The last time the Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers prior to this past football season, the Lake High School class of 2010 were all sixth graders.
They were accustomed to principal Jeff Durbin meeting and greeting them the moment they walked into Lake Middle School as sixth graders. Six years later, the men he met went on to play football for the two-decade long head football coach and are on their way to being graduates of Lake High School.
For 20 years, Durbin has been the Lake High School football head coach. He has overseen the early workouts in winter that lead up to the summer workouts, two-a-day practices, the regular season and if they are fortunate to amass a sufficient record, the Division II state playoffs. Along the way, the Blue Streaks have also competed in three Division II state title games at the historic Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon.
It is safe to say that during his 20 years, the same character he has witnessed from his legion of Blue Streaks when they were middle school students is the same that defined them as high school students. And it all commenced in late August when they made the transition from K-5 to grades six through eight.
“There is an advantage in that because I am also the middle school principal, it allows me to also see their character. When they walk into Lake Middle School, they know what kind of man I am and in my 20 years as head football coach, we have done things the right way and put life lessons into kids that will help them,” Durbin said. “We expect them to play the game of football with integrity, within the rules and play hard.”
Durbin has many fond memories of his tenure. Competing three times for the Division II state championship are moments that he will always cherish. The last time the Blue Streaks were in this position, in 1997, where after getting out to a 10-0 lead, they were on the short end of a 36-10 decision to the Defiance Bulldogs.
Aside from that loss the community support was immense. That kind of success also spurred the aspirations of other middle school students that also harbored hopes of playing inside Lake Blue Streak Stadium and a chance to play in a game of that magnitude. It is something Durbin, a proud father of two sons and daughter relishes with gleefulness.
“That was a great experience. Our community was so excited and were proud of our kids. We worked hard to get to that point,” Durbin said. “When you are playing for a state title in front of 18,000 or 23,000 in Stark County, it provided for an exciting time for the Lake community.
Durbin's reputation is also bolstered by a staff that is knowledgeable of the game. A staff that excels in getting football players ready for the game with meticulous preparation.
However, if there is one coach who epitomized the meaning of being positive, that coach was the late Bill Fetters. Nicknamed “The Chief”, Fetters was a long time coach on Durbin's staff who remained with the team until his passing. What he taught to Durbin and his coaches along with players are teachings still honored today by every Blue Streak team that competes.
Not a single day goes by that Durbin thinks about what Fetters meant to the Lake program.
“Fetters had been battling cancer for several years and you know what? He never said a word. He was always positive around the kids and coaches. He was always coaching and teaching. He set an example for kids and how to deal with life. He was a great man,” he said.
A great asset that has carried Durbin is his faith and trust in his team. It was two seasons ago that his team fell into a five-game losing streak. After a maddening 27-7 loss to eventual state semifinalist North Canton Hoover that pushed their losing streak to three, Durbin recalled being asked about the offensive scoring average going down and the defensive points allowed rising.
He was quick at the time to fire back with a powerful quote that was punctuated with “we're going to get this turned around and you can quote me on that!”
It may be easy for anyone to attest that he was irascible after a 20-point loss but that is not the case. Not if you know the prophetic side of the longest-tenured head football coach in the Federal League. And his team made his words come to fruition as they ended the 2008 season on a three-game winning streak and much momentum for 2009.
“Sometimes, you know that your team is capable of being better than what they are showing. We have a coaching staff that knew our kids were better than what our record showed at that time,” Durbin attested. “We just had to get back to fundamentals.”
As he enters what will be his 21st season at Lake, the football team is already hard at work, determined to obtain a winning season for the first time since 2007, the last time Lake competed in the Division II playoffs, which ended with a painful 34-21 setback to eventual Division II state finalist Louisville.
There are only three months left in the academic year and only six months before the next batch of sixth graders meet with Durbin. Right now, Durbin's concentration is on finishing this year out and looking forward to the 2010 season.
The same fervor that each of his 20 teams have possessed will be vital once again in 2010.
