Halftime haven
Zeroes hit the scoreboard, the band hits the field and the players hit the steps heading to the locker room for halftime.As the last kid enters the room, the door closes.What happens inside?Any number of things.“Is anybody hurt?”Those were the first words from Butler football coach Clyde Conti's mouth as he addressed his team after a brief meeting with the coaches at halftime of the Golden Tornado's 42-7 loss to McDowell.The score was 28-0 at intermission.Realizing the team was physically OK, Conti and his staff went to work. Strategy sessions were held on the chalk board. Assistant coaches had dialogue with individual players.“Put your helmet in his ribs and bury him into the ground. It can't happen!” one coach said, referring to a blocked punt in the first half.“Keep your composure out there. No. ... is an idiot. If you get tossed, then you sit for your last game, too,” another coach said.“We're going to get after them and play with resolve, regardless of the scoreboard,” were some of Conti's final words to his squad.And so it goes.Motivation, encouragement, adjustment, advisement or just plain rest and solitude — it's all part of a high school football halftime.Knoch entered the locker room with a 10-0 lead at Highlands, just one half away from an elusive conference championship.There was no joking, unnecessary conversation or premature celebration. It was strictly business.The players sat attentively on benches in front of a chalk board, soaking in every word from assistant coaches reviewing plays, formations and what must be done to improve their chances of securing the Greater Allegheny Conference title.Halftime is a tool to reverse troubling trends and there's a small window to figure out what's going wrong and how to fix it.“We're trying to get 15 minutes of teaching,” Knoch coach Mike King said. “As a staff, you have about five minutes to collect your thoughts and come up with the messages that you want to give to your kids.”Yelling and screaming is seldom the best way to convey that message.Seneca Valley coach Don Holl agreed.“Sometimes the kids need pumped up and that's when you get excited, but you can't go in every week with fire and brimstone. You have to pick your spots,” he said.Coaches aren't interested in disparaging their players. Instead, it's all about concise instruction that helps steer the team in the right direction.“It's a lot less fire and brimstone than what people think it is. These aren't days of beating on the chalk board and saying, ‘C'mon guys, let's win one for the Gipper,'” King explained. “Yes there's a time for that, but for the most part, you have to teach kids what you want them to do in the second half. There's not a whole lot of room for yelling.”How a coach conducts his halftime session has something to do with the kids in the room, as well.“If it's a senior-oriented team, you go into halftime and get yelling and screaming. With a young team, you remain calm and explain to them not to panic,” Mars coach Scott Heinauer said.“The senior kids understand what it's all about. They know their backs are against the wall. It's their last season. Sometimes it's hard for them to realize that and they think they'll keep on playing.”Sometimes, it's the players who know to deliver a motivational boost.“Our playoff game against New Castle last year, it sounded like a volcano erupted in our locker room — and it had nothing to do with the coaches,” said King. “It was the kids firing themselves up. We heard one player yell out, ‘We have to wake up and play!'”Other times, it becomes clear that it's simply time to take care of the business at hand.“At Indiana this year, we were trailing at the half, yet there was such a calmness in the room,” King added. “It was as if the players were looking at each other and thinking, ‘We got this.'”There was a similar aura inside the locker room at Highlands.As halftime concluded, the players gathered to the center of the room, helmets raised and shouted, “One-two-three... Knights!”Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell also tries to use his time as efficiently as possible. There's only so many minutes to find a way to alter the course of the game.“We try to match up what the coaches are seeing, what the kids are seeing and try to find a resolution to fix it,” said Campbell, who also believes scolding players with an aimless rant is not the best use of time.“Maybe if we're really playing poorly or just playing flat,” said Campbell. “But before we do that, we worry about making the necessary adjustments.”Figuring out how to solve the issues completely depend on the problem.“If someone isn't playing within our defensive system, then that's an easy fix,” Campbell explained. “But if they're disrupting our blocking scheme, then obviously, we need to find a way to adapt to what they're doing.”Ultimately, halftime is about rediscovering the fact you're working with kids.“I remember one halftime when I was with Clarion-Limestone,” Conti said. “We were losing and I wasn't real happy. I was talking to the kids and one of them raised his hand.“He said. ‘I couldn't hear with you talking ... Did you happen to catch who won the queen?'”
