25 Teams in 25 Days: St. Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws

St. Stanislaus enters the 2018 football season with its third head coach in as many years, but the Rock-A-Chaws are still rock solid under new leadership.

From Jeff Jordan to Nate Encrapera, the Rock-A-Chaws are ready to challenge the notion of this being a rebuilding year and they don’t have to wait much longer to prove it.

“When you start coaching, this is the opportunity that you want. You have a really supportive administration, you have a great student body, you have really supportive parents, this is a dream job for anybody.” For Nate Encrapera, that dream job also comes with the added bonus of retaining last year’s head man Jeff Jordan as the new running backs coach. “Basically the same coaching staff, just different leaders.”

Defensive end/ left tackle Nathan Hale said, “It’s nice to have both of them around. I mean I respect both of them, these are definitely two mentors in my life.”

“It was really a seamless transition. Keeping Coach Jordan on staff, the experience that that guy has, I’m just glad he made the decision to come on back and feel really, really fortunate to have him,” said Coach Encrapera.

Familiarity is especially important for a young Rocks team fresh off its pre-season jamboree at Gulfport. Technically there wasn’t a final score, but there was a reality check. Linebacker/Tight end Lee Negrotto said, “Well, the jamboree was definitely a wake-up call cause we have a lot of errors we’ve got to get fixed and get ready for the start of the season and get ready for Week 1.”

No time to waste as Stanislaus rides the momentum of last year’s second round playoff appearance, having found new life in this new era, post Myles Brennan, and a 2017 class headlined by four division I signees overall. “The uncertainty was losing all those guys, losing Myles and losing all that Division I talent. And then going up to, playing an away playoff game and really playing well, I think our kids realized, I think our players realized that you know what? We can continue this, even without those guys.”

“Well, everyone is expecting us to be a rebuilding year but I don’t believe in that. I feel like we’re still going to be the same Stanislaus we’ve been the past couple years, so expect great effort from everyone.”

“It’s not a rebuilding year at all. If you would have seen how hard we worked in the off-season, you would know this isn’t a rebuilding year. This is the strongest team I’ve ever been a part of, and I expect great things from us.”

Ever since the days of Dylan Favre, state championships will always be the standard and that’s perfectly fine for the next in line at SSC. “We expect to win every Friday night, and I think those guys understand that. We talk about it all the time representing that ‘S’ on your chest and that legacy that comes along with that and the responsibility that comes along with that, and I think they’re up to the task.”

“It’s all about the ‘S’ on the chest, it’s not about the name on the back. If you’re playing for the name on your back, you’re not playing for the right reasons. We play for the school, not for ourselves.”

The Rock-A-Chaws will kick off 2018 at Biloxi for their annual Shrimp Bowl matchup on August 17^th.