Sports

High character Sheepshead Bay out to continue proud tradtion

Sheepshead Bay is small on numbers, but big on quality.

Its roster is just 30, which isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary for the perennial playoff contender – it won a city title in 2001 with 29 kids. The players the Sharks do have are high caliber kids, the biggest positive coach Fred Snyder took after a mostly successful week of training camp.

“They’re reliable, they’re personable, they’re good students, good citizens all the way down the line,” the veteran coach said. “I think our strength can be teamwork and leadership.”

Snyder talked up his three captains – center/defensive end Rashaad Coward, middle linebacker David Sharpton and quarterback Artem Artemyev – in particular as setting the tone.

The highly recruited 6-foot-6, 285-pound Coward, specifically, has stood out as a leader. He met with a tutor every day and took summer classes to raise his grades to become more attractive to colleges like UMass, Albany, Rutgers, Syracuse and Temple that are recruiting him. Coward commands the respect of his teammates, Snyder said, by taking care of his responsibilities and offering helpful suggestions rather than yelling.

“He’s a good leader for the team, he understands our system and he’s played a few roles on offense and defense,” Snyder said. “He can rally the other guys together. If I have to get something done, I’ll ask him and he’ll do it.”

Coward said: “We have to show them the way and lead by example.”

Coward is the focal point of a stout defensive line, along with defensive tackle Anthony Appleton and vastly improved defensive end Zavon Moore. The group is big, nasty and physical.

“We understand we have to set the tone, win the battle at the line of scrimmage,” he said.

Sharpton is the playmaker of the unit, a 5-foot-10, 230-pound linebacker who made a team-high 69 tackles last year and also starts at offensive guard.

The offense isn’t nearly as experienced. Artemyev, the backup to Michael Destephano last year, will take the snaps under center. He shined in a Week 2 win over Thomas Jefferson, running for a pair of touchdowns. Junior Stephan Garrick replaces bruiser Ricardo Appleton as the feature back in the Sharks Wing-T attack and will also get reps at linebacker.

“He’ll find a way to get something done,” Snyder said Artemyev. “If he has to throw, he’ll throw; he’s run. He’s got a good balance.”

Snyder doesn’t enter any season thinking playoffs, though he feels the talent is certainly capable. His focus is always on the immediate future.

“I always tell the kids let’s try making a first down first,” he said. “We’ll take it from there.”

The players do have a lot of tradition to live up to. Sheepshead Bay has reached the playoffs 15 years in a row.

“We’re not trying to be that team to end the streak,” Coward said. “So we have to keep working harder and harder and harder and hopefully get further than the first round.”

zbraziller@nypost.com