For the football team at Phoenixville’s Renaissance Academy, a season of firsts — good firsts

Moving with the stealth of a savvy football team that did this stuff all the time, several Renaissance Academy players crept up behind coach Harold Smith and dumped an orange cooler of ice water on his back. Result: direct hit. Mission: successful.

But, in fact, Renaissance Academy had just posted its first victory in varsity football ever, beating Kensington in its season opener three weeks ago in South Philadelphia, 24-8. In their first five full seasons, Renaissance had posted a record of no victories ... and 38 losses.

“When they were losing, I told them I’d show up as long as they’d show up,” Smith, who is also the school’s athletic director and has been an assistant principal and dean of students, told me after the game.

How Smith got his players through that long haul — how the players got themselves through that long haul — is a success story about overcoming adversity, a tough opponent for any teenager. Adversity abounded at Renaissance: As the losses piled up, classmates took to letting the players know how bad they were.

“They always said we were going to lose,” Zion Christie, a senior receiver and captain, told me. “Nobody ever believed in us but the football team.

“We had kids quit because we were just losing. They just didn’t want to play because they just didn’t believe we were going to win,” Christie said. “But, you know, I just believe in every single guy that’s here. We just go out here and execute.”

Renaissance Academy is a 26-year-old charter school in Phoenixville, Chester County, with 335 students in grades 9-12 and high academic standards: Renaissance is 48th among 771 Pennsylvania high schools in U.S. News and World Report’s most recent rating.

Athletic turnout is often an issue with football teams at small schools. As Renaissance launched its football program, Kevin Zavorsky, then the athletic director, contemplated a team for eight-man football as the school entered the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. Smith insisted on 11-man football. He would find equipment, and the team would plunge into the deep end.

“This was his baby. He’d tell me, `I’m going to stay with it and build a program,’ ” said Zavorsky, who is now an administrator in the athletic department at West Chester University. “He was just not going to give up on it.”

Smith, 58, a burly and cheerful former lineman at West Chester University, had been a successful coach at several other area schools before moving to Renaissance in 2014. Just 18 players showed up for the first day of practice in 2021, but the Knights nearly won their first varsity game, leading at halftime before falling in double overtime.

The lack of depth became significant. Many players were used on offense and defense, so they got “gassed,” depleted of energy. Of those first 38 losses, seven came by forfeit, and 13 were by more than 40 points. Renaissance was 0-10 in each of the last two seasons, staying near the bottom of the Pennsylvania high school rankings as a result.

We know what we signed up for. And we’re going to complete the mission this year.

Of the 563 Pennsylvania high schools that fielded varsity football teams in 2025, Renaissance was 561st by MaxPreps, the high school sports website. Ranked 563rd was Bucktail, with one victory in 10 games — a forfeit over Renaissance Academy.

“Man, you know it’s just adversity. We just had to go through it,” Daniel Johnson, a senior running back and captain, told me. “I mean, yeah, people are going to talk, but it’s on us. We can’t listen to what the outsiders say because they’re not out here with us. They’re not out there putting in the work when we’re out there.

“So, it’s all love at the end of the day. But we know what we signed up for. And we’re going to complete the mission this year,” he said.

Renaissance Academy has been competitive in other sports — its girls basketball team won the PIAA District 1 Class 2A championship last year — but the school receives scant, if any, media coverage. I don’t think I’d heard of the school before last Sept. 26.

It was a spectacular Friday afternoon. Renaissance played at Lower Moreland, not far from me. I had learned about the Knights’ poor record and low ranking while looking for something else. I’d go to the game. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could pull off Victory No. 1?

But no. Lower Moreland scored four touchdowns in its first 11 plays and trounced Renaissance, 41-0, prompting Smith to tell his team afterward in an even voice, “You get too flustered. You’ve got to settle down. Everyone makes mistakes, Including me.” But he also told them they were capable of winning any of their last four games.

The following Friday, the Knights played at New Hope-Solebury. Renaissance scored a touchdown in the last minute of the first half to take a 7-0 lead, but New Hope-Solebury scored just seconds before halftime to make it 7-6.

“Tonight’s the night!” a Renaissance player yelled before the second half kickoff.

Not yet. New Hope-Solebury scored on three straight second-half possessions and won, 26-15. That loss was nothing like a grim 12-7 loss to Montrose two weeks later at home — which for Renaissance was Great Valley High School in Malvern.

I tell our kids that you have to have that mentality that you keep going hard, and you just got to keep working for what you believe in.

Montrose, a small school 15 miles south of the New York border that was ranked 548th in the state, scored first. Renaissance’s speed presented problems, but then the freshman quarterback Elijah Arthur suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Knights all but wilted.

“We’ve been losing, and people tell the kids, ‘Why are you playing football? You guys always lose,’” Smith said after the Kensington game. “And these kids still just get frustrated with it. I told them you can’t worry about the outside world.

“And what we try to teach them is more than just football,” Smith said. “You know, when you get older, people are going to doubt your abilities and things you can do.”

A weight room was added at the school for all athletes. Elijah Arthur and his lightning-fast twin brother, Isaiah, who both live in nearby Norristown, were back. Eight seniors were on the roster, compared with two in 2025. The schedule was a little easier.

With maybe 50 people watching, Renaissance took a 24-0 halftime lead against Kensington then held on for the victory, despite a lackluster second half. That was a good thing for Smith: There would be plenty to work on before the next game, against Dobbins Vo-Tech.

Renaissance would rout Dobbins, 54-12, for Victory No. 2. The Knights made it three in a row on Sept. 11 when they beat Jenkintown for the first time, 39-0. It was the first league victory and shutout for the Knights.

It has become a season of firsts, good firsts.

One at a time, Smith keeps telling them.

“Honestly, nobody really cares that you’re at the bottom,” Smith told me. “You got to suck it up. So, for me to complain, like, you know, we would get beat by 40 and [opponents] would throw the ball. I don’t care. I got to stop them. I got to work hard.

“So, I tell our kids that you have to have that mentality that you keep going hard, and you just got to keep working for what you believe in. And hopefully that’ll rub off on them. And with these kids, it has. They work hard. Are they the best? No, but are they going to work hard and give you everything they got? They will.”

I emailed Smith later to ask how the news of that first victory went over at school the following Monday. He wrote back, “It was great for the kids. The student body and the staff all congratulated the kids and were happy for them. The staff and students have been very supportive of the team.”

And now they all are on their way.

Dave Caldwell covered sports for The Inquirer from 1986 to 1995 and lives in Manayunk.