What happens on the field under the Friday night lights is the product of hard work and practice many fans never see or think about. The preparation is as vital to a football team’s success as the execution is.

Preparations for the week’s game begins barely 12 hours after the previous game ends, says Bryan Stortz, head coach of the Bears varsity football team.

“On Saturday morning, we exchange film with our opponents for the week. Then all day Saturday, the coaches break down that team’s offense and defense,” Stortz said. “All coaches are at the school at 8 am Saturday morning until about 3 pm. Some stay later, sometimes they even work into Sunday.”

The coaching staff cannot completely depend on the film provided by the other team, though, so they go to even more extensive measures to prepare to face a team.

“One of our freshman coaches will scout every game [the opponent played] the week before, since sometimes we don’t get the best film from every team. A team might take some close-up film as well as some far away film, and sometimes we end up getting the far away film,” Stortz said. “[The scout] can pick up things that we would never see on film.”

After analyzing the upcoming matchup, the coaches will start to translate their findings into a game plan.

“The plays we use don’t really change, they just get adjusted a little for each individual game,” Stortz said.

Practices throughout the week are a big part of preparations as well, but the hype for the game really begins on Thursday, when the team talks about the game and strengthens camaraderie through a team dinner.

“On Thursday nights, we’ll go out to practice and then go in the team room after it ends. Players usually get in there before us coaches do, so the players have to have written on the board what their goals for the game are. After that, any players are allowed to speak, any coaches are allowed to address the team. We’ll sometimes show a highlight video, and then I’ll give the pregame speech,” Stortz said. “A lot of coaches give the pregame speech immediately before the game, but I like to give it the night before so it soaks in and the players have something to think about as opposed to getting all worked up and emotional.”

Then, on Friday nights just before kickoff, as anticipation builds, players go through their individual rituals in addition to the team routines. For more information about this, see ADAM’S STORY on page ?.

“In the past, some players have prayed before the game. Some players do their own thing to get psyched up. We post the team’s pregame routines in the locker room for them to see,” Stortz said. “Myself, I try not to have any superstitions about routines, because then if you forget something in your routine and you do badly, you feel like it was because of that.”

Despite the coaches’ devotion to analyzing the other team, Stortz claims that focusing on the nuances of his own team is even more crucial.

“It is more important to watch yourself. We film every practice. When we practice in the stadium we have five cameras, and when we practice in the back we have four,” Stortz said. “We’ll come in and we’ll watch our kids take a first step, and we’ll do everything we can to make them perfect that first step.”

The excitement and victory of a team under the lights on a Friday night depends on how the coaches and athletes prepare when the lights are off.