Reece does everything needed for Christian Heritage

Published 7:30 pm Thursday, October 19, 2017

Coming off the field on Friday after a tough loss to North Cobb Christian School, Christian Heritage School’s Syd Reece had nothing left.

Beat up, battered and exhausted, Reece, Lions coach Jay Poag and the athletic trainer sat in the training room tending to the junior’s body.

“He fights until the very end, beat up,” Poag said. “We were sitting in the training room until after midnight with the trainer. You say, ‘Hey Syd are you OK?’ and he says get away from me. That’s just his mentality. He’s a warrior and we need a bunch of Syd Reeces on this team.”

A warrior is a commonly used term when Poag describes Reece. A veteran member of a young team, Reece fills in at any position for the Lions.

He’s played running back, fullback, linebacker, safety and punter.

“He doesn’t leave the field,” Poag said. “He’s very aggressive by nature. He could play quarterback for us. I could put him anywhere and he’s football savvy enough to know what’s going on.”

Reece isn’t a big kid, certainly not for a linebacker. At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, he fights a lot harder than his physique leads on.

“Our linebacker core is our harder players,” senior wide receiver Christian Koneman said. “If you watch the film, there’s maybe one or two plays he doesn’t go full speed. Every play he’s that guy you don’t wanna go up against. He’ll hit you. He’ll run through a wall if you tell him to. That’s his job and he gets it done no matter what.”

Though he rotates around to as many positions as needed, linebacker is where Reece feels most at home.

As a sophomore starter, his size hindered him, but with a year under his belt, he said it has made him better and given him a better understanding of how to play the position.

“I like linebacker a lot,” Reece said. “You’re up there with the play and get to see what’s happening. Running down the field chasing somebody, I love being there and tackling somebody. I was pretty small and am still pretty small. Playing Will (weakside) linebacker was hard, but it’s made me better now.”

The only thing lacking, in Poag’s eyes, is the vocal leadership quality. By no means has his leadership waned even as a junior, but the second-year coach knows what it would mean for the team that has youth at nearly every position.

“He has to become more vocal and I think he will,” Poag said. “He’s not a real loud kid, he sort of leads by example. The younger kids look up to him and are a little afraid of him to be honest. He needs to play on that and kids will follow that if he’ll step up and lead them.”

The ages are low and the depth is lower for Christian Heritage, who is still rebuilding from a slew of transfers following the 2015 season. Though he knows he has to play guys like Reece as much a possible, he can’t help but wonder what he could do if he wasn’t gassed in the second half.

But if you ask Reece, he doesn’t mind. He enjoys playing the varied positions and helping his team any way he can. Much like other members of the team and certainly Poag, Reece is looking to the future.

When he leaves Christian Heritage, he wants to leave it as a program that is no longer an afterthought.

“It’s not like a blowoff program,” Reece said. “Everybody says it’s ‘just Christian Heritage.’ No, we’re building this thing to be something big. It’s not gonna be something small for long.”