LYNCHBURG, Va. – At tradition-rich Brookville High School, coach Jonathan Meeks' Bees have followed up a pair of 8-4 seasons with a 9-3 year that ended in the second round of the playoffs with a loss to eventual state champion Blacksburg. Only eight starters return from that senior-laden squad, but the backups who are stepping up and stepping in are groomed and ready. Coach Meeks explained that it wasn't a situation where they weren't ready last year, but rather his team was deep with experienced seniors. And this offseason, the Bees hit the weights to make sure their sting has the necessary impact.
"I think the weight room in this offseason, probably in my career it's been the most productive weight room. We really put an emphasis on getting bigger and stronger, we cut back on the conditioning in January, February and March and just focused on lifting. We had to increase the strength and size and we've had some guys put on 15 or 20 pounds of muscle-good weight. We really saw some huge jumps in the weight room so I think that's going to translate onto the field on both sides especially on the defense of side," Meeks said.
"We had a heck of a strength coach and so he got us right and hopefully it'll help us when we get out there on Friday nights, " Bees junior linebacker Collin Rector said.
"We got bigger, faster, stronger and everybody's been there. Usually we don't have many people that show up, but everybody's been there in the weight room. Not one person we've had to call --they've been there." defensive end Aaron Estes said. ..
Bees senior quarterback Tanner Bernhard says the strength training emphasis should help add to Brookville's ground attack.
"Just to help our team run the ball more. Last year I could run the ball a little bit, but this year we can run the ball a whole lot better than we can last year. " said Bernhard.
The Bees open the season on Sept. 1 when they host Patrick Henry.