Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: First-Round Playoff Opponent: North Atlanta

Transcript

2023: First-Round Playoff Opponent: North Atlanta · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome into another week of talking Hoko football.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: And actually I should correct myself. This is not just
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: another week, oh no, this is playoff week, week one
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of the GHSA state playoffs. So this will begin our
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: playoff run of conversations with head coach Jeremy Edwards as
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: we talk Hoko Bears playoff football, and it's going to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: start right here, right now. So to do that, though,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we've got to bring in the head coach of the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Houston County Bears football program.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: It's Jeremy Edward's checking in with us. Coach.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: How are you and thanks so much for doing this.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm good, Phil. I appreciate you having me on
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: this morning.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Coach. Where we are the honor is all hours.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Really, I mean, you know, we really look forward to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: this time of the week where we're able to talk
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: to you, especially now, coach, because as I said there
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: in the introduction, you know, we're about to get down
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to the nitty gritty here. We're about to start talking
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: playoff football. And you know, here's the deal. Win and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you go on. But if you don't win, that's it. Coach.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Let's start by talking about though, before we get into
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the playoff part of our show. Let's start off talking
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: about the end to the regular season. You guys, end
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three is regular season. On a positive note,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: talk about the win.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean was.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: It was definitely a good night for Hoco football. It
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: was obviously it was senior.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Night for us.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: It was our last game at Freedom Field probably unless
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: you know, something crazy happens. Obviously in the playoffs with
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: seeding and things like that, who wins, you know how
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: that goes probably our last game at home, So we'll
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: have to be road warriors from here on out. But
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: it was a nice night to honor our seniors. We
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: have thirty seven seniors this year and they're very special
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: to me, very special to our program, and.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: So for us to be able to honor them on
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Senior nine.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: And go out with a forty two to nothing victory
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: was special for our program.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: The Houston County Bears finish eight and two.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I think that's identical to where you.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Were last year, right, Yes, sir, Yes, sir.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Eight and two, the number three seed, coming out of
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: what is considered certainly one of the toughest regions from
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: top to bottom in the state of Georgia, and of course,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about Region one six A coach. Very competitive
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: this year in one six A and just to get
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a playoff seed, I think is something to brag about
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and it's something to be proud of. And you guys
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: locked down the number three seed in the region.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Well absolutely, it's you know, we talked to our kids about.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: It a lot.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: You know, winning is not easy and never to winning
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: for granted, and so we we.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Definitely celebrate our wins.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: You know, anytime you can get.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: A win, it's it's a big deal and you should
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: celebrate and this should be fun and so we try
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: to make it fun for our kids and ultimately it
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: is a game. But yeah, it's a very tough region.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I think it you know, coming out of it. Last
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: year we were a four seed based off of some
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: tie breakers and we get in this this year as
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: a three seed and so you just want to you
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: want a chance at at it all. And so we
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: talked to them yesterday. We bring them in on Sunday.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: We talked to him yesterday about its brand new season,
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: you know, wiping slate clean and zero and zero right
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: now everybody is and you know it's winner go home.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: So how can we figure out how to go want
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: to know.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Every moment of every single day, every rep in practice,
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: winning every day and uh, taking that mindset into every
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: day is what we're looking forward to doing.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, coach. So eight and two overall, you guys were
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: tied with Lee County for an overall record of eight
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and two, but of course the head to head kind
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: of swung the difference there. They finished four and one
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: in the region. You guys eight and two and three
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and two in the region. Talk about how just how
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: competitive this region is from top to bottom.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, obviously you've got the two big ones
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: in Lee County and TCC who played great football. And
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: by playing teams like that, you know, you get battle
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: tested for the really the second season, which is the playoffs,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: and so you know, obviously they each one of them.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: They got the best of us this year, but we
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: learned a lot from each of those games in order
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: to fix some things and move on.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: To the next one. But not just those two.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: You know, north Side always is a tough out and
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: played extremely hard. I was very impressed with the way
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: that tiff County finished off their season. I know the
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: record doesn't reflect it, but even talking with some other coaches, uh,
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: coaching friends throughout the state that also competed against them,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: we I think you can all we can all agree
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: that they're they were a lot.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Better than what their record reflected.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: And so hats off to coach Dean. I think he
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: did a great job this year in that situation. And
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: then you know, in addition to the region, obviously we
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: try to schedule some non region games in county games
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: that challenge us as well, so we feel good about
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: where we're at. Obviously, it's it's nice to win them all,
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: and everybody wants to win them all. To go ten
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: and OHO is a great deal. But uh, we're we're
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: happy with where we're at right now, and we're just
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: we're dialed in and focused on week one here in
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: the playoffs.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, so let's talk about the start to
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: season two. You can pretty much take and wipe away
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: everything that's happened at this point because you guys have
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: got to now turn your attention to North Atlanta. In fact,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you guys are heading to North Atlanta for this playoff
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: game as they are the number two seed coming out
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: of their region. Coach, what can you tell us about
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: North Atlanta. We know nothing about them, but clarify that
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: for us.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Well, we actually had an opportunity to compete against them
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: last year.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: You know, in the second round.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: We went up there and the real cold night and
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: it was a doubleheader at their place at Anderson Stadium,
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: and you know, the scoreboard wasn't working, and you know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: we got dressed I think in an rotc room.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: So it was a little bit of a.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: Crazy deal for us, but we overcame all that ended
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: up getting.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: The victory against them that they jumped up on us
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: last year.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: So I say that to say this, we obviously we're
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: getting everybody's best shot. And they're a good ball team.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: They're nine and one. They're only lost. It was against Marris,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: who obviously is a very very good program. Year in
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: and year out. They got a lot of team speed.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: You know, they're very.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Good at track up there.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: They got a great track program and and it bleeds into.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Their football program.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: A lot of those guys played two sports, and you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: so we've got our work cut out for us, no doubt,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: you know. But so we went to work breaking down
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: the film and we'll put our guys in the best
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: positions to be successful and then we got to go
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: up there and play ball.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the Hoko Bears,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: as the Houston County Bears get ready to go to
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: North Atlanta for the opening round first round of the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three state playoffs taken on North Atlanta courses.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Coach Edward's talked about, Uh, got to go what there?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: What kind of team do they have? What can we
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: expect from them?
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: Well, like I said, we's got a lot of They've
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: got a lot of team speed. They return a lot
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: of guys, especially on the defensive side of the ball,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: and so a lot of.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Familiar you know people that we're gonna.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: Have to face and same s. I you can tell
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: they've gotten better, you know. I think they've They've done
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: a great job.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Of building that program.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: They've had to two back to back really solid years.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Last year was their first year they won a playoff
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: game in the first round, and they've they've really got
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: it rolling. They've had some guys move in that obviously
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: have have have helped them. But you know, ultimately we
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: got to go up and and match their physicality, their
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: very physical team, and so We've got to be able
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: to do that. And I think it's gonna be a
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: great night for football.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: It's you know it, it's it's all.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: You can ask for and in November, and that's where
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: the memories are made. And and like I said, we
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: want to We've got a great senior class and we'd
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: want nothing more than to continue to you know, have
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: more shared experiences.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: I guess would be the word to use of being together.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: And and I'm just excited for this team.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: I'm excited for this week of preparation lead up to
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: the game.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Time.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: You're talking about a team you guys beat forty one
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: thirty one last year. This year, coach, in ten games,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: they've given up one hundred and thirteen points. So you
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: talk about you know, their their quickness. Looks like they've
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: got quickness on both sides of the ball.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Though, yeah, offensively they've They've they've played several guys both ways,
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: so I think depth is kind of an issue there
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: that we've noticed. So they play a lot of their
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: skill guys both ways, which is you know, we've done
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: that too in the past, asked, And if you've got
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: guys that can go like they do, then why not so.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Their quarterback is a very good football player.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: He's able to run and throw, and so uh we
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: got to hem him up and make sure we keep
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: him in check.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: But uh, they they're they're.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Pretty balanced, you know, They're they're not just a you know,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: a run team or throw team.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: They're pretty balanced and they take what they what you
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: give them.
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: And like I said, they do a really good job
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: with with the program and kind of put them on
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: the map. And they got a lot of momentum going
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: into this game, you know, coming off of a big
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: win that sealed the two seed last week. Get them,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: get them a home game. So we're gonna go up
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: there and uh, we're gonna give give them our best shot.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: They're coming off a season ending forty two seven win
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: over Dunwoodie which secured the number two seed for North Atlanta,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and his coach just mentioned it also secured home field
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: advantage there in the in the opening games. So if
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I was to ask you what team, uh do they
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: remind you the most of that you played this year?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: What would you say?
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's a tough question.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: They're very unique, you know, because they what they do
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: schematically is not anything that we've really seen this year either.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: So that's something we got to prepare for.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: You know, like I said, they just uh, I would say,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: that's that's tough to answer.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I don't.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: They're kind of unique in their in their own ways.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: You know. They they've got a quarterback that you know,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: is able to to throw in run.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: We've we've seen some some quarterbacks this year that are
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: that are you know, good passers and maybe not good
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: runners or vice versa. And so this I think he's
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: he kind of makes it go for them, and it's
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: it's gonna pose a big challenge for us.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: But I've been.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Really pleased with how we've played defensively this year. We've
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: improved tremendously from last year to this year, and we
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: got to get our offense going early. We got to
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: establish some drives and wear them down, and I think
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: by doing that, it'll make it tough on them. So
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: we've again we we're gonna get their best shot. It's
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: gonna be a tough ball game. It's gonna be a
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: four quarterball game, and we have to go up there
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: and play well to come out of that place with
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: the victory.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: What's the travel tenerary for Friday.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: Well, typically when we go up to Atlanta, which we've
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: done several years, whether here or other stops, you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: we're gonna stop make a couple stops, and so we'll
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: we'll go up a good friend of.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Mine, coach Nelson at Mary Persons. We'll go up there and.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: And well we'll kind of take a pit stop there,
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: have some lunch to a walk through, and then our
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: plan is to go go ahead and get up in
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: Atlanta early, like we did last year when we went up,
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: just so we can avoid all traffic. And you know
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: how crazy it gets up there, so kind of go
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: get up there and camp out for a little while
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: and just kind of.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Wait till game time.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: So we'll take a second stop up there close to
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: the stadium, have a pregame meal, and have another walk
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: through and get dressed and shoot on over to the
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: stadium and be ready to play ball.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Sounds like a winning game plan, Coach.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I hope that obviously that goes as well on the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: field as you have it planned off the field. So coach,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: best of luck to you up there against North Atlanta.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: One thing's for sure. We'll be back next week.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: To talk to you about it, and I hope that
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: we're talking about a win, which means we're talking about
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: another game coming up in the HOCO season.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, we'd love it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: Phil, I'd love to love to talk to you next
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Monday with a good feel and being ready for a
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: next opponent.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: You got it, coach, Thank you so much, Yes, sir,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: thank you.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, bye bye.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: There is that is again Jeremy Edwards, head coach of
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the Houston County Bears, this morning right here on the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: HOKO Coaches Show at ITG Next, stay with us. We'll
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: be back next week with more about the North Atlanta
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: playoff game, as well as a look at the entire
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: playoff season. You've been listening to the hosting Houston County
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Coaches Show with myself, Phil Jones and Hoko head football
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: coach Jeremy Edwards.