For the Detroit Frederick Douglass Hurricanes what appeared to be the best record in the schools brief thirteen year history, quickly was lost. After the Hurricanes went 7-0 to start off the season, they found out one of their players was ineligible. They were forced to forfeit the seven wins. The following week they were shutout by Southeastern. To finish the season, they were able salvage it with a win over Western International. I was able to talk with Frederick Douglass’s Demetrius Stinson about the season and his future. Stinson was a sophomore for the 2010 season that played both running back and corner back for the Hurricanes.
For Frederick Douglass everything looked good down the stretch, they accomplished something no Frederick Douglass team has ever done, winning seven games in a year. Two years the teams went 6-4 but were immediately eliminated in playoffs in the opening rounds. 2010 was starting to become a record breaking season week by week. Never have the Hurricanes started a season this well. It is the first time they swept their PSL – 3 divisional opponents in a season: Pershing, Osborn and Central. Unfortunately they will go down in the loss column but from a team stand point, the improvement is there. Stinson commented, “We originally had a great season (7-0) but unfortunately it was taken from us. As a team we are now more ready than ever, we just want to win and prove we can compete with the elite teams in the city.” There are always positives to take out of negative situations, one being the season Stinson had. He commented on his low and high moments for the season, “The low point for me had to be when I found out we lost our season and the day we were suppose to compete in the city playoffs. The high point of the season was when I rushed for 1,100 plus yards as a sophomore.”
As for having as good as year as Stinson had, he admitted he did not think he would do this well, he added, "I exceeded all of my goals going into the season except for one, which was more of a team goal and that was to go far in the state playoffs."He also went on to say, “I didn’t expect to have the kind of season that I did. I was very nervous going into the season because I had never played Varsity before."
The Hurricanes were pretty dominating in most of the games, four games were shutouts. Stinson gave the credit to the coaches saying the team was prepared well defensively. For the season Stinson finished with 28 passes deflected in the nine games played. I was curious if some of those could have been more such as interceptions, he replied, "I feel a few of those could have been intercepted. In fact about three of those 28 deflections were dropped interceptions." The offseason appears to be a busy one for Stinson and his Hurricane teammates as they look to regain the glory they had through seven games this year. He said something’s he needs to work on in the off season are, "This off-season to get better I think I need to increase my speed, work on my DB skills and work on making defenders miss."
Stinson does really well at both ends of the field but went on to say, ".I like playing RB more than CB because I feel I am more effective on the offensive end. I also like CB because I have the ability to cover and tackle. I also love checking the other teams best WR to see how I match up." Stinson also did a couple punts for Frederick Douglass this past season, he added, "Punting was something I was taught by my uncle during my years in little league but didn’t really play it until high school, but yes I’m looking to improve in that area as well."
All that was left to salvage the season and the senior’s last game was a win against Western International in the last game of the year. A win or loss would not mean much as playoffs were out of reach. A 1-8 record certainly looks better than 0-9 record. Stinson closed with, "My favorite game was the last one because I had 4 Td's 300 plus yards and the only kick return returned for a touchdown the whole year. Even though that game did not really matter because our season was gone, the team came closer together and we played harder than we ever did the whole season."
For Frederick Douglass, Stinson says they will be moved up to Division 2 next year; keep an eye on Stinson and the Hurricanes in 2011.
