Aug. 11--The speed, strong arm and instincts were always apparent, which is why Brian Doll anointed sophomore Clay Czyzynski as the starting quarterback of his first New Trier team last fall.
The stuff that could be taught still needed to be learned.
"In the beginning of the year, I told him to draw up a cover 2 defense," Doll said, laughing. "If you saw the picture, you would have said, 'What the heck is that?' "
"I wasn't quite football smart coming into sophomore year," Czyzynski said.
Czyzynski and Doll won their first five games together and went 10-2 to lead the Trevians to their best season since 1996.
The graduation of two-way standouts Scott Hammes and Kevin Mulhern as well as a big, strong offensive line has New Trier starting the season outside the Tribune Top 20.
Maine South's Brian Collis and Evanston's Matt Little are the quarterbacks drawing most of the attention in the Central Suburban League, but New Trier and Czyzynski shouldn't be overlooked.
"To win 10 games as a sophomore, he did something right," Doll said. "He had a great offensive line and Mulhern did a great job running the ball, but Clay ran a lot for a sophomore. For a little while we thought of him as a game-manager, then he started coming into his own.
"It got to the point that not only was he identifying coverages, he was seeing pre-snap that they are going to roll this way or check to this. It is nice to have a junior quarterback with 12 games under his belt. It makes a big difference Week 1."
The Trevians' biggest early test comes Week 2 at Warren, and they might be undefeated again going into the Maine South game (Week 7) for the second straight year.
New Trier outmuscled Maine South for a while in last year's contest, but Maine South pulled away to win its 67th straight conference game, 24-7.
The Hawks' streak begins the season at 70, and the Trevians have no qualms admitting that number is on their minds.
Czyzynski and the rest of New Trier's talented junior class beat Maine South as freshmen, and they want to be the ones to end a varsity streak that began in 2001.
"Coming in freshman year, you see that everyone wants to beat Maine South," Czyzynski said. "Our coaches really got us pumped up for that game. Last year me and (fellow junior) Francis Fay were saying, 'Let's make it 2-0.'
"It didn't turn out that way, but we played hard. We came out strong and were doing everything right, everything we wanted. This year, hopefully we'll come out with a win."
Helfgot is a freelance reporter.
New Trier
2014: 10-2 (4-1, 2nd place CSL South).
Playoffs: 8A quarterfinals (L 38-10 at Stevenson).
Coach: Brian Doll (10-2, 2nd season at school).
Key player: Clay Czyzynski, Jr., QB
