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2023: A Good Night for the HoCo Bears · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome in to another week of talking
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: ho co Bear's football. Always enjoy our weekly visit with
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the headman of the Bear's football program. Of course, that
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  Speaker 1: can only mean one guy. I'm talking about, Jeremy Edwards,
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  Speaker 1: head coach of the Houston County football program. Coach, thanks
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: so much for doing this with us.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir Phil, thank you, and good morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, coach, And what a glorious morning it is.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Actually it's a glorious morning. Win, loser, draw, but certainly
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  Speaker 1: always much better when you win the football game. And
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  Speaker 1: you guys did that over a big time rival. Talk
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  Speaker 1: about the win. Congratulations on the win too against Wanner Robin.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a it was a good night for
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  Speaker 3: hope for the hoc Go Bear football program. Going over
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  Speaker 3: to a hostile environment over at MAC and taking care
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  Speaker 3: of business versus the one around was demon So we're
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  Speaker 3: real proud of our team and coaching staff and and
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  Speaker 3: I just couldn't be more excited right now.
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  Speaker 1: So, uh, you guys, obviously you know, have big games
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  Speaker 1: throughout the year. I mean you've played already played you know,
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  Speaker 1: some really good teams. But talk about what it means,
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  Speaker 1: you know, to beat a team like one of Robins,
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  Speaker 1: who he is, you know, your neighbor.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: For for all practical purposes, I mean they're in the
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  Speaker 1: same county you guys are are in. But uh and
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  Speaker 1: you guys have had some great games throughout the years.
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  Speaker 1: I would think I'd be safe to say, without really
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  Speaker 1: even taking a glance, that one of Robbins has probably
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  Speaker 1: won a few more. But uh, I guess that was
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  Speaker 1: make this one even more sweeter, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: I mean anytime you can beat a county rival, you know, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Big in this county. Uh.
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  Speaker 3: We got five high schools and so you know, we
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  Speaker 3: get a chance to play them all this year, so
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  Speaker 3: like we did last year, and so you know, one
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  Speaker 3: of our goals is obviously to try and win the county,
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  Speaker 3: the city by you know, beating the teams within our
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  Speaker 3: county and obviously in the region and then getting onto
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  Speaker 3: the state championship. So it's a it's always big for
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  Speaker 3: bragging rights for you know, three hundred sixty five days
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  Speaker 3: or three hundred and sixty four days, I guess, And.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll enjoy it.
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  Speaker 3: But I told the kids, you know, yesterday when they
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  Speaker 3: came in, like you know, we got the twenty four
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  Speaker 3: hour rule, like everybody talks about. Obviously it's kind of cliche,
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  Speaker 3: but it's the truth. You got to enjoy it on
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  Speaker 3: Saturday and you know, put it past you and well
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  Speaker 3: we can talk about that win after the season, but
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  Speaker 3: we got business to take care of this this.
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  Speaker 2: Week with Lee County.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're absolutely right. We'll certainly talk about and
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  Speaker 1: focus on the one of Robin's game, and then of
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  Speaker 1: course also going to look at and look ahead to
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  Speaker 1: the next opponent because, as I mentioned just a little
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  Speaker 1: bit earlier, you know, not gonna get any easier, and
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  Speaker 1: that's of course what we expect when we start to
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  Speaker 1: get into a reach and play, But first reflect on
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  Speaker 1: the win over the Wan of Robin's Demons. I mean again,
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  Speaker 1: you're reach an opener. No, no, it's non region. Sorry
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  Speaker 1: my bad, non region, but Lee County will be the
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  Speaker 1: region opener. But whether it's a region game or not,
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  Speaker 1: this is a huge game. Again, anytime you play anybody
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  Speaker 1: in your own county, it's a big one. Now, you
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  Speaker 1: guys had a game couple of weeks ago, of course
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  Speaker 1: against Perry that was huge. You guys came out on
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  Speaker 1: top forty two thirty five, but it looked like you
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  Speaker 1: guys turned it up another notch against Warner Robbins forty
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  Speaker 1: one to seven the final. I don't think it takes
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  Speaker 1: any kind of coaches speeches or motivational speeches or win
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  Speaker 1: one for the Gipper for games like this, right.
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  Speaker 2: No, I didn't take a whole lot to motivate our kids.
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  Speaker 2: They were motivated for the last two weeks.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we coming off of bye week, and so
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  Speaker 3: we were able to kind of you know, spend the
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  Speaker 3: bye week to get ready for them.
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  Speaker 2: And then obviously after seeing their.
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  Speaker 3: Final film against Dutchtown, we put the final you know pieces.
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  Speaker 2: In place for the for the game plan, and the.
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  Speaker 3: Kids did a great job all week staying locked in
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  Speaker 3: executing it, eliminating distractions, and you know, they came out
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  Speaker 3: with a lot of energy and you know, from the
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  Speaker 3: first whistle to the last, and so you know, we're
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  Speaker 3: just real proud. I'm super proud of my coaching staff
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  Speaker 3: and what they were able to do throughout the week
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  Speaker 3: and the hours they put in. You know, they don't
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  Speaker 3: get enough credit for the time they put in away
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  Speaker 3: from their families and just really to to to give
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  Speaker 3: back to this school. And give back to this uh,
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  Speaker 3: these kids. I mean, it's it goes without saying so,
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  Speaker 3: you know, again it's a tribute to the staff and
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  Speaker 3: the players executing the plan and just coming out. And
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  Speaker 3: you know, from like I said, from the very first kickoff,
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  Speaker 3: we were able to uh you know, recover it onside
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  Speaker 3: and and kind of set the tone early.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're talking to Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the
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  Speaker 1: Houston County Bears football program. We talked with the coach
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  Speaker 1: every week about what's happening with the Bears, and of
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  Speaker 1: course a lot's happening with ho Coe as they are
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  Speaker 1: coming off a big time win over the Demons. Final
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  Speaker 1: score and that one forty one to seven. You know,
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  Speaker 1: one thing that jumped out at me when I first
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  Speaker 1: heard the score was the fact that it's no surprise
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  Speaker 1: now when I hear you guys scoring thirty or more points,
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  Speaker 1: forty or more whatever. But coach, it looks like your
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  Speaker 1: defense really is now rising up to kind of match
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  Speaker 1: the offense, which you, of course, being an offensive minded guy,
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  Speaker 1: are going to bring to the table.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've done.
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  Speaker 3: My defensive coordinator and our defensive staff have done an
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  Speaker 3: unbelievable job of you know, putting the kids in position
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  Speaker 3: to be successful. And so you know, we've got some
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  Speaker 3: young guys that have had to step up and they've
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  Speaker 3: done a great job. And we've got several guys with
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  Speaker 3: a lot of experience that have continued to get better
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  Speaker 3: since last year. And so you know, when you put
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  Speaker 3: all those pieces together, and you know, again it does
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  Speaker 3: when you're playing a team like that, it doesn't take
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  Speaker 3: a whole lot to motivate them to play hard. And
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  Speaker 3: certainly they came out and we're able to you know,
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  Speaker 3: hold them to thirty five yards rushing and one hundred
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  Speaker 3: and thirty two yards passing on the night for you know,
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  Speaker 3: one sixty seven against the team that's got some guys
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  Speaker 3: that could you know, take it to the house at
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  Speaker 3: any moment, and to be able to to hold them
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  Speaker 3: to you know, one hundred and sixty seven total yards
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  Speaker 3: is a huge accomplishment. And obviously it goes without saying
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  Speaker 3: the work that was put in to put the plan
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  Speaker 3: together in order to execute it. And so I'm just
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  Speaker 3: proud of our defense and they just keep getting better
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  Speaker 3: every week.
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  Speaker 1: Like you said, yeah, absolutely, all right, So great win
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  Speaker 1: Friday night, But as you alluded, to in your earlier comments.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's all about the twenty four hour rule.
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  Speaker 1: You take about a full day to enjoy this one,
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  Speaker 1: and but then time to get back to the drawing
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  Speaker 1: board because you guys have got a big one coming
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  Speaker 1: up against. Oh, you guys got this next week Lee County,
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  Speaker 1: Lee County. That's right now, you guys get y'all just
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  Speaker 1: coming off your bye week, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, so we had our bye week before one
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  Speaker 3: of Robbins and then we'll play We played one of
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  Speaker 3: Robins and we got Lee North Side.
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  Speaker 2: Then we'll get another bye week when we got our
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  Speaker 2: fall break.
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  Speaker 3: So it kind of you know, as it goes with
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  Speaker 3: our school schedule, which is nice.
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  Speaker 2: We'll we won't take the week off, but we'll give
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  Speaker 2: them some time away and enjoy their fall break.
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  Speaker 3: And then we got the Yellow Jackets from Thomas County Central,
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  Speaker 3: so we've we've got the gauntlet coming here, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: but we got to take that one to.
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  Speaker 2: Know mentality each week. Sure, all we can do is
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  Speaker 2: is focus on the next opponent. So right now we're
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  Speaker 2: locked in completely on Lee County.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I needed I needed a second by was coming
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  Speaker 1: up with exactly sure when it was not having the
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  Speaker 1: schedule in front of me. But so let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: Lee County. Man, tell you this is this is a
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  Speaker 1: good football team, and coach, I mean you said it,
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  Speaker 1: I said it earlier. It ain't gonna get any easier,
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  Speaker 1: that's for sure. So I know your guys are kind
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  Speaker 1: of in a completely different mindset. Now talk about Lee
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  Speaker 1: County and what are the things that you know, kind
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  Speaker 1: of jump out at you in some of the film
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  Speaker 1: study you've done on these guys.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's a heck of an opponent to start your
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  Speaker 3: reagent play, that's for sure. And it's you know, exact
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  Speaker 3: same schedule as last year. That the positive is that
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  Speaker 3: they got to come up here and play at Freedom Field,
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  Speaker 3: so that that that's a big deal.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, the film doesn't lie.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, they've got the Chroma kid at running back
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  Speaker 3: that's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: You gotta find ways to get him on the ground,
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  Speaker 2: as we mentioned last year and didn't do it. It's
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  Speaker 2: great a job as we'd.
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  Speaker 3: Wanted to of doing that, and so you've got to
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  Speaker 3: be able to get him down the ground. And the
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  Speaker 3: backup that they've got it running back is pretty dang good.
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  Speaker 3: So we've we got our work cut out for us
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  Speaker 3: on defense. You know, they do what they do, and
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  Speaker 3: they do it well. They're big upfront, and so we've
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  Speaker 3: got to, uh, we've got to figure out ways to cause,
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  Speaker 3: you know, disrupt what they're what they're trying to do
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  Speaker 3: and maybe.
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  Speaker 2: Get some takeaways.
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  Speaker 3: And then offensively, you know, they continued to be the
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  Speaker 3: three three stack that they've done for years since coach
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  Speaker 3: Fabrizio has been there, and they like to cause a
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  Speaker 3: lot of havoc with you know, moving around that they
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  Speaker 3: do and blitzing and trying to throw you off schedule.
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  Speaker 3: And so we've got to do a great job of
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  Speaker 3: handling that and staying on scheduling and kind of ramping
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  Speaker 3: up our pace. And I think, uh, if we're able
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  Speaker 3: to do that.
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  Speaker 2: That's gonna help us to be more successful on that
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  Speaker 2: side of the ball.
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  Speaker 1: Now, so obviously, you guys played them last year. Do
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  Speaker 1: you do you in games like this? And I guess
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  Speaker 1: this is kind of the case with with every region opponent,
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  Speaker 1: do you guys kind of go back and look and see,
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  Speaker 1: like with you guys last year. Now, this thing got
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  Speaker 1: into a shootout. Y'all had just beaten one of Robbins
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  Speaker 1: last year, then you went to Lee and lost twenty eight. No,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, fifty to twenty one. Gave up a lot
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  Speaker 1: of points. Do you go back and look at that
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  Speaker 1: and see what went wrong and try to obviously make
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  Speaker 1: sure you don't make the same mistakes again.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, if you remember, that was the week
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: that we were supposed to have some weather and there
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: was a big storm coming in and midweek, the decision
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  Speaker 3: was made to play the game a day early. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it was not made by us. Obviously we had to
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  Speaker 3: had to, you know, That's what the decision was made.
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  Speaker 3: So we lost a whole day of preparation when we
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  Speaker 3: played Lee County.
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  Speaker 2: So we played on a Thursday night last year.
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  Speaker 3: It turns out the weather was perfect Friday, so we
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: could have played at Friday.
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  Speaker 2: But I do remember that now you mentioned, Yeah.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: So that that that hurt us a little bit because obviously, uh,
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  Speaker 3: they were coming off of bye week, so they they'd
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: had a chance to kind of you know, get ready
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: for us, much like we did with Warner Robbins's past week,
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  Speaker 3: and so.
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  Speaker 2: Losing a day of preparation for them didn't hurt him
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  Speaker 2: as bad as it hurt us.
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  Speaker 3: Now that being said, we still got to play the
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: game and we got to get you know, we got
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  Speaker 3: to tackle the back and do the things that we
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: didn't do in that game. But not to make any excuses,
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: they're a good football team and they have been for years.
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  Speaker 3: But I just think that that was that played a
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  Speaker 3: big part in and in throwing us off from a
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: scheduling standpoint. But obviously this year, you know, the weather's
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: supposed to be great, it's going to be an electric atmosphere.
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  Speaker 3: P Street TV has picked it up, you know in Atlanta,
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  Speaker 3: which is kind of exciting for our program to get
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  Speaker 3: some exposure obviously, and uh and uh, it's gonna be
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  Speaker 3: a blackout. So we're eight o'clock kick, which is different
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  Speaker 3: for us. And so it's gonna be a lot of
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  Speaker 3: buzz around this game. And uh, you know, I think
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  Speaker 3: our kids enjoy that, They embrace that, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's gonna be exciting this week leading up to game time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Finishing up with Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Houston County Bears football program. We talked with coach Edwards
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: every week here on It g Next and the Houston
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: County coaches show with myself Phil Jones. All right, So
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  Speaker 1: any last thoughts going into this game. I mean, it's
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: like you said, I guess it's kind of hard. You know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: maybe not so much for you and the coaches, but
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: for some of the young guys. I mean you start
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: looking at and it's easy to just see, wow, man,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: after leading, we got another big rivalry game in north Side,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: you know, we got you mentioned earlier, Thomas County Central.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I think what you said earlier, and I know a
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  Speaker 1: lot of coaches say it, and it is kind of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a cliche, probably one of the most off and use,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: but it's so true, especially with y'all coach, and that
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: is one and one at again, one at a time.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Got to take these games one at a time. And
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that's never been more true than in this case.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can't look ahead. You know. It's my job
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: as the head coach to get my.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Uh you know, the staff and the players in line, uh,
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: from top to bottom each week, uh, you know, And
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  Speaker 3: and it's our job as coaches to put these kids
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: in a position to be successful. And so you know,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: we we've never taken, you know, any other road. It's
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: always you know, doesn't matter who the opponent is. Uh,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: we've got to get better ourselves. Obviously we game plan
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: specifically for opponents, but we've.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Got things we got to fix ourselves within our our team.
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  Speaker 2: And so that's what we do each week in practice.
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  Speaker 2: We try to fix our mistakes.
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  Speaker 3: We try to lock in on what they're trying to do,
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  Speaker 3: put a plan together, get a good practice week of
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: practice in and you know, go through our process that
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: we do every week. And and you know, on Friday,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: when the balls kicked off, you know, hopefully we did
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  Speaker 3: a great job of getting our kids.
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  Speaker 2: In that position to go make plays. And that's all
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: we can ask for, and that's they trust us to
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: do that, and you know, we got to motivate them.
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  Speaker 3: But again with our schedule, at least from here on out,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: it doesn't take much to motivate our kids to get
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: them going.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: No, it certainly looks that way as again, you guys
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  Speaker 1: are off to a great start so far, undefeated here
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: on the season. We'll coach listen man, thank you so
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: much for taking time out to talk with us. As always,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: about to get really crazy with region play at the start,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: but I know you'll have your guys ready to go. No,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: doubt in our minds about that.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Yeaes, sir Phil, Thanks for always having me on. I
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: always enjoy speaking with you.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Same here Coach Edwards. Yes, sir, talk to you next week.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: All right, bye bye.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: There he is Jeremy Edwards checking in with us as
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: he does every week here on the Houston County Coaches Show.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: It g next. Thanks so much for Coach Edwards for
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: joining us. We'll be back next week with more bear
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: talk right here on the Housing County Coaches Show with
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Coach Jeremy Edwards and myself Phil Jones. Be sure to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: join us then