Saints get ready for season
By Justin Graves
jgraves@cullmantimes.com
Cullman, AL  When St. Bernard Prep's football team met for the first time Wednesday afternoon, first-year coach Doug Lewey was concerned.  It wasn't that the players Lewey inherited at St. Bernard were not talented. In fact, the first-year coach said he was pleased with everyone that showed up for the first day of practice. Even though Lewey was pleased with the quality of players that came out for the team, he was concerned about the quantity.
At Wednesday's practice, Lewey only had nine players that were enrolled in the ninth grade or above, which meant he would have to use seventh and eighth graders if St. Bernard was going to field a varsity football team.  "I was concerned after our first day Wednesday," Lewey said. "We only had nine players that were in the top four grades, and that just wasn't going to cut it. I don't think I could let myself put those young 12- and 13-year old boys out on the field against 18-year olds on other teams. I just don't think I could've done it."
After passing his concerns on to the St. Bernard administration, the word was passed around school that Lewey was looking for guys to play football. And during the next two days Lewey's roster doubled from nine to 18 players that are in enrolled in the top four grades. "We had a few more come out each day after the word got out," Lewey said. "I feel a lot better now because we've got enough guys to play. And it's not like the 18 guys we've got can't play, I'm very pleased with every one of them. It's like I told (assistant coach) Bill Griffin, if I had 18 more players just like the ones we've got, then we'd really be something."
Now that Lewey has enough players on his roster to field a varsity football team, the first-year St. Bernard coach faces the daunting task of getting his team ready to play its season opener in only eight practice days.  Because St. Bernard is a preparatory school and most students live on campus, the majority of the students aren't available for extracurricular activities until the first day of school. According to AHSAA rules, football teams are allowed to start fall practice on August 6. The only problem is St. Bernard didn't start class until August 15, meaning Lewey's team started practice one week after every other team in the state.
Even though St. Bernard got off to a late start, Lewey believes the Saints can make up for it. He said the team will practice in full pads for the first time Monday, and he plans on making the most out of what little time he has.  "Eight days isn't very long, but it can be done," Lewey said. "We have to make the most out of our time, and it can be tough in the heat like this. We're not going to do a lot of complex stuff, and we can teach them what they need to know in time for the first game. We just can't afford to waste any time. "One thing we have to think about is backups for each position. With the players we've got, we know who all the starters will be. The only problem is who will take the starter's place if he has to come out. That's something we're going to be looking at."

St. Bernard opens the 2007 football season on the road at Appalachian on August 31.