Trojans are tough enough

MUSCLE SHOALS - Nick Thomason heard the knocks against Muscle Shoals' football program

for as long as he can

remember.

The Trojans, contenders in basketball and baseball among other boys sports, couldn't compete in a game like football, the detractors would say, because students in the program's relatively affluent area lived a charmed life and just weren't tough enough.

"I've heard that all my life," said Thomason, a hard-hitting linebacker for Muscle Shoals. "My cousins went to different schools and would say that all the time. I didn't really believe it, though. It wasn't that we weren't tough enough; we just didn't have anybody to get on to us, somebody to believe in us and make us work as hard as we can."

Thomason and his teammates say that all changed when Scott Basden took over as Trojans head coach. Recalling how their team went from 2-8 in 2008 to the playoffs this season, players give all the credit to Basden, now in his second year at Muscle Shoals, and his coaching staff.

"We might not be the most physically imposing team, but we still have some of the toughest little kids you'll see," running back Rodney Hardin said. "We have a lot of young kids with a lot of heart. They can really surprise you if you got to know them. When the new coaches came in, it flipped a switch."

Basden diverts the credit back to his players, but one thing he, Thomason and Hardin do agree on is that the lights came on after Muscle Shoals' 2008 season-ending win against Sheffield.

The 28-0 win over the Bulldogs was just the Trojans' second of the season, ending the worst season in Basden's 10 years as a head coach. At the same time, the lopsided score showed players what was possible if they bought into their coach's plan, Hardin said.

"Our season was over but the following Monday we were out here flipping tires, working in the weight room, running," Hardin said. "We saw what was possible. We never did take a break. Every holiday we were out here. We knew we wanted to achieve a goal and that we had to make sacrifices."

Players particularly impressed their coach by forgoing family getaways and staying in town to work out during fall and winter break during the offseason.

"When I got here, people said you can't work the kids as hard here as other places, said Basden, who led Cordova and Parrish to state championships.

"These kids have worked as hard as anywhere I've been. They gave up their vacation last Christmas and Thanksgiving and they were in the weight room. If you're willing to do that, it tells me a lot about you. If kids are willing to do that, you know you've got something

special."

Players said the intensity continued through preseason camp late this summer in Tishomingo, Miss., where they were awoken by Army drill sergeants at 3 a.m.

"They were hollering for us to get up," Hardin recalled. "First thing, we had to do push-ups and sit-ups. It was still dark. We had to shine lights from the coaches' cars to see. We kept going until about 6 in the evening. We weren't used to it, but we made it through it because it's what we had to do."

Players look back on those grueling exercises with pride, saying they were what pushed the Trojans (8-2) to their first playoff appearance since 2002 and first eight-win season since 1988.

"I think we've still got a long way to go, though," Basden said. "We're heading in the right direction, but our goal is to win a state championship in five years. That was the goal at Parrish, that was the goal at Cordova and that is the goal at Muscle Shoals."

Parrish won it in five years, while Cordova only took four. The Trojans will try to take another step toward their goal in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs Friday at Fort Payne (8-2).

It's not often that a fourth-seed upsets a No. 1, but Thomason said nobody should be surprised based on what the Trojans, who already have a win against Region 8 top-seeded Hartselle, have done so far.

"We've shown people what we were about," Thomason said. "We weren't just talking about it. We are doing it."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@TimesDaily.com.