Latest / Cover IV Podcast / Week 9 Cover IV Showdown Breakdown - Groton vs. Deposit/Hancock with Ryan Gineo & Skylar Wenzel

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Week 9 Cover IV Showdown Breakdown - Groton vs. Deposit/Hancock with Ryan Gineo & Skylar Wenzel · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Cover Four.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a Section 4 football fan, this is your podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Coach Smith, your host.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: So buckle up.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Get your mouthpiece in, double knot your cleats.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Cover Four Showdown Breakdown for week nine.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's that time of year, the second season, the Class D playoffs.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: This week, two of our Cover Four football analysts will break down the Class D quarterfinal playoff game between the fifth-seeded Groton Red Hawks, led by head coach Nick Dyson, and the fourth-seeded Deposit Hancock Eagles, led by head coach Dan Briggs.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: The game is scheduled for Friday, October 30th at Hancock Field with a 7 p.m.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: kickoff.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Ryan Ginio will break down Groton, and then Skylar Wenzel will break down Deposit Hancock.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get this showdown breakdown kicked off.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Ryan.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so here to talk about the Gronton Redhawks.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: They come in as the five seed here in the expanded playoff bracket.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: For those who don't know, obviously it used to be four teams for the past few years, but I think it's the first time since 2017, I want to say, that Class D has expanded to uh to eight teams.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So how it worked was that the top two teams in each of the two Class D divisions got in.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the two division winners were seeded based on the Bradley Terry model.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Same with the second place teams, and then the remaining four teams from the uh from both divisions were seeded based on the uh the Bradley Terry model.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the interesting part is that I believe Groton, even though they are the higher seed, actually had a higher uh Bradley Terry model ranking, which takes into account like strength is scheduled, a bunch of things.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Literally by 0.001 over deposit Hancock.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: But because DH was second in their division, Gronton obviously had a pretty tough division with Tyoga and the Skylar Storm finished third.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the way it worked out.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously Gronton's gonna gear up here for a road trip on Friday to Hancock for what really should be a very fun matchup.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would say out of the four quarterfinals, I think this is the most intriguing one because there are kind of some unknowns because obviously Groton and DePaza Hancock didn't match up this season since they were in separate divisions.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing I'm very curious about, much like with a lot of Groton games, is how Grot how the opposing defenses can handle Groton's just incredible air-raid, high-flying offense that quite frankly, I think a lot of these teams in the section aren't used to seeing because as we know, historically, you know, in Class D, it's it's really just a run game, just pound it out, grind it out.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's how Tyogos won all those state titles.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I'm curious to see how Deposit Hancock is gonna handle this grunt offense.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And before we get to that, just how they got here for the Red Hawks, um, I figured this was gonna be a really strong season for them.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it was.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They finished the regular season with a six-and-two record.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, remember head coach uh Nick Dyson chatting with him uh earlier in the season, and he was very, very optimistic and confident about where this team is going because of the great summer they had in seven-on-sevens and and really excelling there.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that translated to 11-on-11 football.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: They started off just absolutely flying out of the gates.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: They had back-to-back 60-point wins, 6-0 at Sydney and against Great Oxford.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: They then beat Whitney Point by 46 points, beat Newark Valley by 29 points.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they were just tearing through their first four opponents.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: But then they ran into some adversity, really, for the first time all season.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or they hosted Watkins Glenodessum on tour, and things started out well, had an 8-0 lead against them, and then it just kind of fell apart for them.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was more of a reality check for them, knowing that, hey, it's not gonna be as easy if we want to win a sectional title.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be easy like it is for those first three weeks.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna run into very difficult teams like the Skylar Storm, and you know, they end up losing 36-8.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't able to stop their many uh running options, and they also struggled in the passing game as well.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Cam McLean threw three interceptions in that game, but I I think that was for the better, even though it ultimately ultimately cost them whole field advantage, I think, for this uh for for the quarterfinals at least, but and uh cost them that second spot in the division.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: But either way, they were better for it.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they blank Spencer Met and Cantor afterwards.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have to address the elephant in the room.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: That Tyoga game was unbelievable.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's an overused word in the world of sports, but that really truly was a treat to see.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Arcade style, high-flying, back and forth football that Tyoga is probably not really used to.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was 38-38 at one point, and I'm looking at the score, I'm like, oh my goodness, like what is happening here?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like your dog drops.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, Tyoga goes on to win 62 to 50, but I I think Groton should be proud of how they performed and treat that as a moral victory.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a better gauge for how they can kind of do here in the postseason.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: They know themselves, hey, we can hang with Tyoga.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can hang with the defending state champions the way we play our style of football.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that'll bode well for them in this deposit Hancock game, and then hopefully um, you know, through throughout the rest of the um throughout the rest of the postseason there.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and by the way, quick uh note on that Tyoga game, I had to look this up.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I was thinking to myself, when's the last time Tyoga had allowed that many points?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I did the research and here's what I found.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: 2018 was the last time Tyoga had given up more than 50 points when they lost to Clymer Sherman Panama in the Class D state semifinals.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Last time they gave up that many points to a Section 4 team was 2016 when they lost to Shenango Forks 55-12.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it has been a full decade since a Section 4 team has put that many points up against Tyoga and has really thrived against their defense.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I again I think that goes back to my earlier point in that these other teams in the section are just not used to seeing this type of style of offense that Groton is operating.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And my word, they are operating on just an incredibly, incredibly efficient level.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, run the run the regular season finale against Trumansburg 54-28.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: K McClain, under center, he's only a junior, but he has just been absolutely wheeling and dealing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's completed 64% of his passes, 180 attempts, by the way, 115 completions, 2,551 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just five interceptions.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: There are some college quarterbacks out there that would bite your handoff for that level of efficiency and those type of numbers.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Cam McClain has been able to do that to a T.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it helps that he has a plethora of weapons.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: You have Lane Darling, who is uh, you know, there were courts in the backfield.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's got 571 yards, nine touchdowns.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is a step down from previous years, but again, heck coach Nick Dyson has a lot of trust.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Not just in Cam McClain under center, but in in all of his weapons as well.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, Darling is one of them, not only on the ground, but he's actually one of their, he's actually one of their leading receivers.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: 733 yards, seven touchdowns, and he's only behind their top receiver.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: The bread and butter, McLean to Jerome Turner, time and time again.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Turner tied with Darling in receptions of 33.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's got 817 yards and 10 touchdowns.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Colin Brockway is another receiving threat as well.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's got 30 receptions, 448 yards, and six touchdowns.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then you also have Nick Still and Braylon Kreider.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can work in there as well.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm telling you, this Broughton offense is something else.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're averaging the most points per game in the entire section, regardless of class, with about 48.8.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Those first four games, they're averaging 60 a pop.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the fact that they do have the best offense in section four, I think makes them a real threat here.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Going up against this Deposit Hancock team, which, like a lot of teams around the section, they're gonna be obviously run heavy as well.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean they can't throw the ball.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we've seen a little bit of that from Peyton Fortunato uh this season, but man, I tell you what, I think it's gonna be a bit difficult for a Deposit Hancock, even though they have the home field advantage for this game.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: I do not think they have seen an offense quite like Groton.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that carries the Red Hawks to a quarterfinal win Friday night, and hopefully it carries them even further out of the postseason as well.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you you mentioned McLean, the quarterback for Groton.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was a defensive coordinator by trade.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And a student athlete like that that has the ability, he he uh improvises a lot.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it looks like it's intentional in terms of rollout, changing his platform to let it go, but he puts so much pressure on a defense because he can do so many things, and he can obviously pull it down and go with it.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: But what happens in a situation like that, you force the defense to go into a lot of zone coverages because it keeps your eyes forward so you can see when McLean breaks line of scrimmage and starts running down the field.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're trying to cover those student athletes for grotten man, man to man, and you're your your back is to McClain, and he could be running right up your uh backside, you don't even know it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the things it's kind of the game inside the game that's gonna force um you know Deposit Hancock to be probably in a uh zone defense a lot of the times, or maybe a combo, you know, uh man-and zone defense.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and just some more stats on McClain as well.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: That season finale against Trumansburg threw for five touchdowns.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's the third time this season he's thrown for five touchdowns, and in all but one game, he has thrown for at least three passing touchdowns, and that was that aforementioned game against the Skylar Storm.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess for a I I guess the key to victory or at least a key to slow down this offense for Deposit Hancock is really pressure off the edge because we saw the Skylar Storm do that.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was on the call for that game uh back in early October, and you know, they have these two big, you know, defensive ends who act as their tight ends as well in Brady Bocklecamp and um and uh Caden Garabrant.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, they were able to get some pressure on McLean.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: They were able to deflect some passes as well.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know one led to an interception, so I think that's gonna be key.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Really the defensive end play deposit Hancock.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: If they can really get to the quarterback McClain, really try and rush his decision making, and even though it is rare that he's thrown interceptions, you know, mistakes can happen.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it it it is still gonna be tough though for for Deposit Hancock, and not to mention the O-line uh for Groton has played very, very well this season, too, which has obviously helped out all their weapons, including number eight under center.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've obviously we've talked a lot about McLean, but yeah, it's the student athlete that can make or break this game for really for both teams.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it depends if he plays really positively like he has been, that's great.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if uh Deposit Hancock can uh corral him, what I would do as a defensive corner, and and it's hard to do this and and not mess up your coverage, but it's put what they call a spy on him.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times it's your strong safety, like it strong safeties can be like a hybrid linebacker corner type of a student athlete.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: But then what you do is you take somebody else out of coverage, and if he breaks that uh spy, then you know a lot of times it's all over with.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But uh great job, Ryan, uh giving our listeners really good in-depth information on this game.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh the next up we'll have is uh Skylar Wenzel.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna talk about the Deposit Hancock Eagles, and then uh we'll get this episode off to our listeners.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thanks for having me.
• 12:03
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• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the episode.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Skylar with the Deposit Hancock breakdown.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Skyler.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Take it away.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Coach.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're gonna look at the uh deposit Hancock Eagles here, six and two on the season.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: They're the fourth seed coming into this tournament here, and we had talked about the number five Groton guys up from uh out west who are six and two, and it's really gonna be a tough contest.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And if we look at the head uh the Eagles under head coach uh Dan Briggs, um wins against Trumansburg, that was a big win, 56-0.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: They beat C V 20 to nothing, so two scoreless shutouts to start the season.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: They beat up on uh Bambridge Guilford after Harpersville 14-6.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um Sydney, who really did not start off the season well, kind of finding some footing.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: They beat Sydney 42 to 22.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um their game against Walton, I believe, was canceled or a forfeit rather.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um so they were awarded the win with that.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: There was no score posted.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and really the only two losses this season were to two powerhouses.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Walking and scalando descentur, they lost that game eight to eight to uh twenty-one.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: They also lost to Delhi last week, and that one that one was a really good game, and that could have honestly been a game of the week.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Delhi, who was also six and one at that time, um they uh Del High won that game eighteen to forty.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if we look at the comparison of both of these teams, Deposit Hancock and Groton, they both lost to Watkins Glen Odesimontor.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they're both were you know reasonably the same scores.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Deposit Hancock, like I said, lost eight to twenty-one, and Groton lost eight to thirty-six.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: So pretty reasonable and and both respectable um fights against um you know Watkins Glenodesimontor.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um when we look at Deposit Hancock, they have uh a plus 104 point differential heading into this game, which is we look at Groton, they also have a pretty high point differential, but it's really gonna be the battle for me of the offensive uh styles, right?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: If we look at Groton, Groton's ha has like 2600 or so passing yards um through the air this season, and deposit Hancock, they only have 450 or so, but their main prowess comes on the ground.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: They got around 1,600 yards on the ground this season, 22 touchdowns.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, they're they got a lot, they got a lot of guys in that backfield running the ball.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: If we look at some of the guys carrying the ball, Jake DeLia, 53 carries on the year, Xavier uh Eslam, 36 carries, Jack Arrington, 40 carries, Marco Avila, 48 carries, and uh Fortunato, the quarterback there, 18 carries.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: So they got a lot of guys um running the ball, the ball's being spread out, and for Groton, it's it's really just gonna be an aerial attack, and it's really gonna come down to defense.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: And coach, I like to I like to hear kind of what you have to say about that.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh Deposit Hancock, their defense is second in section four right now in fumble recoveries.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um Xavier Eze uh Eslin and Clark Puroski both have three and a half and two and a half sacks on the year, respectively.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and Caleb Haran is the leader right now in Class D section four and tackles with 74, force fumbles and four, and he has a respectable two interceptions on the season.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think what it's gonna come down to is uh deposit Hancock, their defense, well we'll start with their offense, because their offense, I think, with the uh number of student athletes that can run the ball, it's gonna be like uh distribution of labor, you call that, where they're gonna do that.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: But what they can do, if they keep fresh legs in there and they can keep moving the chains down the field, that's gonna be taking time off the clock where it's not gonna be the football's not gonna be in McLean's hand, the quarterback for Groton.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I watched the I only watched the the Groton and Tioga game, and it was really kind of scary from a defensive coordinator perspective when I saw what Groton was able to do.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a lot of plays where the quarterback will improvise and they've got a number of receivers, a good running back.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it's gonna be a lot of pressure on them.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I think if DePazi Hancock can continue to have that offense where they've got a number of student athletes carrying the ball, and if they're getting first downs and moving the sticks and keeping the you know the clock going, that's gonna be less possessions that Groton's gonna have the opportunity.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Plus, a lot of the student athletes go both ways.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you could, in essence, wear those student athletes down.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're young, their batteries recharge quickly, so that may not be a dynamic that comes into play.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: But you're right, I think uh with with deposit, it's gonna be hard to stop them, uh Groton to stop Deposit because they have all those fresh legs that can come at them.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: And coach, correct me if I'm wrong here, but uh a team that is so run-heavy like Deposit Hancock is, um you know, if they win the coin toss, if they get the ball, they're gonna try to run as much clock as possible and really not allow the um groton offense to get on the field because I mean if you're throwing the ball, you're you're constantly, you know, throwing incomplete passes, stopping the clock, guys are getting out of bounds.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're running the ball and you're depositing, you're look you're not looking for a shootout.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: You're looking for a a possession battle uh a game where you know you have five possessions, Groton has four possessions, and you win the game because you take care of each possession, and you know, you might only have one or two possessions the first half, but you know, you took care of the ball and and didn't turn it over and you converted on third down.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's really kind of a reiteration of what I had just said is exactly what you want to do.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's I called it keep away.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, keep possession with your offense being methodical, running the ball, i.e., keeping the clock running, where from Groton's perspective, they have a lot of plays where the quarterback McLean will extend the play, uh, whether he's running around or it's intentional, a rollout, uh, but he's just very shifty.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And what you have to do if you're a deposit handcock, you really have to look at that and say, okay, uh we're probably gonna have to be in a zone coverage because we want our eyes forward, looking into the backfield, through the receiver into the backfield to see if he's running around.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and he could, you know, if you're playing man-to-man, he could be running right up your backside and you don't even know it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's something that that really uh a dynamic team like Groton will force a defense from a coverage standpoint, typically into a uh, you know, a zone coverage, like I said, so that your eyes are forward.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something to be cognizant of as well.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you know that you're facing zone a lot of times, that dictates the kind of routes that you run.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You want to run seam routes, and you want to put those zone defenders in in despair to make a decision.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's gonna be interesting.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I really enjoy the game inside the game, but uh, I think this is gonna be a classic uh uh, you know, not necessarily a shootout.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Tyoga game when Groton played them, it was like 62 to 50, something like that.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't a it's not that there wasn't a lot of defense, it was just the offenses I think were so dynamic and powerful that they just overpowered the defenses they were facing.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I know Deposit Hancock doesn't want to be in that situation.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and coach, how if you were if you're depositing you're playing defense against that explosive grunt offense, obviously you're probably gonna have to try to have to have two safeties back playing over the top.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how crucial would maybe a QB spy be as well?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's uh the quarterback under wraps there.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it and I talked about that with uh Ryan a little bit when he was talking about Groton.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you take and I used to use a Spy occasionally.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing is, with a spy, you typically take a uh a linebacker or maybe a you know very athletic linebacker or a uh strong safety, a hybrid between a linebacker and a defensive back.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not only is that individual or that student athletic gonna spy the quarterback, you have to have somebody with equal or better athleticism because the last thing you want to do is be spying somebody that you can't catch.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're that's that's the other thing, too.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna that person is in a spy position, that individual now is gonna really be out of coverage.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that opens things up for Groton in the air a little bit, but you're a spy typically, unless it's an empty backfield, and that spy may be an automatic blitz, automatic fire.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: But if if not, and say McLean's dropping back or rolling out, you kind of you mirror him with that spy, uh, you know, going side to side, and then if he brings the ball across the line of scrimmage, then you then you can go after him.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: But until he does that, you really have to spy him.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things I love to do is kind of look at the roster and see what the kind of the roster makeup is.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: And for deposit Hancock, it's kind of what you'd want.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's they've got 12, or excuse me, they've got eighth, eight seniors, they've got eight juniors, they've got eight sophomores, and then they have three ninth graders coming up to play with them.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: And that, and they, you know, of course, can add some more people here now that the JV seasons are done and the varsity's going into the they always like to bring up the extra guys to just to have bodies and stuff.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um those numbers can obviously fluctuate, but how important is it to a have some seniority there with eight seniors and eight juniors, but also they have eight sophomores that are also getting that experience, and kind of what does that do for some like we would I was looking back and deposit Hancock.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, they're looking to make the the Section 4 Class D finals for the first time since losing 53 to 26 to Tyoga in 2015 in a Class D that's really been dominated by Tyoga the last decade or or decade plus really.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um what does it kind of mean to have A have a new head coach?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: We had talked about Dan Briggs being the new head coach, taking over a program that really has a good kind of even spread of student athletes through the grade levels.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is that kind of due for a program?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what happens in a lot of your smaller schools is you will have those what I call uh roster dynamics where you you have a small contingent of seniors, some juniors, and also a lot of teams now will have sophomores, you know, you'll see a speckling of sophomores up through all through section you know uh four football.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: But when you start seeing a lot of freshmen, in some cases you have eighth graders that will will, you know, be on the varsity.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so those are some dynamics you have there.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens is those younger student athletes, maybe it's your sophomores and a couple of your freshmen, they have to mature quickly in terms of playing at the varsity level.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Things happen faster at the varsity level than they do at the JV level.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the other the other thing um about that is is when you have um schools that have a smaller uh uh what I want to say uh pull from that pool to pull from.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: A pool to pull from.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, that's what I like to say.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um where was I going with this?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, the the thing is when you have the the younger student athletes like that, um it's it if you have a program, and when I say a a program, when you have a a varsity that runs the that their JVs run the same thing that they do offensively and defensively, maybe the modified, you know, there's some restrictions and modified, but maybe they do the basics of what the JV and now what the varsity's doing.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: So when you bring those young student athletes up, maybe mid-season or at the end of the year after the varsity or the JV season's over, they can actually contribute.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've seen some programs where they run things differently.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when you bring up somebody from JVs, they they pretty much have to just sit and they're really not, especially if you're in an offensive ball handling position.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe uh things were with different terminology, things like that.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have true programs, you can come with those student athletes coming up, you can pretty much plug and play, and that's what they really want.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: So you'll see that a lot of your young or smaller schools will have a roster dynamics like we talked about, but also the younger student athletes have to mature quicker, but also the ones that are gonna come up, they can plug and play because a lot of them have programs as opposed to just you know the varsity and the and the JVs.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a program with a with a feeder from the youth level.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, coach, that's all I got.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the number four deposit Hancock Eagles, six and two, are gonna be facing off against the number five Groton uh Red Hawks, six and two, um, on the 30th of the month, a couple days away at 7 p.m.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: in Hancock at the Hancock High School.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you got two relatively young coaches in terms of their tenure with the team.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know Dan Briggs is uh his first year with the Deposit Hancock Eagles, and I believe with Nick Dyson, it's either his first or his second year with the Groton Red Hawks.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know he was, I believe, at uh Ithaca in the past, but uh both these coaches have obviously done a great job with the student athletes and the overall programs to get them here at this particular point uh in the season.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's uh for class D, it's that time of year, it's the playoffs.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now the rest of you know your classifications still have week nine to go to finish their regular season, but this now is really, you know, win or go home.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that there's the finality of everything at this point.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that comes into play too, you know, from a nerve standpoint and those kind of things.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: But it's it's an exciting time of year.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and Skylar, really appreciate what you do there, uh, covering the teams that you cover.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh hopefully we'll see how this thing plays out uh this weekend.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you very much.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sounds good.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, football fan, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and tell your friends to visit cover4.com to submit your next fan up ideas or ask Coach Smith a question.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: At cover four, your ideas are never out of bounds.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: In football and life, it is not where you line up, it is where you wind up.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Cover Four Podcast.