Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: Mixed Emotions About Facing Warner Robins

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2023: Mixed Emotions About Facing Warner Robins · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

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  Right, guys, welcome into another week of HOKO Football. It is the
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  Housing County Coaches Show, where we have a chance to reflect on the bears
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  last game as well as talk about the upcoming game. And even though there
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  was no game last week, we'll talk about what's coming up this week and
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  of course what the Bears did in their off week. But we can't do
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  any of that unless we have the head Bear himself. So without further ado,
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  let's bring in the head coach of the Houston County Bears football program in
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  his second season overseeing these Bears. It's Jeremy Edwards checking in with us.
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  Coach, thanks so much for doing this, Yes sir, thank you Phil.
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  Happy Monday to you. Yeah, same to you, coach, and
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  happy week and happy Monday to all of our listeners out there, especially if
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  you're a Hoco Bears fan. Coach, as I mentioned in the introduction,
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  there no game this week, it was an off week, talk about what
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  you guys did, what you and your staff did. Us go and uh
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  do a little scouting or anything kind of give us an update on what you
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  guys did this past weekend with it being a bye week. Yeah, I
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  mean we uh we treated it business as usual. You know, it's still
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  kind of early in the season for us. Like I mentioned last week,
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  we're healthy, so you know, we went four days this week just like
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  normal and you know, scale back a little bit on some things that we
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  did. But you know, we took advantage of the the bye week to
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  uh go ahead and get a head start on our next opponent and had an
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  opportunity to go and took the staff to uh to eat at at Buckner's on
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  Friday, which is always uh, good times at Bucky's. You say,
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  Buckner's up there on the way, you know, seventy five. I don't
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  know what town it been, but uh, you know, too much to
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  eat, that's for sure. But it was on the way to go and
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  watch the Dutch Town one Robbin's game, which we were able to go watch.
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  So it was a it was a good off week for us, and
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  we're locked in ready to go this week. I got you. So obviously,
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  the the next opponent, as you mentioned, is the one of Robin's
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  demons before we get into though, before we get into that team, which
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  of course is your next opponent. Yeah, this is a great time I
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  think to reflect coach, you know, almost here at the halfway point.
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  Uh, you know, five games in. I guess we'll officially earmark the
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  halfway point, but close enough to ask you to reflect on your team.
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  Four and oh, offense seems to be clicking right along. I mean,
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  you know, defense, I guess you can always say, hey, we
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  can play better defense, but I'll let you answer that for our listeners.
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  Uh, kind of give our listeners an overview straight from the head coach,
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  straight from the horse's mouth or in this case, the bear's mouth, about
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  how his team is playing. Yeah, I mean, I we we feel
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  good about it obviously. You know, we've got one more non region game.
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  I've been really really pleased with the play of our our defense and the
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  play of our special teams. I think they are both much improved for our
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  team, and we were able to address some things this offseason with those two
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  units. And uh, they've been playing really really well and could be more
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  proud of the staff for putting that together for us. But the special teams
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  you're saying, ye, special teams and defense have really been a bright spot
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  for us. You know, we uh, we we feel good about where
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  we're at right now. You know, we've got one more one more non
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  region game. But you know, I talked to the kids yesterday. We
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  had them in and kind of watching film and doing some things getting ready for
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  this week, and uh uh you know, I talked to him about going
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  into the storm. I mean, we're about to go into a three game
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  stretch here where you know, we've one of Robins in north Side leading into
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  our next another bye week, and you know, it's a it's a tough
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  stretch of three three really good teams, and so we've got to be locked
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  in. And obviously we don't look at, you know, ahead to a
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  next opponent, but you know, we're trying to go one and know each
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  week. But it's a it's definitely a three game stretch that's really really tough,
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  and and we've got to meet that challenge absolutely. So again we're talking
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  to Jeremy Edward's head coach of the Hoko Bears. As the coach just put
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  it rather succinctly, Uh, this is it. This is an important game,
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  that the moment, the most important game of the season. All right.
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  So you had a chance to go look at one of Robbins. Uh,
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  you've seen the film on them, which of course, uh, I
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  guess huddle allows us to do that, but nothing like seeing a team up
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  close and personal. So what was your take on dutch Town? Uh?
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  Well, I mean it was an unusual deal schedule wized, I guess for
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  one of Robbins to play a region game and then jump back out of region
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  to play a non region game versus US. Yeah, there's a few things
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  that are doing that for whatever reason. Yeah, yeah, and I guess
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  it's just the way their schedule worked out. They just couldn't work out any
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  other way. But you know, I've never been up to Dutchtown before.
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  It's a that's a nice facility that they have up there, and you know,
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  I thought that it was a good, hard thought region game. Dutchtown
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  was able to kind of jump up on them. But it shows a resiliency
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  of Warner Robbins to be able to come back down three touchdowns at one time
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  and uh second half really kind of turned it on and got to win.
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  So it shows one thing that I think that that's you know, always a
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  hallmark I guess, or you know a Warner Robbins football is the kids play
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  hard, and so you better be ready to play four quarters and you know,
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  Dutchtown wasn't able to finish them, finish them all off. But we
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  know we've got our work cut out for us. But uh, we're looking
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  forward to the challenge absolutely. Uh. And you know, one of Robins
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  looks to be kind of one of these teams is hard to figure out,
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  coach. You know, they've suffered I think two one point losses. Of
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  course that their record. I would I would probably tell your team, which
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  I know you have, do not look or consider anything about their record.
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  You know, don't let that fool you, guys, because you know,
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  they lost to a really good seedar Grove team by a point. They lost
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  to Jonesborough by a point. I know it's faulty handled them pretty well.
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  But anyway, I know you're talking, you know, you want to talk
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  about your team and taking care of your business. But I guess the point
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  that I'm making is that this one of Robin's team is obviously obviously showing flashes
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  of brilliant so far. Well, those those are the that's the dutch Town
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  schedule that you're referring to. Well, you know what, I'm sorry,
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  you're right, that is the dutch Town schedule. My bad. Yeah,
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  Robbins went down. I had to go. They've played a heck of a
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  you know, first half of the season with you know, playing north Side
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  and and playing Valdosta and playing Lee, and they dropped games with Valdosta Lee,
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  which are you know, great opponents, So just taking out yeah,
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  kind of take what I see and you know, kind of the same meaning
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  though, right, I mean, kind of hard to figure out what kind
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  of team this is. Yeah, I mean you gotta go down to Baysmore
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  Hider and you got to go to Leasburg. Those are two tough places to
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  play, so, you know, I mean, and they they played Leave
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  very well, and you know, I think that you know, Valdosta is
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  just a really really good on defense and they kind of get after him a
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  little bit. But you guys will be facing them later this year, right,
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  what pardon me? You guys will be facing them later this year.
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  And Valta, well we'll play uh yeah, we'll play Lead County next week.
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  Yeah, we don't. We don't play Valdosta. We matched up with
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  the summer and coach coach Felton does a great job. And defensively, they're
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  just yeah, it's hard to explain. They're just all over the place.
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  And it's, uh, they're they're tough to block, So I mean I
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  can understand that. But anyway, back back to one of Robbins. Yeah,
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  yeah, I mean it's, uh, you know, they're they've they've
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  played some good opponents and and they know how to win. You know,
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  they've been to state championship six times in a row. And you know,
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  I mean, so it's that's that's half the battle with kids these days is
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  teaching them how to win and expect them to win. And you know,
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  so we we know we're gonna get their best shot, just like we're getting
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  everybody's best shot. We can't hide from anybody anymore. So we've got to
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  be able to put in a great week of practice and lock in on the
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  details and and execute the game plan and practice and with installs and things like
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  that, and then got to work on Friday. Is this kind of the
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  ideal situation coming into a game, you know, where you have an off
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  week. Obviously it goes without saying that. Uh, anytime you know,
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  two teams from up there, and I mean, like if from the county
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  get together, it's always going to be you know, a big time rivalry
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  game. But talk about coming off the bye week and how advantageous is that.
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  Yeah, I mean it's huge. Our Our schedule set up really well
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  this year. As we've mentioned before. You know, we've got some of
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  the heavy hitters actually at home this year instead of having to go down TCC
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  and going you know, down to lead. But yeah, you're right.
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  I mean the having an off week to uh kind of recharge and and sort
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  of kind of lock in on our opponent for really two weeks and such a
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  huge game is is big for us, and so we've taken advantage of it.
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  Like I said, we didn't take any days off last week. We're
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  always going to protect our kids and make sure we're doing the right by them
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  when it comes to you know, nutrition and hydration and reft and things like
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  that. But you know, there's work to be done, and you know
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  we're we don't really care. I mean, it's nice to be four and
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  oh, don't get me wrong, but you know, it's a one.
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  It's a it's in every game mentality for us, trying to go want to
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  know and you know that's the only thing we're thinking about right now is Uh,
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  it's Friday night over at the MAC, which should be a pretty pretty
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  hostile environment, I assume, and you know we're hoping to bring a lot
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  of fans over there, you know, a couple of miles down the road
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  get after him. Absolutely. So let me ask you this. You know,
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  obviously last year, your first year, they're trying to kind of,
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  you know, change the culture and improve things, and you did that.
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  Now we've fast forward to this year, so I think the element of surprise
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  is that is gone. I mean, people now, you know last year
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  it was, well, here comes Hoko again. You know, we can
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  probably take care of them. Well, you know, you guys proved that
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  that wasn't the case. Now everyone knows it's not the case. I guess
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  what I'm asking you to to to kind of comment on coaches. Yeah,
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  now here in your second year, you guys have arrived. You guys are
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  obviously a great team. People respect you. How do you think that change
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  is going into every game now having that bulls on your back? Well,
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  I don't know if we've arrived yet. You know, I think we're a
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  work in progress, but we we've definitely improved the program over the course of
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  a year and a half now, and so you know, we're we're just
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  trying to keep our kids hungry, you know, and and don't be complacent,
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  don't get comfortable with you know, some of the success that we've had.
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  And it's nice to to hear those things, like you said. And
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  and I'm humbling as a coach when you are able to come in and you
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  know, I'm fortunate enough to be able to bring in a great staff that
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  that goes without saying. Our administration has helped out tremendously with that, and
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  I think that that's half the battle. They've always had players here. We
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  got great players here right now, and you know, it's all about putting
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  them in the position to be successful. And so as coaches, that's what
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  we try to do each week. And you know, I think that football
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  is a game, simple game that's complicated by coaches, and we try not
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  to complicate things with our kids. We try to make it simple so they
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  can go out, play fast and have fun. And you know, I
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  think that's what it's all about, to enjoy those Friday night lights. Absolutely,
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  we're winding up with the head coach of the Hoko Bears, got a
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  big game coming up, Jeremy Edwards checking in with us here on the Houston
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  County Coaches Show. All right, So if I was to ask you the
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  number one thing that concerns you coming into this game about your opponent this week
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  is blank, fill in the blank. I don't know that there's one thing
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  I could tell you one thing on each side of the Okay, fair enough,
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  all right. Defensively, Isaiah Gibson's a very good player. Yeah,
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  he'll he'll move, they'll move him around, I'm sure, and try to
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  create you know, matchup issues and and so we got to be ready for
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  that. And we know he's got a high voter and got a good get
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  off when it comes to his position on the D line, So we got
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  to be aware of him and where he's at at all times. And then
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  you know they have several weapons on offense. Obviously they got a new quarterback
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  who's come in and kind of charged him up a little bit offensively. But
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  you know, Isaiah Kenyon's a great player, like you said, number four
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  for them, he's uh, he's always advertised he's a great kid. Obviously,
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  I spent some time there, three years there, so I'm very fond
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  of him, and uh, you know, I feel like I've got a
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  good relationship with him in the past. I'm real proud of the player he's
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  become, and I hope that he continues to have great success, just not
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  a whole lot of success Friday, Now, that's pretty good. Well let
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  that success are that the best of luck forward to next week? Right,
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  that's right, that's right. I like that, all right, coach,
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  Well, certainly all eyes are going to be on this one. This is
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  a big one. It would. The truth is it would always be a
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  big one, uh, simply because of the LOCALIBO teams again, crosstown rivalry,
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  and be honest with you, all of you guys up there now are
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  playing pretty darn good football. So that's really great to see for the entire
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  county in it. Yeah, I agree with that. You know, I
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  was talking with some people about that the other day. I mean, every
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  team here is competitive, you know, from you know, Perry's having a
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  great season again and you know warrener Rovans North Side and Veterans is doing well.
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  It's it's nice to uh to see, you know, the amount of
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  talent that we have in this region of the state is something that I think
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  that a lot of people don't know about. I mean, as a college
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  recruiter. You know, they I think it's easy for them to get off
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  the plane and you know in Atlanta and go Golnett and go to Cobb and
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  grab players. But it's not a far ride down the road seventy five to
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  get some really really good football and a lot of good players and that you
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  know, it's a it's a good place to be. It's a good place
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  to uh to live and raise a family. And I think it's kind of
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  a right now, it's sort of a big top secret in the state,
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  but it's it's emerging, you know, week by week, no question.
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  Uh. Great place to live, great place to uh produce a winning football
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  team as well, and you have done exactly that because Jeremy Edwards has his
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  Hoko Bears undefeated and they're gonna try to stay that way. But it's going
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  to be quite the challenge as Hoko, we'll take on the one of Robin's
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  demons, who how do y'all figure out who's the home game? Who's the
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  home team? Is? Well, it's their stadium, that's right, you
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  play it the yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's you know, it's
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  uh that's another thing. You know, I've spent a lot of time there
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  standing on the other side. So in my three years there, I think
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  I was we were a visitor once. You know, when you play north
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  Side you get two evers, the home team gets the home side, and
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  so yeah, we're used to. Last year we played them here at Freedom,
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  so we got to go over there, and and we'll go over there
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  again in two weeks when we play north Side. So it's a great facilities
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  here. You know, two stadiums that all these teams share. Harry's got
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  their own obviously, but yeah, they're they're they're big, nice facilities and
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  uh and do a good job with that in this county, indeed they do.
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  How long has that stadium been built, their Freedom Field? Freedom,
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  I think was built. It was when when coach Lasseter was a coach,
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  so I think around two thy thirteen fourteen, something like that. Okay,
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  okay, so it's fairly new. But I was I was talking with I
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  believe the head coach of Americus when we played them, uh Sumter County earlier
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  in the season, and yeah, he thought it was a two year old
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  stadium because it's just they keep it up so nice. Yeah. Yeah,
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  obviously the Max got a little bit more history on it, so it's it's
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  older, but they do a great job in this county of keeping the facility
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  nice and clean, and uh, you know, it's it's it's really a
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  good place to play games. It really is. It really is. And
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  uh, speaking of good games, gonna be a good one in this one
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  Friday night, Houston County comes off the bye week looking to try to stay
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  undefeated. But again one of Robbins wants to wants to change all that.
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  It's gonna be a good one. We're gonna look forward to being back with
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  the head coach of the House and County Bears, Jeremy Edwards, next week
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  right here with more of the House and County coaches Choster. Don't miss it,
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  guys and coach Edwards best to Lutch you thank you, Phil. I
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  appreciate it. Okay, brother, all right, see you see there he
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  is. It's Jeremy Edwards getting ready for a big game. I mean,
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  obviously it can say it's the biggest game of the year so far for his
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  House and County Bears as they looked to stay undefeated. It will be a
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  great ball game. If you can make it, please do so, and
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  either way we'll come back next week and talk to coach Jeremy Edwards about this
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  one and the next opponent coming up right here on the Houston County Coaches Show
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  at IG next Georgia with coach Edwards and myself and your host Phil Jones.
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  Have a great week, everybody,