The best aspect of high school football is the element of surprise, never knowing what the next season may hold or who may emerge as the next force to be reckoned with. Every football season someone unexpectedly rises to prominence, has a season nobody could have imagined, ascends above and beyond the expectations of any regular player, and is instrumental in leading his team to unprecedented success. This season that player is the Potomac School’s Conor McNerney.
The statistics are borderline unbelievable. In seven games so far this season, McNerney has rushed for 1,459 yards, 15 rushing touchdowns, caught one receiving touchdown, thrown a game-winning touchdown pass on an halfback pass play, and been awarded DCSportsFan’s MAC Player of the Week in three successive weeks. That means he has run for an average of just under 210 yards per game, scored an average of two rushing touchdowns per game, and has a yards-per-carry average of 7.2 yards; it is also important to not forget that on multiple occasion he has come out of games as early as due to his team taking an early lead.
With two crucial games still remaining in the regular season, he is rapidly approaching just about all of his school’s rushing records (most of which were set by Spencer Gopaul, Class of 2008). Yet, despite all of these achievements, the statistics are not, and never will be what is most important to the 5-foot-9, 180-pound junior running back. He will always tell you exactly the same thing: that what is more important than anything else at the end of the day is his team’s 7-0 record, and keeping it up to that standard of perfection.
“These individual records just aren’t as important to me,” commented McNerney, “because no matter what records I break, if we don’t win the MAC then I won’t be happy. As a team our goals from the beginning were to go undefeated and win the MAC, and no matter how we end up faring individually, we will not be satisfied if we do not reach that goal.”
What is now an undoubtedly surmountable objective, not long ago may have seemed like a completely implausible dream. The Potomac School has never really been known as much of a football powerhouse, and coming off a 2-7 season, the expectations outside of the program were certainly not high. As can happen at anytime in high school sports, however, the Panthers turned around the program dramatically over very little time. While there have been some additions to the squad, it's mostly similar to that 2-7 team a year ago in terms of who is on it; what has changed, according to the opinion of many involved, is first and foremost the new attitude the players have brought to the season, and also the maturation of many of the players, evidently including McNerney.
The football program underwent a change in head coach over the offseason too, as longtime athletic director Rob Lee stepped in to take over the team. His influence has also been noted by both players and other coaches on the team, none more so than McNerney himself, as he declared, “Coach Lee has been a main part of what changed our attitude so much. There’s not as much tension, not as much pressure to perform, and that’s how we perform best, so that has absolutely benefited the team. Everybody on the team has a desire to be playing football now, and it had not always been that way.”
Most of the rest of the coaching staff returned to the team this season, however, including offensive coordinator Patrick Duffy. As the play caller, for Coach Duffy to have a weapon like McNerney on his offense has a huge effect on their game plans. As Coach Duffy put it, “He makes my job so much easier. All I have to do is get him the ball and he can make things happen with it. …His talent gives us the option to run it in any situation.”
Coach Lee echoes this point in a lot of ways, noting McNerney’s terrific endurance and pressure performances as a basis to his success. He also points out another crucial aspect of his running back, as he said that, “If you look at the video tape, he runs hard in the first half without question. But if you watch him in the first quarter, he is running even harder. He’s in really phenomenal shape. He really is just so tough for four quarters, and that is what really sets him apart. Because he is able to take so many carries a game, other teams just break down after a while, and that’s when he is able to find those big holes.”
The success of high school sports stars in recent years has confined them to sticking within the boundaries of their primary sport, but McNerney is not your ordinary athlete. He is not just a star on the football team, but plays key roles on the school’s baseball and basketball teams, too. In fact, perhaps surprisingly, at least until this football season, he had been open about the fact that his preferred sport was really baseball. He now says that, considering his newfound levels of success this football season, he may consider them to be about even. But if he is able to affect what happens on a baseball field the same way he does to what is on a football field, the potential is almost hard to imagine.
However, it’s important to him to focus on whatever he is involved in at that time, and so while the football season contiues, he has devoted 100 percent of his effort towards the sport, and the progression of himself and his team.
While the stat-line may say Conor’s name next to it, he feels as though his offensive line has been crucial in his success all season long, as he noted, “Our offensive line [Robin Warren, Enrique CuUnjieng, Michael Dewberry, Jack Rhodes, Nick Cueva] has just become exponentially better over the offseason. Everyone was in the weight room, and it has meant that the blocking this year has just been so much stronger than we have ever seen around here, and that has just made my job so much easier.” In fact, many members of the team feel that the offensive line has been pivotal all season in the production of the entire team, including both Coach Lee and Coach Duffy, who also discussed how instrumental they have been, both for Conor and the rest of the squad.
Enrique CuUnjieng is a four-year member of that offensive line and a senior captain this season, enjoying more success than all three of his other seasons on the team combined. He believes that the key to the line’s success this season has been experience; every member of the line is a returning starter. While CuUnjieng recognizes Conor’s “speed off the ball, pure explosiveness right out of the gate, and the great trust he has developed with the offensive line” as essential reasons for the team’s offensive success, he notes that Conor has another important role on the team as a leader.
“As he plays three different sports so successfully, it is his work ethic that is truly incredible,” acknowledged CuUnjieng. “He has a swagger about him and a confidence when he plays that truly inspires the rest of our team. He has always put the team first and any other personal goals second, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes for the team. Because he is constantly demanding so much of himself and the team, it brings the rest of us up to the same level of intensity.”
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of McNerney’s season so far is his age. As he is still a junior, this will not even be the last we hear of him on the high school football scene, as he will look to continue his success for the remainder of this season and into the next.
“While it’s hard to top what he has done so far this season,” admitted CuUnjieng, “there’s no doubt that as he becomes a senior he will only get stronger and faster, and he will be even hungrier and more driven for success.”
While the potential that the Potomac football program may contain, not only with its star running back, but also with the rest of this excitingly dominant squad, can seem almost unlimited at times, the focus always remains critical. Coach Lee repeatedly emphasizes this, and he said, “I think that Conor realizes, as we all do, that the next three weeks will define our season, so while it has been truly great so far, we do need to make sure we stay focused here and finish what we came to do.”
As McNerney strives to prove exactly what hard work, character, dedication, commitment, and determination can do for an athlete in any sport, only time will tell as to whether it will all payoff in the end. As for his success to this point, there is no doubt he will only take it in his stride, as he gives all that he has left to achieve those final few paramount goals.
