Like the rest of his Strawberry Crest football teammates, Josh Young is tired of losing. Heading into his third season with the team, he wants to shed the constant reminders as much as anyone.
“Both years that I’ve been here, we’ve been 0-10 on varsity … it’s kind of like everybody doubts us,” Young said. “Everybody in the hallways, they’re always asking, ‘Y’all gonna lose, are y’all gonna win a game this year?’”
He knows the only way to change those feelings is through hard work. That’s why Young has developed what his coaches call one of the team’s strongest work ethics, and why head coach Ron Hawn considers him crucial to having a successful year.
“My biggest motivation, honestly, is just to be the best that I can be … it’s not just about football,” Young said. “I push hard in everything that I do, whether that’s in football or in the class. Everything’s hard, all the time.”
Now at defensive end, Young knew the pain of losing before enrolling at Crest — and how to deal with it. The junior says some of his most useful tools for motivation are his mistakes.
Specifically, Young points to a youth football game he kicked in while in eighth grade. The game, he says, went to quadruple overtime. But it eventually had to end on someone’s mistake, and it ended up being his.
“I was playing kicker and it was quadruple overtime, and it was just, each team was scoring, both the kickers were making it and then they made theirs,” he said. “I went up, the ground was muddy, I slipped and fell and we lost the game then because of it … it stayed with me for a while. But I had to keep working on it to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
Learn from it, then block it out — it’s a strategy likely used by more Chargers than just Young, considering how 2016 played out.
This year, Young is fully committed to breaking the losing streak. He hasn’t set any personal goals for himself on the field because he’s willing to do whatever the team needs him to. Hawn says Young sets a good example for the team, but Young would rather praise guys like Chad Grassel on defense and Jarrett Rappe on offense for their leadership.
Young’s primary role is to help anchor the defensive line, which the Chargers consider a bright spot for the team. He’s being optimistic about the team’s ability and realistic about its likely outcomes.
“I just want to play and do what I can for my team,” he said. “For the team, though I want to have a winning record this season … I think we have the potential to win seven or eight games. Realistically I think we can win four very well. There’s two or three games on the fence.”
Young hopes some good fortune coming Crest’s way could help the team’s fans get their faith back and support the team more than they have in some time.
“You’ve just got to block it out,” Young says. “It does suck, not having your school be into the football team. But once we start winning this year I feel like the spirits are gonna come up and the students will rally.”