Last season’s 1-7 record is a distant memory. There’s a new look and feel at Fishburne with coach Dan Baranik coming in from the college ranks to take over the Caisson program.
The new look and feel is evident at the end of practice. Baranik is focusing on conditioning.
“We’re going to play four quarters,” he exhorted his charges as they finished Monday’s practice with a series of gassers.
“I love our attitude. I think the kids are working hard,” Baranik said a little later, even as he conceded that his team is probably behind schedule from where he’d like them to be due to issues with offseason conditioning.
“That’s slowed us down and slowed our progress down. That’s going to be our Achilles heel for a while, until we get our legs up under us,” Baranik said.
Baranik and his staff have some talent to build around. Senior Blake Gazzier, a 6-0, 190-pound running back/linebacker from Houston, Texas, brings a Texas high-school football mentality with him to Waynesboro.
“Just bringing it from Texas, where football is a big deal, I’d like to get everybody hyped, get everybody motivated as much as I can,” said Gazzier, a first-year member of the FMS football team.
Pat Guiffre from Fairfax is back for his fifth and final season as a Caisson. The senior is getting some looks from colleges as a long-snapper.
Guiffre is pumped about the chance to go out with a bang his senior season.
“It’s gone by so quick. I just want to leave Fishburne knowing that I did everything I could for the football team,” Guiffre said.
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