Barrington football coach Joe Sanchez doesn’t know what to expect in his 17th season, but he is excited by the possibilities.
“It’s just a pure excitement for the unknown,” Sanchez told the Chicago Tribune. “Everybody has hope and dreams and belief of what they want to see happen. Even though 7-on-7s are fun, it’s not 11-on-11. It’s not the real game.”
Overall, Sanchez said he’s satisfied with the direction of the program and the way everything seems to have stabilized.
Joe Sanchez
“We’re going to be right about where we’ve been, around 180-185 (players overall),” he said. “We’re staying the same, been able to do so the last few years. Obviously, it wasn’t like a while ago, when we were 200-plus. … The numbers, even though we’re happy with them, I think that’s irrelevant. As long as we have kids who want to be there, good kids, that’s what matters.”
With the start of the high school season in Illinois now roughly just a month away and preseason practice in high gear, Sanchez said he is doing everything he can to keep things competitive and light at the same time.
“Just trying to create as many competitive situations as possible is great,” he said. “We’ll pull some linemen out for conditioning. If all four linemen can catch a punt, then we don’t condition that day. Silly stuff that may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you, any time a lineman can get under a punt and catch one, I’ll tell you what, those guys go absolutely crazy.”
The team recently returned from a trip to the Northern Illinois University campus, and Sanchez hopes it will go a long way in fostering team chemistry and togetherness.
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