BOONSBORO – America is fascinated by the life and wealth of the country’s “One-Percenters.”
But in Boonsboro, people are sitting up and paying attention to their “Nine Percenters.”
The One-Percenters seem to rule the country. The Warriors’ Nine-Percenter are ruling the football field.
Call it a label, a motto or a club, but a movement was born at the start of Boonsboro’s season when the Warriors were introduced to the concept of “Do your 9%” on the football field.
Wait, 9%? It sounds like permission to take plays off and watch the action.
Nope, it’s quite the opposite.
“If you play well and do what you’re supposed to do, you’re doing your 9%, 100% of the time,” Boonsboro Coach Mark Wadel explained Nov. 21 after the Warriors defeated SEED 42-13 to advance to this weekend’s Maryland Class 1A state semifinals at Patuxent.
It adds up with some new math, football style.
“Essentially, you have 11 guys on the field on each individual play,” said Boonsboro defensive coach Will Dayhoff. “If you do 9% (times those 11 players), it gets you up to 99%.
“’The military boys used always say ‘Do your job and your job alone. Don’t worry about the guy besides you, behind you, in front of you. If you take care of your piece of the pie, everything else will fall into place.’
“It is a military thing indeed.”
It’s an idea that has Boonsboro marching to its own beat.
The Warriors have been dominant in their first three wins in the postseason by a combined 171-25. Add the last two games of the regular season – the start of a five-game winning streak – Boonsboro has dominated, scoring 249 points and allowing 78.
And now, the novel idea with catchy has led Boonsboro to their latest football success.
“We see it as doing 9% is doing your individual task on the field,” said senior co-captain Parker DeBaugh. “We know that we can trust our brothers around us to do their 9% also. That’s us giving 100% on each play.
“We’ve all grown up playing together. This team has been together for awhile. We all grasp that.”
Improving the product
Boonsboro is no stranger to the playoffs and postseason success.
But even though the Warriors have a standing invitation to play in November, the extent of this season’s success hasn’t been seen for some time.
The last time Boonsboro reached the Class A semifinals was 2001.
The last time it reached the state final was 1994.
And the last time the Warriors was state champs was 1993 for their only title.
Last year’s team made it to the state quarterfinals with a number of those players returning this year.
The experience and know-how were there, the “9% requirement” changed the focus a bit.
“You need to trust yourself to do your 9% all the time. If you do your 9%, you trust your buddies to do each do their 9%, everyone will win the football game,” said senior Elijah Weddle.
“It clears our head some and it lets us not worry about what everyone else is doing. If you to focus on your job and doing your job the best you can. Not worrying about everyone else.”
It takes it one step further.
“For me, earlier in the season, being a competitor, I’d try to make plays that maybe I shouldn’t.,” said senior linebacker Logan Atkinson. “I’d peak inside and then they might run outside. Now with everyone doing their 9%, I just do what I need to do.
“It keeps everything simple.”
Start of something big
For Dayhoff, his “9% club” was created by a childhood memory.
“My dad used to give examples all the time,” he said. “He told me a lot, but he had a way of wordsmithing them. I remembered this one and said ‘here’s something I can use.’”
The example was a wordsmith tale about work and focus.
“It was if you are working on a pile of wood, you shouldn’t try to do any more that what is right in front of you.”
Dayhoff did some wordsmithing of his own.
“The first time I heard that, I said ‘That’s beautiful’,” Wadel said.
The 9% approach promoted for each Warrior to be personally responsible for the assignment right in front of him and doing it to the best of their ability in every instance to be an integral part of total team success.
Add to it the math component – 11 players doing 9% of the total job equals 99% accomplishment – was totally relatable to the team and a unique approach to creating and reinforcing teamwork.
“It’s pretty cool when you play that way,” junior quarterback Blake Main said. “In your entire life you hear about giving 100%, 100%, 100% … but when you think about it, it really is 9%. Football is a team sport and with 11 players on the field, if they each do 9%, you’ll be just fine.
“It’s a lot easier because you just have your focus and you know if everybody has their job to do, you’ll be just fine.”
That big picture
Numbers – and wins – give validity to the 9%.
Boonsboro has won nine of its 12 games, including the current five in a row.
The defense is allowing 239.9 yards and 17.9 points (215 total) per game. The Warriors have held opponents to 13 or less points in seven of the nine victories. They have produced 21 turnovers – 11 fumble recoveries and 10 interceptions.
It all feeds into an offense that has amassed nearly 4,000 yards while scoring 469 points to date.
One forgotten part of the success comes from the defensive line, which about takes the 9% approach down to the square root of the matter.
“Nine percent means a lot to me,” said senior lineman Steven Lapole. “If you only do your 9% at 50% you are only getting 4.5% done. That means you aren’t doing your assignment correctly. If everyone gives their 9%, it shows how important everyone is on the team by doing their job.”
Linemen don’t usually get a lot of fanfare in high school games, but they understand any failure in execution has consequences.
“If the five linemen don’t do their 9%, the guys behind us get seen for that (lack of success),” Lapole said. “Everything that happens gets put on (the line). It’s kind of like ‘do what’s right, even when no one is looking. It puts an aspect that everyone needs each other.”
Small percentage adds up to much more
Dayhoff’s 9% idea has been written on the board in Boonsboro’s team room all season.
It’s a reminder, but the Warriors don’t seem to need it. The plan is part of the fiber of the team.
“Honestly, it’s done well. … It’s done very well,” Dayhoff said. “The kids adopted it, executed it very well. They have embraced it and kind of made it their own. We talk about it when breaking down – It’s Warriors and then family. If we can take it down to a process and not worry about the outcome, we’re in much better shape.
“It’s on them. They believe in it and embraced it to the point that here we are on Tuesday, with it raining down mud and the energy level is pretty high. if they do their 9% at 100%, 100% of the time, let the cards fall where they may because they have done their jobs.”
But Dayhoff admits the 9% plan uses a small fraction of bigger things ahead.
“The finality of football from the high school standpoint is that at some point we are all told to hang it up,” he said “We don’t know when, but it is where we all are.
“I think they understand, at some point in a perfect world, we have two games left. Understanding this could be it. Just give everything you got. That’s what’s awesome about this game that it prepares you for life. You can still give 100% and not make it.”
