Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 466 - Week 10 - Gatorade Gameday Football Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 466 - Week 10 - Gatorade Gameday Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome into the Whatcom Preps podcast. This is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: episode 466. It's the week 10 Gatorade game day football preview.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And I am Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps. Walton Beverage
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: has been a staple in our community for 95 years,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and I will continue to work harder every day to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: make the fantastic people at Walton Beverage proud to sponsor
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: youth sports and our community. They deliver superior quality and commitment,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and I plan to do the very same. Also, do
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you live in Whatcom, Skagit Island, or San Juan County
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and want to become an official? Officiating is a great
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: way to give back to your community and ensure our
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: youth have an opportunity to compete in athletics. Go to nwofficials.com
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: today and find out how you can get involved. All right, well,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: we got a full slate of games for this weekend
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: with many of them having playoff implications. and we're going
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to go in chronological orders. We do have a couple
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: of games on Thursday night, starting with the Blaine border.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's more of a Thursday afternoon game actually, is they're
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: going to be hosting Friday Harbor, the Wolverines at 4
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: PM on Thursday, Blaine three and six on the year,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Friday Harbor six and two. And, um, congratulations to coach
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Olson who, uh, him and his wife just had a baby.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So he was unable to, uh, I guess he had
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: other things going on there as he was not able
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to do an interview. But, you know, looking at this game,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: they played each other a lot in the past. So
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I'm glad they were able to cross over here. Friday Harbor,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I saw them in a spring game against Bellingham. I
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: saw them in a jamboree. I've seen them here and there.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: You know, they're usually a pretty tough team. I know
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: they're very senior heavy this year. There's been talk that
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: they might have to go to eight-man football next year.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: just because they don't know what numbers are going to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: be like next year. So it should be a pretty
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: competitive game. Blaine really turning it on here at the
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: end of the season. Had a great game against Lyndon Christian.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I think they've been kind of, you know, showing a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: lot of people around the county and perhaps the state
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: that they're one heck of a team. And, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: it'll be a good send-off to the few seniors that
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: they have. And, yeah, you know, getting an early game
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: into 4 o'clock on Thursday is you know, it's probably
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: so the Wolverines can get back and get on their,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: it's a school night and they got to get back
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: on the ferry and get back home. So a lot
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of stuff going on there as well. And, and boy,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the Porterites, the passing game has been on point. The
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: defense has been fantastic flying around and, and, you know,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: obviously we've missed Peyton Bauma the last handful of games,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: five games or so, but you know, I, I heard
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: that it's, might try to play, um, would love to
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: see that if he's, if he's healthy, if not, then,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you know, rest it up. You got a couple more
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: sports to go before you graduate, but, um, yeah, I, I,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: it's been a great year for, for the border rights.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I know the record doesn't, doesn't show that, but there's
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: been so many positives, especially as of late and, um,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: really excited for their future. And as far as the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Wolverines go though, they will give really good, um, You know,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I saw them in the spring game. They did an
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: onside kick every single time they kicked off, and they
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: got probably 75% of them. So hopefully the Borderites, if
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you're listening, be ready for that onside kick all the time.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And don't know what if Friday Harbor has been doing
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: it during the regular season, but also when it's a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: week 10 crossover and anything goes and there's nothing on
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the line, that's when you're going to get onside kicks.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: So be ready for that as well. Hopefully the Borderites
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: can pick up the win in their final game of
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the season. Also on Thursday night, the Sehome Mariners, 3-6,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: going to be traveling down south to Mount Vernon to
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: take on the Bulldogs. That'll be at 6 o'clock on
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Thursday night. Mount Vernon's 1-8 on the year. I see
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a really even matchup here as far as so many
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: different things, other than they both wear dark green. But
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the big thing here is that both teams are loaded
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: with athletes. It just hasn't transformed. posed or transcribed or
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to say into the win column as much.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: So a couple of teams that probably want to end
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: on a really big time note here. They did play
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in a crossover a few years back. I want to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: say maybe three or four years ago and Mount Vernon
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: took it to them. I think they won like 40
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to three or something like that. So hopefully some of
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the seal Mariners might remember that make this one a game.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: You know, we saw the Bulldogs earlier this year against
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Ferndale and They did some good things in the passing game.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Mount Vernon has some big-time receivers, and we know that
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Seaholm has played some really good passing teams, especially lately,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a few weeks ago against Anacortes. And so that's going
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to be the big matchup, is how are the defensive
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: backs from Seaholm going to be able to withstand the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: passing attack of the Bulldogs. And hopefully Seaholm can get
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that run game going, control the clock. Cash Barnes with
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: another 30 points. plus carries 150 yards last week against
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Brunson Edison. If he could pull off another game like that,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: that would be huge. I'd love to see like Logan
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Rogers get a carry. Like that'd be awesome. He's lined
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: up at some fullback a few, few weeks ago. And,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you know, it's again, it's one of those week 10.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean anything. It's obviously you try to get
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: a win, but this is a game where you can
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: try something out like that. And, you know, Jadon Geiger,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the quarterback is, He was knocked out of the game
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: last week. Don't know if he'll be ready to go.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: If not, Caden Kirk, the sophomore, got really good reps
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: against Burlington Edison. It'd be kind of interesting to see
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: how he does from start to finish. Maybe he took
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: all the first-team reps during the week. So it'll be
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: fun to see how he does as well. And it's
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: going to be, you know, this will be it for
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the Mariners after this week. And that will be that.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: We go on to Friday's games now. And Cedar Park Christian... who,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: you know, they've battled some Whatcom County teams in years
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: past and always fun to see them cross over. They
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: crossed over, I should say. I should learn English. With
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Meridian last year, I was actually at that game in
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the Week 10 game. So good to see them come
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: back to town. They're going to come into Civic Stadium
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: on Friday night, 6 o'clock, to face the Bellingham Bayhawks.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Cedar Park Christians 6-3 on the year. Bellingham 3-6. I'm
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: now joined on the Gatorade Game Day podcast by Bellingham
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: head football coach Adam Leonard. Coach, thank you for joining
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: me today. How are you doing?
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. How are you, Tyler?
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Doing all right as well. What's the most used app
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: on your phone?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's probably a tie.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: It's a tie between my Instagram, which I have to
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: run the Bayhawk football account, so I'm always on there.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I trust you. I have to
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: hand it over to you.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Student-led yet you gotta make sure it's all appropriate content
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: on there yeah and um people get to know me
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: i i kind of like i like one of my
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: hobbies is i like to buy and sell cars i
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: like to flip cars and you know i'm always in
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: a different vehicle so i'm always on i'm on marketplace
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: oh okay yeah so i'm on facebook marketplace app and
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: you know looking for cars that you can be fixed
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: up or you know you know flipped or sold or
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: kept and And so I would have to say, yeah,
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Instagram and then on Facebook marketplace for sure.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: What's the one car that you're still looking for that
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you really want?
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, I, so I'm a, I'm a child of the nineties.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: So back in the nineties and even late eighties, I'm
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: obsessed with single cab trucks and I'm from Las Vegas
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: and they're in Las Vegas in the city.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: We don't raise our trucks. We lower our trucks.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: And so I'm, I'm, you know, old body style, OBS, Silverado, Chevy, you.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Know, Cheyenne 1500. I don't worry about the engine.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I just, I like a.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: Square body style Chevy Silverado lower level.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: You know, that was the, that was my dream truck.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And I still, it still is there. They're hard to find.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And when you do, people want a ton of money
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: for them. They used to be like, Hey, we'll pick
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: this up for three.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: $ 4, 000.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And now I'm like, I know, I know what it's worth.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I want 25 grand for a 93.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, it's become popular lately, but I'm always looking
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: for– I love– and it's tough for me at 6'7
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: to fit into a single cab truck.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: But it just reminds me of my childhood and my
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: high school.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: That's my dream truck is to get a classic, clean, fix-up,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: a single body, single cab like Silverado.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, gotcha. Speaking of being tall, when was the last
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: time you dunked? That's a tough one.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I don't even want to embarrass myself.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: It's probably been, I haven't been on the court in
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: a while, but it's probably been six, maybe seven years,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: eight years. And I'm getting up and I'm barely scrubbing
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: one in, you know, getting bigger. And the, you know,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: when you're carrying more weight and you're getting old, you know, the,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: I never, I used to always make fun of my dad.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: My dad is six, six. And when he got over 40,
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: I'm like, how can you not dunk anymore?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Dad, you're six foot six.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And then now I get it.
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: You know, you see these old NBA players, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: I remember watching John Sally.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Remember John Sally from the Pistons?
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: Sure.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: He was on a, he was on a show and he.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: Was on a studio with a 10 foot and he was,
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: you know, he's six 11 or, and he couldn't dunk
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: at 45 years old.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I go, how's that possible? Now I know what they're
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: talking about.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, think about Vince Carter, right? He might
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: be the best dunker ever lived, and he became a
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: three-point specialist late in his career, right? I mean, once
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: you turn 38, 39, 40, the game changes a little
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: bit for you.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: All right, well, I got you on this, and I
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: know I don't want to get too far off topic.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: You might have to cut this out of the show.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: That's all right.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Most underrated dunker in NBA history.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're asking me?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I'm asking you.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, are you talking in-game or are you talking like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: dunk contest stuff?
• 10:29
  Speaker 8: In-game.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: In-game underrated dunker?
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: He's got, and this guy, my guy that I'm going
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: to pick is got the best dunk, one of the
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: best dunks in NBA history.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Kevin Johnson.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Kevin Johnson's good. This guy played with Kevin Johnson in
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Phoenix and he played for the Sonics.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: My guy. Oh, he played with Oh, this is going
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to be– see, now I really got to think about this.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: He played with the Sonics at one point, and he
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: played with Kevin Johnson in Phoenix.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, Tom Chambers.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Tom Chambers. Oh, my God.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: That dunk he has over– Mark Jackson. Mark Jackson.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You know, he's 6'10.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I think his knee is in Mark's face when he
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: dunks on him, and he looks like his chest is
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: above the rim when he's– Yes. That's one of the
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: best dunks of all time. And a lot of NBA
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: old pros think that's one of the best dunks of
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: all time.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: It was just great timing there where he's in the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: air for so long because of Mark Jackson's little assist there,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: which Mark Jackson ended with over 10,000 assists, by the way.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: That might have been one of the most memorable ones. But, yeah, no,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: that is an awesome dunk. And I always go back
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to the 87 Sonics that they just had this weird–
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: they didn't have a great record, but I think they
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: got to the semis. And they had three guys averaging
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: over 20 a game, which is pretty rare. Back then
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: it was rare, I should say. Oh, yeah. Yeah, him
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and Dale Ellison, the X-Man. And that was a fun team.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And that was the year that the All-Star game was
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: in Seattle and Tom Chambers was the MVP. I mean,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: this was just– That was kind of his magical year. Boy,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I could go on and on about this stuff, but
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I guess we'll talk high school football.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: We've got to talk high school football. It's not quite
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: basketball season.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're not quite there yet, but, boy, I love
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: talking about the history. Speaking of history, on Thursday you
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: had the late game out at Civic Stadium. Took the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: loss against Squalicum, a big, big point differential, but there
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: was definitely some positive. What were some of the positives
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: that you took out of that game?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll start with the negatives first. The negatives were,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: you know, we just turned the ball over on time.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: You know, we have a great kickoff by Diego Diaz,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: puts it, a little fumble, and then we just start
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: missed assignments on, you know, and it goes for like
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: a 93-yard kickoff return for touchdown. Get the ball back
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: a couple plays, move the ball a little bit, have
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: to punt. They score, you know, they get back, and
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: then we fumble in the first play, and then we're
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: moving the ball again, just kind of like we did
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: against Burlington.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: We actually moved the ball pretty well.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: You know, the last two weeks through the year, we're
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: almost 550 yards passing, so.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: We're moving the ball.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Really well.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: We just, you know, we had a, you know, Matthew
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Steele had a great catch and run, and then the
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: ball gets fumbled, and then, you know, we had a.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Pick six, but, you know, some of.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: The positives that were, we're still moving the ball well
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: through the air. You know, Ben, 233 yards. He had
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: another touchdown pass to Matthew Steele. That's 14 on the
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: air for Matthew. Ben ties a school record. He's got
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: another game to break that school record, and he's about
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: 40 yards away from breaking the passing record. So there's
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: some individual positive things to take out of it for
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: those seniors as we celebrate them going into our last week.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: But definitely, you know, Squalicum's a heck of a team.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: I feel like they're going to make a little run
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs. You know, they're our fifth seed out
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: of our conference, but as you know, our conference is
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: just so darn tough. They're well coached, and they, you know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: they capitalized on our mistakes. And I know when you
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: look at the yards, you know, it looks like you
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: didn't look at the score.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: You covered the score up. You were like, hey, this
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: is a pretty close game, right?
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: You know, of the short fields and the special teams,
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: some mistakes we made.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Which one of your current players would it not surprise
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: you if they came back after a few years and said, hey, coach,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I want to be an assistant. Can you help me
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: out here?
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Well, I can answer that because that actually happened this season,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: and we're looking to get, when he's done with college
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: here in a year or two, is Gabriel Van Hoffway
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: going to come back. Gabe wants to come back and
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: coach with us. But the current group, I would say
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: to come back, you know what? I'm going to say Jaquez, Love, Rodson.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: When Jaquez has been out either for some concussion protocol
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: or injuries, he's in the drills with the offensive linemen
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: and defensive linemen.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: He's taken a leadership role. He's firing guys up. He's
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: been very, very interactive when he's injured.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Sometimes guys that are injured, they're on the sideline in
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: their jeans and just kind of hanging out.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Jaquez has been very, very involved even when he's been injured.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: So I can see.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Him down the road maybe coming back and trying to.
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: Do some coaching.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. I love that when I hear that because
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: you do hear about when these certain players on certain teams,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: guys that get injured, even if they know it's out
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: for the year, they're still coming to practice every single
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: day and they're a part of the team. And that's
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: such an important thing for a unit, for a team,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: for kids to be there for each other. So I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: love hearing that about Jaquez and no pun intended that
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I love Rodson here in that, but, but yeah, that's really,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: really cool. So you don't make the post season. So
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: how do you keep your players excited for this final
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: week of the season?
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: It's, it's tough too, because, you know, some would say
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: it's a little bit anticlimactic, you know, you have one
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: more game.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Sometimes, you know, coaches use this as a, as a
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: dress rehearsal for the younger guys.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: But for me, yeah, we want to see, we want
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: to send these, these, and we don't have many that
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: are playing right now. We have, you know, five seniors
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: are going to be playing this week and we want
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: to send them out.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: You know, we're three and six right now.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: We'd love to get that fourth win, go out on
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: a high note, build the comp, you know, send those
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: seniors out the right way and then build the confidence.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: You know, we already scheduled a underclass meeting for the
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: juniors through freshmen on Mondays to talk about the.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Off season and what we're going to do next year
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: and some of the expectations in the off season.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: So, you know, it's those meetings go a lot better
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: when you're coming off a win. So I think, you know,
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: and you know, some, there's some individual accomplishments to be met.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: This week too.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: You know, we're really close to some of them and
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: those are cool opportunities too for some of the individuals,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: but as a team, I think it's that, that feeling
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: of coming off.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And, you know, we haven't, we, we almost want to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: play on the road. We haven't won at home yet.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: So this would be a great opportunity. And, uh, you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: we beat Lakewood on the road.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: We beat Marysville Pilchuck on the road.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: So this is an opportunity where, um, I guess technically
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: the Archbishop's birthday.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: But, you know, you want to get one at home
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: in front of the home crowd and give them something
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: to celebrate as we go into the offseason.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a great point. And you'll have
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: that chance this Friday. You're hosting Cedar Park Christian at
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: 6 p.m. at Civic Stadium. It's the first time in
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: history that these two schools have played a football game.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I had to dig deep. But what can you tell
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: us about this group of Eagles?
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: You know, they're a smaller school one day, but you know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: they're six and three teams. They've got some, um, you know,
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: they've got their, their competitive group. They're well coached. They've
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: got a great athlete at quarterback that plays both ways.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Plays safety, plays quarterback. He's their, he's probably their best player. And,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: you know, he can do a lot of things with
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: his legs, with his arm. And he comes down and
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: he likes to hit too. So he's all over the field.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: Um, they're going to, you know, they're going to be
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: ready to play. They're, they're, they're excited. They're a younger
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: group too. I think they might only have a handful
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: of seniors, but, um, You know, kind of a similar match,
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: but I think we match up pretty well.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I think this can be a competitive game. And I
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: think it's, you know, we've been studying that. We do
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: have a common opponent. We beat Marysville.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: Pilchuck 40-6, and they beat them 30-0. So on paper,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: it all lines up for a great game. So we're
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: looking forward to the opportunity.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: And get one more home game.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: You know, I've watched Cedar Park Christian in the past
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: few years. Last year, they played Meridian in the Week
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: 10 crossover. They've played Blaine multiple times in recent years.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and they, you know, the offense looks, you know, kind of,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you know, they like to wing it around quite a bit.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Is that still kind of the case? They like to
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: probably throw more than they run?
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: Yes, they do.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: They're kind of like us that way, you know.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: I don't know if anybody throws more than we do
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: right now, but it's, you know, they'll have a little
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: more balance, but they like to throw.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: The ball to the yard.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: I think if they do establish the run early and
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: get ahead of teams, they actually don't grind it out.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: They still want to throw, and they want to keep
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: their– their foot on the gas there. So it's, we've
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: got to expect that.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: I think, you.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Know, the one thing coming out, you know, we've been,
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: we've been playing some darn good football teams the last
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: few weeks. So, you know, we've got Anacortes and Burlington
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: and Swalicum, and these are all, you know, two-way state
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: playoff teams.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: So, you know, it's going to be, you know, I'm
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: not saying.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: That, you know, it's going to be a lighter team
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: to play in terms of talent, because they're a very
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: talented team. Like I said, their record shows that they're
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: coming off a 46-0 win over their last opponent. So, Um, we, we, we,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: we need to be prepared and we also want to
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: make this, this week of practice, you know, a lot
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: of fun too. We want, we want, we want to
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: have a high energy, good excitement, some fun as we
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: close out this and, you know, and then play a
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: football game on Friday and hopefully come out of there
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: as a.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: First home win.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And that's a, that's important too, because the memories that
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you can make, right. And this, and, and a lot
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of times the memory that you have is your final
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: game or your final memory or your final week of practice.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: So making it fun is a good way to go,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and hopefully you do get the win. Best of luck
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: on Friday. Get a seat at Park Christian. Coach, thank
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining me today on the Gatorade
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Game Day Podcast.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, and have a wonderful week.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Also on Friday night, Annie Wright, the Gators. This is
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a 1A stadium. play in game. They are the 22,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: 22nd ranked team. And they're going to face Linden Christian,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the third ranked team. This will be Friday night, six
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: o'clock at Nooksack Valley. Annie Wright, two and seven on
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the year. Linden Christian, seven and two. So the links
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: are heavily favored here. I'm now joined on the Gatorade
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: game day podcast by Linden Christian head football coach, Greg
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Terpstra coach. Thank you for joining me today. How are
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: you doing?
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Super. I'm looking forward to it. Had a great weekend. Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: What's the most used app on your phone?
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: Ooh, it's gotta be YouTube.
• 20:31
  Speaker 9: Um, I hate to say it, but I'm starting to
• 20:35
  Speaker 9: get on the Instagrams now.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: Um, Uh, but I don't like to admit it, but
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: I'd say YouTube.
• 20:42
  Speaker 9: I love why I'm my, my range of interests on
• 20:46
  Speaker 9: YouTube is extremely wide. So if ever anybody ever just
• 20:50
  Speaker 9: got ahold of my phone and brought up YouTube stuff
• 20:53
  Speaker 9: that would pop up would, would really make no sense
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: because it's, it's archeology and then it's, you know, a
• 21:01
  Speaker 9: bunch of theological debates and then, yeah, it's just, it's
• 21:04
  Speaker 9: all over the map.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: That's what's great about YouTube is that it starts to
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: understand you, and you're like, oh, this looks good. That
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: looks good. It's like I don't even know why anyone
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: pays for television anymore. There's always something that you want
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: to see right there.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I know my parents cabled probably 10 years ago, and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: they just watch stuff on YouTube and– and they're happy
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: with that. So on Thursday, you went on the road.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: You were down early, 21-7 at the half, but came
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: back in the second half to defeat Blaine, 42-28. You know,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: you said last week that the Borderites can play with anybody,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and you were right on the money. Tell us about
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: that game.
• 21:46
  Speaker 9: You know, to echo, who's the old Vikings coach that said,
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: they are who we thought they were.
• 21:53
  Speaker 10: Dennis Green Danny Green yeah you know like I said
• 21:58
  Speaker 10: we saw them at camp we knew they were going
• 22:00
  Speaker 10: to be good I was a little nervous that we
• 22:03
  Speaker 10: were going to play them late in the season because
• 22:05
  Speaker 10: I knew they would put it all together Andy's a
• 22:08
  Speaker 10: great coach his staff does a great job and they
• 22:10
  Speaker 10: have great talent and they're young I think he told
• 22:13
  Speaker 10: me they only dress two seniors if I'm not mistaken
• 22:17
  Speaker 10: so they're going to be a problem But.
• 22:20
  Speaker 9: No, I thought their defensive scheme was really good in
• 22:23
  Speaker 9: the beginning. They forced us to choose to throw, and
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: they were effective early on. Then we held off a
• 22:33
  Speaker 9: little bit on making some adjustments until after half. And,
• 22:37
  Speaker 9: you know, I'll give Coach Fackham a lot of credit.
• 22:41
  Speaker 9: You know, our blocking scheme up front.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Needed adjusting, and he did that.
• 22:45
  Speaker 9: I give Coach Kreider credit. He settled me down, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 9: we just stuck to the basics. And then Coach Bauma
• 22:52
  Speaker 9: did a terrific job on defense when we needed it most.
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: And when the offense wasn't doing much, they carried the day.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned Coach Fackema. You know, on the other sideline,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: there's a couple of Coach Fackemas. Do you know what
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the relationship is there, cousins or something?
• 23:10
  Speaker 9: I think they all come out of Oak Harbor, and
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: we've all tried to spray for those guys, but we
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: just can't get rid of them.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of Fackemas growing all over this place.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Where's the DDT when you need it? Um, you know, there, yeah,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: there was some, there was some, a lot of things
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that happened in that game. A lot of big plays
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: that happened in that game. Obviously both teams had big sixes.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: There was the opening kickoff return for touchdown. Um, and,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: but one thing that, I mean, I was only there
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: for the first half, Coach, so maybe I was the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: bugaboo because then I left and then you guys– I
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: heard from other people that were on the sideline that
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: when you guys came out of the locker room, there
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: was a determined focus. There was a lot of positivity.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot– it wasn't about like, oh, they're
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: getting us. It was more like, oh, we know what
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: we need to do type attitude.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: And I really thought that third quarter was great. The
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Will Mackimer play, you know, talk about that because he's
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: a kid that has made a few plays now recently
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and just a sophomore. What have you liked about his game?
• 24:16
  Speaker 9: Yeah, right place, right time. Defensively, he's also a very
• 24:21
  Speaker 9: good receiver. We just got a couple guys there, and, no,
• 24:24
  Speaker 9: he's worked hard. When he's understanding the defense and knowing
• 24:29
  Speaker 9: where to be, he's– He's a.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Pretty good player.
• 24:32
  Speaker 9: He's not afraid to hit as well. And we really
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: like how he and some other young guys have stepped up.
• 24:39
  Speaker 9: And I know Coach Bauma has spoke highly of him.
• 24:42
  Speaker 9: And then Gavin had that pick, too, right.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: In the middle there.
• 24:47
  Speaker 9: There's a lot of emotional swings in that game. And
• 24:51
  Speaker 9: I felt a little bit more like a psychologist than
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: a coach. People have asked what was said at halftime.
• 24:58
  Speaker 9: And we're just going to keep that one in-house.
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: You know, but you're, but being a coach, sometimes there's
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of different hats you have to wear and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: that is one of them.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: And it's, and a lot of it, I mean, it's,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: it's knowing your kids and, and everybody's different on how
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: they learn and all that stuff. And you learn that
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: as a coach, you learn your players, what, what works
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: for them, what doesn't, you know, there were some turnovers
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: that happened early on, but I thought in the second half, especially,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: you know, watching Justin Kewiker on the ball, he looked
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: like a different player in the second half, How is
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: he adapting to that new position there?
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's just really explosive.
• 25:36
  Speaker 9: For a guy that's played line, H-back, receiver, now quarterback,
• 25:42
  Speaker 9: all over on the defense too, D-line, outside backer, what
• 25:46
  Speaker 9: a versatile athlete. And just a great kid who bought
• 25:50
  Speaker 9: in right away. We said, you know, we need to
• 25:52
  Speaker 9: put you in at running back and it's best for
• 25:54
  Speaker 9: the team.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: And, you know, he didn't hesitate. He just, yeah.
• 26:00
  Speaker 9: He's a real, real gifted athlete and great kid who
• 26:06
  Speaker 9: can really fill in anywhere. So now he wants to
• 26:08
  Speaker 9: have quarterback snaps to sort of finish the whole deal.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: And, yeah, I'll give Chris credit. He had to sit
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: this out due to an injury. And he was our MVP.
• 26:19
  Speaker 9: Cheerleader on the sidelines. And that's a big deal coming
• 26:22
  Speaker 9: from kind of your Goliath of your team to accept
• 26:26
  Speaker 9: that role and get after it, not mope on the side.
• 26:31
  Speaker 9: You know, he just, there's times where I actually had
• 26:33
  Speaker 9: to turn around and tell him to shut up because
• 26:35
  Speaker 9: I had to communicate with my offense.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, they just did a fantastic job.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Which one of your current players would it not surprise
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you if they came back after a few years and said, hey, coach,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: can I be an assistant coach?
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, boy. One of the current players. There's a bunch
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: of them.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's good.
• 26:56
  Speaker 9: I mean, honestly, I'd be afraid to name a couple
• 27:01
  Speaker 9: because so many would be so good.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: You know, I'd have Blankers up in the booth. He's
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: just a student of the game. But, you know, we have.
• 27:12
  Speaker 9: Just a bunch of great passionate guys that would be
• 27:15
  Speaker 9: great coaches, and you could hand off a halftime speech too.
• 27:19
  Speaker 9: To be perfectly honest, halftime of that Blaine game, I
• 27:22
  Speaker 9: gave my speech, told the coaches we're heading out, and
• 27:25
  Speaker 9: I put it in the hands of the seniors. And
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: I think there was probably some speeches said there that
• 27:30
  Speaker 9: were much more effective than my own. So, honestly, I'm
• 27:33
  Speaker 9: not even going to answer that because there are so
• 27:36
  Speaker 9: many past, present, and it looks like future guys that
• 27:40
  Speaker 9: could be coaches.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel really good about the future.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's a good thing to have, to not
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: have to answer that because that's going to be really great,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: like you said, for the future. How do you feel
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: about your seeding for the Crossover?
• 27:57
  Speaker 9: Oh, I think it's a fair one. You know, I
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: don't want to sound greedy, but I hope after this
• 28:04
  Speaker 9: one we get a two. I'd love to, you know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 9: host a semifinal over on this side of the mountains
• 28:11
  Speaker 9: rather than both of them being over there if we
• 28:13
  Speaker 9: were able to get by as many people as we
• 28:16
  Speaker 9: hope to get by or, you know, somebody else. I
• 28:21
  Speaker 9: think there's some really strong teams, and I think three
• 28:26
  Speaker 9: of them.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Are in this county.
• 28:28
  Speaker 9: Uh, Baker's really good and Meridian's really good. Um, and
• 28:32
  Speaker 9: hopefully they get their quarterback all ready to go.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: This Friday, you'll be hosting Annie Wright at 6 PM
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: at Nooksack Valley high school. Uh, we all know what
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the Gators can do on the basketball court, but I
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: know nothing about their football team. What can you tell
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: us about Annie Wright?
• 28:48
  Speaker 9: Pretty run heavy. Um, they kind of, they load up
• 28:53
  Speaker 9: the box themselves and then, um, They're pretty heavy with
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: quarterback run. Then they'll pop it over top a couple times.
• 29:03
  Speaker 9: Almost an, I don't want to say an archbishop approach,
• 29:06
  Speaker 9: but maybe the numbers are kind of the same as
• 29:09
  Speaker 9: far as play selection. Defensively, they blitz a lot, and
• 29:16
  Speaker 9: then they let their defensive backs cover. They've had some
• 29:22
  Speaker 9: really tight games, it looks like. They get a play
• 29:26
  Speaker 9: in that in that fabled stadium high school field.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right.
• 29:31
  Speaker 9: And honestly, it's one of those games where I wouldn't
• 29:35
  Speaker 9: have minded if we were on the road because I've
• 29:38
  Speaker 9: never been in that stadium. i've never coached in it
• 29:40
  Speaker 9: played in it or anything and uh you know we
• 29:43
  Speaker 9: see their last three games and all three of them
• 29:44
  Speaker 9: are at that stadium it's just a really cool spot
• 29:46
  Speaker 9: it is.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: It's it's it is really cool to see i've seen
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: it a few times here i've never been there in
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: person either uh i've seen it on film uh it
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: is really really cool coach It's going to be an
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: awesome one Friday night out at Sid Lambert Field, just
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: right down the road from you guys. So not too
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: bad on the turf. Best of luck on Friday against
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the Gators. And thank you so much for joining me
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Tyler.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Now we move on to the 7 o'clock games. The
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Squalicum Storm, who've been one of the hottest teams in
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Whatcom County as of late. Their record is now 4-5
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: on the year. They made the playoffs. They are the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: 18th ranked team, so they will be going on the road.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and they will be taking on the Eatonville Cruisers down
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to Eatonville. This will be 7 o'clock Friday night, Eatonville
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: 7-2 on the year. Boy, I tell you what, back
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: when I played, Eatonville in our classification was kind of
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the class, if you will. And you can even go
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: back to the 80s when they had Brandon Jumper, who
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: he graduated as Washington State's all-time leading rusher. That was
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: back in the mid to late 80s, and then all
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of a sudden Bobby Luck comes to town. He's a
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: four-year starter at quarterback. He's a four-time, yes, this is true,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: four-time all-state first-team quarterback. He was that good. And we
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: faced him his senior year, which was not pleasant. They
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: did get us 45-6. And so they've had the great
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: running attack, the great passing attack. Both of them broke
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: state records. And so there's a lot of history, like
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: ancient history, with Eatonville. Not a ton recently here and there.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Eatonville's kind of bounced back and forth between 1A and 2A.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: They're 7-2 on the year. Not quite sure what kind
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: of offense they were running. But Squalicum, they're 4-5, but
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: they are so dangerous right now. I would not be
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: surprised at all if they go down on the road,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: steal this win, show what the Northwest Conference is all about. And, yeah,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: they are peaking at the right time. Phoenix Price has
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: looked great at quarterback position. Asher Oz Bjornsson back now
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: playing running back. He's just electric. He just makes plays.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, last week, he only carried the ball four times,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: but he had 81 yards for two touchdowns. He also
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: blocked a punt, had an interception, returned a fumble. Like,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: he's one of those guys that just is in on
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: all sorts of different plays. And he's also one of
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: those guys that a lot of guys get fumble recoveries.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: He gets fumble returns. Like, he picks up the ball
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: and goes. He scored a touchdown doing that last year.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: He might have done it a couple times. He's just
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: one of those kinds of players that you're going to
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: have to watch out for. Ray Hoffman had the pick
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: six last week. Maddox Strickland is running wild. Tucker Hofstede
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: is as tough as can be. And Squalicum right now,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: like I said, they are just, they're doing all the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: right things right now. And they got one of the
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: best kickers in the conference as well with Elias Laranaga, who,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: you know, this could be a close game. It could
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: come down to a field goal. So that would be
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: really exciting to see in the storm forecast. Man, I really,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: really love their chances. I would love for them to
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: continue their season and see how far they can go
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and throw a wrench into some team's plans of upset
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: specials and all sorts of things. You just never know.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: It would be awesome to see this storm move on here.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: And also, Friday night at 7 o'clock, this will be
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: out at Blaine High School. The Mount Baker Mountaineers are
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the 5th seed. They are 6-3 on the year in 1A.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: They will be taking on 20th seed LSU. Kalama who
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: are three and five but I think they've won a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: lot of these games recently so they're on kind of
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: a hot streak right now I am now joined on
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the Gatorade game day podcast by Mount Baker head football
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: coach Ron Lepper coach thank you for joining me today
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: how are you.
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: Doing I'm doing well thanks Tyler appreciate you having me
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: on again.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: You bet what's the most used app on your phone oh.
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: My gosh I don't know if I have any apps
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: I mean I got some apps but oh oh man I.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Probably just texting.
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, probably. Yeah. I don't, I don't do that. I'm
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: more of a phone call guy, but, uh, you do
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: some texts. Yeah. I don't have, I don't, I mean,
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: I got a few apps on her, but I know
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: I don't use very many.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I kind of figured that, you know, I'm asking all
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the coaches this question. I thought, Oh boy, when I
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: ask a coach left this, this is going to be interesting.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Cause I know that you were still going old school
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: for a while there. And I was too, I held
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: out on the smartphone for a long time, but, uh,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: It's kind of the way of the world now.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, it.
• 34:23
  Speaker 11: Is.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Talk about the game last Thursday against Meridian. It was
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: a game where both teams knew they were going to
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: go on to the round of 24, but obviously playing
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: for seeding on a neutral site. It was a really,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: really physical game. I really thought that the first half
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: was very close, but that big kickoff return and the
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: touchdown pass right before the half was– such a nice
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: boost going into halftime and you just kind of rode
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: that momentum in the second half. Does that sound kind
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: of about right?
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I would agree with that.
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know, we, you know, both teams traded
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: interceptions early and then, you know, we, you know, our goal,
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: we knew we had to play physical, like, you know,
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: that's kind of what we want to do anyway, but
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: we knew that, you know, they're going to get some
• 35:06
  Speaker 6: yards because the way they, their offense that they have and,
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: you know, the Alexander kids really good.
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: And, but we knew we had to put the ball
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: in the end zone. We had the opportunities.
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: And, and so, It was great to get out there early, and,
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: you know, they bounced back, and, you know, we got again,
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: they came back, and, you know, we had a couple-point
• 35:23
  Speaker 6: lead because of, you know, failed two-point conversion and a
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: blocked extra point. And then, like you said, that kickoff
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: return with about a minute to go or so, and then,
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: you know, the two-play drive after that to put it
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: in the end zone was good. And then, you know,
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: it was a little bit different without Alexander in the
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: second half, but, you know, we still played and made
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: plays we had to make and got a lead up
• 35:44
  Speaker 6: there and And then we finished off with a good
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: stand at the goal line. So, you know, we wanted
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: to play. You know, we knew we played pretty well
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: against LC, even though we didn't get the win. You know, Nooksack, Blaine.
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: So we wanted to keep that momentum going. I thought
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: we did a good job of that last week.
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And, you know, you brought up Alexander wasn't in there
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: in the second half. But, boy, Pierce Brzozowski, it's not
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: a big drop-off. He can throw it deep. He can run.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: You faced him last year. when he played that whole
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: game as at quarterback, did the defensive philosophy change really
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: that much at all without him in there?
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: A little bit, but not, not much, you know, again,
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: you know, they, they, they're going to spread you out
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: and we, they got a couple of big plays in
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: the second half. And, you know, one was kind of,
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: you know, we kind of made a mistake on the
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: coverage and then, you know, we maybe, you know, didn't
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: do our due diligence and a couple of things coaching
• 36:38
  Speaker 6: wise about some stuff, but, you know, Bottom line is,
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: you know, like I said, they're a good football team.
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: There's a reason why they're in the round of 24. And,
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: you know, to walk out on a short week and
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: get a W in our conference is always a good feeling.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And the seating came out, obviously, on Sunday. And
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: how did you feel about where you guys were placed?
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I thought we'd be anywhere from, you know,
• 37:04
  Speaker 6: 5 to 10 in there, I thought, even though There's
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: some teams with some better record and stuff, but, you know,
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: we've played some good teams and doing some good things. So, yeah,
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: we're pleased with that. But now, you know, now it
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: doesn't matter where you're at. It's, you know, one game
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: at a time for everybody. So we're, you know, that's
• 37:19
  Speaker 6: what our focus is on, getting ready for this game
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: and knowing that we want to come out and play
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: the best that we're able to play and we're able
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: to have some fun this month and we've got to
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: continue to play good football.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: And when that all happens and you know who your
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: opponent is, that's all you really know at that point.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: You still have to find a location, a date, a time,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. And being the athletic director, you kind
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: of have to put on the AD hat at that point,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: kind of walk us through that whole fiasco and how,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: how you're able to, you know, lock in a field
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: and a time and all that.
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, once you find that out, then,
• 37:54
  Speaker 6: you know, you, you got to reach out to the
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: other school and say, Hey, um, Coaching-wise, both teams have
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: to exchange film within a certain time period.
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: There's a penalty for that.
• 38:04
  Speaker 6: If the coach doesn't do that, then they can be
• 38:06
  Speaker 6: suspended from the game.
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: So you've got to get that going, and then you've
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: got to meet with the athletic director.
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: First question, once we got a hold of them, they
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: asked if they wanted to play Friday or Saturday.
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: They wanted to play Friday.
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: And so then we're looking around, and we knew we
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: had some places to go there. And so when I
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: first started doing that process, Nooksack wasn't available because they
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: hadn't been approved by the district yet. But so we
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: went with Blaine and then Nooksack got approved. So LC
• 38:34
  Speaker 6: ended up being there. And I think, you know, Meridian
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: is going to play down at Cedro because both teams
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: want to play on Friday, which then you got to
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: find a spot. So, you know, then once you get that,
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: then you got to talk to the, you know, talk to,
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: you know, Chaz at Blaine. making sure we can get
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: our stuff in and what do we need to bring?
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: What are they going to supply? And then, and then
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: all that stuff was pretty much settled by Sunday, early
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: Monday morning.
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: And then it's just this week getting ready for the game. Yeah.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of stuff going on and, and you,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: you know, if there's a win this week, it's kind
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: of the same thing again next week, right? With reseeding
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: and all that stuff again. So yeah, you'll be playing
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Friday night at Blaine high school and, against Kalama. Am
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: I saying that correctly?
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: That is correct.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Okay. I just want to make sure that I know
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: nothing about their football team. I know that you uh,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: have a lot of battles over the years in wrestling. Uh, but, uh,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: tell us about the Chinooks. I know nothing.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: Uh, they, you know, they, uh, were, they, they've kind
• 39:33
  Speaker 6: of bounced between one a and two and two B, uh,
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: they're back up in the one a ranks. Uh, they've
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: got some speed. Um, you know, they have, uh, you know,
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: on the outside there, they don't run a ton of
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: formations per se, but they do a pretty good job
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: of what they do. Um, They finished third in the Trico.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: We played them once before in the playoffs. I want
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: to say probably around 10, 12 years ago.
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: And it was a barn burner. They had blazing speed.
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: I think we were down at one point maybe like
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: 28 to 7. And we came back to win 48
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: to 40, I think. And so, yeah, it was a
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: wild game. And so we have played them once before.
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: Obviously two different teams here, but I, you know, I
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: think that, you know, for us, you know, we're going
• 40:20
  Speaker 6: to work really hard and control that line of scrimmage with,
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: we try to do all year long and then, you know,
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: keep them out of the end zone as much as possible.
• 40:28
  Speaker 6: Might give up some yards here and there, but then
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: we got to be able to put the ball in
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: the end zone. So yeah, looking forward to the challenge
• 40:34
  Speaker 6: on this Friday night or yeah, this Friday night.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: You know, it's, it's crazy coach. We've been doing this
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: a long time. And I asked you in the preseason
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: about kind of like, you know, the running backs and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of times, you know, you have a bunch
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: of them and you kind of say, well, we're kind
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: of running back by committee, but then by the end
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: of the year, there's always some guys that really stand out.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: But this year it's been a true running back by committee.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: You never know who's going to really get the most
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: carries or the most yards or the most touchdowns. And
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: it's very even. And you know, how has that worked out?
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Is it, does everybody kind of understand, Hey, you know, you're,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: you might be the guy that, that we go to.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: And is it just, or you might be the guy
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: that plays guard. You never know. So how does that,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: how does that work out as far as, you know, with, uh,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: with those, with those guys and how they understand how
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: they can compliment each other?
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, you know, obviously, you know, we want
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: to do what's best for the team. And then, you know,
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: sometimes you kind of get locked in like last week, um,
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: probably should have got, you know, um, I knocked a
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: few more carries there, but we'll probably do a better
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: job of it this week. But also at the same time,
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: he was playing a much bigger role in defense this
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: past week. And so, yeah, you kind of get to
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: kind of hand how it's going, see who's got what
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: going on there. And then, you know, you want to
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: use that gauge. You know, he's had a really good,
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: solid year for us. And a little changeup, you know,
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: getting the ball to him in the running game from
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: a different position. But, yeah, that's the plan moving forward.
• 41:57
  Speaker 6: Those four guys will be getting the bulk of the carries.
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: And then, you know, Barstow has done a good job of,
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: you know, doing some scrambling, making some things happen when
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: maybe a play is broken down a little bit. And
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: so when we can do that, we can spread the
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: ball around. It just makes us a little tougher, I think.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Coach. That's the thing about Mount Baker football. It's
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: always going to be tough, and it's going to be
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: a tough one for the Chinooks as they come up
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: north here to go to Blaine High School. Best of
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: luck on Friday, Coach, and thank you so much for
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: joining me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast.
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Tyler.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: And again, just for everything that you do for the kids,
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: it's great to have that coverage.
• 42:35
  Speaker 5: So hopefully we see you around this weekend.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: All right. Thanks, Coach.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: Bye-bye.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Continuing on Friday night, go to the 3A ranks here
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: as Liberty of Renton. They come to town to take
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: on the Ferndale Golden Eagles. That'll be at Ferndale High School,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Friday night, 7 o'clock. This should be another really good matchup. Liberty,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: the 20th ranked team, Ferndale 13th. Both teams are 7-2. Boy,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: they had a whale of a game 21 years ago
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and it's It's going to be– it
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: should be a really, really good matchup. And I'm really
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: excited for this one. I know the radio will be
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: out there for the big pregame Friday Night Lights and
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. And so it's one of those games
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: that if you don't have a dog in the fight,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: maybe you're a Blaine fan or a Sehome fan or,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: you know, a Bellingham fan. Well, if you're a Bellingham fan,
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: you're probably at the Bellingham game. But that starts at 6.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Maybe when it's over, head out to Ferndale, check out
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the ending of this. It should be a pretty close game.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Really excited for that one. I'm now joined on the
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: Gatorade Game Day podcast by Ferndale Head Football Coach Jamie Plankovich.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me today, Coach. How are you doing?
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: Good. Good morning.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: What's the most used app on your phone?
• 43:56
  Speaker 12: Probably Amazon Music.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: That's a good one. Yeah, I like that. You know
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: what's funny is I've never used that app before. I mean,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: I love music, but, uh, but, uh, I, I, I've never,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: I've never used it. I'm still old school. I still,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: you know, go through all my CDs and to do
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: all that. I'll, I'll learn that old school.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: You know, I just went from a flip phone to
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: a smartphone not too long ago.
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: Oh boy.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: I'm still kind of, you know, everyone said, Hey, if
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: you're going to run your own business, you got to
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: have a smartphone. I said, okay, fine. Um, Friday, you
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: got that win over Oak Harbor, a big, big win.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Was it kind of like, I mean, obviously the first
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: game you got the win, but there was a lot
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: of things that needed to be cleaned up in that
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: one with, you know, turnovers, different things. Did you kind
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: of feel like this was probably how it should have
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: been in the earlier game?
• 44:52
  Speaker 12: Well, we definitely played much better and cleaner, you know,
• 44:58
  Speaker 12: other than giving up a big run. But we were
• 45:04
  Speaker 12: Pretty similar defensively. We hung on to the football. So, yeah,
• 45:10
  Speaker 12: I played more physical than we did in the first game.
• 45:14
  Speaker 12: So all the things that we're asking our kids to do,
• 45:17
  Speaker 12: we definitely played a little bit better than we did
• 45:19
  Speaker 12: against them just three weeks ago.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: And obviously a lot more on the line. I mean,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: it is a conference game, so there is a lot
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: on the line the first time, but a little bit
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: more riding on it this time. And one of the
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: things I was going to ask you about, too, was,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: You know, going back a few years when you had
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Landon Hatchett and he would pull as a center, which
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: you don't see a ton. Obviously, he's uber talented and
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: you it allows you to do stuff like that. But
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: you're doing that now with Mason Buttonshow. And, you know,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: he's very athletic. Is this is this something now that,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure Kosh on the Valley did it. Like,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: is it something that was kind of ushered in with
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Landon and now you just kind of keep it in
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: your kind of in your playbook there?
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it was.
• 46:02
  Speaker 12: It was something that we tried with Landon. And like
• 46:05
  Speaker 12: you said, you just don't, it's hard to snap the
• 46:08
  Speaker 12: ball and pull.
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: For a high schooler.
• 46:12
  Speaker 12: And yeah, it's been something that once Landon was able
• 46:17
  Speaker 12: to do it, it really helps us depending on what
• 46:22
  Speaker 12: we're seeing from the opposing front. It just gives us
• 46:25
  Speaker 12: more flexibility and versatility. It also gives us, you know,
• 46:30
  Speaker 12: the old adage in Wing T was you're going to
• 46:33
  Speaker 12: look at the guards and they're going to tell you
• 46:35
  Speaker 12: where the play's going. And now we're pulling really all
• 46:39
  Speaker 12: four of our interior linemen. So it's not as much
• 46:43
  Speaker 12: just watch the guards. So it's definitely helped us in
• 46:46
  Speaker 12: how we want to run our offense.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been really fun to watch. I mean, you're right.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what it would be like to
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: be a linebacker against that offense because your eyes would
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: go cross-eyed and you don't know where to go. And
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden they pop a big run. One
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: thing too, that I noticed, you know, a lot of
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: your offensive linemen play both ways and, but they're staying
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: fresh on the field, but this, but like recently you've
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: had different guys play on the defensive line, probably to
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: give those guys a blow a little bit. And Jacob
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Lindsay had that big sack early on to kind of
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: set the tone and, And so how are these new
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: kind of players fitting in now on the defensive line
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: when they're getting their turn?
• 47:29
  Speaker 12: Yeah, you hit it on the head. When they get
• 47:32
  Speaker 12: an opportunity, they're producing. We've done a pretty good job
• 47:37
  Speaker 12: all year trying to rotate those guys up front, especially
• 47:41
  Speaker 12: on the defensive front. And you're right, to keep the
• 47:45
  Speaker 12: bigger guys fresh. So it's really tough for them. to
• 47:50
  Speaker 12: play every single down and in the fourth quarter still
• 47:53
  Speaker 12: be fresh. So it's been a point of emphasis the
• 47:56
  Speaker 12: last couple of years. Our guys have done a good
• 47:59
  Speaker 12: job on the defensive side, rotating guys through. And then,
• 48:02
  Speaker 12: you know, when guys have got their opportunity, they've taken
• 48:06
  Speaker 12: advantage of that. And that's something we talk about with
• 48:08
  Speaker 12: our team. And, you know, it's really positive the more
• 48:12
  Speaker 12: guys you can play and have involved in the game
• 48:15
  Speaker 12: plan and have bought in. So, Um, it's been fun
• 48:18
  Speaker 12: to see some of those other guys continue to take
• 48:21
  Speaker 12: on bigger roles as the season's gone on.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: And you have guys on the staff that played for you,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: you know, both coordinators played for you. Um, which one
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: of your current players would it not surprise you if
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: they came back after a few years and asked to
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: be an assistant coach?
• 48:37
  Speaker 12: We have a few probably, um, probably the one off
• 48:42
  Speaker 12: the top of my head. Um, would be Braden Hendrickson.
• 48:46
  Speaker 12: He's a great communicator. I could see him. He understands
• 48:52
  Speaker 12: the big picture. A lot of times in high school,
• 48:55
  Speaker 12: you have guys that they know their job on a
• 48:58
  Speaker 12: play and don't understand maybe how the big picture works together.
• 49:02
  Speaker 12: Braden understands the big picture. He could play multiple positions.
• 49:07
  Speaker 12: He would like to play running back, but we're going
• 49:10
  Speaker 12: to keep him up front for us.
• 49:13
  Speaker 5: I could see him being.
• 49:15
  Speaker 12: Someone that down the road that that might be something
• 49:18
  Speaker 12: they like to do.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, well, you know, Donnie's got to retire at some point. So, uh,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: you know, it's a smooth transition there. Um, you know,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: talk about the seating too, because you were kind of
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: in a position to where, you know, you might host,
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: you might not, it was really going to come down
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: to it. How did you feel about the seating for
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: this round of 32? Yeah, we were happy.
• 49:43
  Speaker 12: I mean, like you said, we were right in that
• 49:46
  Speaker 12: window where it could go either way of whether we
• 49:49
  Speaker 12: hosted this week or not. Um, So we got the
• 49:54
  Speaker 12: respect of the committee, I think. Our two losses were
• 49:58
  Speaker 12: to two really good teams, one that's undefeated and the
• 50:03
  Speaker 12: number five seed in 3A, and the other one is
• 50:06
  Speaker 12: a 4A playoff team. So that's also hosting this week.
• 50:11
  Speaker 12: So two pretty quality, tough losses that we would like
• 50:16
  Speaker 12: to have another shot at, but I think the other
• 50:19
  Speaker 12: thing that may have helped is us last year going
• 50:23
  Speaker 12: as a 20-whatever seed we were over to Cheney and
• 50:26
  Speaker 12: winning a game in the round of 32. So, yeah,
• 50:32
  Speaker 12: it was nice how it worked out. We love the
• 50:35
  Speaker 12: opportunity to play at home and are happy with how
• 50:38
  Speaker 12: things fell.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And at home on Friday, you'll be hosting Liberty
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: at 7 o'clock. I know nothing about them coach. This
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: is when it starts happening where I, you know, where
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: I really need to know. So tell us about Liberty.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: What do you see?
• 50:52
  Speaker 12: Well, it's, it's funny, you know, um, we played them
• 50:56
  Speaker 12: in the.
• 50:58
  Speaker 5: 2005 quarter finals.
• 50:59
  Speaker 12: Uh, I remember their head coach, uh, and I became
• 51:02
  Speaker 12: friends after that game. Cause that was such a, um,
• 51:05
  Speaker 12: epic environment that we were able.
• 51:07
  Speaker 5: To play in.
• 51:08
  Speaker 12: So, um, he's been there a long time and is
• 51:12
  Speaker 12: a great guy. They, they're, Very well coached. And in
• 51:16
  Speaker 12: all the years since then, we've never played again.
• 51:18
  Speaker 5: So it's kind of interesting.
• 51:20
  Speaker 12: He texted me as soon as the draw came out that, hey,
• 51:24
  Speaker 12: we're coming up your way on Friday.
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: So we're excited.
• 51:30
  Speaker 12: They're kind of a wing tee, jet sweep based offense.
• 51:37
  Speaker 12: They do a really good job of giving you a
• 51:40
  Speaker 12: lot of different looks and making you defend the whole field.
• 51:44
  Speaker 12: especially width-wise. They'll give you a lot of eye candy
• 51:49
  Speaker 12: with guys going the other way, where the ball's going.
• 51:53
  Speaker 12: So we've got to be super disciplined with what they
• 51:56
  Speaker 12: do on offense and try not to give up big plays. Defensively,
• 52:01
  Speaker 12: they're an even front team, which we haven't seen that
• 52:05
  Speaker 12: much of this year. So they've got some similarities to
• 52:10
  Speaker 12: us in how they like to play defense. So You know,
• 52:13
  Speaker 12: you get to this point in the year, we're going
• 52:15
  Speaker 12: to play a really disciplined, sound football team that normally
• 52:21
  Speaker 12: is not going to beat themselves. So we got our
• 52:24
  Speaker 12: work cut out for us.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: Man, you bring me back 21 years, Coach. That game
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: was crazy at Civic Stadium. I've never seen that many
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: people in that stadium. I was in a mosh pit
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: behind the uh, behind the end zone, uh, right before
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: the half there, when, when Jake went down and Casey
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: came in and threw that touchdown. And, and it's funny
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: cause I do remember their offense. And so I, I
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't going to say, I haven't seen him in 21 years.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to assume they run the same offense.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: I didn't know the coach was still there. And you're
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: very right. I mean, that, that guy emotion, every play,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: it seems like you just never know, kind of like
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: what squalicum you would do sometimes a little bit, but, um, But, boy,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: that was a crazy game. And if a coach has
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: been there for that long, as you know, you know
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: that they're kind of, you know, pretty consistent in what
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: they do and know what to do and they will
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: be disciplined. Boy, man, it's going to be a great
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: one on Friday night. I know the radio crew will
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: be out there for the pregame and all the festivities
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: and everything, which is great. And best of luck on
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: Friday against Liberty. Coach, thank you so much for joining
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast. Yeah, anytime. Thanks, Tyler.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: And we move to our final Friday night game of
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the night. And this hits Meridian, who got the 11th seed.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: They are 5-4. They're going to take on Granite Falls,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: who is 6-3. They're the 14th seed. This will be
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: out at Cedro Woolley High School at 7 o'clock Friday night.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: I think they have the option to be playing at
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: Civic Stadium at like a 4 o'clock game. But even
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: though that's closer to home, don't know how many– friends
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: and family members would be able to make it to
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: a four o'clock game on a Friday night. And, um,
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: but you know, Cedar Woolley, not too far away, not
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: too bad for Granite Falls either. Just head up the
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: highway there and, and, uh, should be a great one
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: out at the new field out at Cedar Woolley and, uh,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: looking for a really good battle here between two teams
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: that have actually played each other quite a bit. I
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: am now joined on the Gatorade game day podcast by
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Meridian head football coach, Patrick Ames coach. Thank you for
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: joining me today. How are you doing?
• 54:33
  Speaker 11: Doing well, Tyler.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 54:34
  Speaker 5: How are you?
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Doing pretty well myself. What's the most used app on
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: your phone?
• 54:43
  Speaker 11: Huddle, which is our online film recording and analysis tool.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: Can you use that on your phone, too, to send
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: a message to all the players just by doing a
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: thing on Huddle, or does that not really work that way?
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: You know, we don't use it for that.
• 55:04
  Speaker 11: We're in the final forms world where we're going to
• 55:07
  Speaker 11: send messages to families and kids.
• 55:10
  Speaker 5: That's what we're supposed to use. Gotcha.
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah, I didn't really know because I'm on most
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: teams' huddles. So I get a lot of messages, hey,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Coach Anderson, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay, that's great.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: Just put up your game film, please. That's all I
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: care about. Yeah. And on Thursday, you went on the
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: road for a home game against Mount Baker in a
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: really physical game. And, you know, was there a feeling
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: going into that where you kind of were like, OK,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: we know we're in at least to the round of 24.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Did that did that kind of relieve nerves or did
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: obviously you still want to win? But did it make
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: it kind of were you a little looser for that
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: game because of that, you think?
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: That's a really good question.
• 55:58
  Speaker 11: That isn't anything that I necessarily felt, but would completely understand.
• 56:05
  Speaker 11: And it wasn't anything that, you know, that we talked
• 56:07
  Speaker 11: about leading up to the game that we were just
• 56:10
  Speaker 11: trying to get prepared to play a team that, you know.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Was really, really good.
• 56:13
  Speaker 11: And, and you're right, really physical and trying to get our,
• 56:18
  Speaker 11: our guys prepared to, to, to match that. We were
• 56:24
  Speaker 11: all aware that, right. That we were already going to,
• 56:27
  Speaker 11: you know, be matched up in, in the round of 24,
• 56:30
  Speaker 11: but it wasn't anything that really affected any of our
• 56:33
  Speaker 11: decision-making or the way that we approach the game.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, which one of your current players would it
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: not surprise you if they said, Hey coach, and a couple,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: and I get a couple of years, they came up
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: to you and say, Hey, I want to be an
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: assistant coach.
• 56:47
  Speaker 5: Oh, geez.
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: That's a good question.
• 56:49
  Speaker 11: Um, there are a number of guys I think on
• 56:51
  Speaker 11: our team that would, that would make good coaches. Um,
• 56:57
  Speaker 11: And I know from coaching long enough and something that,
• 57:01
  Speaker 11: you know, I always talked about with my with my
• 57:03
  Speaker 11: dad that you never want to have too many personalities
• 57:07
  Speaker 11: on a coaching staff that are the same, that you
• 57:10
  Speaker 11: need to be able to reach a number of different
• 57:12
  Speaker 11: guys in different ways. And you need to have guys
• 57:15
  Speaker 11: that are great teachers. And along with that comes the
• 57:20
  Speaker 11: ability to communicate effectively and and situationally. So I don't
• 57:28
  Speaker 11: want to shortchange my assessment of anybody on our team,
• 57:35
  Speaker 11: but I would say that there are a number of
• 57:37
  Speaker 11: guys that I think would make really good coaches.
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a good thing. I mean, that's a nice
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: thing to have. And one other thing, too, about coaching
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: that just kind of popped in my mind is which
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: one of these happens more often? When you explain something
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: to a player, And then you explain why or do
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: you get asked the question why? And then you have
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: to explain it. Does that make sense?
• 58:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 58:03
  Speaker 11: And here's something that I would share that I'm aware
• 58:07
  Speaker 11: of that's changed from when I started coaching and from
• 58:12
  Speaker 11: when I was playing is our generation of high school
• 58:16
  Speaker 11: football players don't watch as much football on TV as
• 58:21
  Speaker 11: we would have 25 and 30 years ago and further.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: There's just more.
• 58:25
  Speaker 11: More for kids to do and more that takes up
• 58:28
  Speaker 11: their time than we had growing up. So I would
• 58:32
  Speaker 11: say we're probably in the business now of trying to
• 58:37
  Speaker 11: answer frequently asked questions, right, and provide purpose and reason
• 58:42
  Speaker 11: and front load that, maybe more so than assume that
• 58:46
  Speaker 11: players know and then wait for the questions.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: It's interesting. That's a great point, too. Like you brought
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: up that, I mean, because you're right, back then, I
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: mean– on the weekend, you're just, you're watching football, you know, Thanksgiving,
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: you're watching football, New Year's, you're watching football. And now
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: there are so many other things and channels and shows
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: and YouTube and whatever. And it is very different. I mean,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: you know, I think that back in the day, the
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: coach would say, OK, now you need to line up
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: this way. And, yep, that's right. And now it's like, well, why?
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: And why does that have to be seven on the
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage? Why not more? Why not less? All
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: these crazy things. You know, the seeding came out for
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: the round of 24. When it did, how did you
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: feel about that?
• 59:33
  Speaker 5: We were really.
• 59:36
  Speaker 11: Gratified to be able to be seen as a team
• 59:40
  Speaker 11: in that top 12 to be able to host a game.
• 59:42
  Speaker 11: And hosting for us now means we're actually.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: gonna go to to Skagit.
• 59:46
  Speaker 11: County and play the game at Cedar Woolley however um
• 59:51
  Speaker 11: that's still you know a team that's in the Northwest
• 59:53
  Speaker 11: Conference and you know we go there all the time
• 59:54
  Speaker 11: for for other sports so it's really not that far
• 59:57
  Speaker 11: um and still close enough for our fans and families
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 11: to be able to attend.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: And um we were we really um I.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 11: Think felt good about the way in which you know
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 11: a team that in the regular season our record says
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 11: we're five and four but I think um We've earned
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 11: a degree of respect from the coaches on the committee
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 11: to know that we were a team that, I guess,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 11: was worthy of being able to host a game in
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 11: this round. So with that comes, it's humbling but also
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 11: satisfying to know that we're a team, you know, like
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 11: the other 11 teams that were seated that way to
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 11: be able to wear the home colors on somebody else's field,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 11: but still be awarded that that privilege.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: And this uh friday night 7 p.m you'll be going
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: against granite falls who i mean for years they were
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: in the conference with meridian at the old north cascades
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: conference and and um you know played them a handful
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: of times but maybe not too much in recent history
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: the tigers when you see them what do you see um.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 11: Their team so we actually played them in the jamboree Um,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 11: so they're, they're the team that we actually started our,
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 11: our competitive play with way back in, you know, around,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 11: I guess it was at Labor Day weekend. It seems
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 11: like a long time ago, but at the same time,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 11: it was, it was, it's been, you know, once you
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 11: get to this point in the season, uh, I was
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 11: just talking about that with my son. He said, you know, the,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 11: It feels like the games have gone super fast, but
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 11: when you think about the season in terms of practice,
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 11: it seems like it's dragged a little bit. So there's
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 11: always a little bit of a warped perception, right, of
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 11: what the season feels like. But we've played these guys
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 11: this year, and we know that they're a lot better
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 11: than the team that we played. And it's been pretty
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 11: evident in studying the way that they play that they've
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 11: settled into an identity game. both on offense and defense,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 11: and they're playing with a ton of confidence right now.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 11: They were on a really good winning streak there in
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 11: the middle of the season, and they would have won
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 11: their league championship last week, but the Kings kicker hit
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 11: a 35-yard field goal or something like that to walk
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 11: off the game. And so Granite Falls fell by two
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 11: points there. Otherwise, they'd be riding a seven-game winning streak
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 11: into this one. So, yeah, it's going to take all
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 11: that we've got to be able to match up with them.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like a quality opponent. So my next
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: question probably doesn't, it's probably not going to end up happening.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: But this is really interesting because you just got seeded,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: but the winners will get seeded again next week. And so,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, the first thing that pops in my mind
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: is our teams, if they're up big, do they keep
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: trying to pour it on to try to get a
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: better seed? is there talk about that with the coaches
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: or is it just kind of an understood thing or
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: how does that even, I mean, it sounds like your
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: guys' game will be a little more competitive than maybe
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: some of these others. So it's probably something you don't
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: have to worry about, but do you understand what I mean?
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: Because you want to try to, is that something that
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: gets talked about or how do you deal with something
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: like that?
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 11: I'm aware that that is a consideration probably in some
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 11: of these games, but not, not being on the seating
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 11: committee myself, I can only imagine what some of those
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 11: conversations may be like. My hope is that the, the
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 11: body of work for a team throughout the season will
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 11: speak more than, you know, a team trying to, trying
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 11: to pour it on and that the seating committee will,
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 11: will look at as much context and factors, uh, that
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 11: determine the outcome of any of one of these week
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 11: 10 games, um, deeply enough to know that, you know,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 11: a team that's, you know, you know, going to try
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 11: to pour it on, like you said, um, against a
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 11: team that might get overwhelmed early or be on the
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 11: wrong side of momentum does not necessarily mean that that
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 11: team is, you know, now eight touchdowns better than anybody else.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 11: And likewise, you learn a lot about teams from winning
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 11: close games also. So I'm aware that that could be
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 11: seen as the factor, you know, the point differential. spread
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 11: in some of these outcomes but um you just hope
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 11: that it's more than just one game that's taken into
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 11: consideration absolutely and.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: That's and you never know there could be like i
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: think even last year there was some upsets in this
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: round and so teams can naturally get bumped up that
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: way and and uh but it's going to be great
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: you know yes there's a lot of these matchups and
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: And yours is looking like it should be one of
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: the more competitive ones. I know that the radio will
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: be down there for that. I was talking to Zen
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: Hill from the Linden Tribune, asked him where he'll be
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: on Friday night. He'll be down there for that. So
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: it's going to be an exciting game. Best of luck
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: on Friday against the Tigers coach. And thank you so
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: much for joining me today on the Gatorade Game Day podcast.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 11: Thank you, Tyler.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: And finally, we'll talk about the Saturday night game. This
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: pits the Linden Lions. We've got the number two seed
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: in two-way. They are seven and two on the year.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: They're going to take on the Renton Redhawks. That'll be
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: Saturday night at Ferndale High School. Renton, the 31 seed.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: They are five and four on the year. I'm now
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: joined on the Gatorade Game Day podcast by Linden Head
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: football coach Blake Van Dalen. Coach, thank you for joining
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: me today. How are you doing?
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 7: Good. Thanks for having me on. How are you?
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: I'm doing all right. What's the most used app on
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: your phone?
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 8: The most used app on my phone, well, this time
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 8: of year is Huddle, because that means anytime I've got
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 8: an extra five minutes, I can watch film. Sometimes when
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 8: I'm looking to veg out, it's Candy Crush. I've never
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 8: spent any money on it. I just do the free
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 8: version and just just let my brain drift off into
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 8: meaningless i think i'm on level 10 000 or some
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 8: crazy number i've been doing it for like 10 years
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 8: so that's my veg out i don't want to use
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 8: my brain but other than that huddle.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: Nice um so on thursday you went down south to
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: take on archbishop murphy didn't really know what kind of
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: uh offense you were going to see and and uh
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: once you got there you saw and You know, the
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: big takeaway that I got from that game was it
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: looked like their game plan was to just possess the
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: ball as much as possible.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: Which is kind of what you guys have done this year.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: And they were able to, you know, move the chains
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: and work the clock and stuff like that. And by
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: the time the, you know, the second half rolls around,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: that's a hard, you know, that's hard to come back from.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: How did it how did you look at it?
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I think that was probably the goal of both teams.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 8: We also knew coming in, they'd be much fresher than us.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 8: You know, we came off of an awesome Anacortes game,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 8: awesome Burlington game, awesome Squalicum game. So we're in the
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 8: middle of our gauntlet and they're sitting at home getting
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 8: massages because they had three weeks off. So we knew
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 8: the beginning of the game, you know, we kind of
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 8: wanted to keep it close. We had a feeling that
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 8: we would have a chance in the third and fourth
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 8: quarter like other teams have just because they don't have
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 8: the depth that some teams have. So I wasn't surprised
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 8: that we got some momentum going late in the game.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 8: We just kind of dug ourselves too big of a
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 8: hole and tipped your hat. They looked really fresh, ready
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 8: to go. It'll be interesting to see as we head
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 8: into the playoffs, you know, when everybody has a game
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 8: every week, what it looks like moving forward.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Which one of your current players, and this is a
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: question that, you know, it might be hard to answer,
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: but because it's been, not that it's a tradition at Linden,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: but boy, you look at the assistant coaches and all
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: the former players that you've had that are there. Which
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: one of your current players would it not surprise you
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: if they came back after a few years and said, hey, coach,
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: I want to be an assistant?
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 8: Um, Possibly, like, off the top of my head, you know,
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 8: Adam Holman seems like the type that's really enjoying that
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 8: side of it. Dawson Van Dalen, obviously, in that category.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 8: I would love to have Zach Dykstra come back. He's
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 8: hopefully got a nice college career ahead of him. But
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 8: those seem like some of the guys off the top
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 8: of my head that seem to be enjoying that. Both
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 8: sides of it, not just playing, but mentoring younger kids
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 8: and being a part of the Linden legacy.
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: You know, the seeding came out for this round of 32.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that's what the seeding will be for
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: the round of 16 once we get to the actual
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: state playoffs, but the seeding came out. How did you
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: feel about how it went for you guys?
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, it was definitely interesting because you had
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 8: three teams that had all beat each other in.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 7: Our conference.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 8: And then you factor in an undefeated Tumwater, an undefeated Prosser,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 8: a one-loss WF West.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 7: So I think those ended up being the top. six.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 8: It's interesting. Two years ago, we were in a very
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 8: similar predicament. We lost only to Anacortes. They ended up
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 8: getting the two seed, just like we did this year.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 8: We ended up getting the four playing five, which was Archbishop.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 8: And so, you know, it seems to be what happens
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 8: in this time of year when the three of us
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 8: all beat each other, we all end up in the
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 8: top five. And, and that's kind of looks like what
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 8: happened again this year with, with Tumwater is undefeated. WLS
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 8: only lost to them. They ended up with the six
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 8: and then the rest of us plus Prosser filled in
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 8: two through five. So, you know, we've always said any place, anywhere, anytime,
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 8: and you've got to, you know, beat the best to
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 8: be the best. And so the nice part is, you know,
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 8: if we get the top, you know, eight, right. Everybody
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 8: has a shot and just got to try and be
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 8: the one team that wins five in a row.
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: You know, coach, once all this happens, right. All the
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: seating is done and they figured out who all the
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: opponents are. Then it's the scramble of, you know, getting
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: film to the other coach and, And figuring out where
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: and when you're going to play. So tell us kind
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: of walk us through that and how crazy that is,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: because there's options, but things are filling fast. Is it
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: kind of a first come first serve? Do you try
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: to lock things in? How does that all work?
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it's always a little interesting because we get in
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 8: a pretty good routine during the season. You play your
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 8: games on Thursday and Friday. Everybody exchanges film on Saturday morning.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 8: You have all day Saturday and Sunday to prepare. Then
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 8: the kids come back on Monday.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 7: And, you know.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 8: That's just kind of our routine over here. Well, now
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 8: for these two weeks, you don't know who you play
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 8: until noon or so on Sunday. And then, yeah, the
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 8: teams that are organized and detailed are It's as quick
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 8: as click a button, they accept. We've had film within
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 8: 15 minutes of the draw before. And then for us,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 8: for example, this Sunday was a little different story. Difficult
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 8: to get a hold of coaches and athletic directors on
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 8: a Sunday. And I think it was five or six
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 8: at night on Sunday night. Still didn't have the film
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 8: that we usually have to get ready for a team.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 8: And so that's kind of the uncertainty of a late draw.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 8: the unfamiliar opponents, pool, wealth, and trading film. Usually it
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 8: gets ironed out by this coming week because now you're
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 8: down to the top 16. Those are usually all teams
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 8: that are organized in it. want to you know get
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 8: their information themselves as well as get your information so
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 8: this weekend should be a little bit smoother but then
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 8: at the same time i'm texting and calling mr mckee
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 8: and he's trying to find out if this field's available
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 8: or that field or what time or you know we're
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 8: blessed up here in whatcom county when you've got you
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 8: know however many teams playing and there's only so many
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 8: turf fields because they don't let you play on grass
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 8: um Now it kind of becomes a little bit of
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 8: a chess match to see who plays when, where, what time,
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 8: and then that determines what your week of practice is
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 8: going to be like. We ended up with a Saturday game,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 8: so we ended up with an extra day.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 7: During the week.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just going to bring that up. So
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: you're all playing on Saturday at Ferndale High School at
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: a 6 o'clock game against Renton. Tell us about the
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: Red Hawks. What do you know?
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a fun prep because– we're known for having
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 8: a pretty good-sized O-line. Well, we're going to be the
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 8: little guys on Friday night. I did the math. Their
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 8: offensive line adds up to 1,500 pounds. And so, yes,
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 8: our biggest guy would be their littlest guy. And so
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 8: that will be a fun, unique challenge. They've got some
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 8: really talented kids. On the offensive side, their middle linebacker
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 8: is also their running back. He's only a sophomore, and
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 8: he's pretty dynamic and fun to watch.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 7: We'll have all eyes on him.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 8: They run pretty much a 4-2, cover one, which means
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 8: they're going to challenge you to run the ball on
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 8: their six and challenge you to throw the ball and
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 8: basically man cover with one high safety. So there's some
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 8: things you can and and can't do based on how
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 8: they align. So it'll be a lot of fun. Like
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 8: I told our kids, we're just excited that we're not
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 8: putting gear away. We're preparing and trying to find a
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 8: way to go 1-0, just like everybody else. And if
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 8: you do find a way to go 1-0, you get
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 8: to play football another week together. The freshmen come up
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 8: this week, so we get to teach them how to
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 8: practice with the varsity.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 7: That's always fun. So, yeah, this is the adrenaline.
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 8: Part of the season where you got through October.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 7: You got through the gauntlet, if you will, that the
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 7: Northwest Conference is.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 8: And now you come out the other side and you
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 8: get some fresh faces to go against. You get some
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 8: fresh opponents. It really is an exciting, fun time of year.
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 8: Coach Whitman and I don't get a lot of sleep.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 8: And now we've added Coach Dodd to that mix. And
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 8: I don't know if he ever slept before that. But
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 8: we're having a lot of fun.
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: I see the playoff beard is coming in, Coach.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 8: Hey, my wife is never excited about that part of it,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 8: but the kids love it. The uglier I get, the better.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 8: That means the better we did.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, good.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 7: I love it.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I have to throw this out there
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: because you brought up bringing up the freshmen. What's the number?
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: Do we have a number, a final number of how
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: many players will be on the sideline for you?
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 8: Yeah, we have a small senior class and we're only
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 8: at 13. And so this year we ended up at 90.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 8: And so there are a few extra jerseys that we
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 8: normally don't have. So we won't quite go one to
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 8: 100 or zero to 99 like we like to, but
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 8: we're darn close and happy to be where we're at.
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, I love it, coach. It's a tradition unlike any other.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: And also this is the time of year, And you
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: know how I love this, where I get to put
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: my hands together and say, okay, who are these freshmen?
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Because there might be a series at the end. This
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: is where I learned about who Austin Postma was. This
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: is when I saw all these different guys a few
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: years ago, and boy, I love this time, and it's
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: going to be so much fun. Best of luck on
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: Saturday against Renton, Coach, and thank you so much for
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: joining me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 7: I appreciate it so much. Have a great day.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: Well, that does it. A lot of games to choose from.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Should be a lot of fun. And we'll be broadcasting
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: our final show of the year on the Wacom Preps
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel, the Gatorade Game Day Live show, where we'll
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: be talking about everything happening live on Friday night as
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: it happens. Show you touchdowns immediately after they happen. And
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: that's going to be really exciting as well. But until then,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: this has been episode 466 of the Wacom Prep Podcast.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: It's been the Week 10 Gatorade Game Day Football Preview.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: I am Tyler Anderson of Wacom Preps, and I'll talk
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: to you next week.