By Ken Lipshez | Sports Correspondent at October 7, 2023 | 11:15 am | Print

Golden Hurricanes Win First Game

The New Britain High football reformation wasn’t going to happen overnight.

No matter how much the alumni yearn for some sort of projection about a return to glory, Tebucky Jones and his coaching staff are compelled to look no further than the next game, as coaches well should.

The Hurricanes spun themselves into virtual oblivion last year when they went 1-9, dropping their last nine games after a season-opening 12-3 victory over Newington. If Jones is to get his young men to focus on next week, he isn’t about to speculate on what will constitute a step forward in 2011. He has one goal in mind.

“Win,” Jones said. “One game at a time.

“I never look ahead, especially when I’m talking to them. One day after we play a game, we watch the film. After that, we don’t talk about that game anymore. It’s like short-term memory. You’ve got to have [some memory loss] when you play football.”

The Hurricanes’ defense has been robust from the season’s opening snap. Only one touchdown in the 17-0 loss against Glastonbury was scored against the defense. None were scored in the loss to Southington in Week 2, but the goose egg in New Britain’s offensive column prevented the Hurricanes from coming away with Jones’ first win.

Jones offered two reasons why offensive execution comes slower than defensive proficiency.

“Offense is always harder because it’s so much more complicated but one thing about it … each week it got better,” he said.

His other reason pertains to the limited amount of preseason practice time afforded by CIAC rules.

“We should be like every other state. This is the only state where you have just a few days’ practice before school starts,” he said. “You can have spring practice, but when you’re a new coach it puts you in a bind.”

Penalties and turnovers haunted Hurricane efforts as the losing streak reached 11 games. But that’s where the losing stopped. New Britain drilled East Hartford 40-13 with Tebucky’s son Malique, a junior transfer from Farmington, beginning to get comfortable in the quarterback’s role.

“It’s a big relief coming off 1-9 last year,” Tebucky said. “It was a long time to go without a win.

“The big thing is learning, learning and turnovers. Malique is playing now but it could be different from week to week.”

Senior Larry Garcia was the incumbent, but two interceptions against Glastonbury prompted change. Garcia remains in the mix, along with junior Marc Colon and sophomore Cameron Lytton. Malique threw four touchdowns against East Hartford, which offers another vital hint of Tebucky’s pigskin rehabilitation philosophy.

“They’re believing in themselves,” he said. “Once they start believing, that’s when everything turns around.”

The defense is a veteran unit with hard-hitting linebackers Giovanni Viven, Jeremy Millan and Tyree Largent at the core. Athletic Garrett Shaw keys the secondary with help from Axel Rosado, Geovanni Medina, Daequone Clark and Lamont Priest.

Up front, Jose Gonzalez and Jose Palma hold fort.

The primary ballcarriers are junior Lamar Bowsky, senior Devante Gardner, 5-foot-5, 150-pound senior Martez Newby and Viven pounding the center of the line from the fullback slot.

“Lightning, lightning and thunder,” Tebucky said with a chuckle that projected love for his players and the challenge of his job.

The players’ last names are filed somewhere in the back of his mind and on the rosters. On the practice field, it’s all nicknames, something else which promotes the bonding that Jones sought from a program in which it was desperately needed.

There’s Big Gio and Little Gio. Pineapple and Axel Rose. Dae Dae and Shoo Shoo. The wise old NFL veteran, now 37, believes he can promote positive change quicker as a players’ coach than by raising his voice every time something goes askew.

He said it’s what he took from Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

“I don’t scream. I’m not a yeller,” he said. “When I played, the coaches that screamed at me I didn’t pay attention to. It’s the ones who pulled me aside to show me where I went wrong is who I paid attention.

“Oh, I yell sometimes. Once … no, twice.”

One can imagine that players’ attention span improves when they hear their coach let loose with one of his infrequent tongue-lashings.

Much of his offensive philosophy comes from the innovative playbook of Dennis Beatty, the architect of the Police Athletic League programs that produced national champions. Many of the New Britain players learned under Beatty and Jones wanted to keep the transition simple.

“I took a little from Beatty’s offense because some of the kids played with him,” Jones said. “There was a short amount of time to put in an offense and they ran it before.”

The rift between the PAL program and the high school was palpable for years. Jack Cochran successfully bridged the gap for a while but the migration of top PAL players to schools like St. Paul, Bristol Central, Berlin and Xavier had to stop.

“There are two youth programs in town now [PAL and the Junior Hurricanes] and it’s important to work with them both,” Tebucky said. “You can look around over the last few years and see a lot of New Britain kids in other places. They need to stay here.”

The love is there in Jones’ desire to give back to his hometown. While winning state titles is every coach’s dream, he recognizes that building young lives is far more important.

With that as a foundation, the youth programs fine-tuning the considerable talent pool and Tebucky providing incentive for kids to be ’Canes, opportunities for titles can’t be too far behind.

 

The Sports Journal