When Ray Marshall took over the moribund Snyder High School football program earlier this year, he knew that he wasn’t inheriting a grid powerhouse.
In fact, Marshall knew exactly what he was walking into. He was taking over a team that was the dubious owner of New Jersey’s longest losing streak, a 29-game disaster dating back to Nov. 5, 2011.
“I didn’t want to dwell on what happened in the past,” Marshall said. “I was just trying to bring Snyder football back to its winning ways. But I knew the numbers. I was well aware of that number.”
When Marshall held his first meeting with his new players after he took the job, he asked them each about their intentions.
“I asked each of them what their immediate goals were,” Marshall said.
Peterson Dossous didn’t hesitate to answer his new coach. His goal was plain and simple. Dossous had been a member of the Snyder football program since he arrived in 2012.
“He said to me that he wanted to win,” Marshall said.
“I’d been here for four years and never won a game,” Dossous said. “It wasn’t that I just wanted to win one game, but I’d start with one. My main goal was to win. It was frustrating not to know what it was like to win.”
Dossous said that he spent a lot of long hours after suffering through a litany of Snyder losses.
“A lot of times, I sat completely isolated by myself,” Dossous said. “I couldn’t handle it.”
But every single day, Dossous collected his equipment and headed to practice.
“I knew that I never lost hope,” Dossous said. “I knew that the day would come. I’ve learned to be patient and that if I strived for what I truly wanted, I would get it.”
Charles Ransom also knew the pains of playing for a losing football team.
“I would come home and my mother wouldn’t ask me if we won,” said Ransom, whose father was a standout basketball player at Dickinson and later Ramapo College during his day. “She would ask me how much did we lose by. It was difficult to handle. I wanted to play football all my life, but I didn’t know it would be like this.”
Still, Ransom also never dropped his head and felt sorry for himself.
“I just wanted to play football all my life,” Ransom said. “I didn’t care if we won or lost. I was playing. It was hard not winning, but I knew that the hard work would eventually pay off, that one day I’d get to taste what it was like to win.”
As the 2015 season began a few weeks ago, Marshall thought that the losing was part of the permanent past. The Tigers opened the season against Bergen Tech, a winnable game against a school that had just brought back football as a varsity sport.
But it wasn’t meant to be. The losing streak moved to 30 straight win with a 20-6 loss.
“We let that game slip away from us,” said Marshall, a former Lincoln and St. Peter’s College football standout who was an assistant at Lincoln for 12 years before getting the Snyder head coaching position. “We made some key mistakes and we knew we could correct those.”
“It was just minor mistakes,” Dossous said. “It was just the first game. We knew we could pick up the intensity and get the job done.”
“Our coaches kept saying after the first game that we were all in it together,” Ransom said. “We were in the fight. But when we lost, it took a lot out of me. I knew we had a chance to win. I still couldn’t let it get under my skin. It was the first game. There were more to come.”
Football is a redeeming sport in the fact that if you lose one early in the year, there’s bound to be another one a week later. The Tigers faced Newark West Side in the second game of the season. It was another game, another chance to win, another attempt to get rid of that horrible distinction of being the holder of the longest losing streak in New Jersey.
Marshall knew things had changed for the better by the turnout he had this fall.
“I saw the improvement by the number of kids we have in the program,” Marshall said. “We have 67 kids including freshmen playing football this year. I didn’t think Snyder could rally that quickly, but we have. We knew about the losing mentality the kids had. I told them that you’re only going to be a doormat if you allow people to walk all over you, not if you got up and fought everybody. I knew these kids had fight in them.”
Sure enough, the Tigers showed a ton of fight last Thursday night, when they rallied to defeat Newark West Side, 13-4, to end Snyder’s losing streak at a long and grueling 30 games.
“It was a relief that it was over,” Dossous said. “We finally did it. It was exciting, don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t want to get too happy. It’s not like we won a state championship or anything. It’s just one win. It’s something small.”
“It felt amazing,” Ransom said. “As soon as the clock was winding down, I started to look up at everyone. As soon as it hit zero, I knew it was over. We broke the streak. It was really amazing.”
When the Tigers came back to school, the marching band met the bus and played victory songs. A crowd of people applauded and cheered.
“We learned a lot about how to win,” Ransom said. “It was about how we performed.”
Marshall said that the victory celebration was short.
“We went right back to work,” Marshall said. “We have Hoboken this week. We don’t have to worry about the win anymore.”
Marshall said that the Tigers received a 36-yard touchdown pass from Titus Whitehead to Kiewaun Anderson and a fumble recovery for a score by Samjoe Nesmith to earn the victory.
“But the key to the game was the defense,” Marshall said. “Charles Ransom has had six sacks, four tackles for losses and two forced fumbles in the first two games. Our defense was aggressive, very aggressive. We just have to keep working and grinding on defense and hope that the offense comes along.”
Marshall was happy for his players.
“They knew it was over, but now they want more,” Marshall said. “They just don’t want to stop at one. They got the taste of victory and now they want more.”
Marshall knows that the win was just the beginning.
“My job wasn’t just to win games,” Marshall said. “My job is to restore the tradition Snyder football has had, bring it back to the high school. We want to have the colleges coming in and looking at our kids, recruiting our kids. Not just [St. Peter’s] Prep and Lincoln, but our kids as well. We want them to stop at Snyder along the way. Right now, I have to call them. No one is calling me. But give it time.”
Marshall can already see the excitement.
“It was a good feeling to see all those people standing out and waiting for the kids to come home,” Marshall said. “They’re caring about Snyder football and they want to show that they care. Not that it’s been a long time, just that they care about Snyder football. And the kids are walking around the school with their heads held high. They feel good about themselves. They don’t have to drop their heads anymore, because they’re proud.”
Dossous knows that one win doesn’t lead to a title. But it’s not a bad start.
“I didn’t want to get too happy, because that would mean I’m satisfied,” Dossous said. “I’m going to try to motivate my teammates to get another win and then another one. I want to have other days like this one. It’s a great feeling to finally get it.”
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.