost to Stark County in the first round of the 1A playoffs. But Deuble says a number of players have stepped up to fill their positions well.
“All four of our captains are leaders and playing well,” the coach said. “Steve Smith is playing quarterback and defensive back and is having a good year.”
Also part of that leadership group is free safety and kick returner Zach March, lineman Joel Hylton and linebacker Sam Tullman.
Even with the 3-0 start, there are things Deuble wants to fix in the upcoming weeks. He wants to cut down on penalties, get better at picking up defensive blitzes and work on calling audibles at the line of scrimmage.
A favorable schedule over the next three weeks will give Deuble some time to make those adjustments. Couple that with the unexpected 3-0 start and North Shore is thinking more than just getting back to the playoffs. It is in a three-way tie for top spot in the Northeastern Athletic Conference.
“We’d like to be in the best situation we can and hopefully start the playoffs with a home game, which we haven’t done in 12 years,” Deuble said. “That would be a nice start.”
