Tackling Rogers’ numbers game: Coach works to recruit, retain more players for Pirates football team

David Chambless is facing a big challenge head-on.

The second-year football coach at Rogers High School is working hard to get more players out for his Greater Spokane League squad. He is working the halls looking for recruits, inviting players to join his rebuilding project.

In many respects, Chambless has one of the toughest coaching jobs in the Inland Northwest.

The Rogers Pirates have been outmanned and outgunned by the bigger, Class 4A schools of the Greater Spokane League and most of the nonleague opponents they have found.

“We beat Ferris in 2017,” Rogers athletics director Aaron Brecek said. “That was our first win over a 4A school since the 2010 season.

“If you look at our performance against the 4A schools in our league and compare it to the 3A, there’s a big difference. This year we only have one 4A school on our schedule (University, Oct. 10 at Albi Stadium).”

Rogers’ season-opening game this season was a 49-0 shutout loss to Lakeland in Rathdrum – a 4A member of the Inland Empire League in North Idaho.

Rogers travels Friday to face Class 2A Cheney, which is expected to join the GSL next season as a Class 3A member. Next week it hosts Timberlake from the Idaho Class 3A Intermountain League.

It’s not just that wins have been rare at Rogers for as long as anyone can remember, it’s that the losses have been so lopsided. It’s difficult to recruit players who will be a speed bump on the road for schools with more kids to draw from and more bodies on the team.

Rogers was 1-9 a year ago with a win over North Central after injuries left the Pirates with just 19 healthy bodies for practice. In 2017 the Pirates earned back-to-back wins over Lakeland and Ferris en route to a 2-7 season. There was also a 48-0 loss to Central Valley and a 42-0 loss to Mt. Spokane.

When fall workouts began three weeks ago, Chambless had 50 players. To field three teams – varsity, junior varsity and a freshman team – he figures he needs another 15-20 players.

“We’ve seen a few kids trickling in,” Brecek said. “The challenge is that they don’t have football experience. We used to have a feeder program here that we called Pirate Pipeline. David is doing a good job of trying to resurrect that.”

In many ways, he’s in a classic Catch-22 – to win football games he needs players; to get players, he needs to win football games.

“I tell my kids we’re trying to fight battalions with a SEAL team,” Chambless said.

Chambless understands the nature of the Hillyard Neighborhood: Students often have other obligations outside of school that interfere with practice and games. But still, a few good young men can make a big difference.

“I’m only in my third year as AD here, but most of the coach hires I’ve made have been from within,” Brecek said. “You have to understand the neighborhood and how to treat these kids to be successful.”

Currently the Pirates field just two teams, a varsity and a freshman squad.

“We want kids to have fun and that means you get to play,” Chambless said. “Because we don’t have a JV team, we have kids on the varsity who would really be better off playing a year of JV.”

Still, Chambless isn’t complaining.

“I don’t want to use the fact that we don’t have numbers to be an excuse,” the coach said. “That’s not what we’re looking to do here. Our philosophy is that we’re going to win with the kids we’ve got.”

Chambless said he needed longer practice sessions these first few weeks of the season to work on teaching proper technique. He’s been running 25-30 minute drills on proper tackling technique, for example. But he will shorten practice in an attempt to reduce injuries as the season goes on. He doesn’t want to risk injury by having his players hitting more than necessary during the week.

“We’re looking at our coaching practices to find ways to best keep up the high-energy level we have right now,” Chambless said. “But we’re excited about what we’re doing. Our kids have energy and they have enthusiasm.”

Coaches have focused on small victories – gaining positive yardage every time they run the football, for example. A victory on the scoreboard will go a long way toward building a winning attitude.

“It’s important that we learn how to win and that we win these games against schools we should beat,” the coach said. “That’s the first big step.

“If we can get a couple wins under our belt early on, that will help encourage new players to come out to become a part of what we’re doing.”

Chambless said he is working with other coaches at the school to help encourage athletes to play multiple sports. He’s incorporated terminology from basketball to help explain some of the technique his skill players and linemen use.

He’s even adopted terminology from wrestling when he teaches blocking.

“When I get a kid who says they just want to focus on lifting weights and getting ready for next year, I like to encourage them to try playing another sport,” he said. “It all translates so well from one sport to another.”

Chambless has also tapped into alums who can offer encouragement.

He’s invited Rogers grad Levi Horn back to work with young players. Horn played college football at Oregon before transferring to Montana to become a unanimous All-Big Sky Conference offensive tackle. He had a brief career in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings.

Chambless feels good about where the program is after his first season.

“I feel like this is a good group, a special group,” he insists. “I’m excited about our freshmen. We have 18 freshmen out.

“It’s a fine line we’re walking right now and this is a work in progress. But we’re learning every day. I’m learning every day.”