O’FALLON – The growing pains are to be expected with a young team such as O’Fallon, but the players are trying very hard and Joe Speaks sees a bright future for his squad.
O’Fallon’s football squad plays at Belleville East at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. O’Fallon is 0-5 overall after a defeat to Metro East powerhouse East St. Louis this past weekend.
Donald Johnson has averaged 41 passing yards a game and Eugene Page has rushed for an average of 45 yards a game on the season, two keys to the Panthers’ offense.
“We knew going into it that there were going to be some spots where the inexperience was probably something that we were probably going to coach through a lot,” Coach Speaks said. “We have to keep guys on the right path, and we are trying to do things the right way, and continuing to get better at it. They’ve taken to coaching, they come to practice, they work at it. We keep getting better, and we’re just going to keep on keeping on, and keep on getting better.”
There is still plenty for the Panthers to accomplish during the final four weeks of the year, and Speaks is confident in his team’s abilities and efforts.
“We keep telling the kids you’ve got to keep coming to practice,” Speaks said, “you’ve got to keep doing the right thing, and eventually, there’s going to be a switch that flips. And all of a sudden, things are going better, and more things start to go our way. So, we just keep on looking for that moment.
“We just keep playing. Hopefully, when the season comes down, and we start putting some in the win column as the season goes along. We’ve had a pretty tough road to start out with; I think we’ve played about every good team we could possibly get on the schedule right now,” he said. “So I know we’re getting better. We’re looking for that win. We just keep on fighting for it, keep on showing up to try to make that happen.”
Speaks is indeed looking ahead to many good things ahead for O’Fallon down the road.
“You know, it’s being the first year as a head coach,” Speaks said, “there’s a lot of new stuff. This is my 18th year at O’Fallon, so I’ve been around Southwestern Conference football for a long time. So it’s still fun, it’s still exciting. Like I said, great group of kids to be around. So, we show up and work, put the work in, and keep hoping for those better luck, and the ball to roll our way a few more times in the game. We’re going to keep getting better, and keep looking for that first win.”
