Lusk is leader for Narrows

(Todd Lusk is a 1986 OHS graduate)

Family portrait in green and gold... At Narrows High School photo day earlier this week, the Lusk family — from left, Debbie, Brock, Todd and Tori Lusk — stands together on Ragsdale Field. Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

NARROWS, Va. - A photo submitted for an ad in the Narrows High School football program this year shows Brock Lusk with a football, wearing a jersey with the number 4.

He was about 4 years old when the picture was taken.

Now it's his senior year of high school, and the 6-foot-3 quarterback is still wearing No. 4. This will be Lusk's second year starting as the Green Wave signal caller.

"I like being the leader, the general on the field," he said. "I always have, always will. I started young, and it sort of stuck with me."

Narrows head coach Kelly Lowe said, "He's your coach and your leader on the field — as well as all the seniors are.

"Brock has really played well for us, last year, and he's grown a lot over the summer. He's really got a grasp on our offense, and he's throwing the ball really well in the preseason.

"We've got some good kids that can catch it, and our line's giving him the time to do that stuff, too, and that means a lot. So, we're looking for good things from Brock this year."

Lusk said his linemen make up "the hardest-working line I think we've had in a while. They give me plenty of protection."

About the receivers, he said, "We lost a few (from 2009), but we've got plenty of people stepping into their place." He added that last season, "It was nice, you just throw it up and you know they're going to go get it. The receivers this year, I think they're going to do the same thing — they can go get it."

"I think we'll do fine this year."

At Narrows, he worked at quarterback on the JV level, and was "second or third string" as a sophomore. "Just grown up with it," he said.

But Lusk's involvement with sports goes back even further. His father Todd Lusk is the boys' basketball coach and the tennis coach at Narrows, and has volunteered to help keep football stats for "14 or 15 years," Todd Lusk said. He also teaches at NHS.

Brock Lusk said, "I was about a week old when Dad had a basketball game. I started off young."

He said he loved being around his father's basketball program. "I'd be the waterboy. I'd love to run back there at halftime, just to listen to him talk. He kept stats for football, even when I was young, and I would love to stand on the sidelines with him."

The other Narrows coaches made an impression on him as well. "They're all great role models," he said.

Todd Lusk said, "As he's grown up, he's always heard me preach to the students, ‘If you've got any athletic ability at all, we need you on the Narrows High teams,' because we have such a small student body to draw from.

"He tries to do the best he can, to help out where he can, and have a good attitude at the same time. ... I'm just real proud of the kid he's turned out to be. There's nothing more we could ask of him."

The senior has lettered in five sports — football, track, soccer, basketball and tennis — and is an honor society student with a grade point average of around 3.5.

Todd Lusk said, "At the same time, he's always held a job. Presently, he's working at Wal-Mart. It takes a big-time commitment from a teenager to work at various sports and to hold onto a job at the same time."

Brock's sister Tori, a sophomore this year, has been active in basketball and has enjoyed supporting her brother and the football team as a cheerleader.

"I was always in the stands cheering for him when I was younger. Now it's official," she said.

Their mother Debbie has been varsity cheerleading coach at Narrows for 11 years now, in addition to her teaching duties in Family and Consumer Science. She and her husband are both junior class sponsors at Narrows High.

Debbie Lusk said about her children, "They've always been into every sport. We always encouraged them in every sport they've chosen. ... Brock has played football since kindergarten."

Todd Lusk, who played basketball at Oceana High and Concord College (now University), said, "It doesn't matter what they choose, we always told them to just give 100 percent, listen to your coaches, and do what you can to help your team."

"We've just been a real sports-oriented family," said the 20-year resident of Narrows. "Everything our family does has always been centered around the high school, to help out, to do what we can."

It's an environment that has nurtured many members of the Green Wave. Lowe feels good about the caliber of his team, a week from the start of the regular season at James Monroe next Friday.

The coach said about Brock Lusk and his teammates, "He's a good kid, as well as all of them are. That's the main thing about this team. I've got an outstanding group of young men. Top to bottom, an outstanding group of young men. I am proud to be associated with this group of young men."