How ’bout those Bulldogs!

PHOTO COURTESY RON GUYER/A-PHOTO
Can’t touch this — Above, the opponent just can’t stop De’Ante “Pop” Saunders, during the Bulldogs’ 42-0 defeat of Spruce Creek. Saunders ran 61 yards and completed two touchdowns during the game.

PHOTO COURTESY RON GUYER/A-PHOTO
Fans in green — Fans show their extreme support by painting their bodies green to urge on the 2009 DeLand High football team.

PHOTO COURTESY RON GUYER/A-PHOTO
Big pockets — Quarterback Ben Denoyer, No. 11, has plenty of time to make a play as his defense keeps Spruce Creek backed and out of the quarterback pocket. On the Bulldog roster (jersey numbers in parentheses) this year are De’Ante “Pop” Saunders (2), Korey Mitchell (3), Jo Jo Kemp (4), Shontrelle Johnson (5), Rick Dean (6), Coleton Robinson (7), Achim Johnson (8), Dentrell Pate (9), Tyler Jones (10), Ben Denoyer (11), Latre Grayson (12), Eldrick Bright (14), Nick Ciciarelli (15), Dramon Grady (16), Donte Gutierrez (17), Larry Thompson (18), Travis Swartzfager (19), P.J. Hayden (20), Mark Joyce (22), James Ward (23), Gator Phillips (24), Shawn Willis (25), Joey Herndon (26), Aaron Crawford (27), Taylor Church (30), Tyler Chance (32), Ramon McCollugh (33), Hunter Haire (34), Jeff Sienholtz (36), Jimel Wright (37), Cameron Poole (40), Damian Davis (42), Brandon Sweeting (43), Jesse Fox (44), Trey Pettis (50), Nic Booton (53), Tim Sandersfield (54), Evan Sieg (63), Brandon Bembinster (64), Chadman Williams (65), Sean Guy (67), John Garren (68), Brian Caswell (69), Maxwell Robertson (70), Julian Proctor (74), Dillon Roy (76), Jared Wilken (78), Tevin Gordon (81), Ryan Rodwell (85), and Moroa White (90).

Now 5-0, DeLand High looks unstoppable, and the community is giving Coach Pettis a lot of credit.

By Jennifer Horton
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Oct 8, 2009 - 12:34:05pm

Two years ago, the DeLand Bulldogs were winless. This year, the team has been an unstoppable force. In the past two games, the opponents never even scored. The Bulldogs are closing in on Homecoming undefeated.

The big game gets under way at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium in DeLand. Pine Ridge, from Deltona, might feel more like sacrificial lambs than Panthers.

“We’re 5-0 coming into Homecoming. I’ll be surprised if it’s not standing-room only,” DeLand High School Principal Mitch Moyer said. “It’s a big week for us, and we’re looking forward to all of our graduates coming back.”

Local fans are loving this season.

“This is one of the best teams ever,” said Joe Stewart, director of football operations for the DHS varsity club.

Stewart, DHS Class of 1987, has missed maybe one Bulldog football game in 12 years. He compares this year’s team, under Head Coach Kevin Pettis, to the 1995-96 Bulldogs, who went 10-1 under Coach Howie DeCristofaro.

Stewart said DeLand has never been past the second round of football playoffs. This team, he said, has the potential to take it all the way.

The new head football coach was hired in 2008. The Bulldogs had been 0-10 in 2007, and went 5-6 in Pettis’ first year.

Pettis came to DeLand from Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, where he had turned around the football team from 0-10 to district champions.

Terry Calkins, president of the DHS Varsity Club Boosters and the junior-varsity football coach, said Pettis was looking to leave Dr. Phillips just as DeLand was looking for a new coach.

“He called up Mr. Moyer and said he’d like to be considered,” Calkins said. “We’re very fortunate to have him. He’s done a lot to help the program.”

Pettis believes in developing the person, not just the player.

“I tell them you’ve got to be great at three things, and football will take care of itself,” he said. “And I honest-to-God believe that.”

The three things? No. 1, be a great son; No. 2, be a great student; and No. 3, be a great citizen.

“I have to tell you, we have a lot of great sons on this team,” Pettis said.

Pettis said the team has come a long way, and confidence is at an all-time high.

“Two years ago, they didn’t know how to win,” he said. “I’m just extremely happy with the way these kids have worked. We’re on the line. ... But we’re going to put it all on the line, put it all out there, every play, every day.”

Former football All-American All-Star Mac Steen of DeLand was captain of the University of Florida Gators in 1969. He knows what it feels like to be on top of your game.

“When you’re on an undefeated team, you’re just so excited to play the next game,” Steen said. “Everybody’s slapping each other on the back.”

Steen is watching the Bulldogs closely.

“They are focused week to week, and that’s not always easy for kids to do — high-school kids, college kids — to stay focused. The coaches help them keep their focus,” Steen said.

While he credits Pettis and the rest of the coaching staff, Steen wanted to make sure the leadership of the senior class is noticed, too.

“Talk about the senior leadership,” he said. “[Mark] Joyce, No. 22, is already signed with University of South Florida. He leads by example. He’s a hard worker.”

Three seniors, including Joyce, have already accepted full college-football scholarships. Two juniors have received offers.

As soon as Pettis hit DeLand, he started to make changes. He implemented a character-building program that focuses on the youth as a whole person, not just a ballplayer.

“He helped six, seven, maybe eight students get full football scholarships,” Terry Calkins said.

Terry Calkins’ brother, Rick, is assistant athletic director at DeLand High School. He’s seen the changes in the athletes under Pettis.

“The difference in this team is, they don’t get off the bus, excited, saying ‘I hope we do a good job. I hope we win,’” Rick Calkins said. “They get off the bus and say ‘We have a job to do.’ ... They’re very focused. They don’t think about the score; they don’t think about wins or losses. They think, ‘We are DeLand High School, and we are a force to be reckoned with.’”

The team’s success affects the whole school.

Principal Moyer said morale is high this year at DHS.

“There is a long-standing belief, because football season starts at the beginning of the school year, that the success of the football team has a major impact on your school,” Moyer said.

He’s inclined to believe that.

“It’s hard to measure,” Moyer said. “It’s just like it’s in the air.”

Moyer noted football is not by far the only athletic success story on campus this year.

DeLand High School has 16 sports, 35 teams (including 24 varsity teams), more than 50 coaches, and more than 800 athletes. Eighty-five percent of those students are scholar-athletes, meaning they have grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher.

“All of our sports teams are wonderful,” Moyer said. “Our girls’ golf team just won the five-star championship. Our boys’ golf team has done well, as has our girls’ volleyball team.”

Football gets the most notice because it involves the most athletes and draws the biggest crowds of spectators.

This year, the crowds are even larger than usual.

Downtown DeLand businessman Gus Gibbs, a faithful fan, has renewed a lot of acquaintances at Spec Martin Stadium this year.

“I’ve seen people at games I haven’t seen since the 1940s,” Gibbs said. “Winning always brings people out.”

Team background

Tony Tussing of DeLand, a longtime school volunteer, coached many of the current Bulldogs when Volusia County Schools still had freshman football teams.

“When I was coaching, they were focused young men,” Tussing said. “They have progressed extremely well. Pettis has been the catalyst.”

The current varsity team went 8-0 as freshmen.

“You knew they were good,” Tussing said.

Not only were they good ballplayers, Tussing said, they were good guys, and good students.

“They are more aware of their academics than they have been in years past,” Tussing said. “This group is much more aware of what it takes to succeed.”

The school district can no longer afford freshman sports, and ended them two years ago.

Tussing said the extra practice time in the freshman leagues was a good thing for students.

“It does help,” Tussing said. “We’re not able to afford it at this time, but it does make a difference.”

The Boosters

The Bulldog Boosters do their part to help Pettis help the team succeed.

“We are there to support the program,” Terry Calkins said. “We’re there to get him [Pettis] anything he needs for the kids. ... We step in and help wherever we can.”

One of the main Booster fundraisers is the concession stand at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium. Terry Calkins said volunteers are always needed to staff the stand, and the widespread popularity of a winning team can bring them out.

“We’ve had groups step up this year and help,” Terry Calkins said. “It’s easier to do when you have community support.”

To learn how you can get involved with the Bulldog Boosters, e-mail boosters@varsityclub.org.

The Pettis method

It’s not all Friday-night lights. Football is the name of the game, but the young men are learning lessons that can carry them through life.

The dedication the young men show is stunning. They work year-round on their grades and their game.

“I always say, ‘We win because we work harder,’” Pettis said.

Players start training in February, with 6 a.m. workouts twice a week for eight weeks.

“That’s where they start off the season,” Rick Calkins said.

During the offseason, there is strength training.

In summer, the players compete in passing tournaments. And, then comes the precursor to training camp.

Pettis and his fellow coaches take the boys camping to build the team.

“We begin with a camp. They kiss their mommas goodbye, get on a bus, leave behind their iPod, their television, their video games, and, for a week, they go to camp,” Rick Calkins said.

Pettis has been taking teams to camp for 10 years. He said the team-building process works.

“It’s an opportunity to get them away from home. They’ve got to rely on each other to make it through the week,” Pettis said. “You take kids from all walks of life, and this forces them to become a family.”

“It works for us,” he added.

Between the hours of training are hours of homework and preparation for the SAT. Tutoring is available every day.

Last year, football players were offered a SAT-preparation class; this year, they were offered a SAT-prep class free of charge.

The coaches have a SAT calculator, so players can determine the grade-point average and SAT scores they need to get into the college they want.

“I think it’s the end product with each person that’s important,” Pettis said. “It’s the young man, when he gets done with four years of high school, if he becomes a contributing member of the community, that’s the measure of success.”

He added, “And if a kid growing up in DeLand sees kids going off to colleges to play football, he’s going to want to be a Bulldog.”

Last year, five DeLand football players went to college on football scholarships.

That’s a big deal, Rick Calkins said. That’s $100,000 or more of college education.

This year, Calkins said, seven Bulldogs have already received offers from Division 1 (D-1) schools.

D-1 schools are the upper echelon of colleges sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). There are 120 in the United States.

D-1 schools aren’t the only place to go to college on a football scholarship. There are many divisions, and thousands of coaches. Pettis has them all in a database.

“It’s something I did at Dr. Phillips,” Pettis said. “It can take on a life of its own.”

In addition to the college database, there is now a player database. It features video footage of each team member.

“Every Monday, we send out stats and game clips to 2,500 coaches across the U.S.,” Pettis said. “I have every position coach in America. The more kids we get to school, the better.”

Pettis, a coach for 19 years, moved to DeLand in February 2008 with his wife, Kandie, and their son Trey, 17, and daughters Bayli, 11, and Hadyn-Grace, 2.

“We enjoy living in DeLand,” he said.

See for yourself

DeLand orthodontist Steen said the best way to see what everyone is talking about is to head over to Spec Martin for the Homecoming game.

“Go to the game,” he said. “That place is going to be rocking. You’ll see something of Americana that you don’t see much anymore.”

— jen@beacononlinenews.com

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