SPRINGDALE — Kevin Johnson was resting at home last Friday afternoon when he heard the news.
A school bus carrying high school football players had overturned in Fayetteville.
It never occured to Johnson the players were his own.
“At first, I’d heard it was a Fayetteville bus,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to find out what had happened, so when I called Dennis (Springdale High interim coach Dennis DeBusk), he picked up and said, ‘Everybody is OK, nobody was injured. We’re all doing just fine.’
“That’s when I was like, ‘Oh man, it was one of our busses.”
Although nobody was seriously injured, the bus accident forced last week’s Springdale High-Fayetteville annual rivalry game to be postponed until Saturday afternoon.
The news of the accident, although a total shock at first, really didn’t surprise Johnson after he thought about it a little longer.
It’s been that kind of year for the Springdale Bulldogs.
So far this season, Springdale’s coaches and players have had more than their share of off-the-field distractions, making this year one of the toughest anyone can remember.
The year started on a tough note when Johnson announced in August he was taking a leave of absence to deal with some health issues. After a battery of medical tests and a couple of surgeries, it was determined last week that Johnson, 45, needed to take an indefinite leave of absence to treat his recently diagnosed lung and colon cancer.
That was just the beginning.
• A sophomore player was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance Wednesday morning after suffering a minor throat injury during practice. He is expected to return to practice on Monday.
• A key varsity player was recently suspended from school for a violation of district policy.
• A Springdale cheerleader was seriously injured before last week’s game against Fayetteville, when she fell from the shoulders of another cheerleader while holding the pregame run-through sign for the Bulldogs. The cheerleader’s injury caused the game to be delayed about 15 minutes while she was put on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance.
Then the week ended on a downer when the Red Bulldogs lost to Fayetteville 50-49 on a two-point conversion play at the end of regulation.
“I’ve been coaching for a long time, and I’ve never been involved in anything like this,” DeBusk said. “It’s been a heck of a ride so far, but we’re handling it the best way we know how.
“I’ve always heard that breaks even out over a period of time, so one of these days — it may not be this week, it may not be next week or even this year, but somewhere, this team is going to be owed a bunch of breaks.”
A Little Consistency
For all the off-the-field madness that’s affected the Bulldogs this season, there’s been at least some consistency on the field.
Although Johnson formally left the team in early August to tend to his health issues, his staff quickly moved to guide the program into the season without skipping a beat.
Besides DeBusk, who’s been an assistant at Springdale for more than 12 years, offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz and defensive coordinator Jeff Jones have provided the needed guidance and leadership for the players. Springdale’s other coaches — quarterbacks coach Zac Clark, defensive line coach Ronnie Waid, receivers coach Moe Henry, secondary coach David McGinnis and linebackers coach Craig Bentley — have all contributed greatly in keeping Springdale’s players focused on the field.
With both coordinators, nothing has changed in Johnson’s absence. Both Drinkwitz and Jones call their own plays during games and use other assistants to relay any needed information to players.
“Despite Kevin being gone, there hasn’t been a big affect on anything that happens during games,” said Drinkwitz, who’s been an assistant at Springdale since 2007. “Our players haven’t had much of a transition there, and that’s been really important. They’ve needed as much consistency as possible with everything that’s happened this year.”
Last season, the coaching setup was different. Johnson wasn’t just the team’s head coach, but the defensive coordinator, meaning he called all the defensive plays during the game.
However, during the offseason, Springdale hired Jones away from Lonoke in March to coach the defense, giving Johnson more of an overseeing role.
“There’s no doubt, it’s been a blessing that I didn’t get sick last year,” Johnson said. “It would have been quite a disaster if that would have happened last year. But with Jeff being here this season, our defensive guys have worked well with him.
“Considering everything that’s happened this season, I think it’s fair to say our players have needed as much consistency as possible.”
Accepting Adversity
Springdale junior quarterback Joseph Calcagni and senior receiver Justin Bocchino have learned a lot about themselves this season. And they’ve had to grow up quite a bit in the process.
The same can be said for all of Springdale’s players and coaches.
Whether it was learning about Johnson and all of his medical battles or dealing with other off-the-field issues, both Calcagni and Bocchino said learning to overcome adversity has been a theme for the Bulldogs this year.
“From day one, we told ourselves that we had nowhere to go or hide, we had to take whatever happened to us head on and deal with it,” Calcagni said. “We’ve all grown up a lot this year, I can promise you that.”
Bocchino admitted that last weekend was one of the weirdest he’s experienced in his life, including being on the bus that was involved in the accident. Nevertheless, Bocchino said he’s already learned things this year that he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life.
“I think we’ve all realized that sports isn’t everything, it’s really just a game,” Bocchino said. “With coach Johnson, it’s been tough, but we’ve all stuck close together and we’re supporting him and he’s supporting us right back.
“We’ve overcome a lot already this season, so right now, we feel like whatever gets thrown our way, it won’t be any problem.”
Jones said watching the players continually stay focused every week, despite everything that’s happened, has been a credit to their character and positive attitudes.
“These kids are so resilient, it’s been amazing to watch them come together,” Jones said. “This is a family, we spend so much time together, and when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us. We’ve all learned so much about ourselves, and we’ve all told ourselves that with adversity comes great opportunity.
“If we can keep that mindset, there’s no telling where this team could end up at the end of the season.”
SPRINGDALE — Springdale High’s defense showed more confidence Friday night than it has all season long.
SPRINGDALE — Leo Gallo felt so much pressure Friday night that he stopped believing in himself.
