INDIANAPOLIS, IN. — As I make my way through the M.I.C. I landed at North Central on Saturday mornin’ to holler at head coach Kevin O’Shea as he enters his second season at the north east side school. Durin’ his first year they finished 3-7 but played with so much swag that I nicknamed the head coach Chinchilla O’Shea.
There was a confidence about him on the side lines that seemed to rub off on everybody near him. Sure they only won 3 ball games but North Central’s been nonexistent on the M.I.C. landscape for a long time. They turned the corner last season. There was crazy excitement surroundin’ program that we haven’t seen in a long time.
The North Central Panthers have gone through some rough patches over the past several years havin’ some winless seasons and only winnin’ one ball game in 2016. So for O’Shea and his staff to get them to three wins in year one (2017) was huge. However, I’m lookin’ for my man to turn some heads this year because there’s something special about this coach.
In nine seasons at Lafayette Central Catholic he went 114-10 and he won five Class A state championships! You didn’t read that wrong playa. He won five Class A titles in nine years. Wheredeydodatat? And please don’t give me that, “He wasn’t playin’ anybody crap.” Winnin’ is winnin’ bruh and in year one in the best conference in the state he picked up 3 wins with a team that won 1 the year before.
Boyz have quickly forgotten that North Central used to be the powerhouse in the city. It has the student body, the facilities and most importantly, the talent to compete at a very high level in the MIC. Now they’ve got the most important piece of the puzzle, a coach that is bout that life. What life? That winnin’ life playa!
I had a chance to sit down with him on Saturday mornin’ to talk about what we can expect from this year’s team. He had this to say, “I really think that we’re going to try to build upon what we did last year. You know we’re just gonna try to get better. Offensively we’ve got to get better in the red zone. We’ve gotta score more points. We’re young defensively and so having those extra points is really going to help us out. We’ll probably gong to start seven underclassmen defensively. I thought last year the defense carried us for the majority of the season while the offense tried to get going.”
He goes on to say, “This year offensively I expect us to be better. Liam Thompson’s back at quarterback. We got an offensive line with three starters back.” He also adds, If we can run the ball successfully I feel confident in our passing game. If we can do that I think we can build upon what he started last year.”
Here’s the entire interview:
One of the most interestin’ things coach O’Shea said to me was that “we want to make football important to North Central High School and I think that we’ve done that.”
The Panthers are lookin’ to lean on the leadership of their three captains, quarterback Liam Thompson, offensive tackle Jamichael Watts and free safety Harrison Ochs this season and it should be a good one.
With the passion that Coach O’Shea and his coachin’ staff bring to the field everyday they can’t help but to reach their goals. I’m lookin’ for vast improvements from a year ago and I’m also lookin’ for him to bust out the Chinchilla coat on the sideline this season. The swag is off the charts. Good luck coach and much love to your program!
The Panthers open up at home against Fishers on this comin’ Friday night! Be there and stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus: Learn these words this football season!!
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Put it where the goats can get it: verb phrase – to make it as elementary as possible. To put it at ground level so everyone can understand it.
3) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!