Framingham State football eyes greater heights

September 4, 2009

By Jon Star, Metro West Daily News

FRAMINGHAM -  Rebuilding is a challenging, painstaking process that requires the highest levels of commitment.

The Framingham State Rams know all about that as they enter the third year of the program's transition under coach Tom Kelley. The Rams, coming off a 5-5 season in 2008, have seen some fruits of their labor and are hungry to keep the momentum in the right direction.

It has been a challenging decade for Rams football, a club that went 4-41 in the five years before Kelley, who served as head coach from 1982-1984, regained of the reins at FSC. But two straight productive recruiting classes have made believers of the head coach and players alike.

"When we look in the mirror we see ourselves now," said Kelley, also the school's athletic director. "That's one of the things we talk about. We don't want to repeat history. Now it's all of our guys. We have seniors, not a lot of seniors, but we have some upperclassmen that we are relying on and they'll take us as far as we're going to go this year."

The next chapter begins tonight as the Rams take on New England Football Conference foe Endicott in a cross-division showdown.

"Last year at camp, one practice we went out there and had 24 total people practicing," said senior tailback and captain David Leach of Newton. "This year, you look around and we had 60 people practicing all the time. We had a .500 year last year and now we're able to recruit and more people want to play."

Yet those in the Rams locker room know greater achievements begin with a unified effort, motivated by a desire and hunger to succeed. The .500 season last year has lit a spark, but Rams players know it will take a lot more effort to sustain the last season's level of play.

"You always want to get better and improve off the last year's record. I think anything less than a .500 record would be a disappointment this year, especially with all the kids we have coming back," said sophomore wide receiver James McCarthy of Chelmsford.

"We're a pretty young team but we got a lot of good reps that got a lot guys acquainted with the system and I think there has been a lot of progress offensively and defensively."

Last year's win total was a stepping stone for the program, but the team suffered adversities and mid-season setbacks with tough, close losses before ending the season on a high note with two consecutive victories. Now Kelley and his staff look to get even more out of their players as they seek to strengthen the team's resolve.

"I've been stressing toughness, mental toughness, physical toughness," said the Rams' head coach. "I think when you become more a veteran, mature team you see a lot more of that as the battle of the season goes on. You start doing the little things to win ballgames and that's what good teams do."

"I've been preaching to the team, there are two ways to go: One is up, one is down and a lot falls on them. We've pushed them harder than any other team we've had here. We want to get to the next level."

The team has responded with tireless efforts in the weight room and on the practice field as it gears up for the new season.

"Our motto throughout camp was that we work harder than any other team no matter what we're doing," said Leach. "Our conditioning time is during practice, so we taking the opportunity to work hard with everything we do."

"We bring our lunch pail to the game. We're a blue-collar team and we really feed off that. We just go out everyday and try and work as hard as we can without excuses."

Feeding off last season's energy, this year's squad wants to continue to leave its mark on the program.

"We don't want to be lightning in a bottle," said Leach. "We don't want to win five games and then go back to the way things were.

"We want teams to look at the schedule, see Framingham State and know they have to buckle it up," he said. "We're taking pride in our work and want to be known as the group that turned things around."