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“We bleed blue” is what firstyear Parry McCluer High School head football coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough said his team’s theme will be going into the 2023 fall season.
“Our goal is to take each game like it’s our last one,” said Brockenbrough. “Our own expectation is to get better each week and be prepared to play each football game at a high level.”
Brockenbrough was named the Fighting Blues’ head coach in February. He’s coached football for about 20 years and has been the school’s head wrestling coach for 15 years. For the Blues’ varsity football team, Brockenbrough, a 1998 PM graduate who was a linebacker and quarterback for the Blues’ teams coached by Charlie Wheeler, was an assistant coach for 12 years. He served for 11 years as the offensive coordinator and for one year as the defensive coordinator before coaching little league football last year.
“This program means a lot to me, and to be a Fighting Blue means something,” said Brockenbrough, “It’s ingrained in me. This is somewhere that I wanted to be a football coach. I’m shooting to be a very competitive football team, and I want people to know who they played on Friday night.”
The Blues will have 26 players on varsity. There are 10 returning varsity players, including seven seniors: Zach Mook, Aaron Pruett, Jayden Richardson, Anthony Gonzales, Shaiden Ratcliffe, Landon Catlett and Payton Cauley.
The Blues graduated 12 seniors at the end of last season, led by all-region running back John Snider. After leading the Blues’ offense for the last two years, Snider has chosen to play football at Division II school Emory & Henry College. The Blues also graduated starting quarterback Brenan Schley, who started for the Blues the last two years and is continuing his football career with Division III school Ferrum College. Other PM leaders who graduated were center Jaydon Clark and Bradick Wheeler, both all-region selections. Also gone from the team is Evan Cook, a running back and defensive back who has chosen to focus on basketball for his senior year.
Last fall, the Blues went 4-7 overall and 3-2 in the Pioneer District for second place. After going 1-4 in the first half of the season, the Blues were able to finish the second half of the regular season by going 3-2 and earning a play off bid. The season ended with a 41-22 loss at George Wythe in the Region 1C quarterfinals.
The Blues’ captains will be Landon Catlett, Aaron Pruett, Jackson Brockenbrough and Parker Camden. Praising Catlett, who has played as a free safety and backup quarterback, Brockenbourgh said, “Landon brings a lot to the table as a leader. He’s a great basketball player, and now he’s going to get the chance to help lead a football program.
Brockenbrough said Pruett “is the toughest player on my team and he shows it on the field. He shows his leadership on the field.”
Praising Camden’s work ethic, Brockenbrough said, “Parker just plays the game hard. He leads us in the weight room and on the field,” and “Jackson is the strongest kid on our team. He’s not very vocal but he just plays hard and leads that way.”
Brockenbrough said that, in his first year, his expectations are to “put a football team on the field that is very respectful, respects the game and their opponent. They go out and play hard, and play physical.”
“If we can play physical on both sides of the football we can be very successful,” added Brockenbrough. “Right now, our main goal is to put 11 of our best players on the field on a Friday night to have a good, clean, football game.”
On offense, the PM coach said the Blues will have a lot of size on the line that is headed by experienced players. “Our backfield is a great duo,” said Brockenbrough. Leading the backfield with size is six-foot, 190-pound fullback Parker Camden, and two new talented running backs, the speedy JJ Jones (6-1, 150) and the powerful Jackson Brockenbrough (5-10, 160). “I want to be a big play team and create space for our guys,” said Coach Brockenbrough.
On the offensive line, the Blues will return junior Rayshan Richardson (5-11, 275), Cauley (5-11, 250), and Mook (5-11, 185).
At quarterback, the Blues plan to start sophomore Nathan Glass (6-2, 160), who has moved up to the varsity level after starring on the JV squad. Brockenbrough said Glass “had a really good scrimmage” against Page County last week. Last fall, Glass was pulled up from JV to varsity at the conclusion of the JV season and played as a safety on defense.
Gonzalez (6-1, 150) and Jayden Richardson (6-0, 140) return as wide receivers and free safeties., while Ratcliffe (5-11, 185) is a running back and linebacker.
Defensively, the Blues plan to be more proactive than reactionary, Brockenbrough said. “We want to be very aggressive, and I think in [Class 1] football, we can be successful with being aggressive,” he said. “We don’t have the most depth, but we have 11 guys that play hard. With Catlett (6-3, 180) as a free safety and Pruett (5-10, 140) as a rover, they come up pretty hard.”
Adding depth to the roster are promising players who are new to the varsity roster. Juniors joining the team are Braden Conley (5-11, 175) and Dylan Williams (5-11, 220), while the Blues have 15 sophomores: Camden, Glass, Jones, Zavion Dunn (5-8, 125), Tyler Wade (5-7, 130), Jacob Shafer (5-8, 130), London Wright (5-10, 185), Griffin Harlow (6-1, 180), Timothy Lesher (6-1, 235), Levi Helper (5-11, 205), Lucas Goodbar (5-11, 260), Cole Chittum (5-11, 280), Vincent Wilson (5-10, 220), Brendan Holdren (5-11, 240) and Stephen Miller (5-11, 225).
Joining Brockenbrough on the coaching staff will be Kenny Wright as the offensive line coach, Zach Fowler as a defensive coordinator, Elgin Davis as a defensive coordinator, Mark Landis as the defensive line coach, David Foshay as a volunteer assistant, and Eric Wheeler as the strength and conditioning coach. The JV team will be coached by Chad Dorey, Mike Camden and John Snider.
Brockenbrough believes that two of the biggest games this year will be James River and Narrows. The Blues will play at James River on Friday, Sept. 8 and will start Pioneer District action at Narrows on Friday, Oct. 6. “Right out of the gate, I can tell you those are going to be two huge games for us.” Narrows, the defending Pioneer District champion, cruised to a 32-0 win over PM in Buena Vista last year.
