SETH, W.Va. — Sherman High School has earned playoff appearances in each of their last three seasons. The Tide have posted a record of 27-8 in that time. That run followed six consecutive losing seasons from 2010 to 2015.
“It takes one group of kids to really buy in to what you are selling,” said Sherman head coach Michael Showalter. “Once they do, it spreads. Bad habits are contagious but so are good ones. What we have had cooking goes all the way back to 2016.”
Last year, the Tide posted their fourth 10-win season for a program that has been playing football for nearly a century. Sherman defeated Parkersburg Catholic to advance to the Class A quarterfinals.
“It was very special. That’s really hard to do,” said Sherman junior lineman Hunter Bowling. “We only lost two games last year. Winning ten games is very hard to do. Not a lot of teams can do that.”
The recent history is the good news. The bad news for Showalter and the Tide is that must replace a large senior class led by Tommy Harper and J.T. Hensley. That duo combined for 3,775 yards of total offense in 2018.
“It is tough but I think with all of us watching them and seeing what they have done, we are just going to step up and do the same thing,” said Sherman junior running back/defensive back David Jarrell.
“The tough thing about being a high school football coach is that you get them for a few years and they move on,” Showalter said. “Those guys were a big part of our program that last few years and they were great leaders for us. Even though they are gone, they are still having a positive impact on our program because of the leadership they showed these guys.”
Sherman will feature a much younger roster this fall. Senior Clay Hudson will be asked to take a larger role as the established veteran on the squad.
“We are just getting after it everyday,” Hudson said. “There’s going to be a lot of new faces on the field but I think we are prepared for that.”
“(Clay) has an opportunity to take on a larger responsibility not just on the field but off the field,” Showalter said. “He has to be a leader for us. He is the only senior I have that has been in this program for four years.”