JohnJ, Glover,
I have to agree with you guys. OPRF has some really good talent. I am a serious fan having played there myself. I hope coach Ledbetter can find a way to bring these guys together for a common goal of winning the state championship. To do so you must put personal interest aside and play as a team. I have seen some extremely talented teams bow out very early in the single elimination tournament. Coach Ledbetter's first team at OPRF was a team that on paper had no business ending up where they did(second in state). But I can tell you as an insider who was on the staff that year, they had leaders who's heads were in the right place. They played to the game the way it is supposed to be played (in my humble opinion). They played with hustle, personal sacrifice, persistence, optimism, and plenty of heart.
They were also a very good comeback team who learned to "chip away" when down. Not swing for the fence to get it all back at once. Had they done that I guarantee the result would have been very different.
I hope every coach and every player has an opportunity to be with a team that creates that type of environment. There are very few things in life that are better. Unfortunately, to create that sort of team environment a coach has to convince his players to take a leap of faith and sacrifice for each other. That is not easy to do.
Great sculptors create their masterpieces by chipping away small pieces of rock with a chisel not slamming with a slege hammer.