Armstrong's football coach took no shortcuts in turning around the program
He’s seen the lean years. And there were many of them.
Whether defensive coordinator or a position coach, Jeremy Pruitt had the deep desire to see Armstrong Wildcats football finally succeed.
Ironically, while teaching chemistry at the East End school, the former Virginia State linebacker found a way to begin concocting a winning formula on Cool Lane. Its genesis came at a time when, through no fault of their own, other teams were struggling to keep theirs.
“2020 would have been my first year,” Pruitt said before practice Wednesday. “How the spark started was, we found a way to work out, outside. The guys who were serious. The guys who were hungry.”
The group included Leonte Oulahi, now at William & Mary, Kemari Eberhardt, now at Virginia State, and Tony Allen, who was just getting his feet wet on the gridiron as a freshman. Allen now plays at Virginia Military Institute.
The vision and insight Pruitt had during those days of six-foot separation began to come to fruition in 2022, when Armstrong won four games, including victories over quality programs such as Goochland and Atlee, and qualified for the Class 3, Region B playoffs. Their overtime loss to Caroline in the opening round only fueled the desire, and, in the community, the optimism.
But the turnaround was cemented thanks to an act of kindness that took place ahead of the 2023 season: a bus.
Armstrong twice rode Interstate 95 to Washington, D.C., facing McKinley Tech to open the season, and later to Friendship Collegiate Academy. Instead of the usual yellow school bus, the Wildcats found a more comfortable mode of transportation awaiting to take them northward the second time around.
“I’ve got support. A program called Trio, they sponsored the charter bus to go up there,” Pruitt noted. “I’m not afraid to ask for help. We played against one of the best defensive players in the nation who is now at South Carolina. My message was to go out there, have fun, and learn something.”
One thing the Wildcats have certainly learned is how to win. A 7-3 regular season led to two postseason victories, falling just two points shy of the Region 3B Championship a year ago. Now Armstrong is proudly part of an explosion of on-field and off-field success for Richmond Public Schools, one of three teams entering the weekend with a 7-0 record, joined by Huguenot and Thomas Jefferson.
Did the success create a different type of pressure when camp opened late this summer for the 2024 campaign?
“It wasn’t different, actually, it was easier,” Pruitt explained. “Once the community rallied behind us, we have parents sending kids out, because they see the positivity. It started in April, and by first practice, we had 60 to 70 kids. There was no doubt in my mind that we would have a great year.”
One of many players behind their success is senior Jah’Kei Chavis, who is putting up numbers indicative of a Player of The Year candidate. Last Friday in the Wildcats’ 34-7 win over Atlee, Chavis rushed for 224 yards on just 16 carries, scoring three times. On defense he shines, plus he has two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
And to think, four years ago he wasn’t playing football. Taking classes virtually during his first semester of ninth grade, by the time he arrived on campus, the season was over.
“Pruitt hit me up for my sophomore year,” Chavis keenly remembered. “We were improving just a little bit, and we realized that we had to change different things. We did, and gave everybody a shock.”
The Wildcats are no longer a shock, except to those not paying attention. And, with Armstrong and rival Thomas Jefferson together in Region 3B, while not inevitable, next Friday night’s clash between the Vikings and Wildcats may not be the only time they meet on the field this fall.
Pruitt admits there are players thinking about November 1st too early. He reels them back in, focusing on the next opponent, which, for Armstrong, is John Marshall Friday night at Hovey Field at Virginia Union. The teams split two games in 2023, with Thomas Jefferson winning their regular season encounter 28-12, and Armstrong exacting revenge in the Region 3B semifinal round 28-0.
The current regional standings have the Vikings less than a half point behind top seed Kettle Run High School in Fauquier County, with Armstrong third, four points behind. But no matter their seeding, and regardless of eventual opponents come mid-November and beyond, Chavis and his teammates don’t concern themselves as much with winning 15 straight as they do winning when it matters most.
“We don’t worry about past (performance), we worry about the team we’re getting ready to play, and staying consistent,” Chavis said.
And, true to his nature, Pruitt is making sure that, even above the results on the scoreboard, for his homegrown Wildcats, a gutsy group of young men who bet on themselves and a program not known for recent on-field success, there is joy in the journey.
“The biggest thing is having fun while playing a sport that you love,” Pruitt said with a smile. “That’s what I remember as a child, having fun – win, lose or draw. I played my hardest. I did what I was supposed to do.”
