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For Spartans, it's different this time
Last year, Broad Run coach Mike Burnett admits, the Spartans were satisfied.
That year, the Spartans finished the regular season 10-0, the last of those wins against historic rival Park View after 16 years of losing to the Patriots. That gave the Spartans the school's first district football title in nearly two decades.
But in the second season -- the playoffs -- Broad Run went one-and-out, falling to the same Park View squad they had vanquished a week before.
This year, the Spartans again went 10-0, again winning the Dulles crown. They handed Potomac Falls -- their chief competition in the district race -- the Panthers' only loss, a 38-0 thrashing. They beat Park View, of course, but this time it was at the Patriots' place.
And they're in the playoffs again, facing a fellow Dulles member again. Loudoun County (6-4) comes to Ashburn tonight for the Raiders' first playoff contest this millennium.
This year, Burnett hopes the Spartans' second season will have another outcome.
"We knew last Friday night that this was different," Burnett said from his office above the school's gymnasium.
Immediately after dispatching the Patriots 39-26 on Nov. 7 to put the cherry on top of the 2008 regular season, the Spartans permitted themselves a few congratulatory hugs and some smiles, but the attitude was businesslike.
The Spartans are satisfied but they are not done. The goal is a state championship, and yes, they are looking ahead.
"They want more. That's the difference," Burnett said. "Of course, we're looking ahead! We're looking ahead to winning a state championship. And the only way we can get there is by winning today."
Under third-year helmsman Burnett, Broad Run football has ascended from a 1-9 season in 2005 to a powerhouse, a football team of splendid athletes and dedicated workers.
"The first thing we had to do was to get kids to have a positive attitude," Burnett said. "Turning those negative expectations into positive ones. That's where getting the right staff, being positive and upbeat matters. Everyone has to buy into a single philosophy. I've been really blessed to find staff and kids who are very much on the same page."
Burnett and his staff -- five of whom had never been high school football coaches before -- ask their kids to be committed to the idea of winning football games for Broad Run High School, not to accumulating individual stats or creating highlight reels. They ask for the school and the community to be committed to the same idea.
"We ask for commitment from the kids, and if they're willing, from their parents, so that we're all on the same page," Burnett said. "We want them to show up in the offseason and commit to our workouts. We're looking for a certain type of kid."
The Spartans are finding those certain types of kids. Burnett mentions players such as Shawn Lewis, Chris Jessop and Kenny McAdow initiating team weight-training sessions even if the coaches haven't arrived yet. He speaks about his players knowing what their coaches expect, and delivering.
"They're amazing, our kids," Burnett says with a broad smile. "What we see now is work ethic. They expect to put in the work. That's their anticipation. I don't know that I've ever had so many kids work so hard."
He talks about his philosophy: a non-cussing, mostly non-yelling style that contrasts with the stereotype of the militant high school football coach. But his philosophy fosters a standard of dedication passed from Burnett to his staff members to their players, and it is a standard that is expected to be upheld.
The weight room at Broad Run has been refurbished during the past two years, aided largely by parents' donations. Burnett's office was a forgotten storage room before it became Burnett's office. Now it sports a separate room for meetings and film study.
The commitment Burnett has been asking for has produced results. The Spartans' sustained success under the lights of Friday night makes it even more evident.
It's almost enough to make them satisfied. Almost.
But, Burnett hopes, they are not done.
"We've put all this work in, and there needs to be a reason. They don't want that work to go unrewarded."
The second season starts tonight.
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