There were days when the thought of quitting crossed Eric Sisson’s mind.
Three years ago, during Sisson’s freshman season, everyone involved in Copper Basin’s football program – players, coaches and fans – had to fight off the notion of giving up. The Cougars suffered 21 straight losses from 2006 to ’08, and it became particularly difficult to endure during the winless 2007 season when they were outscored by an average of 35 points.
“The worst part was going to school after we would lose,” Sisson said. “People would make fun of us and talk about how bad we were, and that was pretty much the low point.”
Sisson was part of a talented group of 22 freshmen who played a lot, including 12 who started that year when seven seniors quit. At one point, with only 25 players on the roster, there was even talk in the community of doing away with the football program.
“It’s been a struggle,” Cougars coach Patrick Daly said. “We had a lot of kids who didn’t want to go through it and they quit. People were saying that we couldn’t compete at the varsity level anymore, and we wouldn’t be able to recover. I’m sure all of us thought about quitting, but I was preaching to the kids about hanging in there and fighting through it, so if I had left it would’ve made everything I was saying meaningless.
“I’m a pretty stubborn guy, and we just kept telling the young kids to stick together and keep working, because they had talent and good things would happen.”
Things began turning for the Cougars last season when they qualified for the playoffs for the first time in six years. Sisson and the six senior teammates who stuck it out with him from their freshman year to this point are the reasons that instead of disbanding, the program turned the corner.
“Patience is one of the hardest things for a coach to have, but that’s what it took,” Daly said. “We had to let them grow up and take it on the chin for a couple of years.”
Copper Basin, which averaged eight wins a year during the 1980s and advanced to the quarterfinals twice during that decade, reached as high as No. 2 in the Class 1A state rankings this season and are in the playoffs’ third round for the first time in 22 years. The Cougars (10-1) travel to Coalfield (9-2) tonight with a shot to advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history.
“What we went through then is making what we’re doing now a lot more special,” said Sisson, who has thrown for 1,200 yards and rushed for 1,100, with a combined 31 touchdowns. “It was tough having to hang in there those first couple of years. But now all that hard work is paying off, and we’re really proud of what we’ve done the last two years.
“Now we’re the talk of the community for good reason, and we’ll be remembered and included with those teams from the ’80s that were so good. It’s pretty amazing to think how far we’ve come.”