Davis stressing ‘teamwork’ and ‘toughness’ in first year at Nitro

NITRO, W.Va. — Zach Davis heads into the coming football season with another rebuilding effort on his hands after accepting the head coaching position at Nitro earlier this year.

“I just thought it was a better place for me and my family,” Davis said. “We live a lot closer to Nitro and it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I had some good friends who were in my ear telling me that it was a really good job for numerous reasons. I just really felt like it was the place to be for me and my family.”

Davis spent the past three seasons at Riverside where his team went 0-10 in his first year there, but ultimately broke an overall 24-game losing streak to begin year two.

While Riverside finished outside of the playoffs in each of the last two years, the Warriors took steps, winning four games in both 2016 and 2017, just outside of the Class AAA playoff field.

“Our players and our coaching staff did a great job,” Davis said. “It was fun building that, going from 0-10 to being right on the cusp on the playoffs and seeing some young men really believe in themselves and believe on the process.

“I thought in 2016 and 2017 we had good football teams,” he continued. “We were just a couple of plays short here and there of going to the playoffs. That was a fun ride and I’ll never forget those years. I’m just looking forward to trying to repeat that success and have some more with Nitro.”

Davis now takes over a Nitro program looking to return to its former glory.

“We’ve been lifting weights and had a really good turnout – they’re great young men, working really hard and eager for a fresh start,” Davis said. “What we’re going to do is simple, but it’s not easy. We’re talking about teamwork and toughness, along with our ‘win the day’ philosophy. They’re buying into it and it’s fun to watch them work.”

Nitro overall has won just four games over the last three years, going a combined 4-26 in that stretch.

“I’ll be calling defense and we’ll be very aggressive like we were at Riverside,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of man-to-man coverage, try to get some turnovers, pressure the football and stop the run.

“We’ll also carry over our spread attack or something very similar to it,” he continued. “We just want to be sound in all phases. Nitro (in the past) has been known for offense, but we want to make it known for defense as well.”

Nitro opens up the 2018 season on the road at Poca on August 24 before a home contest against St. Albans on the 31st.

Regardless of wins and losses early on, Davis expects one thing to be consistent.

“One of the things we’ll bring as a coaching staff is that our guys will play with tremendous effort,” Davis said. “Anyone who watched Riverside play the last three years, I think the one thing they can say is that they played really, really hard.

“We may be over matched at times – sometimes we have more talent or sometimes we have less,” he continued. “But we’re going to play as hard as we possibly can – that’s just something we demand. I think that will help us take steps to the next level. We’re not going to be complex. We’re going to be simple and try to out-execute — that’s how we’re going to win.”