Stability wasn’t the strong suit of Hamilton Christian’s football program before head coach Tim Sensley got there.

Before Sensley arrived to take the job last season, the school had seen three head coaches — Mike Maggio, Sam Pratt and Reggie Nelson — in the previous three seasons.

Only Maggio lasted more than one season. He founded the program, holding the job from 2005 until 2010.

But Sensley’s Warriors are showing there is power in stability by getting off to a 2-1 start after last Friday’s 26-13 win over Lafayette Christian.

“It boils down to a group of guys who have been in a system and understanding the nature of the offense and defense,” Sensley said.

“Last year was a transitional year. I stepped in as the head coach last year and I was the fourth coach in four years. So, last year’s senior class had a different head coach each year in high school. It’s kind of hard.”

The early success has bred confidence in the Warriors, led by a senior class that has struggled to win on a regular basis.

It isn’t hard to see where the confidence stems from. Getting off to a good start helps, but Sensley boldly predicted in the preseason that he thought “a lot of heads were going to get turned” by his team.

Two wins in three games is the start of that. But, Hamilton was dealt a hard-luck 16-8 loss in Week 2 by St. Mary’s of Natchitoches.

St. Mary remained undefeated after it beat Winnfield on the road 16-8 last Friday. Winnfield was a Class 2A semifinalist last year.

“A loss is a loss,” Sensley said. “We told the guys we never want to accept losing, but we never want to be sore losers. It’s a situation where in the St. Mary game, at any given moment we could’ve won the game.

“They didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. Based on that, we have the mind-set that we’re a 2-1 team that should be 3-0. That loss has done good for our team, because now it fuels the fire for them to play hard and up to the end.”

But it’s in the past for the Warriors. For the first time in years, Sensley and the Warriors are confident.

“It makes Saturday-morning film study more relaxing. It makes it easier to get up in the morning,” he said.

“When you win, instead of doubt setting in you get confirmation that we really are a good football team. The guys are meek … meekness is not weakness (it) is power under control. As long as we approach each week with the same outlook and don’t look ahead, then we’ll do some great things. Winning breeds positivity and confidence.”(Rick Hickman/American Press)