Photos courtesy of J.J. Roupe.
0813 Oak Mountain football
Junior running back Josh Gaines (5) is coming off a strong sophomore effort.
Oak Mountain coach Cris Bell knows what went wrong last season: him.
“I think the biggest thing that got us beat last year was me,” Bell said of the Eagles’ 4-6 season. “We started off slow and turned the ball over too much the first two games. We lost three region games by a total of 12 points. We certainly had a chance to win all three of those games.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do is just re-establish a level of confidence that I don’t think we did a real good job of last August and certainly hurt us the first two weeks of the season. I’ve just got to do a better job of getting our kids playing with confidence. If we can overcome me, then we’re going to be all right, but the biggest thing is I can’t allow myself to beat us.”
The Eagles coach is likely overstating his negative effect on the team, but quality coaches take the heat for their players. Bell begins his third season at Oak Mountain as the Eagles head into the difficult Class 7A, Region 3. They open the season with Hillcrest, Vestavia Hills and Hoover.
“We got some heavy horses right out of the gate that we’ve got to play and I just can’t let those guys get down just because they’ve got a little bit of adversity against them,” Bell said.
“It’s the toughest region I’ve ever coached in,” he added, saying it surpassed some tough regions he coached in at Marietta, Ga., and Richmond, Va., before coming to Alabama.
The good news is running backs Josh Gaines and Harold Shader and quarterback Warren Shader return. Oak Mountain averaged around 200 rushing yards a game and Gaines has been the Eagles’ leading rusher the past two seasons despite being banged up at times.
“The thing about Josh is he gets dinged up but he is a pretty tough hard-nosed kid,” Bell said. “Last year his shoulder probably came out four or five times and I don’t think he ever missed a series. So we try to protect him but he’s probably as healthy as he has been going into the season. But we need him to be healthy.”
Gaines said facing down pain is more mental than physical. “When I did it that first time and it came out it hurt, it’s painful, then you kind of get used to the pain. The sooner I can get it back in, the sooner I can go play. It’ll pop out, we’ll pop it back in and I’ll go play. A little ice and I’m good to go.
“It’s a mental thing, I can’t worry about it. People get hurt all the time. I’ve gotten more mentally tough.”
Bell concurred. “We talked to the doctor and asked if he was going to do any more damage to it and the doctor said no. I think that gave Josh a lot more confidence, too.”
Bell said the Eagles are going to run a split backfield this season to get Gaines and Harold Shader more opportunities and to stay fresh. He thinks they each can run the dive and the pitch and with Warren Shader, whom Bell calls a “winner and a competitor who just gets things done,” the offense should be good. The biggest issue is that teams started putting eight and nine men in the box, making throwing the ball important this season.
“We need to throw a little more. Warren makes things happen, but he’s not a polished passer by any means. But with a year under his belt, we’re expecting good things. I’d still like to be a little bit better at the receiver position than we are but I think we’re getting there, and we’re going to move a couple of people around,” Bell said.
Speedy Evan Benison has transferred in from Minor and should help stretch the field at receiver. Reid Golson returns and Daniel Salchert is a running back that will get some time at receiver.
“We’ve got to be able to stretch the field vertically,” Bell said. “It’s something we’ve worked on the spring and all summer. We’ve looked better against ‘air’ – we’ve struggled against air in the past,” he joked.
