WILLIAMSBURG, VA (WTKR) – Jamestown players can hardly forget their last game. The Eagles lost 104-0 to Phoebus in the Region 4A playoffs, drawing national media attention and making headlines on their worst day.
“You definitely feel very down, but I was very motivated and very confident that I was going to work all year to come back and make sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Aaron Tuckey, Jamestown senior linebacker and running back.
“Even though we lost the game by a huge margin that you never see, it helped us gain some new perspective and new insights,” added senior linebacker and tight end Jordan Lambin.
With this new perspective and insight in mind, the Eagles decided very early on that a lackluster November night was not going to be their thing.
“Sure, there were different levels,” Tuckey noted. “I would have preferred not to be mentioned in the news or anything like that, but you can’t let something like that get to you and completely discourage you for the rest of your career.”
“I try not to look at things negatively,” Lambin said. “The past is behind me and things only get better from here.”
Fast forward to August and a new-look Jamestown team is in full swing. It starts with new head coach James Riley, who immediately got to know his new group. Riley made a point to talk to players, coaches and administrators to get a feel for what the team was experiencing.
“The best word I would use for it is ‘uncertainty,'” he noted. “There have been a lot of changes over the last few years, and nobody knew what to expect. One of the things I told them was, ‘We need to bring hope and excitement back into the program.'”
So far, so good. Riley describes his coaching as very loud. He encourages positivity, praises the little things that go right, brings energy and works to create a culture that prevents things like last November’s loss from happening, but doesn’t focus on last November’s loss.
“This is our story,” he stressed. “We’re working to be the best version of ourselves, and when you do that, there’s no room for saying it’s about revenge, it’s about retribution. It’s about us doing our best every day.”
“It’s electric,” Lambin said of the energy. “People are excited, they’re optimistic and we all can’t wait for the season to start.”
Jamestown is coming off a 1-10 season, including a playoff loss, and while many measure success by wins and losses, that’s not the Eagles’ main focus.
“It was surprising that so few people talked about wins and losses,” Riley said of his meetings with players and coaches. “It was all about whether we can keep the team together and move forward. I believe if we play our best, we will win.”
“We definitely want to win,” Tuckey said. “Having a better season is a big motivator for us, but that wouldn’t be everything. If we play as a team all year, I think that would be a good measure of success.”
The 2024 season offers Jamestown a clean slate. The Eagles hope to use this as a chance to prove that being on the wrong side of history is not history itself, but just a chapter on their road back.
“I want the community and people to realize that we are a completely different team and we are now rebuilding ourselves,” Lambin emphasized. “This is going to be a season to remember.”
“These young men have worked incredibly hard over the last five months,” Riley added. “I’m really excited about the opportunity they have this season to change their story a little bit.”
Jamestown opens its schedule on Thursday at Nottoway with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
