By Matt Chandik
Springfield coach Kevin McCormick has been around for a while, so when he recently said that this is the most unusual offseason that he’s ever seen since taking over as the Cougars’ boss, it’s somewhat jarring. Don’t believe him?
“Between the end of last year and the start of this year, we will not have played one game with the entire team there,” McCormick said. “Not one.”
That’s shocking in itself, considering the abundance of games available throughout the multitude of spring and summer tournaments available, but it doesn’t take long to see how that came to be. Springfield is a team loaded with multi-sport athletes, and those other commitments add up quickly.
Point guard Kyle Long, a two-time All-American lacrosse attackman committed to defending national champion Maryland, helped the Cougars win their second straight PIAA championship. After that, he came back to the football team after taking his junior year off, joining the likes of Ja’Den McKenzie, Frankie Durham and Kevin Deal on a team that made it to the District 1 Class 5A championship game before bowing out to Unionville last week.