Garinger coaches, players preach ‘patience’ as they work to rebuild HS football program

Eric Bennett wasn’t having any of it.

West Charlotte had just scored a touchdown and built its lead over Garinger to 29-0, and the first quarter wasn’t even finished.

And Bennett — all 6-foot-2, 340 pounds of him — didn’t like what he saw.

“Don’t you drop your heads!” he yelled from the sidelines at a couple of his teammates as they walked off the field. “Don’t drop your heads! You dig in! You fight!”

Things didn’t get a whole lot better for the rest of Thursday night’s game, played at Waddell High, because West Charlotte’s parking lot is being renovated. West Charlotte scored three more touchdowns and beat the Wildcats 48-8.

Garinger is 0-4 this season. The Wildcats’ program is full of 0-for seasons since 2010, when a Lin Fisher-coached Garinger team finished 7-5. The Wildcats have seen coaches come and go. Each of them promised a rebuild.

Shon Galloway is in that role now.

From the bottom up

Galloway took over a year ago, his first roster composed mostly of freshmen and sophomores. Garinger started the 2021 season with a varsity team but decided to drop to the junior varsity level. The program needed a restart, Galloway said.

Fast-forward one year.

Galloway said he sees progress. But he also knows the Wildcats have a ways to go.

A week before the current season started, Galloway told reporters, “Last year at this time, we weren’t getting 10 players to practice.”

He said summer drills this year averaged 22 or 23 players. The current roster has about 27 players.

“We are still building, still learning — but we’re still playing,” Galloway said.

Some of the progress can be seen on the scoreboard. Garinger, back to playing at the varsity level, lost only 14-0 to Harding earlier this season.

The Wildcats forced a turnover and actually moved the ball well at times against a West Charlotte team that likely is headed to the 3A playoffs in November.

But there are the other tear-out-your-hair, kick-and-scream moments – like when a Garinger receiver fumbled away the opening kickoff Thursday, and West Charlotte scored on the next play.

The learning process

“We’re still learning to play football,” Galloway said. “Part of the building process is getting more players. We had an influx of freshmen this year – 17 of them.”

There are only a handful of juniors and seniors on the roster. If it weren’t for them, Galloway could drop back to junior varsity football again this year, and probably win some games.

But he won’t.

“With all the young players we have, what we’re really doing is teaching them how to play football,” he said. “It’s a learning process.

“Right now, we’re just overmatched. We’ve got to learn football, and we’ve got to get into the weight room and get stronger.”

A fan’s perspective

Hazel Huey agrees.

Her son, Austin Brown, is a sophomore defensive back who had 10 tackles a week ago but sprained a wrist and missed the West Charlotte game.

“We have so many young players,” Huey said. “It started this way a year ago too. The kids are just learning to play.”

She said that she and the Garinger faithful — about 40 Wildcats fans were in the stands Thursday — are working to keep the players’ spirits up.

“I tell them, ‘We’ll get them next time,’” she said.

Her father, Robert, a West Charlotte grad, sat behind her, wearing a Garinger t-shirt.

“They’ll get there,” Robert Huey said of the Wildcats. “They’re working at it.”

Nearly all those fans hung in to the finish Thursday, and they cheered wildly when Chris Kohn dashed across the goal line for a Garinger touchdown with about four minutes to play.

‘Be patient’

Bennett said a process is taking place at Garinger.

“We are building a team,” Bennett, a junior, said. “All the hard work we’re doing is part of building a team here. And we will do it.”

Galloway said Bennett is an example of what he wants to see happen at Garinger.

“He ran one sprint last year in practice and quit,” Galloway said. “Not this year. He ran a lot of sprints. I take my hat off to him. He’ll play any position. He really cares about this team.”

Galloway knows Garinger is one of Charlotte’s oldest schools, and that the area is loaded with Wildcats alums, eager to have a reason to cheer again.

“We’re building,” he said. “Be patient with us. There’s a learning curve, and we’re still working at it.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 5:50 AM.