Ben Norwood polk countyPedal to the metal
A number of mementos and team photos adorn the wall of the football coaches’ office at Polk County, but one stands out because of five “smiley face” dots that have been placed on its glass.
The dots cover the faces of players who abandoned the Wildcats in 2014 as they struggled to escape the throes of what would be a winless year and the program’s first losing season in more than a decade.
“We dealt last year with a lot of injuries – some legit, some not so legit,” said Davis, who had just one player quit in his previous 15 seasons in Benton.
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POLK COUNTY WILDCATSRegion 3-2ALarry G. Davis Football Complex, 7200 Highway 411 North, Benton, TN 37307Driver’s seat: Derrick Davis (110-59 in his 16th year here and overall).Road tested: 8 offensive, 5 defensive starters return
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Pump the brakes: Even in tough times, LB Tristen Senn never gave up, playing hard from the first game to the last in what was a tough season.
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Route ’15: There are hopes for a better season than the unusual winless year the Wildcats endured in 2014. They’ve moved down a classification from 3A but into what some are calling the toughest 2A region in the state. It is a group that includes 2014 state finalist Marion County and tradition-rich Boyd-Buchanan and Tyner.
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Taking the wheel: The numbers are lower (somewhere around 40 players on the roster) than what they’re used to at Polk, and Coach Davis said he’ll have to depend on some freshmen to step up — as QB Wyatt Martin did last season.
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Cruise control: Five senior returning starters are among the players on whom Davis is depending — RBs Ben Norwood, Reno Wimberley and Dylan Davis, TE Jake Carden and OL Michael Williams. Norwood and Davis also are penciled in as LBs, Wimberley as a DB and Carden as a DE.
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Backseat driver: A rival coach said of the Wildcast, “They’ve never had back-to-back losing seasons under Davis, and you know what you’re always going to get — physical football with very few mistakes. Don’t see them going 0-10 again.”
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Rearview2014 game resultsAug. 22;at Bradley Central;lost, 21-6Aug. 29;Central ;lost, 24-0Sep. 5;openSep. 12;East Ridge; lost, 31-20Sep. 19;at McMinn Central;lost 20-18Sep. 26;at Walker Valley;lost 37-14Oct. 3;Sequoyah;lost, 21-0Oct. 10;at Notre Dame;lost, 49-0Oct. 17;Sweetwater;lost, 28-13Oct. 24;South Pittsburg; lost 21-13Oct. 30;at Loudon;lost, 47-00-10, 0-4 in District 5-AA
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On the horizon2015 schedule (all 7:30 except where noted)Aug. 21;East RidgeAug. 28;at SequoyahSep. 4;at TynerSep. 11;McMinn CentralSep. 18;Bledsoe County, 8Sep. 25;openOct. 2;at Silverdale BaptistOct. 9;BrainerdOct. 16;Boyd-BuchananOct. 23;at Meigs CountyOct. 30;at Marion County, 8Region 3-2A games in bold
It’s a reason why players such as fullback/linebacker Ben Norwood stand among his favorites.
“The kid played almost half the season with a broken foot,” the coach recalled. “He got a brace and a pad and handled the pain.”
Norwood said the injury happened during a game when another player stepped on his foot and pivoted.
“I kept playing,” Norwood said. “The adrenaline was pumping. I checked it at halftime, and it was black and purple. I knew it was going to be bad, but the coaches didn’t know and the adrenaline started pumping again.”
He went to the emergency room that night and then to see orthopedist Dr. Gary Voytik the following Monday. He missed a game and then, splinted and padded, returned.
“The team hadn’t won a game. Some of my teammates had quit. I love football and didn’t want to quit on the team,” the 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I didn’t want to miss it.”
Even though he was going from a nine-win team his sophomore year to a winless team as a junior.
“What I learned was that you have to have senior leadership, which we didn’t,” Norwood said. “The guys that quit – for some I went from a tremendous amount of respect to zero. When things got tough, they couldn’t – or wouldn’t – handle it, so I’ve got to be a leader by my work and my actions and my behavior.
“You do it not with yee-ha-ha but with actions. You work your butt off and show younger guys what they need to be doing every practice, all the time.”
Capsule by Ward Gossett; contact wgossett@timesfreepress.com or follow on Twitter: @wardgossett.