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Joe Williams is the dean of sports in Lake County. In November, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary at the paper, and all those years were spent writing about athletes, coaches and sports in Lake. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Williams delivered papers as a boy for Newsday and the Long Island Press. He moved the New Port Richey, where he became a sports writer at the New Port Richey Press the summer he graduated from high school. In his prime, Williams was a feared (and beloved) softball player. Today he’s a proud father of four and still breaking stories for us.

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Eustis era ends

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Written by Joe Williams   

It was about 10 or 15 minutes after Eustis had won its final game of the season, beating rival Mount Dora 29-14 at Hurricanes Field Friday night to finish the season with a 2-8 recrd.

Eustis Coach Steve Moser had finished talking to his team, telling him how proud he was of the effort they mustered, and had dismissed all the players with the exception of the seniors.

 

In what has become a Eustis tradition under Moser, he had his players line up along the goal line, put their helmets back on and enjoy the view from behind the facemask one last time.

Moser started out by telling his players that he does this after the last game every year with his seniors. "Maybe sometime we'll get a chance to do this at home ..." Moser started to say before catching himself. "Oh no, I guess we won't."

It was a slip that said it all. Moser had just coached his last game. He is now a retired football coach. Maybe not forever. Maybe the spark will return -- some day. But, for now, he is done.

He then turned his attention back to his seniors, some of whom looked, through their facemasks to have tears in their eyes. Moser told them that some of those players standing there will get a chance to play in college and that he and his coaching staff will work their butts off to make that happen for the players. He reminded the players that there are many levels of college football. Then he told them to get their fill of looking through the facemask because, for some, this would be the last time they would ever have their helmets on.

"Don't take that helmet off until you have gotten your fill of it," Moser told his players. "I don't care if we stay out here until midnight. I want you to remember what it looks like to look out from behind that facemask."

Then Moser went down the line of seniors, one-by-one, shaking their hands, giving his players hugs. This was the last time they would share the football field together.

Eustis had shown its pride on Friday night. The Panthers fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, then scored the game's last 29 points. Mount Dora touchdowns came on a blown coverage and on a fumble -- two Eustis mistakes -- but Eustis didn't play like a team that ony had won one game this season. Three words Moser repeated over when talking about his team's effort on Friday: Poise, dignity and character.

"Other then the day that I married my wife, when she turned the corner and I saw her for the first time, that's my best memory ever," Moser said. "Other than that, the rest of my 10 best memories all came on a football field. The game has given me a lot and I have given the game a lot.

"My intent on retiring is I want to see what else life has to offer. I am going to step back and see if that spark returns. Right now I don't have that spark. I can't tell you when I lost it. I think the game and the kids deserve a coach who has that spark. Maybe one day I will get that spark again and I will ccome back and coach again, but I don't have that spark right now."  

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Joe Williams is the dean of sports in Lake County. In November, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary at the paper, and all those years were spent writing about athletes, coaches and sports in Lake. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Williams delivered papers as a boy for Newsday and the Long Island Press. He moved the New Port Richey, where he became a sports writer at the New Port Richey Press the summer he graduated from high school. In his prime, Williams was a feared softball player. He’s a proud father of four and still breaking stories for us. You can e-mail Joe by clicking here.

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