25 Teams in 25 Days: West Harrison
Perhaps the team with the most to prove out of any on the Gulf Coast, West Harrison lines up as stop number eight on News 25’s ’25 Teams in 25 Days.’
During their first ten years as a football program, the Hurricanes won just 16 games combined and never won more than five in a single season. That’s where we find the Canes, heading into 2019 following what second-year Head Coach Quincy Patrick is calling a ‘blessed off-season.’
Head Coach Quincy Patrick said, “Last year as soon as workouts ended kids were gone and there was no comradery, no brotherhood. And now our kids, they don’t want to leave.”
Going the extra mile is a big part of West Harrison’s newfound culture under the watch of Coach Patrick. Linebacker Brandon McMillian said, “It’s a lot different. Everybody works harder. Everybody has gotten a lot stronger from the past years. It’s just out of this world.”
That refined sense of urgency is predicated on the word ‘now’ which really stands for ‘no opportunity wasted.’ Defensive end Cooper Martin said, “It just means make every second count. Don’t give up and just keep going.”
“We had a pastor come in and speak to our kids last year about not wasting an opportunity and we just stuck with it. And I liked it and we’re still rolling with it.”
Right into 2019, where the Hurricanes as a program are facing quite the uphill battle. For starters, they went just 2-9 last season, actually an improvement from the previous year and the three years before that. “We lost seven games in a row last year and I told the guys I haven’t lost seven games in a long time. To lose it in a row was rough. But then you watch game film and you watch it and we got better.”
West Harrison will get the chance to prove that with some new living arrangements as the newest addition to Region 4 Class 6A, placing the Hurricanes right in the eye of the storm. “They say it’s the same old West Harrison but it’s really not.”
Running back Llanes Dickerson said, “It’s just the doubt. It just keeps you up at night. You don’t like it. You don’t want to lose. Nobody likes losing. It doesn’t feel good.”
As West Harrison football enters its 11th season overall, the fact remains the program is still in search of its first-ever winning season and first-ever playoff appearance.
While the 16-member senior class of 2020 is striving to change that in the here and now, laying the foundation for a category 5 structure is always the top priority. “We’re going to leave our mark here definitely. This is our year. We’re going to let everybody know that we’ve been here.”
“It’s not really like a legacy. It’s more of a stamp. Kind of like you want your freshmen to be more like you so you’ve got to lead correctly and do the right things, both on and off the field.”
“I came in here and I told the guys we’re not going to measure our success on wins and losses and we never are, and I don’t ever want to be a guy that’s chasing a win. My goal is always to build a program that’s respected not only on the Gulf Coast, but throughout the state.”
Today was West Harrison’s final day of summer workouts before starting official practice on Monday. Coach Patrick says the biggest difference from year one to year two is averaging about 50 players per workout this offseason, up from about 20 last year.
The Hurricanes will open up their 2019 slate on August 23rd with a home game against Bay High.
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