Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: Tift County Made Us Earn This Win

Transcript

2023: Tift County Made Us Earn This Win · 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: This is the time of week where we have a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: chance to put aside everything that we're doing and devote
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a few minutes to talking about nothing but Hoko football.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: That's the Houston County Bears, of course, that I'm talking about.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And to join me to talk about ho Co Bears
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: football is none other than the number one man himself.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about, Jeremy Edwards. Coach Edwards, thank you so
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: much for being with us as always, Yes, sir.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Phil, I appreciate you having me on give us a
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: chance to talk about the game Friday.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Night, absolutely and to promote your football team.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Coach.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I tell you've done a fabulous job since taking over
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: there at Houston County Coach, and I know that the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: fans that listen to this there are many, and they
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: applaud the job that you have done. And so with
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that being said, you know you and I were talking
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: about before we went on the air. You know, victories
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: don't always come, you know, in blowout fashion. They don't
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: always come in a sixty to fourteen win. Sometimes you
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: got to fight, scratch and claw. But all that matters,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Coach is at the end of the night, you've got
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: a W in the W column, and that's what's important.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: That's what you guys were able to do against Jiff County.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's like we talked.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: To our kids about it. You know, you can't take
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: winning for granted. You know, winning's not easy, you know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: so anytime you can go on the road, especially down
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to South Georgia Tifton and come out with a win
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: against a team that quite frankly, was playing inspired football
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: coming off of win the previous week against Veterans, and
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: they definitely gave us their best shot, as we knew
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: they would, and you know, fortunately we were able to
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: come out with the win. Didn't play our best on offensively,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: got some things to clean up, but I want to
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: applaud our defense and our defensive staff for the.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Way that our defense played lights out.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: You know, they came out and did some things that
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: they hadn't shown all year. We adjusted quickly and held
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: them to a little over one hundred yards of total offense.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So it was a really good night defensively. And our
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: special teams also played solid Friday, So it was a
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: good night for.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: The Bears absolutely, And as we said, anytime you get
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: a w it's always a good night for the Bears,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and especially having to go on the road, that's a
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: pretty tough place to play. Tiff County is a big
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: stadium down in a hole kind of in a valley
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: kind of thing, and so it kind of makes for
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a tough place to go play. You know. Of course,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: you guys have got the long ride. But talk about
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the game. Take us through the first half, the start
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: of the game, coach.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we we're kind of our own worst
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: enemy right now on offense. You know, some pre snap
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: penalties and and so we've got to eliminate some of
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: those things to kind of kill drives.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: You know, going into the second quarter it was zero zero.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: You know, we've drive down and couldn't get it in
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and then, uh, you know, we ended up going into
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: half ten to nothing against against a you know, like
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I said, an inspired team. They were playing good, They
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: got some good players, had a couple of guys that
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: created some some bad matchups for us, and uh, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: we had to make some adjustments, try to help out
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: our our quarterback and and uh keep him off the ground.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: They were definitely uh pinning their ears back and coming
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: after him. So, uh, I think that he did a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: great job of staying poised and continuing to play and
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: having a one to no mentality.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: But going into half, like I said, ten to nothing,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: you know that.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Come back second half, they get the kickoff and they
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: march right down and score.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: So it's a ten to seven ball game.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And you know, uh, from that point, you know, we
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: got a field goal to get it, you know, thirteen
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: to seven, and then going into the fourth quarter we
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: got two scores that you know, we're able to kind
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of kind of steal the win.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: But it was a little too close for comfort at
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: at times. They had some momentum. But credit our kids
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: and our.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Coaching staff are continuing to play and ultimately coming out
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: with a win.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. So as coach mentioned, it did get pretty tight
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: the other night, but in the end, it was Hoko
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: coming out on top of this one against the tiff
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: County Blue Devils by final score of twenty six to fourteen.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: So you know, I know, there's always this, you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: this thing when you're coming off of emotional games, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: goodness gracious, I mean, you guys have had some, you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the Thomas County Central game, the north side of course,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Lee County Warner Robins. I mean, coach, that's a that's
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a pretty tough stre you know, of asking your guys
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: to put it all out on the line, and you know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: you guys did pretty well. I think coming out of that,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: what two and two or maybe three and three and two, uh,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: with wins over one of Robbin's north side, and then
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: of course Friday night, Tim Kenny, don't you talk about
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: this with our our listeners. Does that eventually start to
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: take its toll from an emotional standpoint? I mean, you're
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: going out there giving, you know, putting it all on
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the line, big time emotions before and after the game,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: but talk about the emotional preparation for those games.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, we, uh, we felt really good
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: about our schedule, how it set up this year with
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: having the the big dogs, if you will, at at
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: at home, and you know, we had a really really
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: good game with Lee County that came down to the very.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: End and which was kind of the opposite of what
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: we did last year versus them.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: You know, they really kind of gave it to us
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: pretty good last year down at Leithsburg. But felt like
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: we played that game, and you know, it was, uh,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: it was disappointing to lose it. You know, we played
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: so hard, we fought so hard, We had opportunities and
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: we didn't take advantage of it, you know, So and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: then from there, I think we had a little bit
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: of a hangover going into the.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: North Side game.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Obviously, they gave us a great shot and did some
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: things uh differently, and we had to adjust and ended
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: up getting that win. And then you know, going into
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: the Thomas County Central was a week off, which felt
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: really good going into that game. Knew what the uh
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: what that game meant as far as uh playoff implications
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: and seating and stuff like that, and you know, unfortunately,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: we uh we got our tails.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Whipped pretty good. And you know, so.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Having to come back from that, uh this past week
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: and going on the road, I just think that, you know,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: we're at a place right now with our football team
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: where we're we're regrouping, you know, we're we had a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: lot of good conversations yesterday when we brought the kids
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: in and you know, what do we need to do
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: to try to get back to playing at a high
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: level on all three phases of the game. And you know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: are there anythings going on that need to be addressed?
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean it's we got thirty seven seniors, phil,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: so you know, we I lean on those guys. I
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: lean on my leadership council, I lead on my coaching
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: staff to you know, try to figure out ways to
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: get the most out of our program, to get the
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: most out of our kids. Going into this last game
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: against veterans, you know, it's you know, an opportunity for
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: us to.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Kind of get back. We're back at home.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: It'll be our our final home game of the year
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: as playoffs will be on the road, so it'll be
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: extra special for our seniors to get a chance to
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: play their last game but Freedom Field against what is
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: one of our rivals and veterans. And so we're excited
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: about the opportunity. But we know that we've when you
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: get to the playoffs, it's all about getting hot at
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: the right time and and peeking and so we've got
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: to get our confidence rolling going into the playoffs.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: That's what we do.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. We are talking with Jeremy Edwards. He's the head
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: coach of the Houston County Bears. He joined us every
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: week here on the Houston County coaches show here at
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: it G Next. Speaking of playoffs, coach, have you taken
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a look and I get the fact that you know,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: all you're really worried about is the next game, But
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you guys are going to make the playoffs when we
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: get that out of the way, right.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're unless something crazy happens.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I believe.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know that there's any situation actually to where
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: we couldn't go in as the three. But I to
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: be honest with you, I haven't really even looked at
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: it very much.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: I know that if we are the.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Three, we'll play the winner, I believe of the Dunwoody
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: North Atlanta game, which is Friday night.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: So but yeah, I mean, only there's no scenario where
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: we won't be in the playoffs. Obviously the seeding would
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: most likely it'll be the three.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: You know, last year was a kind of got crazy
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and there was a three way time we ended up
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: as the four.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: And you know, so it won't be anything new for
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: our kids. Last year we had to go on the road.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So wherever whoever they tell us we got to play,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: we'll be ready to roll. We just got to make
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: sure that we take this time to this week to
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: get some things fixed that, you know, do some self
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: scout and to make sure that we're putting our kids
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: in the best position to be successful.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, Coach Edwards, I mean, really,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: this is not something that's new to you guys, and listen,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I it reminds me, and I hope you don't mind
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: me drawing this comparison, this parallel, but you know, it
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: reminds me a lot of you know, the Collckwood County Pickers.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: They became known kind of as the road Warriors, and
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: obviously they would go take care of business and we
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: know about the success they had. I think that's what
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: good teams do when you learn how to win on
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the road. And obviously you guys had a big road
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: win the other night. You could, as the three seed,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: be going back on the road again for the playoffs.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: But you know, that's where you learn how to win,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: That's where you grow up and learn how to deal with,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: you know, opposing crowds and the noise it comes with that.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: So to me, I think you know what you guys
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: were able to do last year. You mentioned it. You
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: guys went up to Brunswick, we were actually there and
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you guys want a big game there you follow that
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: up with a what a second playoff win, and then
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: of course the season ended at the hands of games
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: will I believe. But you know, you guys have proven
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: that you can win on the road and that's got
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: to be important.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it is. And you know we've won some games.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: You know, going down.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: At Tipton wasn't wasn't easy, you know, so our kids
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: know how to travel, they know the expectation.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: You know, we actually played North Atlanta.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Last year in the second round, so if if we
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: do meet them again, we'll be going back up there
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to the same spot over there and at Grady Stadium,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: so you know. But but right now, all we can
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: really do is focus on you know what's at hand
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Friday night, where you.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Know we got it.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: We got veterans and we're locked and ready to ready
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to go to play.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Veterans and getting our kids.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Uh, we'll get on the practice field today and install
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: what we're gonna run and uh, you know, get our
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: confidence going uh throughout the week and hopefully.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Go out and have a good show on Friday night.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Let's close by the way, Jeremy Edwards, head coach of
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the Hoko Bears, joining us here on the Houston County
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Coaches Show. Uh, coach, let's close that. Speaking of veterans,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: that is your next opponent. It will be your last
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: regular season opponent. Give us the scouting report on Josh's
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Josh's Veterans team.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, they've been dismantled by injury. I mean, I've
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: never seen a team face so many injuries. I mean,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I think they're on their fourth or fifth quarterback. I mean,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: it's he's had some really bad luck with injuries.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: As we have to.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: You know, we've lost a couple of kids from the
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: season unfortunately. I think we may have lost another one
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Friday night. And so that's part of it. It's part
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: of football. That's why you got to build depth and
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: give kids opportunities in practice. But yeah, we don't really
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: know what to expect from them just because of the
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: injuries and what they will do offensively and defensively. They
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: they've you know, continued to be an odd front team.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: So we imagine we'll get that and haven't changed much
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: on that side of the ball. But yeah, I mean, heck,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: throwout the records and all that stuff. I mean, these
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: kids are, you know, a few miles apart. We share
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: a stadium, so it's sort of a home game for both,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: even though we'll be standing on the home side. But
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: it is senior night, and we'd love nothing more than
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: to honor our seniors by going out victorious.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Well said coach. Well said, And with that, we'll close
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: shop for this week as far as talking hosts of
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Houston County football. But Coach, we're gonna come back next
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: week and hope that we'll be talking many more weeks
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: with you, because that would mean that you guys are
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: still knocking off wins. So let's get a win Friday
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: night over veterans and then come on back and let's
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: talk some playoffs. What do you say?
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Sounds good? Sounds good.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I always look forward to talking with you, Phil, and
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm excited about where our program is and
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: where it's going.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Well said coach. And I think he's definitely going in
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the right direction, no question there. As Jeremy Edwards in
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: his second season doing a fantastic job of overseeing Bears football,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: we are going to be with him again next week
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: as we love following coach Edwards and his Bears on
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the journey which we'll take them into the first run
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: of the playoff here in a couple of weeks, and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: hopefully many rounds beyond that. But first things first, it's
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: going to be HO co Veterans this Friday night. We'll
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: come back next week to talk to Coach Edwards about it.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll join us right here on the Houston
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: County Coaches Show with Coach Edwards and myself Phil Jones,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: right here at ITG next