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Episode 11- A Perfect Season, Now Onto Sectionals · Friday Night's At The Creek

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Friday
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Nights at the Creek with Coach Gooden.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Coach, first of all, congratulations.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We didn't have an episode last week, just kind of
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: took it a little easy, but I want to congratulate
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you for the 9-0 season, regular season, the big win against.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Trenton Central, 35-7 two weeks ago. And then also I
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about Vincennes Lincoln, which
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: is the first round for you in the playoffs of sectionals.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: So a lot in this episode.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: But before we dive into everything, again, just congratulations on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the perfect season.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Oh, I appreciate that. Perfect regular season. We got more
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: things to accomplish. Conference championship, you know, We're excited about that,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: but we got some aspirations in the postseason that we
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: would like to try to accomplish as well.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And I was only talking about the regular season, 9-0, which,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you know, Coach, to win a game in high school
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: football is tough.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: But to win nine consecutive weeks is really a big deal.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Well, one thing that I will tell you about this
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: group is I feel like they have had elite focus
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: throughout the season. So, you know, I think a superpower
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: for them is not looking ahead. They have done a
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: really good job of living in the moment. I've not
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: had to beg them to, you know, focus on the
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: task at hand. And, you know, we've talked about their
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: maturity throughout the season. And I think that has been
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: a superpower for us and something that we must continue.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Because as you go, as we both know, as everybody's
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: listening to this knows, every week you go a little
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: deeper into the tournament.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: The games get a.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Little bit more physical. They're just tougher. They mean a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: lot more, et cetera. And to be able to handle
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: that as a 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old kid, that's a
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: lot of pressure on them. It is.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: And we talked before bye week, just trying to make
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: sure that we're having fun and you know, playing loose
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: and doing those things. And I really, really felt like
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: we accomplished that against Triton Central week nine. Our sideline
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: was outstanding, just cheering each other on, bouncing around, having fun.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: It was kind of a grimy game because it rained
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: so much and just the weather was very, very football-like time.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Of the year.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: And just the way we navigated it was very, very good.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: So Just that was a big step in the right
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: direction from week eight of Beach Grove. The joy factor
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: was very high. And I thought we navigated the game
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: very well.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Any additional thoughts then, Coach, on that Trenton Central game?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Triton Central game, 35 to 7. Obviously, it sounds like
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the team was, like you said, laser focused, ready to play.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: But just any other thoughts on that game before we
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: move on?
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt like the thing that we did very well,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: you know, in all three phases was handle the weather.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: At one point in the game, it was just raining sideways.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I thought our offense and defense both responded and played
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: very well. Defense did a nice job of handling adversity
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: in the sense of, hey, we had a few penalties
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: that maybe moved the chains for them. There was no panic.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: They continued to do a nice job. They forced Triton
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Central to drive the field. And I thought our special
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: teams did a really nice job all night as well,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: whether it was field position or, hey, you know, we
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: need to make a field goal, getting the ball down
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: the field on different– just all the execution I felt
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: like was very solid. And, you know, it was a
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: good night overall. So specifically with the weather, Triton Central,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: obviously their record on the season doesn't reflect what they have.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: I thought that they were a very, very good team.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: They got a quarterback that can scramble. He's got really
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: good arm talent. They're very good on the offensive and
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: the defensive line, and I thought they competed very well.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Triton was actually undefeated at home on the season, I believe,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: and to be able to go in and win that
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: game against the defending conference champions on their senior night
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: was not an easy task, and I felt like our
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: kids were able to do it.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Coach, I noticed here on the schedule the last two weeks,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Beach Grove and Triton Central were both away games. Does
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: that give you an advantage or prep you for going
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: into sectionals that you're going to have to take a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: nice little bus ride to Vincent's Lincoln? Does it help
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: to kind of play on the road the last couple games.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Of the season?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I think it's fine. Do I think it's a huge advantage?
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: No.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: But I think our kids are definitely adjusted to our
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: routine better. and what that looks like. Biggest thing that
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: I will tell you is, you know, the long bus
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: ride to Vincennes, that adds a little bit of an element.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: You know, we'll have to get out of school a
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: little bit early, make a pit stop on the way,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: trying to keep the routine as normal as possible for
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: those kids. But for us, you know, it's business as usual. And,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: you know, will it be a little different making a
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: long bus ride? Yeah. But in the same sense, we're
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: going to try to keep it status quo.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Well, before we talk about Vincent's Lincoln, maybe talk to
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: us a little bit about what you did this past
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: week with the bye week. I'm assuming and I'm just
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: guessing here that you used it to get everybody healthy,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: kind of give them a little break, if you will,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to kind of recharge the batteries before they make this
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: big run or hopefully make this big run starting this
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Friday night into sectionals.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we do a word of the week and our
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: word of the week for the bye week was refresh. Really,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: the reason that we say refresh is obviously, you know,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: you think is like we're trying to get healthy and,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: you know, feel better. And, you know, it's a long
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: football season. But I also compared it to a computer where, hey,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: I got to hit the refresh button and we're zero
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: and zero. So, you know, I think there was a
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: multitude of things there where, hey, you know, we're going
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: to give you, we gave them Monday and we gave
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: them Friday off where they could get away and they
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: could go do something. And I took, you know, our
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: kids to the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch and
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: took them trick-or-treating and did all those things. And it
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: allows our coaches to get away from it for a second,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: let our kids, you know, go do something that they
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: want to do. But on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we had
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: three good days of practice. Goal for our upperclassmen were
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: to you know, stay off the ground, keep them, you know, upright,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: get them moving again. But we allowed our JV and
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: our freshmen to have a scrimmage and get after it
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: a little bit. So it was a really good week. But,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: you know, you come out of it and it's like, okay,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: it's go time. You know what I mean? So I
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: think for our kids, and especially as the head coach,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: it's nice when you get a week where you can almost,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: you don't have the same urgency because there's not, you
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: don't necessarily know who you're going to play. Edgewood and
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Vincent's Lincoln, you know, had to had to play their game.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: But in the same sense, you know, to be able
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: to step away and kind of relax to a certain
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: degree in the sense of, hey, we don't have to
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: be fully prepared for an opponent on Friday, but get
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: to work out on some different things throughout the week
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: with the kids was nice. It's almost more of a
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: spring or summer type vibe because, you know, you don't
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: have that opponent on hand. You really get to focus
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: on yourselves. and get things rolling again.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I think you make a great point. It's probably hard
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: for the coaching staff to prep because you've got a
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: game that has to play out. It's sectional. You may
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: have an idea of who you want to play. You
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: even might have an idea of how it's going to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: play out. But as you and I both know, it's
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: sectional time, and you can throw all that out the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: window and hope all you want, and you may not
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: get what you were looking forward to.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And, you know, I think the biggest thing that
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: you have to preach to the kids is could go
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: one of two ways. We're going to be prepared for
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: it regardless. But the nice thing of a bye week
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: is you get to focus on the things that you
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: need to work on. And from a coaching standpoint, like
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: on Tuesday, so we don't necessarily have a full on opponent.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: We did a lot of individual time. So, hey, position coaches,
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: you've got an extra opportunity to hammer home some points.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: or improvements or get betters or, hey, these are things
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: that we're doing well, but you get to hammer home
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: those points. And we got to take advantage of that
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: time and really emphasize some things. So it was a
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: good week. You know, it's enjoyable to get to do
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: that and really circle back with your kids and just,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: you know, hammer home those things that you think you
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: are going to need going into the postseason.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Kind of sounds like a chance kind of to get
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: back to the basics a little bit with the position coaches, etc.,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and not overlook anything and take anything for granted, but
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: just kind of, you know, in any sport, sometimes just
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: going back to the basics can refresh using one of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: those words of the week that you have to really
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: set this team on fire.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: And, you know, we i even asked the kids on
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: tuesday because i gave a monday off i said so
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: don't lie to me i said how many of you
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: feel really good about the fact that you know we
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: don't have the pressure of being all you know gas
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: pedal down getting ready for an opponent i said is
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: it is it nice to let that guard down a
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: little bit and they're like Yeah, it is. It's like, okay, that's,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: that's allowed, but you got to understand that we still
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: got to accomplish something this week and get better. So
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: I thought they handled that really, really well. And you know, it's,
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: it's a unique thing because you don't know that that's coming.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: It's also not fall break. You got school. And then
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: to get that draw, it's like, okay, you know, how
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: do we want to handle this? How do we want
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: to manage it? And that's the route that we went
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: and I thought it was beneficial.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and it's probably also a little bit of
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: a shock value to the players a little bit, having
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: money on Friday off, and they're still in season, and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: that throws them kind of a loop, and probably they're
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: not really sure how to handle that either.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Well, and I tell them, you know, make state championship-level
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: decisions off the field.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: If you want to be a state champion on the field,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: you've got to make state championship-level decisions off the field.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: So we want to be great in all facets of it.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: I think getting away from it is good to a
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: certain degree. They got to go watch a, I think
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: half of our team was at cascade and South putt
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: on Friday, just because they've played cascade. We've scrimmage cascade
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: in past years. And so they know some of them
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: and they got to go do that. They didn't want
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: to go to a football game. They got to go
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: hang out with their girlfriend or hang out with their family.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: So it's a movie, whatever, whatever.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: So they get to get away from that. It was
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: a good week and we're excited to be back and
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: refresh and recharge and Excited to have an opponent.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. You know, now you're locked in with Vincennes Lincoln.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: It's on the road, as we discussed, and we were
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: talking a little bit off the air before we hit record,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: is I think you said it's a two-hour bus ride
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: from Trafalgar to Vincennes Lincoln. They're coming in the game
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: seven and three, obviously, with the big victory in their pocket.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: First round of sectionals. Thoughts on not only the trip
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and prepping for this week, but, you know, what do
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: you think you're going to see come Friday night from
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Vincent Lincoln?
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we can start with the trip. You know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: you have a long bus ride that we're lucky to
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: have administration that takes care of us and allows us
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: to leave a little bit early. Big thing for me
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: is having the trip planned out early in the week.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: And being able to explain to the kids, hey, this
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: is the plan. Be mentally prepared for it. And, you know,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: we've segmented the trip. We'll make pit stops on the way.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: And we look forward to it. We had to go
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: to Madison last year. That was about an hour and
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: a half. We went down to Gibson Southern, which is
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: about two and a half or three hours. So it's
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: not foreign territory to us. But, you know, you've still
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: got to do it. You've got to dominate that trip. Um,
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: and we're prepared for it. So for me, that's not a, uh,
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: a major issue that we're looking at something that we've
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: done before. And, uh, we've experienced it a few times
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: in our last three years here, our sectional has been
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: geographically just far away. So we've made those trips a
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: few times and, you know, I, I think it, each
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: team's different with what you need and, uh, our goal
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: is to just keep the pregame, um, as much status
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: quo as we can. So, and it's a seven 30 kick.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: So we'll have a little bit of extra time there too.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: But I really like how you, you broke it down
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: by saying that not only is administration very generous to you,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: but also you're getting the kids prepared mentally well in advance.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: It's not throwing something on them on Wednesday night. You,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: you knew Friday night, how it was going to play out.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Then you could start prepping and start getting your players
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: ready to go. And I think that's really half the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: battle is just being mentally prepared, especially for a two
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: hour bus trip. I don't care if you're who you are.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: That's a long time on a bus.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The funny thing, though, is in high school, I
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: remember an hour and a half bus ride. We played
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Franklin County on the road and it just felt like, man,
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: this is a really long bus ride. But then you
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: go to college. And if you had an hour and
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: a half to two hours, that was the short bus ride.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: It was just like, this is a quick one because
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: you'd have six hour bus rides for conference games because
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: you played games in Northern Ohio or whatever it was.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: So for me, it's just, Hey, we can't make excuses
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: about this.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: There is none.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I think we've got to do our best to plan
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: ahead and give the kids, you know, something to prepare
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: for and how to handle it and go do it.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, Coach, like I said, you came off the
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: bye week. You knew on Friday who you were going
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to play or Friday night. What's practice been like so
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: far this week?
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: So far this week, obviously only had one, but just
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: thought high energy. Kids were excited to be back, excited
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: to have an opponent, excited to, you know, know their
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: path or know that when I say know their path,
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: they know who's next. They know what to prepare for.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: They know what to look at.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: And you take that for granted because you just know it,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: what's going to happen throughout. But to have that for
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: them is good, and they're ready to be back. They're
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: excited to be back and ready to have a normal week.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: We went fall break and bi-week, so we're excited to
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: be back into our normal school schedule and follow that routine.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: But we know Vincent Lincoln is going to be excited
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: to play.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Us as well.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, because whoever wins this, goes on to the
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: championship and has a shot at a sectional championship. So,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you know, every week from here on out is going
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: to be tough, no matter who your opponent is, no
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: matter what their record is, because everybody has something to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: play for at this point and really nothing to lose.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: Well, absolutely. But Vincent's Lincoln is a seven and three
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: football team. They played in their conference down in Evansville forever.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: against really, really good teams. They joined the WIC this year,
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: and they've competed against some really good teams. We know
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: that they are not going to bow down to us
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: because we're an undefeated football team. They're a good football team.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: We're a good football team. And we've got to play
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: our best football rolling into the postseason. And we've got
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: to show up with urgency. We've got to show up
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: ready to play because we know that they're excited to
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: play us, man. And you and I have discussed it.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: We've talked about it going into Trident Central. No– everyone
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: wants to beat the team that's undefeated.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: First one to do it. So we've got to have
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: that urgency to get better this week. Uh, we got
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: to have that urgency to attack this week and, uh,
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: you know, nothing's guaranteed. It's, uh, we got a one
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: week season. So if we don't win this week, it's done.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: So we've got to make sure that we're mentally prepared
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: for that and ready to attack this thing full speed.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Coach.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: And as we've talked, uh, each week that you've had
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a target on your back and every time you win,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: that target gets a little bigger in terms of that.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: How do you think your players are handling going into
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the first round of sectionals?
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: I think they're doing a really good job. They know
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: that the target is on our back, but I think
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: our kids are competitors. And that's what's really, really good
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: about this group is they want to show up and
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: win the week. Whoever is in front of them, you know,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: and I think that's been a really, really good thing.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: I think you and I, you know, maybe talked about this,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: but we had Monrovia the week before Tri-West and everyone
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: knew Tri-West was going to be a big showdown and
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: a talked about game and Monrovia was off to a
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: slower start. But I challenged our kids that week. I said,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: we got to have laser focus on this team because
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: they play good football. They're very competitive. And I felt
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: like our focus was very, very good. We're in a
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: situation where we know that this is going to be
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: one of the bigger games in the state. You've got
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: a 9-0 football team against a 7-3 football team, and
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: people are going to be looking at it. And we've
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: been in these situations and these scenarios, and it's not pressure.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: You know, it's high school football. And I think our
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: kids are doing a really, really good job of having fun,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: taking ownership of being in big football games, and excited
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: to go compete against a new opponent. We've never seen
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: Vincent's Lincoln. Um, we don't know them per se, but
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: we know they've got a great history of football. We
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: know that their town is very excited about football and, uh,
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: we know that they've got a great season and they're
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: historically very good. They're well coached. They play hard. Uh,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: so we're excited to go compete again.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Coach, I'm just kind of looking real quickly going
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: back over the season. And, uh, you know, you mentioned
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the tri West, uh, game, you won that 19 to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: 12 at home. But other than that, And I mean,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: no disrespect to any of the teams because everybody has
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to show up and play. But that was really the
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: only game, as far as I can see from the scoreboard,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: that was close. Everything else you kind of handled business
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: in terms of that. Does that bother you a little
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: bit going into a sectional game like Vincent's Lincoln?
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: Doesn't bother me. It's unique because you bring that up.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: We have not trailed for a single second this year.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Is it like, hey, how are we going to respond
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: to this? Like, do you know it? No, you don't.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Like you would like to know what that feels like,
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: but on the same sense, I feel like this group
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: is mentally prepared to handle that. They've been mature about it.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: You know, try West was on the one yard line
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: about to punch the ball in to take the lead
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: with a minute left and we held them out. So
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: that's pressure. That's adversity. Uh, But does it worry me? No,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: not necessarily. It's going to happen eventually. It's not like, oh,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: woe is me. We haven't trailed. And if someone takes
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: the lead, everything's ruined. But your goal as a coach
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: is that we respond to that. But I feel like
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: we've really kind of coached the hell out of some
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: of those things of, hey, have some joy when things
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: get a little bit hairy that it's fun to play
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: in a close football game. It was 21-7 against Triton Central.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: And we were up 11 at the half against Beach Grove.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: And there were some frustrating moments of that game. And
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I just challenged the kids on, have fun, man. Just
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: have fun with it. And I think that our kids
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: are doing a really, really good job with that, of
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: handling that. Is it true adversity?
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: No.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: But I think that we're doing a good job and
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: we're mentally prepared to handle those things.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Well, Coach– From everything that I've been talking with you
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: all season long, it sounds like you have the right mix,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that right chemistry with the players getting ready to go
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: into the first round of sectionals. I know you guys
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: are not only prepared, but mentally prepared, ready to go
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: on Friday night, and we wish you nothing but the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: very best.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that. We're excited to get back to playing ball.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: We're excited to go compete. We're excited to play against
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: a good program. Like I told you, well coached. We're
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: impressed with them on film and what they do. We
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: got to play our best ball in October, November. That's
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: a goal for us as a program is to be
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: at our best, you know, come postseason time and win
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: meaningful playoff games. So we got to continue to do
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: what we've done all year and play at a very
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: high level to accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, Coach, again, we wish you nothing but the
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: very best this coming Friday night. 7.30 kickoff. You're going
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: to be on the road at Benson's Lincoln. As you mentioned,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: they're a 7-3 team. This is their second game in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the section. It was your first coming off that bye.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Should be a great matchup. Again, we wish you nothing
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: but the very best. Looking for that victory on Friday night.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: But more importantly, making sure everybody comes back healthy and
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: safe after the Big W on Friday night.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. We're we got to finish out the week of
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: work and hope to be talking to you on the
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: podcast this time next week.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Coach, have a great rest of the week in practice.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Safe travels to Vincennes and looking forward to talking to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: you again next week.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Sounds like a plan. Go Braves.