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2023: A Playoff Atmosphere · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

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  All right, guys, welcome back to another week of talking Hoko football.
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  Of course, talking with the head coach of the Hoko Bears each and every
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  week, and it's always good to be talking to the coach after a win.
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  So without further ado, let's bring in coach Jeremy Edwards to talk about
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  last week's big victory. Coach Edwards, thanks so much for joining us.
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  We really appreciate your time. Yes, sir Phil, thanks for having me
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  as always, absolutely, coach and as I said there in the intro,
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  always good to talk to you, but especially good following a victory and coach,
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  it was a big one over a good Perry football team, absolutely very
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  good football team. Playoff atmosphere, lots of people there. It was great
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  for our county, great for our team to experience that type of atmosphere early
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  in a non region game and ultimately getting the victory. So which feel pretty
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  good about it. Absolutely, and uh, coach, I tell you,
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  you know, as I do with so many coaches, you know, we're
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  always talking about and asking about, you know, which players did this,
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  which players did that, because you know, obviously you want to certainly recognize
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  the you know, all the playmakers, the superlatives. But I gotta tell
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  you it's almost like a pin the tale on the donkey with your team.
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  I mean, just pick any one of a number of characters who played a
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  big part. And I say I mean characters in a big way and in
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  a good way, because you have so many different people in parts that play
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  a big role. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, well,
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  obviously, you know, offensively, it starts with, you know, with
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  A J. Hill. He's just done such a great job of managing our
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  offense and and and really taking it to new heights this year so far looks
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  very comfortable. But Ricky Johnson had a great game twelve reception receptions for two
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  eighteen and three touchdowns, so he played a big role. Obviously, we
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  lost cal Woodburn in the first quarter. Took a hit on the sideline.
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  It was a clean, good hit and UH knocked him out. Had to
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  leave in an ambulance actually, but luckily he's he's gonna be fine. Came
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  into the field house, Uh into the office actually late Friday night, so
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  he was released and we'll we'll continue to monitor him, but he's doing great.
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  We had some guys really step up though, Phil Josh Henry stepped up
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  for us in the absence of Woodburn and came in and and had six catches
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  for about sixty five yards. But you know what's not mentioned in those stats
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  are the conversions that he got on third downs. We had several third down
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  conversions in the second half that really propelled us to to some you know,
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  scoring drives, So that was huge. And then Gavin kurpa Are, our
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  tight end, came in big. You know, we played three tight ends
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  they rotate, but he did a heck of a job of of coming in
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  and and uh you know, had a touchdown catch and made some some clutch
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  catches. He came in and our short yardist package and ran the ball and
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  so he was very effective for us. And then I can't you know,
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  mentioned some names without mentioning some defensive guys and Xavier Ryan played lights out.
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  You know, our defense as a whole played lights out in the first half.
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  And then I think whether you know, the heat really got to us,
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  and you know, it came out a little flat. So I've got
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  to do a better job as a head coach getting our team out of the
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  out of the locker room with some energy and fire about him. But I
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  just don't know what we could do from a coaching standpoint throughout the week to
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  prepare him for that. It was just brutal. But Xavier Ryan mentioning him
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  seven tackles to assist four tackles for loss. He had three sacks and uh
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  in three quarterback pressures so and two fourth down stops, so he was he
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  was really really effective for us, as well as a bunch of other guys.
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  Darius Patterson had a pick six, which was huge. You give give
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  us twenty one to us and lead. There's just so many guys that it's
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  really a team wins. Cary Brown played great at corner. You know,
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  he was lights out over there. So it you know, it's hard to
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  mention, as you know, you and I talk a lot. I'd love
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  to mention every kid, but those are just some of the ones that stick
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  out in my mind from from Friday night. Absolutely, we're talking with Jeremy
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  Edwards, head coach of the Houston County Bears. In fact, we do
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  this every week, giving you a chance to get an update on your Hoko
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  Bears with the headman, Jeremy Edwards himself. And so again we were you
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  and I were talking off here earlier about you know, what a big game
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  this is, you know, great for the county as you said, and
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  coach, there was a time not long ago when I can remember if you
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  were talking about Perry and Houston County, not a lot of people were going
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  to get excited. And my how those days have changed. Yeah, you
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  know, we're we're trying to to to make our mark here in this in
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  this part of the state and then the entire state for that matter. We
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  feel like we've got great players and got a great coaching staff and you know,
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  really a credit to uh to Perry as well. Kevin Smith's done a
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  great job over there of you know three, they're they're you know, back
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  to back to back, reaching champs in in four A and there. I
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  think they got a chance this year to to to make some noise if they
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  can stay healthy. They got some good players. They play hard, they
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  play extremely hard, They're physical and uh but you're right, I mean it
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  was standing room only. I think they maxed out the you know, the
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  capacity of the stadium Friday night. There was a lot of people that were
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  standing and the stands were packed, student sections were packed, and it was
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  it was electric and you know, even with the weather, you know,
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  I think a lot of people were struggling even in the stands with the with
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  the heat. It was just brutal. But yeah, it is great.
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  It's great for our county, and it was a great experience for our kids,
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  especially early in the season. Absolutely, so twenty one to seven,
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  you guys take the lead into the locker room at the half, and then
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  they're able to come back with a third quarter touchdown to cut at the twenty
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  one to fourteen and coach, that set up kind of the free for all
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  final quarter when you had h forty two points scored between both teams and twenty
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  one for each team, just an incredible output of offensive explosion from both teams.
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  Talk about that fourth quarter, Yeah, I mean it, it was.
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  It was intense. You know, we, uh, we're going to
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  half, like you said, twenty one seven, We felt pretty good about
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  it, but we knew that, you know, at any moment, they
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  could get back in it, and we had to kick off of them.
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  You know, they were able to drive right down the field and really just
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  run it right down our throats. Unfortunately, and uh, like I said,
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  we were a little flat. They got it twenty one fourteen, got
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  the ball back, scored again, tied it up, and here we go.
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  It was kind of deja vu from last year, just kind of back
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  and forth, and like I said, in the fourth quarter, you know,
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  Gavin Curpiss was able to you know, we got him in it.
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  They called a time out in the fourth quarter, and we felt good about
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  the play we had. We got him in and and uh, we're able
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  to throw him a ball down the middle. They were really worried out our
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  receivers on the outside and lost track of the tight end, so we're able
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  to get him down the middle for a touchdown, which was huge to get
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  it to twenty eight twenty one. Of course they answer twenty eight twenty eight
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  with a you know, they had a touchdown run on their drive, so
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  you know we've got to We've got to go back down and try to score
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  again. So Ricky Johnson converts a fourth down and ten actually AJ throws a
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  strike to him and we score, and unfortunately Phil we Uh, our kicker
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  was he missed the extra point and then the back to back right after that,
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  we kick off and they run it back. So at thirty four twenty
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  eight, when we missed the extra point. Then oh man, we kick
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  off, they run it back sixty yards and kick their extra point. They're
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  up thirty five thirty four, you know, and they left a little bit
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  too much time on the clock for for a j Hill. He's really just
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  I just can't explain how calm the kid is that I always talked about young.
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  Of course, now he's a junior, so he's getting up there now,
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  but he's a sixteen year old junior, and yeah, he just CD
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  acts unfazed by things. And we drive down and throw a nineteen yard touchdown
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  to Ricky to take a lead, go for two, convert the two point
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  conversion to take it to forty two thirty five, and kick off to them
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  with about forty seconds left, and shoot, they drove it down filed past
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  the fifty and we were able to sack him on the last play fortunately and
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  got out of there with a win. So yeah, it was It was
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  crazy, to say the least, and it's made for a great rivalry between
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  us and Perry for sure. What a great job you just did illustrating the
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  game through your explanation. I felt like I was right there, coach,
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  great jaw. That's an excellent job. You had me on the edge of
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  my chair here man, And I mean it like literally, I'm sitting on
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  the edge of my seat. Well, I'm sitting here trying to recall it
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  all. You know. It's uh, I'm telling you, I know that.
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  I know my guys were gassed after the game, some are my coaches.
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  Man. I just remember going in the locker room afterwards, we all
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  just kind of even speaking with the team after it, I just a lot
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  of like just blank stairs. It was like everybody was in this just heat
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  days. It was. It was really wild. It was an experience that
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  I've never experienced before. But at the same time, it was a lot
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  of fun. And anytime you can win, it feels a lot better showing
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  up on Sunday to get ready for the decks of cope. Man. Just
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  incredible. I tell you here in your explanation too, so to kind of
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  go back here, So obviously the mist extra point had things a little out
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  of kilter because if it was one of these things where last man standing and
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  if that happens to be Perry, well they get the extra point and that
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  gives them the advantage. So how say that, to say how important that
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  two point conversion was that you guys are able to tack on to make it
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  what forty two thirty five? You know, I remember the last time I
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  saw you guys live in person was at the Brunswick game, the playoff game
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  last year, and what a great game that was over there at Glencoe Stadium.
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  But in that one, you guys also went for two to win the
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  game. Gutsie gutsie call. But I remember it being the little pass,
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  you know, kind of like a little crossing route. Was this call the
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  one that you made the other night? Was that the same call? I'm
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  just curious it is not, But the same kid caught it. So you
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  know, Ricardo Tarbor is a he's a phenomen old receiver. He's a senior
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  for us. He's gonna play at the next level, and he's, uh,
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  you know, he struggled a little bit in the game Friday night,
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  dropped a couple of balls, and you know, I remember him telling me,
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  I got your coach, I got your coach, And I just love
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  the kid. He's such a great kid. And you know, he did
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  drop a few, but he made the hardest catch of the whole night on
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  that two point and we usually go into a game with at least two of
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  them. You know, hopefully they don't ever have to use them, but
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  we will rehearse them, and then if we blow one of them and use
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  it, then we file that one away until probably next year. But you
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  know, we had to use one last year against Perrys, so we couldn't
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  use that one either. So we were, you know, we gotta get
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  a little creative with the calls. Sure, Sure, it didn't work out
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  exactly the way that we wanted on this one, but Aj was able to
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  kind of u stay in the pocket and contort his body a little bit and
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  made it throw. It was really wild, and then Ricardo made a heck
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  of a catch and it gave us a little bit of you know, our
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  mind these that you know at least of But I'm telling you right now,
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  and I don't know this. I haven't asked Coach Smith, but I imagine
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  if they went down and scored on that last drive, they probably would have
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  tried to go for two and end it. I know I would have,
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  sure, sure, So you know, I'm just glad that we were able
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  to kind of hold there at the end. And and uh, it was
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  just a lot of relief when that game was over. Yeah, because Perry
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  able to come back, coach, and we'll kind of end with this.
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  So they come back and the kid culture again who had transferred in the off
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  season from Peach County. He comes up with a big play of his own
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  to the Pettigrew kid and you guys are able to snuff that out though U
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  to Gold onto the game. So what a win, great win. Uh,
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  just again getting contributions from a lot of different guys. Yes, sir,
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  yes, sir, it was exciting. Yeah, you know, but
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  we've got to We watched the film Sunday with the kids. We bring them
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  in Sunday after church and uh, you know, we were able to kind
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  of review the film and fix some things and personnel things we need to fix
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  a little bit and and you know going into next week. So we we
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  enjoyed it for twenty four hours, Phil, and now we're onto West launch
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  absolutely. So what can you tell us about West Lawrence? Well, I
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  know they change coordinators on the defensive side, so we're going to see a
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  little bit different scheme over there. I know that they lost their top player
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  he was a linebacker. A couple of weeks ago in their scrimmage scrimmage games,
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  so I know that hurts them and they got to come to our place,
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  which we feel pretty good about our game day atmosphere. You know what
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  what our admin, especially our ad does to put that on and and give
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  the fans a good, you know, kind of a college game day type
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  atmosphere. To be quite honest, we do a bare wall. We've got
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  all these graphics and things going on, and it's, uh, we've got
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  a DJ, so I mean it's it's a fun it's a fun atmosphere.
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  And so our kids, I know they're gonna be happy to be home,
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  uh, playing at home. And so you know, we've got a target
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  on our back, you know, everybody. You know, we can't just
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  you know, sneak by people anymore. You know, they we don't look
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  at all that rat poison, but you know they got us ranked and all
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  that stuff. But I know that stuff means anything if you don't show up
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  Friday night and playball. So that's what we're going to plan to do.
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  Did you call a rat poison? I did, stealing a page from Nick
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  Saban's press conference playbook, Yeah, yeah, I mean it. You know,
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  I mean, they're people people write a lot of nice things, and
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  and if you get caught up in all that stuff, you know you can
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  you can find yourself feeling too good about yourself. We talk about being humble
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  and hungry here in Hoko, so that's what we're going to continue to do.
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  I got you, coach. Well, listen, man, thank thank
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  you so much for joining us. Always a great conversation to have with you
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  every week about Houston County football. And listen, we'll catch up with you
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  next week, hopefully talking about another win. Yes, sir, thank you,
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  Phil, I appreciate you. All right, you two coach all right,
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  there is as Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the Houston County Bears,
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  and we will talk with coach next week and every week thereafter right here on
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  the Houston County Coaches Show with Jeremy Edwards and myself Phil Jones ig next,
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  Georgia. Hope you guys have a great week.