Latest / Huddle Up! / Huddle Up! Season 1, Episode 8
Transcript
- Paul Durham: Hello and welcome to the eighth episode of Huddle Up, the Wilson Times Sports Podcast. This is Paul Durham, and this week we have Southern Nash flag football head coach Chris Pace and two of the Ladybird stars, Leila Gonzalez and Janiyah Montague, two of their five seniors. Southern Nash is off to a six and start in the very first season of NCH SAA sanctioned flag football. Last year, the Ladybirds went 15-3 And then deep into the playoffs, it was the just the North Carolina flag football championship held for teams that played in the fall before the sport was sanctioned. Now it's the real deal. Coach Pace, what is different about this year? Obviously, you guys came in last year just you know, a new sport. Let's see, you know, who can play, what we can do. Things changed over the course of the season. You guys were really good, had a deep run, entered this year as a team to be reckoned with. What was different as far as the mindset of all the players and the coaches from last year to this year? Chris Pace: I think first and foremost, the like you said, the new kind of wore off. We we went through last season just kind of figuring out as we went. we were most everybody around here was new to the sport. And so we just kinda were throwing things together and just going with it and learning as as we went through the season. This year, like you said, pretty high expectations. We've tried to take the mindset of, you know, anybody can beat you on any given night and we we know that and want the girls to understand that. we've tried to really put an emphasis on that we know we're gonna get everybody's best shot. most people around here kinda heard about what we did last year and so we know we've got a target on our back and stay humble. no I want them to know that they're they're good and that we got a really good team and the sky's the limit for I believe that. But want them to understand that you have to take every every play, every snap and have intensity and have a purpose behind what we're doing. we've really been trying to focus on that. game days and so on and so forth. Like be engaged, know exactly what's going on, and don't let one missed assignment or one miss I I didn't realize it was this was the play call or w the different things. Don't let that be the difference in a game, d determining the outcome of a game. So really just having a purpose and behind everything we do is our one of our keys we've been focusing on this year. Paul Durham: Now Leila, you're the team's quarterback. offensively, you guys have excelled. What do you think some of the reasons are for your offensive offensive success this year? Chris Pace: think that the coaches have a lot to do with it. they help a lot with drawing out our plays, just calling plays and also talking as a team like what we see, that's open, like what are the chances we have of running the ball, throwing the ball, kind of just working around the field and seeing what we have out there with everybody. Paul Durham: You guys run the ball and pass the ball, it seems equally well. Now, sort of take me through the offense of a flag football team because it's a little bit different from standard football, obviously. There's a lot of passing. Is there a lot of audibilizing? Do you go up to the line of scrimmage, take a look around and change the play, or exactly how does that work without giving away too much of your state secrets? Chris Pace: I think depending what kind of formation they're in on defense, I think I kinda as the quarterback I kinda see that as maybe let's see what we can switch up here, let's see what we can call. If there's like an open gap, I'd maybe change it from it being a a run and go with our running backs and then have them run the ball. I think I think it really just depends, honestly, on like what also our players see if they're open, if their man is guarding them, whether they're not guarding them, if they're rushing us. I think we're really good offensively being able to see the different defensive positions that they're in. So I think that also helps us as well knowing whether to run or throw the ball. Paul Durham: Janiyah, you are the defensive whiz of of the Lady Birds. tell me what goes into making a good flag football defender? Because it's not quite the same skill set as in regular football, which you have to tackle the offensive player. quickness, obviously, hand quickness to get the flag, but Southern Nash seems to score a lot defensively too, and that's that's also a weapon. What about the defensive mindset when it when it comes to flag football? W can you offer some insight into what makes a player successful in this game? Chris Pace: what makes a player successful, you can be quick and fast but also you have to work with your teammates, imply coverage, make sure somebody always has your back. I may be quick and fast and can get there in time, but sometimes I might not be there all the time, so I know somebody always got my back. I would say good communication and also with myself, make sure that even if I make one little mistake, I don't just set myself back. I keep pushing and keep going. also make sure that my first three steps are pretty hard and I break down in time just enough to get a good pull. But that's about it. Paul Durham: Now, both of you play other sports. Janiyah you play basketball and Leila, you play soccer, basketball, and as I discovered this fall, you're also playing golf. I think almost everybody, if not everybody on the team, plays at least one other sport, which is understandable considering that there was no flag football to play before last year. How do you feel that your backgrounds in other sports have come to play in the development of your skill set for flag football, Leila, answer that question first, 'cause you you do play multiple sports at a high level. how has flag football fit into that based on what you've already been playing? Chris Pace: I think that all like with throughout all the sports, I think great footwork, good hand eye coordination also helps. I think it's more so like the work that we put in for soccer and flag football I I feel like that's kind of similar because all the footwork that we have in soccer, all the pivots, all the jabs one way, backpedaling and stuff like that, just being able to turn your body easily on a field. I think soccer is definitely really helpful with flag football. And then basketball, I think helps a lot with good hand eye coordination, being able to have quick reflexes with my hands, be able to throw the ball, I think that's something that helps a lot, especially in flag football as a quarterback. Paul Durham: Well, Janiyah, as far as defense, how about basketball helping you and flag football defense? I would imagine that it's it comes in handy because you are playing a lot of man to man. Chris Pace: with flag football, going into basketball, pretty much like Leila said, the quickness like with your hands and your reflexes, you also gotta be quick to like guard the person, make sure you have good footwork, be able to stay with them on defense, have good balance, and just make sure that you can also just get up and down the court just as fast as I can get a flagpole or rush anybody. So I would say reflexes, quickness Paul Durham: Now this for either of you, w how does flag football rate as far as your favorite sport now? Has it moved to the top for either one of you or is it still behind your top sport, the one that you were playing earlier? Chris Pace: it most definitely has moved to like my top priority sport. me developing this talent, this unknown talent that I just discovered last year has opened up my eyes and like maybe I can go farther and pursue. it really has brightened everything up. college coaches reaching out to me, seeing my talent and wanting me to come play for them. So it pretty much has a big impact. Paul Durham: Wow. So it really has made a difference. Well, Coach Pace, let's talk about this season. You guys have had a pretty good run this year, obviously six and I can't remember how many games in a row you won last year. I think it was 11 before you lost this year, going back to what we originally talked about. But what has been the biggest challenge for you this year? Because from the outside it Chris Pace: Mm-hmm. Paul Durham: looks like everything's going really good. Chris Pace: Yeah, and and it is. but I think you already hit on one of our biggest challenges. And before I even answer this, I will say that an athlete, male or female, playing multiple sports, I encourage that. Like that is one of the things that I push. I want our athletes to be multi sport athletes and I think that's really good for our school. but at the same time, that is probably one of the biggest challenges that we're facing right now. I there's another one I'll I'll hit on in a minute, but I think that's probably my biggest one. fourteen of our seventeen on the roster are playing another sport in the same season. so During the fall season, I've got fourteen of my seventeen that are playing something else. So figuring out a time to get all together to practice. figuring out what our game days are gonna look like and our lineups are gonna look like at times when we've got multiple sports playing on the same days. that's been our biggest challenge, I think, so far. But then also, if you look at our roster, I think from top to bottom. Our our female athletes right now at Southern Nash are the top notch in our athletic programs across the board. our female sports are are doing really well. And we are blessed enough to have pretty much all of those athletes on one team. And so I think a it's also a challenge to figure out how to use all of them to the best of their capability and and get the ball to our skill players. because there's so many of And there's so many different people we can put in different places. And so that is one thing that we've kind of as a coaching staff tried to dis decide what is gonna be our best personnel grouping, whether that's offensively or defensively. And we're we're running people on and off the field at different times. We've got third down packages we're trying to use and different things. So just to give us our our best chances on the field with the multitude of talent and speed that we have. Paul Durham: That's not a bad problem to have though as a coach, just trying to figure out where all that talent needs to go and and get it in the right spot. but hey, hey, it's part of the job, right? Well, Chris Pace: That's right, yes sir. Paul Durham: it's we're we're I don't know if we're halfway through the season or not. but obviously there's still a lot of games left in the regular season, but it's not too early to start talking about playoffs and how it's gonna work. And you and I had a conversation about this earlier, but Can you expound upon what is going on with the playoffs? Because this is the first year of the NCHSAA playoff field. And it appears as though there will be three brackets. There will be an eight A, a seven A, and then one A through six A. can you explain how that is supposed to work? And also, you guys are in the conference. Obviously, the conference championship will not win you anything more than a a a you know, trophy saying you're the conference champion because you're gonna go on RPI. Are you guys gonna have any kind of special playoff for the Big East or will you just award the title to whoever finishes with the best record? Chris Pace: So for conference play, it's just gonna be whoever has the best overall record in conference play will be our conference champion. And and like you said, with the the RPI system, I mean, that really doesn't weight into your RPI, but and the conference championship ultimately is one of our goals that we we have for the season. we are gonna do a a Nash County championship at the end of the season. doesn't count towards conference play, and that'll also include Nash Central. just for bragging rights, if you will, between the four Nash County schools. We're gonna take that and seed it by overall record. Whoever's got the best record's gonna get the one seed for the tournament. Whoever's next will be the two, three, and four. just like in that order. So that's what we're doing regular season. to talk about the playoffs a little bit, that is my understanding. If you look in the NFHS handbook right now, it it's It says that flag football, boys' volleyball, and lacrosse are going to be set up very similar with one A through six A being a classification within by itself and then we'll have seven and eight A. I don't know that I I think that the High School Athletics Association may should look at that a little bit. if you actually look at RPI, there's a hundred and six schools, I think, in one A through six A. And then in 7A, you've got 46 and 8A 32 that are listed in on the RPI listings right now, at least. with that, I kind of I kind of took some time and and went through the the number of schools. The plan is right now that 48 teams 1A through 6A would get in, so 24 East and 24 West. And then 48 teams in 7A and 24 in 8A. Just looking at it. Five A's got thirty-one teams by itself. Six A's got thirty-three. eight A only has has thirty-two. So we're basically the same as what eight A's sitting at, just in five A. six A is also the same way. They got thirty three as well. So I don't know if they're gonna revisit that. I have not heard any discussion. But as of right now, that is the plan. And so there's probably gonna be some pretty good teams that get left out of the playoffs. Paul Durham: Yeah, because ever since the the move to eight classifications, which was done pretty much to get more teams into the postseason, now all of a sudden you've got a situation where less than half the schools playing would qualify for a sport that not everybody plays in. It seems like they would have subdivided that a little bit better, but Chris Pace: And and if you if you look at seven A the way they're saying it, every team will get in in seven A. and so Paul Durham: Well yeah, they'll have to. And you know, and of course that's the way one A and eight A works for all their sports, I guess, but i it doesn't make sense to exclude teams in that regard. But I mean it's probably gonna stand that way this first year and then probably make changes, you know, in the offseason, I would imagine. I mean Chris Pace: More more than likely. Yes, sir. Paul Durham: they don't they don't usually switch horses in midstream in the athletic association, so to speak. But well Monday night, you guys have a big game here in Wilson, correct? You come over at Fight you play a game at Fight, but it's Rocky Mount on the schedule. is I'm Chris Pace: I believe we're actually at Rocky Mount, but yes, sir. Paul Durham: sorry, I had it backwards. You guys were Fike is going over to Rocky Mount. Chris Pace: Fike is going it'll be us, Fike and Rocky Mount. So it'll be three games. Be a late night for us for sure, but Paul Durham: Yeah, I late night. Well, Leila, you're the quarterback. What do you feel like playing Rocky Mount? You guys lost to them twice last year. the only team to beat y'all more than once, obviously. has this game been circled on the calendar for or on the schedule for a while? Chris Pace: yes, sir, I definitely think going into Rocky Mount it'll be though it'll be expected to be high intensity, for us Firebirds. I believe that if we just go out and show out and play like we always play, we definitely have a chance at beating Rocky Mount 'cause we have proved it before. we just need to go out there knowing that we are capable and able to beat them. but as a as the quarterback, I think just leadership on the field, talking to everybody. letting them know like, Hey, we got this, like, just work together, we can we can beat Rocky Mount. I think just that's something to take out there, for Monday. Paul Durham: Obviously beating Rocky Mount would be big for your RPI. Currently you guys are number 10, I think, which I'm I'm sure is all having to do with the teams that your opponents have played, but I would imagine your RPI is gonna spike with some of the games that you've got scheduled. Janiyah, tell me this. What does this team have to do to win it all this year based on your experience last year of going deep into the fourth round and losing by a point to the defending champion Ashley? Chris Pace: what our team need to work on is basically pretty much just acing our little things, our little expectations that we have for each other. just little things to help us get better as a team and individually and just keeping our eyes and focus on what we're coming here to do, like we're working towards that ring and we're gonna accomplish that ring. So we gotta work together, be hard, dedicated, keeping the energy high. just set standards and goals for ourselves to help us be all the way for that prize. Paul Durham: All right. Well the Ladybirds are chasing a state championship coach pace. You guys are at Rocky Mount Monday. When is your next home game? Or games? Chris Pace: October the ninth. Let me make sure I'm right on that. I've got it right here in front of me. I think that's right. I believe we've played back to back. We'll be home October the twelfth. And October the 19th. I I was wrong on that. October the twelfth, we've got West Johnston coming for a non-conference game. And then we play Rocky Mount that night also. and then the nineteenth, we'll host Hunt and Northern Nash here at home. So Got two more home games on the schedule right now. Paul Durham: All right. And then you guys have do you guys have an away game? You have a couple of away games, don't you? in there. Chris Pace: And so so next week we're at Rocky Mount. We also are gonna play a third game next week. we'll be at Nash Central on Wednesday night. And then on October the fifth, we go to Northern Nash. We'll play Northern Nash and play East Wake in a non conference game over at Northern Nash. Paul Durham: And then how is that Nash County Championship gonna work? Is it gonna be a one day round robbing or the single Chris Pace: As a Paul Durham: elimination thing? Chris Pace: Yes sir. As of well, as of right now, our plan is Rocky Mount's gonna host it because they did win the the little Nash County Championship we did last year, so they'll host. the plan is that the which I don't know if we ha we we might regroup on this a little bit, but the plan for right now is that the one seed and the four seed will play at four o'clock. The two and the three will play at following that game. And then we'll have a third place game with the the two losers from those two, and then we'll have a championship game. So you'll get two games that night, regardless. Paul Durham: All right. Well, there you go. We have a lot of flag football left in the season. I feel like October is going to be a very exciting month for the Ladybirds. and we're certainly gonna stay on top of what's happening with that as we go into the very first playoff for flag football. Well, I want to thank you, Leila, and Jania for stopping by and being part of the podcast, and of course, Coach Pace for all you do. Thank you so much. Hopefully we'll get to talk to you again sometime this season, as we get closer to the postseason. Chris Pace: Yes, sir. Sounds great. Appreciate you having us on. Paul Durham: Alright, y'all have a great day.