The Long Reach varsity football team has struggled to find success in the last few years, winning just three games since 2013.
However, there was plenty of buzz surrounding the Lightning entering the 2016 season, and they started the year off right with a 33-0 victory over Mt. Hebron on Sept. 2 and then followed it up on Sept. 9 with a 25-20 win over Atholton.
Those back-to-back wins may be just the beginning for Long Reach. With a talented senior class to mix with numerous underclassmen that were part of the JV team that won the county title with a 9-1 record in 2015, expectations are high.
One of the biggest factors in the Lightning's success falls on the shoulders of senior quarterback Tyler Raines, a second-team all-county player who threw for 1,594 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2015. He got his season off to a hot start, completing 31-of-50 passes for 498 yards and three touchdown passes through two games.
Raines recently spoke with Howard County football beat reporter Tim Schwartz about how important that first victory was, the importance of his fellow seniors and the role they play with the mix of youth on the varsity squad, how he almost became a defensive end as a freshman and more.
Q: You guys opened the season with a convincing 33-0 shutout win at Mt. Hebron. After a tough few seasons, how important was getting that first victory and starting the season 1-0?
A: It was really important. We wanted to come out and set the tone. We wanted to show everyone what Long Reach football is and show how hard we've been working this past offseason. We wanted to come out strong and give everything we had and show the county that we want to be back in it and be a top school again. It was a tone that we set.
Your team looks like it had a really solid mix of young guys who were on the county champion JV team last year and a senior class that has the varsity experience. How much work has gone into getting the team ready with those new guys?
We've been working all winter, spring and summer. Me, Greg [Benton Jr.] and Jojo [Jalen Hall] and all the other seniors, we've been really pushing the underclassmen who were on JV to come up and push themselves to their limits and even past that because we know how much potential they have and how much they can bring to the table and for this team.
I know you weren't a part of it, but how important was it for those guys to have that success?
It's great because they all want to win. They all have that drive to win and they all know what it's like to win now. All the youth coming up, they have a drive that helps push the seniors even to be better. Hopefully in the next few years we will leave our legacy on them and the tradition for Long Reach will continue.
The 7-on-7 stuff your team did in the summer seemed to be the start of showcasing the talent on the roster, considering Long Reach was one of the top teams in that this offseason. How critical are those reps and getting that time with your teammates to build toward the season?
It was really important because the same stuff we do on the 7-on-7 is what we will be doing during the season. So if we can prep it early than we can get even better with our plays and it really helps us once the season starts.
You were a second-team all-county quarterback last year, throwing for more than 1,500 yards and double-digit touchdowns. Do you look at last season as a success personally, even though you didn't have as much team success as you would've hoped?
I don't really look at success as a personal thing because I don't want to achieve anything alone. I want to achieve it with my team and celebrate it with my team, and I want to be able to win everything with those guys. It's a team thing and a bond of brothers.
What do you guys need to do in order to accomplish your goals?
We need to come out with intensity and play 110 percent every play because even if you mess up sometimes, if you're going as hard as you can every play, you're going to make a play. We need to execute and win every play.
The defense played really well in the first week, earning a shutout. You guys allowed a lot of points last year, and to shut out an opponent must have been pretty cool to see.
Yeah it was great. We have a great defense this year and they all swarm to the ball. They all want to make plays and make tackles and make hits. They work together really well and they give us a really good look in practice every day, which is helping the offense out.
How long have you been playing football?
My freshman year was technically my first year. I played like one year of rec in sixth grade, but I got the minimal amount of plays each game so I don't really count that year.
What does it say about yourself to only be a fourth-year player and to have success at a difficult position like quarterback?
I think it says a lot about my work ethic because I always try to be the hardest working person on the team. When I came in, I didn't even want to play quarterback — I wanted to play defensive end. I could always throw the ball but I wasn't very coordinated. I was never the most athletic person, so when I came in I just gave it everything I had and it's been paying off.
Who convinced you to play quarterback instead of defensive end?
It was [JV] coach [Clarence] Smalley. He came up to me and asked me if I have ever played quarterback before and I told him I could throw but I never played like official quarterback. He told me the first day of tryouts I should try it and I ended up starting on JV my freshman year, so it's worked out.
You've put a lot of time in the offseason at camps set up by college teams. What do you guys do in those camps and how do they help with recruiting and having success on the field?
They start out measuring your combine test scores and then go into individual drill sessions. Usually the quarterbacks and receivers will come together and run routes on air, and then go into one-on-one sessions. They're really important. They help to show all the competition you're going against, not just in your area but the whole country. It helps get you a lot of exposure because you could be going to one school but there's going to be other schools there helping out with the camp. It helps get your name out there.
You mentioned you are being recruited by some FBS schools, so what's it like going through the recruiting process?
It's hectic. The recruiting process can be so intense and there are so many factors to it. You always got to keep doing the best work you can do to prepare for your season so you can continue to get looks and hopefully pull in that first offer.
What do you feel like this senior class' legacy will be, especially with higher expectations this year?
We want to show that we're not at the bottom anymore. We want to rise to the top and show that we can be dominant once again.