By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
GERVAIS, Ore.– JJ Navarette has turned Gervais into a respected Football Program as the Cougars make the move back up to 3A as a football-only program.
For this senior group, they snapped a ten-game losing streak during their freshman year. The next year, they were a playoff team, and last year, they were knocking at the door of a possible 2A State Title appearance.
It’s not a high standard that Navarette has created. It’s a culture shift that he created. He wants his players to give him everything they have. Win-or-lose, he has their backs, and the players have bought in. And, in a way, that high standard that has been formed was created within the program.
“It’s just not a higher standard for the kids, I just want them to give me everything they got. If we lose because we fought as hard as we could, and then they were better than us, then I can accept that….Like I tell them, I ride with them when we win, I ride with them when we lose because that’s what family does. We win together, we lose together…It’s a cultural thing.
“It’s what I’m showing to these guys, and I think that’s why sometimes they feel like I hold them to a certain standard, which it really isn’t. I hold them to their abilities.”
Nikita Burkoff, Eowaan Avgi, Alex Kuznetsov, Ben Cam, Angel Cortez, Kaleen Orlov, Johnny Mariano and Frank Ojeda are just some of the names coming back and are expected to help Gervais to take that big step into 3A this year.
“We’re all over right now, and it’s all kind of crazy right now because we have so much talent for the first time, and we’re not one dimensional. We can hit you running, we can throw. I told coach running the offense, and I want to be 50-50. I want to be able to pound the rock and throw the ball,” said Navarette.
Friday starts the grind towards the 3A Playoffs with the jamboree at Scio before kicking off the season on September 5 at Creswell
“We have a lot of experience the last few years. The whole team is full of seniors now, and we have great experience now, and I think we can build up from last year,” said Mariano. “(Last year) was a pretty good year, but we could’ve worked more, and that’s what we’re doing this year is working harder than last year. Just doing a lot more conditioning, a lot more work. Staying out longer than we usually do, even after practice too, we stay longer… Just picking up our teammates when they’re down and supporting each other.”
Gervais’ Home Opener will be on September 12 against Salem Academy.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
