25 Teams in 25 Days: Long Beach Bearcats
Friday Night Lights came a little early to Lumpkin-McGee stadium this year as a part of a Ryan Ross tradition, previously seen at Ocean Springs, now at Long Beach for the very first time.
The sixth day of official practice is always reserved for full pads and the Bearcats didn’t waste a second taking the field at the stroke of midnight.
They call it Midnight Madness and what better way to kick off what could be a Cinderella season for Long Beach following last year’s 1-10 showing.
Long Beach Head Football Coach Ryan Ross said, “My favorite part is finding out who’s gonna hit. Finding out who’s physical. Finding out who’s tough. So we’re going to bang on each other as much as we can just to see who’s going to bow down from it and who invites it.”
There was no lack of physicality Friday night as the Bearcats spent a better portion of their midnight practice running the Oklahoma drill while their new head football coach Ryan Ross shouted “if there’s no popping!”
After nine season as head football coach at Ocean Springs and leading the Greyhounds to six playoff appearances, Ross found himself just 21 miles west along the Coast in Long Beach, ready to start building from the ground up. “I like building things. I like going and fixing stuff up and getting people believing. I just have always liked that.”
Ross took over a Long Beach program that hasn’t been to the playoffs in nine years. The program also set a record just last year for most points allowed in a season with the Bearcats’ eleven opponents in 2019 scoring a combined 522 points total.
Junior Long Beach Quarterback Charlie Starita took notice of the change his new coach brought to the team his first day on the job. “Ever since the first day he walked in, you know, he was just like a mood changer. And like he just really made us want to buy into what he does and I think we’re starting to do that and hopefully it’ll show up.”
One of the prominent off-the-field changes Ross has made at Long Beach is the promotion of synergy amongst his team. “To summarize it up, we have to come together. We need all the help we can get. And everybody doing their best role and using their energy to create as much energy as a whole as we can. But, I mean, we don’t just go around yelling it. We just kinda make sure they know what it means.”
Senior linebacker and running back D’Alan King knows what synergy means and he preaches the importance of it. “We all got to work together, that’s a big one. We got to want it too. I mean, if one player wants it and somebody else don’t, I mean, that’s the weak link of the group so we all gotta be in it together if we want to go somewhere.”
Although the 2020 season brings a lot of new things to Long Beach including a new head coach and new team culture, some veteran Bearcats still remember the old, like their records from the last two seasons when Long Beach went 3-8 in 2018 and 1-10 last year. “Just our record and just, you know, like all the losses we’ve taken years after year. We’re just trying to change that with Coach Ross coming in and trying to build a brand new team and coming all together.”
“We’re going– we’re going farther than we did before. I mean, I believe, deep down. I mean, I’m a senior. We’re trying to go all the way. Tired of losing.”
Long Beach opens its season against West Harrison, their lone win from last season, on September 4th. Before then, Ross has a message for his team. “Basically, what I’m about to tell these guys after probably next week is it’s up to them now. All the talk and all that’s not going to get it done. How hard are we working every day to accomplish the goal that you’re talking about and telling everybody about and all that.”
With the season being bumped back two weeks, Long Beach will now scrimmage Pass Christian instead of opening the season against the Pirates.
The Bearcats also filled their open week with a home game against St. Stanislaus on September 18th.
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