“If I stood in front of our team and told them it was like any other game, they’d call me a liar,” Howard head football coach Bruce Strunk said with a little chuckle. “I’m trying to keep it as normal as possible but when we walk down the tunnel, the kids are gonna know something else so I’ve been preaching all week that it is something special.”
‘Something special’ potentially awaited his Lions last year too, as the bright lights at M&T Bank Stadium began firing up for state championship high school football. But, his team fell short against Old Mill as they fought for their shot at the highest prize.
The stingy loss stuck a thorn in their side for a year…until last week, when Howard beat Lake Braddock in the ’15 semis, breaking one long state finals appearance drought.
“This is the first time in over forty years that our school has been in the state finals for football and not just the whole school, but the whole community is embracing it,” the head coach said as he elaborated on the elbow grease and strategizing involved in the process. “It’s the environment we’ve tried to create around here over the last eight years…not just for football but across the board. If all your students have the same mentality, it’s contagious and our athletic program has really improved over the last few years.”
When you learn that the current senior class will enter Friday’s game with only one single loss to their names…’improved’ sounds like an understatement.