DON McDERMOTT MORE COLUMNS DON McDERMOTT / PVT Leo Verzilli, with the yellow notepad, talks with parents and players at a meeting the new Pahrump Valley football coach scheduled Wednesday in the high school gym. Assistant coaches are in the foreground. Advertisement

Remember these words, Pahrump Valley football fans: accountability and discipline.

"Mom ... Dad ... accountability ... it will be up to you as a parent to get your son to the weight room ... to practice." said Leo Verzilli, the new football coach at Pahrump Valley High School. He met Wednesday night with parents -- and 92 boys who signed up to play for the Trojans in the 2008 season -- in the main gym.

"Players ... accountability ... you have to do the little things and give your best effort to do whatever needs to be done for you to be on this team," said Verzilli, who outlined a strict preseason schedule for football prospects to follow.

The disciplined program starts April 19 when boys who want to play football in the fall are to report to Honeysuckle Park to work in the Pahrump Chamber of Commerce clean-up program.

"Be there at 7 a.m. ... be ready to show the community what this team is going to be like, that we will be there to help ... and this is mandatory," said Verzilli.

On May 19, a four-day spring football session is scheduled to be held. "Track (and other spring sports) will be over with. Again, we're going to work together as a team," said the former coach of the Rosemary Clarke Middle School team and an assistant on the 2007 team that went 0-8-1.

On July 1, prospective players can start getting a mandatory physical examination.

On July 14, Verzilli and his assistants -- Joe Clayton, Preston Dockter, Steve Critchlow, Andy Schneider, Craig Rieger and Leo Miller -- will start a two-week camp. Sessions will be held each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, starting at 6 p.m. each day. On July 28, the camp will continue on a daily basis at the same times.

Official practice begins Aug. 14, with the first game to be played at home Sept. 5 against a new Las Vegas school, Desert Oasis.

Starting in June, the weight room will be open throughout the summer from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with Rieger as the strength and conditioning coach.

"I went to a Class 4-A football coaches meeting in Las Vegas," said Verzilli. "I didn't know anybody there, but there was one thing they were all talking about ... and that was weightlifting programs and how important they are in football.

"You, as players and parents, and we, as coaches, will be held accountable. I do not believe in entitlements ... no player is entitled to start ... everything on this team will be earned. We want these boys to be young men when the season ends."

And the most important element is academic and disciplinary eligibility. Study and behave. "Remember, you are 'student' athletes," said Verzilli. "Last season, eligibility problems were a nightmare. We're not going to have that this season."

Coaches, said Verzilli, sign contracts to do what is required of them.

"As players, you don't have to sign a contract," said the coach. "All you have to do is shake my hand and give me your word you will do what you are supposed to do. That is show up, lift weights, get the job done in class and on the field."

Verzilli, as well as anybody, knows what the Pahrump Valley football situation is. In 34 seasons, the Trojans have won only 102 of more than 300 games; since winning a Southern Nevada Class 3-A League title in 2005, PVHS is 3-15-1 in all games and is at the wrong end of a 10-game non-winning streak (nine losses, one tie).

The Trojans are moving into the Class 4-A Sunset Region Southwest Division in fall 2008. And one of the teams in that division is state 4-A champion Bishop Gorman.

The season, in analyzing Verzilli's words, will be the least important aspect of what will happen between now and November. It will be getting Pahrump Valley boys prepared to play the game to the best of their abilities and to give the game all they have -- on and off the field.