From self-confessed part-time slacker to avid student of the game of football, Lorenzo Serna is a good example for coaches to use to show how fast an attitude adjustment can produce dramatic results.
The Emporia High senior left guard and defensive lineman decided to give his attitude and work ethic a makeover after the football season ended last year.
“I didn’t like the way I was performing,” Serna said. “I saw myself slacking at times. I fixed that going into that wrestling season and summer, and I really dedicated myself to the two sports I’m gonna be in this year.”
The first benefits from that dedication came last winter during wrestling, when Serna won the Class 5A State championship in the heavyweight class and joined his teammates in winning the team title. Now, his strong blocking on the left side of the Spartan line has helped EHS advance to the quarterfinals of the 5A State playoffs, and he’s been a key part of the Spartans’ D-line rotation, too, becoming EHS’ most recent starter at nose tackle.
Spartan offensive line coach Phil Thornton likes how Serna makes up for not-overwhelming size at guard — he’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 255 pounds — with quickness and his willingness to learn everything it takes to play the position.
“He really wants to know something new,” Thornton said. “He wants to make his feet faster, he wants to get off the ball quicker, he wants to get up better, he wants to get his aiming points better. He’s just a student of it.
“A lot of people, they don’t want to know much. He always wants to know more. The thing about him is, he applies it.”
Head coach Bill Lowe has taken notice of Serna’s personal adjustment, too, and he sees it as representative of a teamwide shift that’s helped the Spartans to their 8-2 record and their quarterfinal matchup at Bishop Carroll on Friday night.
“His attitude’s improved 100 percent over last year, and that’s one thing that’s made our team go,” Lowe said. “I think all the kids on the team have bought into that team concept. It’s all about team, and not about themselves, and Lorenzo’s been a big part of that. I think you can just see the difference in him every day, and it’s really paid off for him and for the team.”
Serna grew up as a wrestler and didn’t begin playing football until middle school, when one of his cousins — he has a big extended family in the area — got him into the sport. Even as his football skills have developed in their own right, he’s found a way to apply his wrestling skills to his work on the D-line.
“Defense is where I can convert my wrestling over, because you can use your hands a lot more than you can on offense,” he said. On offense, it’s a lot of footwork. It’s footwork both ways, but on defense, it’s a little more free with your hands. I like defense a lot. My leverage comes in handy.”
Serna is keeping his options open, looking at playing either sport in college — he mentions Benedictine as a place where he might go for football, Fort Hays State as a possible wrestling destination.
With Bishop Carroll this weekend, and a wrestling season as the defending State champion ahead of him, Serna has plenty to focus on before his EHS career comes to an end. Job one is trying to do his part to help another EHS athletic squad to a team title.
“We’ve done a lot so far, but we don’t want it to end now,” he said. “We want to finish strong, and we want to finish all the way. We’re going for the championship, and we want to take it one step at a time.”
Practicing at Welch
The Spartans practiced at Welch Stadium, instead of their normal practice field at the high school, on both Tuesday and Wednesday and will do so again today. Lowe said EHS moved its practices because of the condition of the high school field.
“Our practice field’s hard as a rock,” Lowe said. “The practice field’s like practicing on concrete, so we get ’em over here and take care of their legs a little bit.”
Practicing on their home-game turf — now vacated with the end of Emporia State’s football season — also keeps the Spartans more acclimated for Friday’s game at Carroll, which plays on a turf field.
After practice, Lowe was planning to be present at the USD 253 school board meeting, where the board voted to keep its commitment to a $6.8 million energy project that includes $1.67 million for a turf football/soccer field and track at the high school.