Longtime assistant football coach Aaron Feis will forever be the face of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting massacre when he confronted the gunman and gave his life using his body to shield students from the bullets. Photo courtesy of Stoneman Douglas High School.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School of Parkland, Florida finished its 2017 football season with a 25-3 loss to District 12 power Plantation.

The Eagles didn’t make the playoffs, but finished 6-4 overall with a 4-1 record in District 11 play.

With a good nucleus coming back there are good reasons for head coach Willis May to be optimistic for 2018.

Coach May is heading into his sixth year as the head football coach at MSD with over two decades of teaching and coaching experience.

But no amount of experience will help with the task that he and the rest of the coaches and teachers at Stoneman Douglas have been forced to accept and deal with after the events of February 14, 2018.

Mid February is the time when most high school football teams start to run informal but serious weight training programs. These sessions are usually well attended except for players taking part in other school sports.

But on February 14, instead of business as usual, the Stoneman Douglas football team, along with the rest of the school and Parkland community were dealt with the unspeakable act of having 17 students and coaches killed by a 19-year-old deranged individual, a former student, who still has not given any reason for the brutal, senseless attack.

All that is left for the students, faculty and coaches to embark on is the long painful journey of getting back to some level of a normal schedule. It remains to be seen if that is possible. But May, like the rest of the school, is going to give their best effort to try.

Coach Willis May is entering his sixth season as head football coach of Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo courtesy of Stoneman Douglas High School

May said he was employing a well-used and successful tonic for his players…activity.

“The first thing we wanted to do is bring our kids back as quickly as possible and try and keep them busy,” May said in a recent phone interview on the Footballstories Radio Show. “Everybody is devastated throughout the community. As far as our kids are concerned, the football family, we want to get back to normal, get them back to the weight room, get them together. Sometimes you forget about [bad] stuff when you’re busy and you’re working out and you’re thinking about the goals and stuff you want achieve in the future as a football program to get better so we’ve been really focusing on that. We tried to bring some people in to help them with their mental and emotional aspect of dealing with the tragedy. Somebody who had a good word for them, someone who could talk to them, feel their sorrow, their pain. that’s been really helpful.”

Officials from Nichols College were at Stoneman Douglas the day of the shooting, they were meeting with students telling them about the school in Dudley, MA. After saying he formed a bond with them the Eagles quarterback Tyler Goodman announced he would attend Nichols College. Just before the shooting started, Goodman was speaking with Nichols dean of admissions Paul Brower and assistant football coach St. Clair Ryan.

“Being stuck with two recruiting coaches for three hours in such a tragic moment,” Goodman told Boston TV station Fox 25, “we kind of formed that bond in a way. We just formed something special there.”

The Nichols Bison play at the Division III level and Goodman plans on wearing No. 17 as a way to remember and honor those who lost their lives.

The school and athletic teams have had many prominent people locally and nationally reach out to lend a helping hand.

Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade stopped by to address student body. “That was exciting for the kids to have Dwayne Wade there,” May said.

Los Angeles Chargers star DT Corey Liuget started the Coach Aaron Feis Scholarship Fund by donating $10,000 to get it going. Liuget stopped by and spoke to the entire Stoneman Douglas football team at Pine Trails Park to speak to them about conquering unthinkable adversity.

May said he was thrilled with the scholarship program.

“We can give a player in our program scholarship every year with characteristics they are looking for out of the kid,” May said. “That was real good. That was awesome.” May said Liuget had gotten other players to chip in money for the the scholarship fund.

Also Former Dolphins tight end Troy Drayton, 47, presented a free football clinic at Pine Trails Park hosted by the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, March 11 and joined by members from the Stoneman Douglas football team.

Miami offensive tackle Sam Young along with Dolphins guard Jermon Bushrod were on hand.

The event brought 400 kids to the park. Boys and girls ages 7-16. The clinic was also held in conjunction with the Coconut Creek High School Student Government, Gold Coast Pop Warner and Parkland Rangers of Gold Coast Pop Warner Free Football Clinic.

The Miami Dolphins teamed up with players from Stoneman Douglas to hold a free football clinic for kids in the area in effort to raise spirits at Stoneman Douglas and the Parkland, FL area community.
Photo courtesy of the Miami Dolphins.

There was more as May informed.

“The outpouring of support and love from throughout the nation from everybody has been great,” May said. “I’ve had coaches from throughout America, high school and college coaches call to check in on us to see if there was anything we needed or if there was anything they could do.”

Clemson head football coach William “Dabo” Swinney even called. Swinney arranged for a guest speaker, Jon Gordon, to address the players.

“To help them with their minds,” May said. “Help them with all this stuff they’ve been through the last couple of weeks.”

May was asked if he has started the weight room back up, maybe some agility workouts, activities that high school teams across the country are doing about now.

May said when the attack occurred several of his players were to take part in what he calls the “Orange Bowl Show.”

May said once a year scouts and coaches from several Division II, Division III and NAIA football programs visit to meet players and offer a look at their school and program.

The attack literally happened when these scouts and coaches were starting to arrive at Stoneman Douglas. No one would have judged any student-athlete for not wanting do go to a tryout just hours after the worst day of their lives.

Coach May said he looking for big things from two-way lineman Charlie Rothkopf.
Photo courtesy of Stoneman Douglas High School.

May said he had about seven players who weren’t sure where they wanted to go to college. They were supposed to showcase their skills just three days after the shootings so it was understandable this was going to be tough for anyone to get up for, May said it was the best thing for them.

“They were pitifully sad,” May said. “I said, ‘guys I think you need to do this.’ You need to put your Douglas stuff on from head to toe and go show these people how physically and mentally strong you are. They decided to go and it was the best therapy in world. They balled out and had a great time.”

May reports that three kids received scholarship offers from that day.

“I was just awesome to see them smile, they hadn’t smiled for days.”

May was asked if the Eagles of Parkland were fans of the Eagles from Philadelphia, who by the way had just won the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

“We stay pretty close to the Philadelphia Eagles,” May said. “We have so many kids who were thrilled to see what [the Eagles] achieved.”

He Stoneman Douglas has their own “Eagles nest.”

May said they have a giant inflatable Eagle entrance players run through before home games. Plus a banner that says “Welcome to the Eagles nest.”

Quarterback Ryan Kavanaugh took over the offense midway through the 2017 season and accumulated almost 700 yards of offense and seven touchdowns (2 passing).
Photo courtesy of Stoneman Douglas High School

May said though many students, coaches and people from the community love the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We’re through and through Eagles fans,” May said.

Stoneman Douglas is a big high school with over 3300 students. The Eagles play football in the 8A (largest) division and are members of the District 11 Conference.

Private, parochial and public schools all square off against each other in the playoffs.

Like in Pennsylvania, there is an argument about the private and parochial schools being in the same post season tournaments.

In New Jersey where the public and private are separate, there are those who want to compete against the best and wish they were together. So, Florida is no different than here…arguments that will never be settled.

“To be honest, it’s kind of unfair to the public schools,” May said in a statement heard here in Pennsylvania. “As a public school, to get to that [championship], you are going to go through a school that can recruit and has a lot of resources. You’re going to have to beat them to win a state championship. These private schools, they recruit your kids. They get everybody’s best kids, then [the private schools] want to schedule you! I don’t know how fair it is but you just have to grind and do the best you can with what you’ve got, that’s all you can do.”

May said he has about 55 players returning, 18 graduated. Weight room sessions are all week and for new players coming in this fall, their sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

May every March he meets up with the coaches of the Stoneman Douglas feeder schools to talk about what players he will be getting as that fall.

May talked about next year in what may be the best therapy for him and his coaching staff.

Players coming back that May will be look to as team leaders include quarterback Ryan Kavanaugh, who at 5-foot-10, 164 pounds was 20 of 33 for 330 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in six games for the Eagles. He also rushed 34 times for 303 yards and five touchdowns including a 55-yarder.

“He did a heck of a job,” said May, who indicated Kavanaugh is playing lacrosse this spring. “We’re expecting him to have a really great year.”

Another player May mentioned, who would no doubt be on the “Tip of the Cap to Two-Way Lineman” section of Footballstories is Charlie Rothkopf, who May says is 5-11, 235 pounds.

“If he was 6-3, every college program in the nation would want him,” May said. “He plays tough. He is a leader, he’s strong, plays with passion. He never leaves the field, plays both ways – defense and offensive line – I love him and wouldn’t want to be without him.”

Another key player according to May is Patrick Scullen, who goes 6-4, 330 pounds.

“Patrick is a beast,” May said. “He had meniscus surgery last year. He hurt his meniscus in the summer time during a workout and we didn’t get him back until the sixth or seventh game last year. And we missed him. I think he’ll get some really good looks this year. He only had about four games of film. He is in the offseason training program and we’re expecting big things out of him.”

May said he is also looking at junior-to-be Gage Gaynor (6-3, 250) who is from a family of offensive linemen from Stoneman Douglas.

Gage’s cousin is Corey Gaynor (6-4, 290), currently a freshman with the Miami Hurricanes. Another Gaynor, Chris, is playing O-line for TCU and goes 6-5, 305…so May is looking for big things from Gage literally and figuratively.

“[Gage] is going to be a Division 1 kid,” May said. “He played right guard for us last year and he’s a heck of a player. He has that nastiness you can’t teach. He’s learning all the techniques and being a technician.

May admits he is a lineman fan and could not help warming up talking about Gage Gaynor.

“He’s a dirty dog,” May said with a laugh. “He’ll fight ya. I’d like to have about 10 Gage Gaynor’s.”

May said being able to run the ball will keep you in every game.

“It all starts with those guys up front,” May said. “If you’ve got a lot of good linemen, strong linemen who are aggressive and that can come off the ball and hit you in the face, you always have a chance to win. I love those linemen. I’m a lineman guy. I work with our line on a daily basis.”

Listening to May gush about his love of his linemen makes talking about his offensive lineman coach Aaron Feis so much harder.

Coach Feis, a Douglas Alumni class of 1999, has spent his entire career at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. As a player, Coach Feis played Center for the Eagles from 1995 – 1998. Feis returned to Douglas in 2002, where he spent eight years as the Head Coach of Junior Varsity as well coaching the offensive line on varsity. He was also the College Recruiting Coordinator.

Feis was one of three adults killed in the school massacre, all were involved in the athletic program, among them Athletic Director Chris Hixon and Track Coach Scott Beigle. All three died trying to protect students.

Feis, who was not armed, faced off with the shooter, putting himself directly between the danger and students.

Coach Feis, from Coral Springs is survived by his wife Melissa and their daughter Arielle.

“With everything that went on, we’ve got a motto this year, we’re gonna ‘Feis up,” May said. “’Feis up’ is in honor of our assistant coach Aaron Feis. He was a great teacher, great motivator, all the kids loved him. “’Feis up’ just means to play fearless, with emotion, and intensity and sacrifice for the betterment of the team. That’s what he did for us at Stoneman Douglas. We’re gonna ‘Feis up’ and have the best possible season Douglas has ever had.”

May still talked about his team, that he is losing his three linebackers to graduation so he will be looking to fill those spots.

He talked about other players he will lean on in 2018 including seniors Christian Alcocer (WR/DB), Dianjelo Amaya (DB/WR), Aramis Warford (WR/S), Ocean Parodie (OL/DL), Brian Lupariello (DE) who may end up at linebacker, plus juniors Roman Parodie (CB) and Christian Higgins (WR/FS).

The Eagles biggest rival is Deerfield Beach from 8A, Division 11.

The last time Stoneman Douglas defeated Deerfield Beach was in 2014 when the Eagles went 7-3 overall but just 3-3 in league play. The Bucks have dominated league play since then going 15-0 in league play over three seasons.

May talked about how to beat Deerfield.

“We’ve got to work harder, we’ve got to be smarter, we’ve got to limit the mistakes we make when we play them and we’ve just got to believe in each other and just be sold into each other and if we do we can achieve anything,” said May, who has his two sons on his coaching staff at Stoneman Douglas, Jordan (OC and QB coach) and Corey (defensive backs). “We have to go out each week and fight together and give our best effort. The last time we beat them it was the first time in 15 years. It’ll happen, it’ll happen.”

May was asked if the football team and the other sports teams at Stoneman Douglas were being counted on to bring the Parkland community together, and were the Eagles up to the task.

“We’ve talked about it every day since the tragedy happened to us,” May said. “In our locker room we have different backgrounds, different heritages, none of that matter because in the locker room we’re all brothers. We love each other, we’re all one. We’re all Eagles. We want to make coach Hixon and coach Feis and coach Beigle and the 14 students we lost, we want to make them proud with our effort, with our determination and our attitude. We want to make them proud of us. People are going to be looking at us and how we respond.

“I’ve never seen the community come so close together, so fast” May continued. “It’s terrible it took something like this to do it. I think there is nothing better to bring people together than sports for a common goal.”

And “Feis up.” *

Stats from MaxPreps.com

Rock Hoffman contributed to this story.