HAMPTON, Va. — Phoebus High School has established itself as one of the football dynasty programs in the area. They've got eight titles to their credit in a 20 year span and most recently returns as defending champs in Class 3.
This season head coach, Jeremy Blunt has a corps group of six players on both sides of the ball coming back from last year's team that went 14-1. It gave the Phantoms their first title in a decade, but Blunt says they're ready to turn the page.
"One thing about it is you don't want to peak too early", he says. "Getting off to a good start and it being something true versus something false is going to be our focus."
Senior safety, Jordan Bass agrees. "You have to realize this is a new season", he says. "You have to put in that mindset just because you won a state championship doesn't mean you're going to win it again this year."
Blunt, who last year became the first person in school history to win a championship as a player and a coach, knows lack of focus can be costly when chasing a legacy as a program.
"Complacency is a real thing", he says. "It's important that the guys stay honed in on what are our goals and objectives? It's easy to look forward. You think about what we achieved last year. You want to hurry up and get to that end result, because you're so eager to do it again."