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Highland Park's 2024 Football Captains: Triumphs, Teamwork, and Traditions · The Bubble Lounge (Highland Park & University Park Texas)

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• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bubble Lounge.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I'm Martha Jackson and tonight is finally the night.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Highland Park is kicking off football season and we are so excited to welcome the 2024 football captains.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: As you know, we are big fans of Highland Park football and we have invited in all the captains this year.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: All the captains this year, including offensive lineman Gage Clark, linebacker Anders Korn, running back James Lancaster, linebacker Jack Morse and defensive lineman Daniel Turner.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Guys, welcome to the show.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Let's go around the table and just introduce yourselves.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Tell your number and what position you play.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I'm Anders Korn, number six.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I'm a linebacker.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I'm Gage Clark.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I'm number 76, I play offensive line.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I'm Jack Morris, I'm number nine and I play inside linebacker.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: I'm Daniel Turner, I'm number 93, and I play defensive end.
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: I'm James Lancaster, I play running back and I'm number five.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Well, how did you each get into football?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I know you've been playing for quite some time.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Jack and I actually started in third grade with the Cowboys the HP Cowboys and ever since it's just been like I mean time has flown since the Cowboys, I don't know.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I've known him my whole life Just my dad.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: He played NFL on college level probably everything I know and then me and James played also 11 men team called HP United, where a lot of guys are still on the varsity team today, and that's where it all started out.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I started pre-k playing flag football with my dad.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: He was my coach for basically pre-k to sixth grade and then, as Anders said, we had an 11-man Cowboys team, which a lot of us, you know.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: We're all still on the same team.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: We all still play together.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: That's how I started.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I started playing YMCA ball.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: My dad he played football here and at Washington, and Lee he was a captain here and he coached my YMCA team, so that's really where it started for me.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: It was just a lot of fun getting to play with him as my coach.
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so like Jack, I started playing flag football in pre-K and I remember playing him all the time I was on the Raiders and that's just kind of where I found a love for football.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: And then it developed into six-man football in YMCA, on the same team as Gage, and went from that to 11-man.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: And then here we are today and the love for football has just grown since.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, I cannot believe how long most of you have been playing.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is crazy and you guys have been together some of you on the teams from early on and that's really amazing.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So being the team captain, that's a pretty amazing accomplishment.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I want to know how you felt when you got the news, like, did somebody call you?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Did you get an email?
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: How did this all happen?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: We actually get presented a captainship by the previous captain.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: They'll introduce it name by name.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: The captain from the previous year will introduce it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: After that, coach Allen brings us into the office and has us call our moms and tell them that we got captain.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: It's a long process.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: It all starts with everyone on the team votes for the player committee.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: There's 12 of us, I think it's seven defense, five offense, and then after that all the pc members will give a speech on a given topic.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: It's like, for example, mine was scott's find a way, so I talked about old games like jesuit last year, mckinney game, and and then after that they'll vote for captains.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: And then after that they'll vote for captains and then, as Anders said, the old captains told us who it was, who the now captains are going to be.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly what Anders said Extremely nerve-wracking, by the way.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I could imagine.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Tell me about your most memorable moment playing in high school.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: I think that's got to go, probably for all of us, is the McKinney game.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: That was just an unreal experience, just a mixture of where we were playing at SMU Stadium and then the weather was just crazy weather.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Overall it was just a crazy game, great atmosphere, and we all played our tails off and it showed.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: As a team.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Most definitely, the McKinney game On a personal performance was my sophomore year playing against Jesuit.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: It was the first game I started.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I had an interception in front of the whole crowd and that by far is the coolest moment, probably of my entire life.
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• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back to McKinney for a minute here, because Coach Allen just talked about it last week on the show.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: It's by far my most favorite football memory that I've ever experienced, because I was right there on the sidelines right next to the goalpost when Nick kicked it through, and I mean it was raining, like you said, and it was just.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: The celebration was phenomenal.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Everything was amazing about that game.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I mean I just remember like we were going to that game.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: We knew who we were playing.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: They were hyped up in every single news article saying they were going to that game.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: We knew who we were playing.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: They were hyped up in every single news article saying that they were going to beat us.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: They had all these Division I guys going to play ball at the next level and they were just shown to be such a dominant team and one of the best defenses in all of Texas high school football.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: But yeah, we came out there and we proved everybody wrong and, just like us, showing how we can take over a team that no one said we could, it means so much to everybody and it showed so much courage.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I think that win just meant so much and really showed how cool the moment really was.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And yeah, to go back to that final play, Daniel Gage and I were all in and it actually got tipped.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: So like right when it got tipped, I see all the McKinney guys celebrating.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: At first and I was like might as well just take a final look at the ball, see where it goes, and it just barely trickles in.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And then, watching everyone's faces, we all looked at each other like that just went in.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Like that just happened and just running to the student section with everyone like I was crying tears of joy.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know about anyone else, but everybody was.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I was super excited.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, super magical, the most electric thing of all time it really was, and I mean just the bad weather and the rain added on top of it all, like just everyone was on the field and everyone was going crazy.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It really was something to celebrate for sure.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So you all are starters on the varsity Highland Park team.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Did you always have this talent amongst you, or was there ever a rough time, like a rough start that you had to your football career?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: So freshman year, james and I, we were on the freshman team Daniel Anderson, gage, all got moved up to JV but we got named as ball boys by Coach Corey at practice.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: And I remember this day vividly One of my favorite memories from football probably.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: And it was a Thursday night in Sherman on a grass field.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Our game got canceled and we win.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: We beat Sherman pretty bad, and after the game we're all eating our Whataburger on the bus.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: And Coach Corey walked up the stairs of the third team bus, the third row bus.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: He's like ball boys come here and all the ball boys were holding a group around Coach Corey and Coach Corey was like y'all left five footballs on the field, three towels, a headset.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: This isn't very funny.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I'm going to run.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Y'all left five footballs on the field, three towels, a headset.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: This isn't very funny.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I'm going to run y'all into the ground tomorrow.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And then he looks over to James and then James starts laughing.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I let him pick it up from there.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I just couldn't keep it in, man.
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: He looked at me and it just all came out.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: I looked at all the other guys and they were all just straight-faced looking at the ground.
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: I look up at Coach Corey.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: He's just staring at me and I just let it out.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: I couldn't hold it in.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: I couldn't hold it in and we joked around with Coach Corey about that story.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: It's one of those stories that really it's what football is about.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: It's a warm memory.
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: So going from ball boy to being a starter on varsity, just it means the world to us.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, my sophomore year I uh, I tore my tore ligament in my knee and so I, like I knew I wasn't going to play my sophomore year, and so I took on the role of, like a coach and I would write down the plays where the, where the runs were fitting what gap and it didn't.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: In the moment it didn't feel like I was doing much, but looking back, the impact I made on the team when I wasn't even playing, it made a difference towards the outcome of the game.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: One of my favorite roles on the sidelines is the can man.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Who is the can man this year?
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so the can man we chose this year is Knox Randall, and just nobody doesn't love Knox.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: He comes into a room that just brightens everyone's day.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: He's the definition of a Scott, and he got injured in spring and so he won't be able to play very much, but he just like, he just brings it whenever and wherever and he just is definitely someone you want on your sideline banging a trash can and getting hype.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I can't wait to see him out there.
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• 11:39
  Speaker 1: So you all are all seniors now, right?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: um, tell me what you, what, how you want to leave your mark on this football program I mean, I feel like there's only one answer to this and it's with a ring 2024 on the press box.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: I feel like that's, that's all of our goals yeah, I think that, uh, we're blessed to have that as our standard at Helen Park and you know that's the tradition here.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: And so some other schools might say like, hey, we want to win some playoff games or we want to win district, but for us it's go big or go home.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Do you have any hobbies?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Do you have any other interests outside of football?
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, football does take up a lot of time, especially like right now in fall camp.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Other than that, I feel like a lot of the guys just like to like our team.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I feel like hangs out a lot more than any other team has.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: So bonding like a bond, we have a huge bond on our team.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I mean yeah, back to what Anders was saying like all the guys after a game will go out together and just like have a good time, we'll, you know, just celebrate the win, or um, after practices we'll be like offensive line about opposite backfield.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: We'll go eat mia's on wednesday night as a team and just help relish and deepen our bond as a team.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: And I feel like that amount of like going out, like hanging out with the team, is not that common, especially at a high school level.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: But I think the football team shows that a lot and it's really cool to see.
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, going off what Gage said, we're not just a football team.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: We're all friends in our own way.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: We have a bond on the field and we have a bond outside of the field, which is awesome to have.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as well as outside of football, A lot of the football team plays lacrosse as well.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So right after we're done with football, about a week or two later, we're going to D1 for workouts and then we start January.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: We're done November, December and we're starting up lacrosse in January.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I know that you all from talking to other captains in the past that almost every single night of the week you have something that's going on.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: You kind of have a set schedule as far as team dinners and practices, watching film.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: All that type of thing walk me through a typical week yeah, so it begins on monday.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: obviously that's probably the hardest practice we have all all week, and so we really have to get after it.
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: Coach allen always encourages us to start the week off right, and it leads to tuesday, wednesday which wednesday is kind of a more chill practice than Monday and Tuesday and then, yeah, wednesday, offense line running backs, we'll have a little dinner together at Mia's, like Gage said earlier, and then Thursdays we have team dinner, and that's when we really get prepared for our opponent and just get really locked in for the game tomorrow.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: on Friday yeah, something that I've loved that we did this last year.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: We have a new coach for the D-line, Coach Lucero.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: He is my favorite coach.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: I love him, and he started hosting D-line dinners on Wednesday nights and so we'll go over to his house after practice and his wife will just cook up trays of lasagna.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: He did smash burgers one night.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: He just goes all out.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: He did steaks one night and it's just like three hours of just the D-line, just with quality bonding and getting to hang out with Coach and talk about more than just football.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: It's a great time.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And quality food.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: it sounds like oh yes, for sure, that sounds amazing.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: So tell us about your pregame locker room rituals.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: What are you guys doing in there to get ready for the game?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I mean for me, I don't really say a word to anyone, Unless I'm talking about the game plan with Anders or Daniel or my fellow inside linebackers.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: We have to put up our phones like two hours before the game starts.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: It's really just like you in your own mind.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: When you're in there, you have no music, you have no outside sources of entertainment, I guess, or excitement, so it's really just being mentally prepared.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: That's a big part of our pregame ritual.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I would say.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I feel like faith is also a huge part for this team and we have worship and we'll have a guy talk before the game and he'll pray for us, and Coach Allen makes it a big point of faith and having faith going into the game, and I think that's a huge part.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that Coach Allen, he's been doing this for years and he has it down really well.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: We have time, we have off time before the game where we'll be sitting there, but it's not too much to where you lose focus or you're you like lose the stretches that you got in earlier, like he definitely has it down to the wire of, like he has it all timed perfectly, I think.
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• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about offseason.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: What have you all been doing since we saw you play last season?
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: What?
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: have you all been doing since we saw you play last season.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: So right after we finished our season out all the underclassmen who are going to be seniors next are going to be juniors we go into a meeting room right after the game and we talk about what goals we have for this next season and how we're going to prepare for it.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: This is right after the game.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: This is December.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: And then after that we go into our hardest portion of training, called Scott makers, where it's just terrible conditioning they're.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: All the point is to like work you to the bone and just see how hard one can go and Show like how in a fourth quarter, no matter like what people will do, and you'll see that in those drills, and Then we'll do that for about two to three weeks and then we'll finish on.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Then called a perfect day when everyone messes up, I up, no one, no one messes up 100 enthusiasm.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: You're loud, as loud as you can be, and then you head into workouts, the team and doing skill-based positions with position groups and working on your own fundamentals and stuff.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: And then for summer we do performance course, which is monday through thursday two hours a day and that's a lot of fun.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: We bring in the performance course guys and they're great coaches.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: They're just really likable and they know what they're doing and we do a bunch of fun stuff there.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: We do awards every week, called stars of the week.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: We celebrate, we dress up and do aerial football as a team and it's a good time also during the months of January and February we have power lifting every morning.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: So it's like 6 am workouts three times a week for about three weeks, four weeks, and Coach Eason he'll tell you he gets after us and it's not so fun in the moment.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: But looking back at it, those moments just prepare us for the season to come.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you'll be ready for anything if you listen to Michael Jackson at 6 am in the weight room.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I could see that.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I love Coach Easton.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I could see him.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: He takes his job very seriously.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: So what kind of changes have you made as far as your performance and your diet?
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I know some of the younger boys that are interested in playing football at your level.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: They probably need a little bit of advice from you guys.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so between my sophomore and junior year I was told to gain a lot of weight and that just comes with playing D-line.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: I was pretty skinny leading up to that and so for me at least, it was just eat as much as you can and then keep eating was kind of like my mindset, at least in the offseason, because it's less about what you're putting on and more that you're just putting it on.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: But uh, once we got closer to season I realized like that it should be mostly muscle.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: You should try to like limit all the fats and so hopped on some like mass gainers and then just, yeah, kept the thought process of eat as much as you can process of eat as much as you can.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: Do you play another sport?
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: No, I do powerlifting.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: I would do the powerlifting meets.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, because I have a teenage son that plays two different sports and they're kind of counteracting each other as far as body composition needs to be.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: So I was just curious how that worked with your situation.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Blake plays lacrosse right goal.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: So I mean I guess, speaking on that two sport behalf, I mean, for the position I play in lacrosse, which is goalie, I mean I don't have to be in peak shape.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I kind of I kind of let like football dictate whatever I'm going to eat.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: But I'm not going to like go out there and, as my dad says, gain water burger weight, which means just go eat.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: But I'm not going to go out there and, as my dad says, gain Whataburger weight, which means just go eat four or five burgers just to put on weight.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: I'm making sure I'm eating clean foods.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Well, not all the time.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to sit here and say I'm eating steaks, only rice and chicken, but just making sure you're not going overboard on the really fast foods.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: But I mean, yeah, it's kind of yeah so I mean as an offensive lineman.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I was coming into my freshman year weighing 190, which that will do nothing for you at the offensive line.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: You'll get tossed around like a rag doll.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: So I committed myself to just gain as much weight as I can.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: My dad always told me there's bad weight, there's bad weight, there's bad weight, like Morse was saying, the Whataburger weight, which you have to avoid.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: But when you're trying to gain that much weight, you have to throw a little bit of it on because it's just so easy to get those calories in.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: It's 2,000 calories for a burger and fries, which would be like five salads or whatever, I don't even know.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: So I mean whatever sport you're playing, you have to gain weight.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Just realize, don't do too much of the bad stuff Like 80% good stuff, 20% bad stuff.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I think that's a good balance.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So how?
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I always love to ask this of our student athletes, because you guys are juggling a lot of things your academics, the sports, all the stuff.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: How do you?
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: manage your workload.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, as seniors it's a little bit nicer because we have off periods and we're able to leave school.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: So like I have sixth and seventh off and eighth period football.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: So I'll go home, I'll eat lunch for like 30 minutes and I'll try to get as much homework out of the way as possible, because I know I'm not going to get home till 6, 6, 30 on30 on some nights, so I'll go home, I'll do as much homework as possible on my off periods and then when I get home, like you're going to be tired, you're going to want to have to have a big workload.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: So like obviously 6, 7, big work time and then after that I get everything else done dinner, shower, bed.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Going off.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: What Jack said, like when it comes to the season, you kind of have to keep a good routine going, especially when you're juggling football, academics and all other stuff.
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: We have great teachers at Highland Park.
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: They know that we're going through a lot, especially student-athletes.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: They know we have a lot on our plate.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: Just having a good routine helps us keep everything down when it comes to football, especially AP classes, just homework, get it all done and then just prepare for games on Friday nights, which really helps.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Well, before you were seniors, how did you work in the homework portion of the day, Because you guys are super busy and obviously senior year you have some off times.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: But before you were seniors, how did you make it work?
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: So junior year is notorious for being the hardest year in high school, I think that's.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Everyone is nodding their heads on this one, and so I think it's for me.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: What I realized pretty early on was that football is exhausting and so that, plus all the all the homework and schoolwork is uh, it's a lot.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: What I did one was utilize my lunch periods a lot.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: I was in the library a lot of the time, just like by myself in the corner.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: I try to find a quiet place where I can get some stuff done.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: Then the other thing was teachers will give you work time at least the teachers I had and so most kids will just like pull out their phones, play on their phones or talk to their friends during that.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: So you really got to be disciplined and just do your work in class as much as you can.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: You just have to figure out what works and utilize that time smart.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: So you guys are the leaders.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Now how do you plan to keep the team pumped up all year long?
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: I think it's all about just keeping the younger guys encouraged and just keeping the energy high in the locker room is really a great part of that.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: Coach Allen, he's always with us in the morning.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: He gives us jokes and gets the team ready for practice.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: He really knows what he's doing.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: I think with us for being leaders, we just really have to keep everyone morale high and just keep everyone encouraged.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Whether it's a big opponent we have that week, just keep spirits high and believe in each other, believe in ourselves, believe in the coaches and just go out there and execute.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: I mean to add on to that, I also think, installing that mindset of what our end goal is.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: It's like, yes, you don't want to be there on some Mondays, but those Mondays add up.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Especially if you have 16 weeks, you want to go 16-0.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: You're going to have to buy in.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: A big part of it is buying in and also knowing what we're playing for.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: We're not playing to win 10 games, we're not playing to go to the third round in playoffs, we're playing for that ring.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: So just installing that mentality in everyone's head that it's state or bust.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Well, so tonight is the first game against Rockwall Heath.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: How is the team getting ready for the challenge?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: It started all the way back in January and you know we've had, every time we break out we'll say like beat Heath or state champs, and everything we do prepares us for this moment and this game.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, we've been putting in so much work and we all know the result we want to get from the end of it and we have, like, this timer in our offensive meeting room and it's been counting down every single day.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: So every monday morning we're going in there.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: It's eight days or six days and we're just counting down that time until tonight when it hits 0-0-0.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: So do you guys have any advice to parents or to boys who want to play football, just how they can prepare to get to where you are today?
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: I think a huge thing we touched on earlier was build bonds with your brothers and the guys you're playing with.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: We've all been playing with each other since we were little, and so I think starting that as soon as possible is, I think, what makes this team really special and is a great advantage you have.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I think football is one of the main things that people do for a social outlet and a lot of guys relish in how football can be a very big source to speak and make friends and build relationships.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: We've known everyone on this table, has known each other almost our whole lives, and that's kind of the cool thing about hp community as a whole too is like how, how much of a bond you have with honestly everyone around like your neighbors, your classmates, your teammates, and that's just a really cool thing, and football is definitely a way to access that for sure.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: I'd also say just be in the moment, because the cliche time flies, but it really does.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: It feels like yesterday I was in third grade suiting up for Cowboys football, and man, it's senior year now.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: So my offensive line coach says that the days are long but the years are short and that that is really like you think about that.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: But if you really do think about it it means so much and that that is really like you think about that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: But like if you really think about it it means so much and it really is true.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: Because like you don't do those practices and the scott maker drills, you're like get me out of here.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: And like time just you're counting every second, make sure it's done.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: But then, like you look back and I feel like that was like yesterday and yet now we're here facing Heath the next night.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: That is so true, you know.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Highland Park is so known for its strong community support and all the fans and everyone comes out.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: We rally for football, we love football.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Tell us what that means to you, guys.
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: I think it really just means the world to us, like knowing the community has our backs no matter what, like through it all, through the trials and tribulations.
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: Like we know that community behind us is so strong, so it's so loving for us and you know we go out there on friday nights just knowing that they're behind us.
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: And when you look into the stands right before kickoff you just see everyone just screaming and cheering for you and it really just encourages you to give it your all and it just means so much to us to have a great community behind us at all times and and kind of add off to what James says.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: I mean it's kind of cool, like when you make a play.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I remember my sophomore year going to that Jesuit game like everyone in the stands was saying he's a sophomore and I was like it's just like a surreal feeling, knowing like everyone's cheering for everyone on the field, like how our hard work pays off, with all the fans, our student body, little kids who are looking up to us, and then parents who were in our shoes at one point playing on Friday nights.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Correct me if I'm wrong, but our record is like 126-2 at home and it would not be anywhere near that if it weren't for our fans and how loud they cheered and the environment we have when we play at home.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think one of the most impactful parts of the season for me Coach Lucero, my D-line coach, actually pointed this out to me because he was like this doesn't happen anywhere else that I've coached was after the Lake Highlands game.
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: That was a low for sure for everyone at the season, and the parents will come before games and they'll come and stand at the buses and clap while you leave to go on the bus.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: And so they came.
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: They were because that game was split into two days because it got delayed because of rain, so we had to play the second part on a Friday, saturday, and so the parents were there late that night when the buses came back to support us, and then early the next morning they were still at the buses cheering us on and wishing us good luck, and so that just like really meant the world to us.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: We do it for the community and so it was a great feeling so all sports teams need to raise money just to be able to support the team, and they have a big event coming out on september 20th, which is the annual caniac dinner, where you will have a chance to have cane's chicken and be able to have a really great time before the game starts that night.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: It means a lot to the football team because it raises money for us to get new equipment for practice and you know, it's just a fun way to hang out before the game with all your friends or all your family and friends.
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I wish I could be there to crush some canes.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Guys, thank you so much for being here today.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I cannot wait for the game tonight.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: Go Scots.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.