Alex Coil is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Gilbert Christian for AZPreps365

A game of word association broke out after practice Tuesday at Gilbert Christian. Suffering and brotherhood were linked to playing on both sides of the football.

Eight of the 11 starters for the Knights play both offense and defense. This helps build a brotherly atmosphere in the locker room, senior defensive tackle and left guard Joe Dickerson said.

“We are a lot tighter of a group because of the fact that we are together all of the time,” Dickerson said. “You’re next to the same people the entire game. You just build relationships with each other.”

Offensive and defensive line coach Andy Montano believes this bond is strengthened by suffering.

“It helps to know when you’re suffering with others,” Montano said. “It helps to know when you’re in the trenches, when you’re in the fire with others and being able to see the character of the guy next to you.”

Knights coach Danny Norris put it more simply. “You find strength in suffering with each other.”

Sophomore free safety and wing back Matthew Hershey credits senior leadership with the success of playing both ways.

“The seniors did a great job of setting the example of playing both ways,” Hershey said. “Looking up to them and seeing how they do it, it has helped me get through everything.”

According to Norris, the senior leadership is responsible for the program moving forward.

“It helps that all of our captains are seniors,” Norris said. “We have four really strong seniors and really strong leaders. They hardly come off the field. Even during special teams, they hardly come off the field. It brings them together and they exemplify brotherhood. That trickles down to the juniors, sophomores and freshmen. They’re responsible for how the juniors act. They’re responsible for how the sophomores and freshman act. The way they carry themselves is important.”

Having eight of 11 starters play both ways means the scout team in practice is full of young, inexperienced players – mostly freshmen and sophomores.

“When we run a scout team out there, they’re not our starters,” Norris said. “Our starters are playing both ways, so it’s hard to put a scout team of starting quality players when our younger guys are still learning. Right now, we don’t have the privilege of fielding a JV team because we don’t have the numbers. So, these young guys have to be our starting scout team during the week. That’s difficult for our starters to not get the best of looks because they are going against younger guys.”

Norris looks at this as a positive for the future.

“It’s trial by fire,” Norris said. “Baptism by fire, I guess you could say. You’re really throwing them into the fire there. It does make them better, it brings a certain toughness. These young guys are learning on the fly. They’re learning in a tough way, but they’re learning none the less.”

Gilbert Christian looks to ride these two-way players into a key matchup with Bourgade Catholic. Friday, the Knights look to improve to 5-2 heading into the bye week.