Finding its swagger

It’s a little thing, really – notable more for a feeling than an actual gait – and it lies somewhere between a saunter and a strut. Not as casual as a saunter and definitely not as showy as a strut.

You can try to fake it, but that rarely works. You either have it, or you don’t.

It’s a swagger, and the University Titans have it.

“We’re starting to get a little bit of that swagger going for us,” University High School senior running back Zach Bruce said. “We have that feeling of confidence. We know we’re a good football team and we know we’re going higher – we’re going to the playoffs.”

Bruce understands stride. Already a starter at strong safety, the 6-foot, 170-pound senior was the team’s starting slot receiver at the beginning of the year, but shifted to running back after Adrian Bonner was injured in the season opener against Ferris.

Through the first two games of the season, Bruce was solid running the football – an essential cog in an offense that likes to throw the football.

Starting with game three of the Greater Spokane League season, Bruce kicked his game up a notch or two.

Against Gonzaga Prep, Bruce carried 13 times for 75 yards and pulled in 14 passes for another 56, including a 20-yard touchdown catch in a 35-14 victory. A week later, he carried 18 times for 95 yards.

Still, four weeks into the season, University had just one win to show for a stretch of games against four of the GSL’s top Class 4A teams: Ferris, Lewis and Clark, Gonzaga Prep and Central Valley.

“We knew at the beginning of the season that we were going to have a tough stretch of games to start and that we were going to have to start playing every game as if it was a playoff game,” Bruce said. “Our motto all season long has been ‘every play, every day.’ ”

That playoff mindset kicked into high gear for a stretch of four games against Class 3A opponents, beginning with the Titans Class 3A nemesis: Mt. Spokane.

“We said from the beginning of the year that Mt. Spokane was going to be the team we had to beat if we were going to get the No. 1 seed from Class 3A for the playoffs,” Bruce said. “Our defensive coordinators, our offensive coordinators, they all did a great job getting us ready for that game. On defense there wasn’t an offensive formation that we hadn’t seen and hadn’t prepared for in practice. On offense, there wasn’t a blitz that we didn’t know was coming.”

Bruce had two interceptions, including a key pick with Mt. Spokane at the University 7 in the fourth quarter. On offense, he blasted up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown run that put the Titans ahead by 10 points early in the fourth quarter and finished with 29 carries for 177 yards as U-Hi scored a 31-28 victory at Joe Albi Stadium.

“That was a really big game for us and I think the win gave us a lot of confidence,” Bruce said. “We played them twice last year and they beat us both times. After they beat us for the second time, a lot of us just started looking around and we told each other, ‘We have to beat those guys. If we can beat them, then we know we’ll be in the playoffs.’ ”

The Titans continued their late-season surge with a 52-26 win over Shadle Park on Thursday, raising their record to 5-3. Bruce had a key 79-yard interception return for a touchdown.

A great deal of that confidence, Bruce said, stems from the hard work of the University coaching staff.

“We believe in what they tell us,” he said. “They all work so hard preparing a game plan for us and we are so well-prepared for every game.

“Coach (Bill) Diedrick watches so much film and breaks it all down for us. We watch film the first day of every week and he’s always showing us something that he’s seen that makes us that much better prepared. I know I am definitely seeing things on game films that I didn’t see a year ago and that makes a lot of difference.”

Diedrick’s practice philosophy, too, is a source of confidence.

The longtime college coach and coordinator likes his Titans to work every practice at game speed – keeping his players working at a fast tempo.

“I think that gives us an edge,” Bruce said. “Especially for those of us who are two-way starters. It may be strange to some teams because we don’t condition after practice the way some teams do. We get our conditioning in by going at game speed in every practice – we go right from drill to drill without a break in between. We get our work in faster than most teams do, we get our conditioning in at the same time and we’re probably not on the field as much as some teams are.”

At the end of every practice, the coach calls his players to circle around him for a few final remarks. Each time, the players take off their helmets and hold them high in the air.

“Every week, coach Diedrick tells us to hold our helmets a little higher,” Bruce said. “Every week, they get a little bit higher because that’s what this season is about – going just a little bit higher.”