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Vandergrift HS Coach Drew Sanders Joins The Show! · The Craig Way Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Glad to have you with us here on this Monday
0:03
Speaker 1: afternoon and closing in on Christmas. Hey, if you're a
0:07
Speaker 1: fan of the Vandergriff Vipers, you know Christmas came a
0:10
Speaker 1: little early, it can't It arrived on Saturday with a
0:12
Speaker 1: twenty four to seventeen win in their win in the
0:17
Speaker 1: six to eight Division two state championship, knocking off South
0:20
Speaker 1: Lake Carol twenty four to seventeen, first ever state title
0:24
Speaker 1: for Vandergriff. And we're very pleased to be joined by
0:27
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Vipers, Drew Sanders, who joins
0:29
Speaker 1: us on the hotline. Has anybody come down from Cloud
0:33
Speaker 1: nine yet?
0:35
Speaker 2: No? No, we're gonna camp out there for a little bit. Sure.
0:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Hey tell me, I'm trying to remember.
0:42
Speaker 1: I know you've had some great and you have through
0:46
Speaker 1: obviously being the athletic coordinator and head coach, so much
0:51
Speaker 1: connection with every facet of extracurricular activities there at Vandergriff.
0:57
Speaker 1: I have a feeling, maybe marching band or something, that
0:59
Speaker 1: there's some other state champions in some other areas of
1:03
Speaker 1: extracurricular activities, aren't they There just hasn't been one in
1:06
Speaker 1: football before that's right.
1:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, we won a soccer girls soccer state championship. We've
1:13
Speaker 2: won multiple golf, golf, individual tennis. Yeah, but as far
1:18
Speaker 2: as team sports, the only state championship in Vandergriff history
1:21
Speaker 2: has been girls soccer. We played for it in a
1:24
Speaker 2: couple other sports and then and football, you know, we
1:27
Speaker 2: played for it in twenty two, right, Yeah, that's only want.
1:29
Speaker 1: Well, the reason why I asked that is because folks
1:33
Speaker 1: who have seen the school and the program grow under
1:39
Speaker 1: your direction going all the way back to two thousand
1:41
Speaker 1: and nine, they've seen these steps and I talked about
1:44
Speaker 1: it in on our final High School Scoreboard Live show
1:46
Speaker 1: yesterday about the incremental steps that your program has taken.
1:50
Speaker 1: But the school overall and all within a great educational
1:55
Speaker 1: school district in the Leander ISD. So, I mean, this
1:58
Speaker 1: is a natural progression. But we all know how difficult
2:02
Speaker 1: it is to win six high school football playoff games, right, So,
2:05
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously this has been building for a while,
2:08
Speaker 1: and it does require you and the coaching staff getting
2:10
Speaker 1: the guys to maintain their belief you're in year out.
2:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that that was something that
2:16
Speaker 2: I said on the postgame interview and that I meant
2:19
Speaker 2: was that, you know, it wasn't just this year's team
2:22
Speaker 2: that got us there, you know, I mean it was
2:24
Speaker 2: The cool thing is is I've been here for so long.
2:26
Speaker 2: It's just it's just been a process, and every year
2:29
Speaker 2: I felt like we've you know, taken some sort of
2:32
Speaker 2: progress towards our ultimate goal from you know, sometimes making
2:35
Speaker 2: the first team that made the playoffs, and the first
2:37
Speaker 2: team to win a playoff game, and then the first
2:39
Speaker 2: team to get to the semifinals. You know, all that
2:41
Speaker 2: stuff all built to where we could handle big games
2:45
Speaker 2: and actually think we could win a big game like that.
2:48
Speaker 2: And and so that's what I said in my post game.
2:50
Speaker 2: And I want to make sure all my past players
2:52
Speaker 2: know is I've gotten all my texts from my past players.
2:55
Speaker 2: I'm still going through, and each one of them, I
2:57
Speaker 2: told them that, you know, we did that because of you,
2:59
Speaker 2: you know, and that's that's why we were ready for
3:01
Speaker 2: that moment.
3:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, what did you.
3:02
Speaker 1: Mentioned Dakota Proukop among others. I mean, you mentioned guys
3:05
Speaker 1: go away, didn't you.
3:07
Speaker 3: Yeah?
3:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, those guys popped in my head. You know,
3:09
Speaker 2: I just I love all my guys, you know, you know,
3:12
Speaker 2: how coaches are about their players. But you know, those
3:15
Speaker 2: guys were two that were two of the original Vipers
3:18
Speaker 2: that that believed in me and my vision for the
3:20
Speaker 2: program when you know, really there's really no reason to
3:24
Speaker 2: And so I'm always indebted to that first group that
3:26
Speaker 2: that allowed me to to do our thing and believe
3:29
Speaker 2: and and go win, you know.
3:32
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Visiting with Drew Sanders, head coach
3:36
Speaker 1: of Vandergriff Vipers. One thing that you mentioned to Greg
3:39
Speaker 1: Tepper was working the sidelines on that and he asked you,
3:43
Speaker 1: I think what before the game about how you know
3:46
Speaker 1: how it was different than a couple of years ago,
3:47
Speaker 1: and you said you you felt a lot more relaxed.
3:51
Speaker 3: Is that just.
3:51
Speaker 1: Because of what you went through two years ago or
3:53
Speaker 1: a combination of things.
3:55
Speaker 2: I think it's a build up of a lot of things.
3:57
Speaker 2: But like I knew, you know, what went wrong, Like
3:59
Speaker 2: last time, we were trying to get into the stadium
4:02
Speaker 2: and we were you know, we had a window, I thought,
4:04
Speaker 2: and we couldn't. We were five minutes, you know, past
4:07
Speaker 2: that window. Supposedly, I still think we were within the
4:09
Speaker 2: time we couldn't get in and so we had to
4:12
Speaker 2: wait for thirty minutes, and then you know all these
4:14
Speaker 2: little things like how's the pre game going to go?
4:17
Speaker 2: Because a lot of people may or may not know this,
4:19
Speaker 2: but like it is a moving thing that whole day
4:21
Speaker 2: with multiple games, everything moves. They changed our game time
4:24
Speaker 2: to three thirty. We didn't blink an eye. But that
4:26
Speaker 2: was all because we were ready and we'd already been there.
4:30
Speaker 2: And I'd be interested to see how many how many
4:32
Speaker 2: people win at the second time or third time they
4:35
Speaker 2: come and don't have success the first time because it
4:38
Speaker 2: is such a different thing playing in Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
4:41
Speaker 2: There is a wow factor when you walk in. Well
4:43
Speaker 2: imagine the wow factor when you're standing on the field
4:46
Speaker 2: and saying I'm about to play for state championship and
4:48
Speaker 2: you look around and just it's just amazing. And so
4:51
Speaker 2: all of that together, my coaches were ready to go.
4:54
Speaker 2: I mean, I just it all our plan we went
4:57
Speaker 2: up to spend the night. Our plan was even better
4:58
Speaker 2: than it was and it was good couple of years ago,
5:00
Speaker 2: but all of that stuff was already planned out and better,
5:03
Speaker 2: and it just allowed for us to be just kind
5:05
Speaker 2: of realizing all we need to go do is go
5:07
Speaker 2: play our game. That was our speech all all weeks
5:10
Speaker 2: is we don't you don't have to feel like in
5:12
Speaker 2: a big game you have to do more than normal
5:14
Speaker 2: because a lot of people think that all we need
5:16
Speaker 2: is your best and that's what you've given all year.
5:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and did it? Did it also happen?
5:20
Speaker 1: Because when I was doing the uh South Oakcliff Randall
5:24
Speaker 1: five A Division two game Friday night, we had a
5:26
Speaker 1: shot at your guys sitting in the stands.
5:27
Speaker 3: Did it Did it help? Also?
5:28
Speaker 1: Just kind of getting them relaxed walking in and being
5:32
Speaker 1: able to sit down and have a look around.
5:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know all those guys, you know, I only
5:37
Speaker 2: had one starter in with that was starting as a sophomore.
5:41
Speaker 2: But after that, you know, all those guys were there
5:43
Speaker 2: for the playoff team, so they had seen it. But
5:45
Speaker 2: now they're seeing it and thinking about, well, I'm I
5:47
Speaker 2: I've got to go play tomorrow. It's a lot a
5:48
Speaker 2: lot different doing that. And and so we just felt
5:52
Speaker 2: like any exposure to the stadium would be helpful. And
5:55
Speaker 2: and then and then it's a good reminder also, you know,
5:58
Speaker 2: on the on the flip side, you know, this is
6:00
Speaker 2: a this is a big deal, and you watch how
6:02
Speaker 2: the crowds react like literally, if people haven't been to
6:05
Speaker 2: the game, they have to go because every play, every play,
6:09
Speaker 2: the crowd lives and dies on it. It's crazy how
6:11
Speaker 2: loud the crowds are. That was the way the semifinal
6:13
Speaker 2: Game two was with Summer Creed. But and so that
6:17
Speaker 2: takes a little bit to get used to too.
6:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt about it.
6:20
Speaker 1: It kind of has that Texas, so you vibe to
6:22
Speaker 1: it with the crowds going crazy on one side to
6:23
Speaker 1: the other. Let's talk about the game and going into it.
6:28
Speaker 1: I know that you felt turnovers were going to be
6:30
Speaker 1: a big part of your team has been so good
6:33
Speaker 1: at causing, creating and coming up with turnovers, and that
6:37
Speaker 1: proved to be a really big factor.
6:38
Speaker 3: Again.
6:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're you know, typically the Vanderiff typical
6:43
Speaker 2: team is going to be on defense, is going to
6:45
Speaker 2: be a bunch of guys that line up right, play hard,
6:48
Speaker 2: and then we're going to try to cause chaos with
6:49
Speaker 2: our alignments and our blitzes and things like that, and
6:52
Speaker 2: we're not going to physically dominate you up front. This
6:55
Speaker 2: year we had physically dominated some people up front because
6:57
Speaker 2: of our a couple of d linemen who you know,
7:00
Speaker 2: and we had had done such a good job, but
7:03
Speaker 2: we had been a bunch of ball hawks, That's how
7:05
Speaker 2: we had created. So we've given up yardage, but not
7:08
Speaker 2: many points because we just kind of found a way
7:10
Speaker 2: to make the play when it counted. And I just
7:12
Speaker 2: felt like, we've got to behave like we had all
7:15
Speaker 2: year if we're going to win this thing. And we
7:17
Speaker 2: had three key takeaways right when we needed and and
7:21
Speaker 2: then we end up, you know, winning.
7:23
Speaker 1: So just for the record, only because I heard four
7:27
Speaker 1: different pronunciations during the course of the game, how does
7:30
Speaker 1: Miles pronounce his last name?
7:33
Speaker 3: Tia Decky?
7:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I heard Tao, I heard TODC heard all that.
7:37
Speaker 1: I thought I thought it was Tiadecy. I just want
7:39
Speaker 1: to make sure I hadn't had it wrong all that time.
7:41
Speaker 1: My point was going to be, my question was, have
7:43
Speaker 1: you ever had a quarterback in a postseason game where
7:49
Speaker 1: a game of that magnitude, maybe not the magnitude of
7:51
Speaker 1: a state game, but certainly a player play better than
7:54
Speaker 1: what he did on Saturday. I mean, he was perfect
7:56
Speaker 1: through the air. I mean, have you ever had a
7:58
Speaker 1: quarterback play that well?
8:00
Speaker 2: Oh? I don't think so. I mean it was just
8:01
Speaker 2: an unbelievable performance. I mean, he was so accurate with
8:05
Speaker 2: the ball, making good decisions and and it's like we
8:09
Speaker 2: were talking about, it's like he's already a senior, you know.
8:10
Speaker 2: I mean he's already had his junior year and he's
8:12
Speaker 2: into the senior year now with these six games, and
8:15
Speaker 2: I mean, his his his ability to liver the ball
8:18
Speaker 2: where we needed and get us, you know, get us
8:20
Speaker 2: in the right read you know, do that. And and
8:23
Speaker 2: you know he played through pain. He hurt his finger
8:25
Speaker 2: in the second quarter and uh, the on his throwing
8:28
Speaker 2: hand and and wouldn't come out of the game and
8:31
Speaker 2: played through that, and I mean it was an amazing
8:34
Speaker 2: performance by Himserve the MVP.
8:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I want to go back to the defense,
8:39
Speaker 1: to the goal line stand. And the reason why I
8:41
Speaker 1: want to bring this up is I sent you a
8:43
Speaker 1: photo of it.
8:44
Speaker 3: I had.
8:45
Speaker 1: We had your game on in a monitor in the
8:47
Speaker 1: booth as we were calling Texas Clemson, and I got
8:50
Speaker 1: to tell you, I haven't told you this. Your goal
8:52
Speaker 1: line stand happened at almost exact same time the Texas
8:56
Speaker 1: goal line stand happened against Clemson. They were separated by
8:59
Speaker 1: maybe maybe I may be overthinking it, but I'm thinking
9:03
Speaker 1: maybe five minutes.
9:04
Speaker 3: It wasn't much.
9:05
Speaker 1: Wow, I can tell you that, and I know what
9:08
Speaker 1: it took for the Texas goal line stand to happen.
9:10
Speaker 1: But I wanted you to recap what was going on
9:13
Speaker 1: because here's Carol driving late in the game and by
9:17
Speaker 1: the way, the second half because your game started late.
9:20
Speaker 1: Your game and the Texas game kind of mirrored one
9:23
Speaker 1: another in terms of the clock where it was on
9:26
Speaker 1: the clock. The Texas came ended maybe five ten minutes
9:29
Speaker 1: after your ballgame did it was pretty close. And so anyway,
9:34
Speaker 1: the wh when it came down to that goal line stand,
9:36
Speaker 1: take me through what was going on with the with
9:39
Speaker 1: the instruction to your guys about what you needed to do.
9:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, obviously this will go down and
9:46
Speaker 2: buy for history. Is one of the best. It's probably
9:48
Speaker 2: the best defensive stop in our history. But you know
9:50
Speaker 2: it's first and go from the one for the people
9:51
Speaker 2: who didn't watch the game. First and go from the
9:53
Speaker 2: one so that you know, I want to know the
9:55
Speaker 2: success rate that was happening. If they had ESPN success
9:58
Speaker 2: rate you know where you know you've seen that, or
10:00
Speaker 2: it is like can this team win and first and
10:02
Speaker 2: goal from the one they run. They haven't run their
10:05
Speaker 2: their quarterback all day. We held them to probably fifty
10:08
Speaker 2: yards rushing. They rushed for the quarterback rush for two
10:10
Speaker 2: hundred against Geyer. We had held them the less of
10:12
Speaker 2: fifty yards rushing total, and so our front was doing
10:15
Speaker 2: their job. But they tried to run quarterback sweep and
10:19
Speaker 2: has been in one of their main plays. Adam Scott
10:21
Speaker 2: stopped it just just we blitzed him right to the right,
10:25
Speaker 2: to the back and he just finally found a way
10:27
Speaker 2: to make the play. We knocked him back four yards. Now,
10:30
Speaker 2: second and goal from the four. They throw a pass
10:33
Speaker 2: they've been throwing to. I'm sure everybody's aware. Number eleven
10:35
Speaker 2: is one of their best players. He's got a million offers,
10:39
Speaker 2: he's sixty five. I think it's TCUs he's a committee anyway,
10:43
Speaker 2: he's just a junior. He's amazing, and so they kept
10:46
Speaker 2: going to him. I think he had thirteen catches for
10:48
Speaker 2: something crazy like one hundred and sixty yards, and so
10:51
Speaker 2: we were just trying to bracket him. And so if Buchanan,
10:56
Speaker 2: who ends up being the defensive VP, knocks the ball
10:58
Speaker 2: away on like a little rollout play and then they
11:02
Speaker 2: call time out, which I was very happy about because
11:05
Speaker 2: that meant that they were only going to have one
11:07
Speaker 2: left and that ended up costing them later. But this
11:11
Speaker 2: is about, you know, three minutes less in the game
11:13
Speaker 2: or so and and so then that time out allowed
11:17
Speaker 2: me to talk about the coverage we were going to
11:19
Speaker 2: put in because we were trying to get us in man.
11:22
Speaker 2: But at Vandergriff we don't run a bunch of men.
11:24
Speaker 2: We love to run our Tampa zone and so we
11:26
Speaker 2: but we can run man, and so we were talking
11:28
Speaker 2: about this double plan. So allowed us to scheme this up.
11:32
Speaker 2: So the last two players are in the same coverage
11:34
Speaker 2: this you know, this basically man double, and we were
11:36
Speaker 2: doubling on eleven right and about to pass away on third,
11:41
Speaker 2: and then on fourth they go to somebody else because
11:43
Speaker 2: I guess they read that we're doubling them. And then
11:46
Speaker 2: my linebacker CJ. Mooring, whose dad, who dad, by the way,
11:50
Speaker 2: coaches at Texas, is that's to pass away and we
11:54
Speaker 2: stop them on fourth down. So it was just a
11:56
Speaker 2: tremendous series.
11:57
Speaker 1: Well and for you, an old defensive guy, that does
11:59
Speaker 1: your heart good to see the defense bank as big.
12:02
Speaker 3: An impact play as some of your offensive plays done it.
12:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean in that moment. I mean, you know
12:07
Speaker 2: there the picture I think you sent me, but multiple
12:10
Speaker 2: people have sent me because they know how much you know,
12:11
Speaker 2: I love good defense of me celebrating after the fourth
12:15
Speaker 2: down stop. And yeah, it's it's pure joy. It's about
12:17
Speaker 2: as good as it gets for a defense. It's good.
12:20
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, I want to I want
12:21
Speaker 1: to ask you what you think it does in terms
12:25
Speaker 1: of the immediacy and what the long term impact can
12:29
Speaker 1: be for winning a state championship and in specific winning
12:33
Speaker 1: one at your particular program where you have been the
12:36
Speaker 1: only coach the program's ever known, and every player's come
12:38
Speaker 1: through that door has been coached by you.
12:41
Speaker 3: What do you think this that the impact of this is.
12:45
Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing is is like, you know, man,
12:48
Speaker 2: this is my twenty seventh year coaching. It's really hard.
12:52
Speaker 2: I know so many winning coaches that have never even
12:54
Speaker 2: been to the game, and for us, for us to
12:56
Speaker 2: be able to get there twice and then find a
12:58
Speaker 2: way to win one, I mean, it's just a legendary
13:00
Speaker 2: status that nobody could ever take away from you. And
13:04
Speaker 2: you know, you see all those people getting to put
13:06
Speaker 2: stars in their logos and things like that, like like
13:08
Speaker 2: Travis does or whatever else. I mean, that's that's something
13:11
Speaker 2: earned that still people talk about decades later. You know.
13:14
Speaker 2: We were playing South like obviously right they were interviewing
13:17
Speaker 2: my guys. They have not won a state championship since
13:19
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, okay eleven, yea, and they the question they
13:23
Speaker 2: asked them all my guys was are you ready for this?
13:27
Speaker 2: Because these guys have so much experience, and my guys
13:29
Speaker 2: are like, they do, you know, because but that's the
13:32
Speaker 2: way thirteen years ago, fourteen years ago, fourteen seasons and
13:37
Speaker 2: and they're still talking about it. That's the kind of
13:39
Speaker 2: you know, permanency a state championship has, and so that's
13:43
Speaker 2: you know, that's a I'm really impressed with our guys.
13:46
Speaker 2: So I think that it just spolidifies also that what
13:49
Speaker 2: we've built here is real, you know. I mean, and
13:51
Speaker 2: because sometimes in you're down down spot, you're like, well,
13:54
Speaker 2: you know, I've won a lot of big games, but
13:56
Speaker 2: I can't win the game. You know, we can't win
13:58
Speaker 2: the game. And so it was nice to see us
14:01
Speaker 2: find a way to do that because we have won
14:02
Speaker 2: some big games, you know, Katie. Wasn't a ridiculously big
14:05
Speaker 2: game for us to win, but it's nice to be
14:08
Speaker 2: able to say, hey, for all the marbles, you were
14:11
Speaker 2: able to do it. What that does for me overall?
14:14
Speaker 2: It just you know, I mean, sixteen years at one
14:17
Speaker 2: place and building it from when I got the job.
14:20
Speaker 2: You know that there the school was even built. It
14:23
Speaker 2: was just a dirt patch out there when I went
14:25
Speaker 2: by to look at it when I interviewed, and to now,
14:29
Speaker 2: you know, thinking we're in Cowboys Stadium and I see
14:31
Speaker 2: South Lack on the other side, and I was just like,
14:33
Speaker 2: I just can't even believe this is happening. Almost a
14:36
Speaker 2: couple of times in the game, you know, you feel
14:38
Speaker 2: like it's just too good, Like it's a dream, you know,
14:40
Speaker 2: because you've built this and you've dreamed of it and
14:42
Speaker 2: you've thought about it, and it comes to fruition. You know,
14:46
Speaker 2: I just thank the Good Lord, and I'm really thankful
14:49
Speaker 2: for the whole opportunity of building Vandergriff. And we're not done,
14:52
Speaker 2: you know, but it's it's a pretty cool thing to
14:54
Speaker 2: be able to get that done at a place that
14:57
Speaker 2: you know you've loved and you've built up and you've
14:59
Speaker 2: tried to make for and for people mentioned it as
15:02
Speaker 2: a good program across the state and now you know
15:04
Speaker 2: you do this, and it's like, yeah, they're definitely going
15:06
Speaker 2: to mention it, no.
15:07
Speaker 3: Doubt about it.
15:08
Speaker 1: And by the way, your next board meeting when you
15:09
Speaker 1: walk in is the incoming president of the Texas High
15:12
Speaker 1: School Coach Association.
15:13
Speaker 3: This is not a bad thing to walk in with.
15:14
Speaker 2: As well, right, I mean no, I can't tell you
15:18
Speaker 2: the number of texts and hugs and calls and and
15:21
Speaker 2: just got off a call, you know, for one of
15:22
Speaker 2: my buddies and and yeah, I mean it's just coaches.
15:25
Speaker 2: It's like the ultimate thing that that you all want
15:27
Speaker 2: to do. And so yeah, it's a it's a pretty
15:30
Speaker 2: tremendous thing.
15:31
Speaker 1: Well, it's always great to visit with you. I couldn't
15:34
Speaker 1: be happier for you. I think it's I think it's
15:36
Speaker 1: been overdue and I think and I always knew you
15:39
Speaker 1: were going to get one, So it's it's great to
15:40
Speaker 1: see it verified off.
15:42
Speaker 3: For all that, I appreciate the time.
15:44
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy the holiday season, and uh, we'll
15:47
Speaker 1: look forward to visiting with you around the corner again.
15:49
Speaker 2: But congratulations, Jar Okay, thanks Greg.
15:51
Speaker 3: All Right, that's true.
15:52
Speaker 1: Sanders, head coach of the Vandergrift Vipers. They are the
15:54
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four UIL six A Division two football state champions.
16:00
Speaker 1: The beat South Lay Carol twenty four to seventeen for
16:02
Speaker 1: the school's first ever football state crown. All Right, we
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Speaker 1: have a lot more coming up when we continue on
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Speaker 1: Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.