zNewsletter Sunday

For Park’s Amare Johnson, Football Runs In The Family

WHEELING - Football is a family affair in the Johnson household.

Wheeling Park sophomore Amare Johnson is hoping to leave his mark on the Patriots program, just as his older brother and his father did before him.

Amare is the third running back to pass through Park, his older brother Savion having graduated in 2016 and his father Daryl- perhaps better known as "Boogie" Johnson- having graduated in 1992.

Neither were slouches for the Patriots- far from it. Boogie was the 1991 Kennedy Award Winner, a season he ran for 2,111 yards and 35 touchdowns, going on to play for Oklahoma State. Savion was a 1st-team All-State running back who rushed for 1,884 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2016, and who led Park to their first state title in 2015, beating Capital in the Patriots' first title game appearance since 1991- when Boogie's Patriots team was defeated by, poetically, Capital. Savion went on to play for North Carolina A&T and West Liberty.

With impressive careers preceding him in his lineage, high expectations swirl around Amare Johnson, fair or not, but as for any pressure coming from his father and brother, the message has been consistent- 'Be yourself.'

"I told him there's going to be pressure, but just be yourself," Boogie said about Amare. "Don't try to be me, don't try to be Savion, just be Amare. I've been telling him that for years."

"It's only his sophomore year," Savion said. "He's ready for whatever role. I know he's going to be ready because he works really hard, he's a really good teammate, and those things lead to success. I'm just as happy with how he is off the field. You can just tell, he deserves everything that's going to be coming his way."

The family connection is strong enough by merit of all three donning a Patriots jersey- and all wearing No. 21- but there's another layer. Boogie and Savion are both coaches at Wheeling Park, Boogie having been a key member of head coach Chris Daugherty's staff for over 10 years, and Savion jumping into the coaching ranks only last year for Park.

Boogie is the running backs coach for the Patriots primarily, though he has a hand in a number of different duties. While being his son's position coach is exciting for the elder Johnson, it's hardly something new.

"I've coached Amare since he was seven years old," Boogie said. "I run the Little Patriots Organization, I coached him from when he was seven to when he was 12. Middle school, I didn't coach him, and it's fun getting to coach him here now."

Savion, meanwhile, started coaching high school the same year Amare began playing in high school. As the running backs coach and linebackers coach for the freshman team at Park, as well as being the defensive coordinator, coaching his little brother was a great experience in his first year on the job.

"Honestly, it felt pretty normal," Savion said of coaching Amare. "Just the way our connection is, it wasn't weird. He knows that there's not going to be favoritism towards him, and just the way he is, there wouldn't need to be any. It was really a fun year, seeing him not just from the stands but being on the field and helping him, it was a different view of things."

And if there was any thought his relatives would go easy on Amare, the Johnsons would say differently.

"My dad's coached me my whole life, so I'm pretty used to that," Amare said. "Savion, my brother, they both are hard on me, but I'm used to it. They've always been hard on me, that's why I'm trying to be the best."

"You do, even if you try not to," Boogie said of coaching Amare hard. "It's easier to be harder on them, just because it's your own son, your own kid. Coaches kids usually end up getting coached harder."

While Boogie and Savion enjoy coaching Amare, they also enjoy coaching alongside each other.

"I like that a lot, I know how much my dad cares for the team," Savion said. "Not just me, he was coaching before me, he was coaching before Amare was up here. His passion, it's fun to be around that side of him, not being the one he's coaching, being with him coaching, that's really fun."

"It's awesome. The thing with Savion, I knew Savion would be a good coach," Boogie said. "I coached him the same way, from when he was seven years old in Little Patriots. I knew he'd be a great coach and of course we can always talk. When he needs any little piece of information I'll always give it to him."

Both Johnson coaches came to Park by request of head coach Chris Daugherty, who played with Boogie on the Patriots, and who coached Savion during his high school days.

"I think I coached just one year without Boogie, and he's been with me the rest of the way," Daugherty said. "We played together, I was a senior when he was a sophomore, and I knew having Boogie here would be a good thing for our program."

"Savion, I coached him all the way through, and I just loved his heart for other people, how he treated other people, I knew he could be a good coach someday. I just had to wait for him to finish his college career, and it worked out that we had an opening, and it's nice to have both of those guys."

With Wheeling Park coming off a 7-4 season and playoff berth, the Patriots, and all three Johnsons, are aiming to help the Patriots compete in the postseason once more. And for Amare in particular, his aim is to help his team as he takes the first steps in creating his own legacy.

"He sets a high standard for himself, and if anybody does put pressure on him, it will be him," Daugherty said. "To live up to both his brother and his father, I think that drives him, but even without that he has a work ethic that you don't see in just anybody. Everything points to him having another career like his brother and his father, but I'm sure he wants to outdo those two."

"Yeah, I feel them, but I don't let them get to me," Amare said of outside pressure. "I've just got to play my game and do what I do."

"I'm just trying to be the best version of myself."