ROANOKE, Va. – The Roanoke Catholic Celtics captured the VISAA Division 3 state championship a year ago. Catholic completed the season with a 38-21 win over Quantico. Roanoke Catholic has three straight finals appearances under coach Bob Price, and two state titles. The Celtics have found their niche both in their scheduling and their performance in the independent league playoffs. What they lack in numbers they make up for in work ethic, desire and attitude.
"We just try to get better every day. That's what we're stressing, just improvement every day. Take advantage of every day that we have together and everybody out here is important. Everybody's got a role and it's up to them to buy into our system and they've done that. They're great kids. They believe in the system and now it's just about perfecting our skills and getting better," Price said.
"We have to work hard in practice. We have to go 100 percent every day. You can't take any days off because teams like Fuqua-- I'm pretty sure they aren't taking any days off," Roanoke Catholic receiver Deionte Waller said.
"I'm learning on the job. We're all learning on the job. We will get there, that's what I'm seeing practice in and practice out, day in and day out. We're getting there, we're getting better every day and that's all you can ask for." linebacker Sean Grande said.
The Celtics open on Aug. 25 when they travel to King and Queen Central. The matchup is the first of eight straight road games before Roanoke Catholic returns home to Vinyard Park in October.