Northwestern Football Coach Has High Hopes

, head football coach at , has three good reasons to be excited about this season.

And those three—Darius Victor, Victor Tamba and John Johnson—are all juniors, which bodes well for 2012 at Northwestern.

Victor, as a sophomore, was the leading rusher and also paced the Wildcats in tackles on the defensive side of the ball in 2010.

"He is something special," Pierre said.

Tamba is a 6-foot-5, 325-pound lineman who will see action on both sides of the ball this year while Johnson, who was promoted to the varsity level from junior varsity last year, is a wide receiver and free safety who will also go both ways.

Despite a record of 4-6 overall last year, Pierre has high hopes for this season. The begin regular-season play at home Sept. 2 against Wheaton in a non-league game.

Northwestern will play its first scrimmage at home at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow against Riverdale Baptist and then host Coolidge of Washington, D.C. at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Top seniors this year for Northwestern are Zach Ford, a linebacker and running back; Tavon Clark, a tight end and safety; and Donovan Hayden, a linebacker and running back. Northwestern held its first practice of the season on Saturday under Pierre, now in his ninth season as the coach.

"Overall we are really optimistic about this year. We feel we can make a push for that playoff spot," said Pierre, who grew up on Long Island and played a year of college football at Albany, in New York. "We are at a point where we can turn that corner. We have a good schedule this year. If we get off to a good start we could do well."

Five Northwestern players were on a local team that took part in a 7-on-7 event this summer in Texas.

"They gained a lot playing against a high level of competition," said Pierre, a special education teacher at Northwestern and a former teacher at .

Northwestern also fared well this summer in a passing league hosted by Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro.

So the future is bright?

"Without a shadow of a doubt," Pierre said. "We are excited about the next two years."

Several former Northwestern High players are now at the college level. Anthony Young is a junior wide receiver on the pre-season roster of Division III Frostburg State. He is from Hyattsville. Marcus Adams, also of Hyattsville, is a sophomore linebacker for Division II West Virginia Wesleyan.

Former Division I-AA Delaware State standout Larrone Moore, another Northwestern High product, is in training camp with the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL as a non-drafted free agent and rookie wide receiver. Moore turns 24 in October.