The target that is on the back of Brunswick School football team is growing. And as a defending New England champion, that’s perfectly fine for head coach Jarrett Shine and his Bruins.
In his seventh season with the team, Shine returns an experienced offensive line and speedy offensive weapons to complement his young quarterback, but the whole team will have to adapt to a new system under new offensive coordinator Joe Early.
“Originally, we thought we were going to keep the same type of offense and terminology,” Shine said. “But I want him [coach Early] to be comfortable teaching it. These kids can adjust a lot better than coaches can and it’s worked out pretty good.”
An offensive coordinator at Middlebury College for 14 years, Early is getting the chance to implement part of his long-time system into the Bruins’ playbook.
“They took a lot of the terminology well,” Early said of his players. “It’s a little bit of a blend, but most of the stuff I had. I give them a lot of credit for [adapting].
“I said, ‘Let’s try it like this,’ and they stood up and ran with it. I’m very impressed on how quickly these kids pick up the football stuff.”
The Bruins feature a balanced offense that can beat teams both on the ground in the trenches and vertically in passing formations.
Henkel’s targets include two junior receivers in Spencer Decker and Sean Morris. Both were recipients of Henkel’s pair of touchdown passes Saturday.
“They have a lot of speed and they can stretch the field when we need a long pass,” Shine said. “Spencer Decker is one of the fastest kids we have on the team so we need him. If he runs his routes at full speed, there’s very few guys that can stick with him. We have so many weapons out there so we rotate a lot of guys at those receiver spots too.”
The rushing attack is led by Jason Kennedy, who Shine said did fantastic in the season opener.
“We knew he was going to be a stud for us running the ball,” Shine said. “I was surprised at how well our offensive unit played at times. Obviously we made some mistakes and we need to correct those, but overall I’m pleased with it.”
The Bruins will open conference play against Avon Old Farms, Taft and Hotchkiss in their quest to repeat as NEPSAC champions.
“We’re here to win a championship,” Shine said bluntly. “The last couple years we either won the league or the New England Championship. We’re trying to put it together in the same year.”
Shine ends a Tuesday afternoon practice with conditioning sets of 30-yard sprints—30 of them. The unofficial end of practice is a 100-yard dash from end zone to end zone, letting his team race to the finish.
“I like us playing tough, hard-nosed football,” Shine said. “But at the same time, I like us to have fun. At times you’re not going to enjoy practice, but we’re going to have fun so they want to come back everyday and be a part of the team.”
At halftime of Brunswick’s season opener against Iona Prep, Shine seemed satisfied.
With a 20-0 lead built and momentum going into the break, the Bruins were comfortable and in the driver’s seat.
By the end of the game, the reigning NEPSAC Champions were just happy the ride was over, narrowly escaping with a 26-18 victory over a tough non-conference opponent in the rear view.
“We blew a lot of opportunities,” Shine said. “We didn’t take advantage of opportunities where we could have put more points on the board. We made a lot of mental mistakes.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Bruins put up 20 unanswered points led by sophomore quarterback Nick Henkel. In his first start, Henkel connected on two second-quarter touchdowns and finished with 228 yards passing.
“He exceeded my expectations for him in the first game,” Shine said about his quarterback. “As a sophomore coming in, you have to have a lot of confidence in that position and really command control of the offense. We’ve been working with him to let him know that this is his offense.”
Shine was impressed with his 6-foot-5, 180-pound quarterback taking shots in the pocket and with his general toughness.
“He took a couple of big hits,” Shine added. “You gasp, because you want to make sure he’s okay. He popped right back up and that’s when I knew he was going to be all right.”
Iona Prep began the second half with a touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Apostolopoulos and then added a score through the air to bring the score to 20-12.
Brunswick would answer with a rushing touchdown from Jason Kennedy—his second of the game—but the Gaels of Iona Prep would not go away without a fight.
Down by eight after a missed Brunswick field goal, Iona Prep failed to convert on a trick play, resulting in the Bruins recovering a backwards pass.
Kennedy finished with 121 rushing yards to go with his two scores while the defense forced two fumbles and an interception. In a tale of two halves, Shine says he’s still happy with his team’s physicality on both sides of the ball.
“The end of the first half we started playing better,” Shine said. “Defensively, we played lights out. The first half was tremendous. The second half we allowed them to come back in the game. We knew that Iona Prep was going to be physical and we had to match them.”
