{"id":81684,"date":"2018-10-16T19:50:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T19:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"\/rcntv\/?p=81684"},"modified":"2023-04-14T18:49:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T18:49:44","slug":"hs-football-week-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/hs-football-week-9\/","title":{"rendered":"HS Football Week 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, thanks to all of last week\u2019s \u201cSportsTalk\u201d guests\u2026even with Keith Groller<\/a> on another assignment, we had no shortage of big-named personalities on our program.<\/p>\n

For our Pennsylvania sports fans, District XI<\/a> Football Chair Jason Zimmerman joined me in-studio and discussed the changes with the district\u2019s playoff system and other rule changes for high school football.\u00a0 \u201cZim\u201d also gave our audience a great overview of the local playoff races and insights on many of the teams in the RCN-TV coverage area.<\/p>\n

For sports fans in the Washington DC area\u2026we had interviews featuring players and coaches from the 8-0 HD Woodson<\/a> football team.\u00a0 Woodson is tied with several of the other top teams in the DMV for first in the 6A divisional playoff race.<\/p>\n

Then, following our live preview from the Meadowlands which covered that evening\u2019s Giants<\/a>\/Eagles<\/a> game, we also chatted with Mt. Vernon<\/a> Head Football Coach Monty Fritts about the amazing job he\u2019s done turning around his program.\u00a0 Coach Fritts took over a team that had gone 3-26 in the three years prior to his taking over the helm and has guided the Majors to an 18-9 record so far during his tenure.<\/p>\n

He reported that the team he took over had just 37 students on the roster and they didn\u2019t even have money to buy new uniforms that were badly needed.\u00a0 The team hadn\u2019t had consistent, sustained success in decades.\u00a0 Fritts reported players would be ashamed to wear their \u201cMV\u201d lettermen jackets in public and that the football program was frequently the target of jokes in the community because of its futility.<\/p>\n

Now, he has over 120 students competing for spots.\u00a0 He has players at or near the top in a number of key statistical categories.\u00a0 His team has broken 31 school records over the last two years and, should their success continue this fall, it would be just the second time in school history that his school made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons (the first time was in the 1930s).\u00a0 His turnaround story is one of the most dramatic in the entire nation.<\/p>\n

All of these \u201cSportsTalk\u201d interviews are available through RCN On-Demand and via our podcasts found here on the RCN-TV website.<\/p>\n