Keeping the Faith: St. Patrick High School

A winless season would take the fight out of most high school football teams, but the Irish say they’re just getting started. After failing to get into the win column last year, St. Patrick High School and Head Coach Jim Bloomfield have set their sights on the long term as they take steps towards building a winning football program.
Jim Bloomfield is a veteran of the Mississippi Coast football scene. He’s rebuilt entire teams before. He’s put players on the path to the NFL, but he might be facing his biggest task in turning St. Patrick High School football team into a success story. Bloomfield isn’t focused on solely winning games. “Of course, we all want to win, but at the end of the day it’s about building relationships, trying to teach these young men to make good decisions, have good character, learn to play hard every snap and get back up. We know that the sun’s going to come up tomorrow and we just try to teach these men about life. That’s what we’re doing and that’s what I’m going to do as long as I coach.”
St. Patrick’s is a catholic school. Their team is small, dressing only 25 players, many who play on both offense and defense. The school is located in the same region as high school football powerhouse St. Stanislaus and the red hot Resurrection Eagles. Despite their roster size, the Irish are growing and they’ve got big expectations for the future. Tight end/Linebacker Austin Sehepens said, “We’ve got more size, more skill. Everybody was in the weight room. We’re all stronger. We know of what we’re doing now. Last year, no one really knew what they were doing. We were just kind of going through the motions. This year we’ve got more people.”
From hours spent in the film room researching opponents to hours spent in the weight room, Coach Bloomfield hopes that all the steps he’s implementing will help St. Patrick establish a successful program on the Gulf Coast.
It might take the Irish some time to get their program to where they want it to be, but big things come in small packages.