Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 457 - Week 7 Gatorade Gameday Football Preview

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Greetings and welcome into the Whatcom Preps podcast. This is
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episode 457. It's the week 7 Gatorade game day football
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preview and I am Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps. Walton
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Beverage has been a staple in our community for 95
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years and I will continue to work harder every day
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to make the fantastic people at Walton Beverage proud to
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sponsor youth sports in our community. They deliver superior quality
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and commitment, and I plan to do the very same. Also,
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do you live in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, or San Juan
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County and want to become an official? Officiating is a
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great way to give back to your community and ensure
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our youth have an opportunity to compete in athletics. Go
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to nwofficials.com today and find out how you can get involved.
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All right, well, we are in week seven, and Every
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single game from this week is on Friday night. No
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Thursday games, no Saturday games, just a full slate on
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Friday night. So let's just jump right into it. As
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the first game, there is one 6 p.m. kickoff game,
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so we'll talk about that one first. As we have
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the LaConner Braves coming to town to take on Lummi Nation.
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This will be, as I said, a 6 o'clock kickoff
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out at Lummi Nation High School. And, you know, this is...
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This is– Lummi Nation right now, they're playing as good
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as they've done, I think, since Coach Layton has been there.
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And this will be a very even matchup. I'm now
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joined on the Gatorade Game Day podcast by Lummi Nation
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head football coach, Watiko Layton. Coach, thank you for joining
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me today. How are you doing?
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I'm doing pretty good. Thanks for having me, Tyler.
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You bet. What is a chore around the house that
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you really enjoy doing?
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Oh.
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When I lived with my mom, I would say taking
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out the trash, but now in my own place with
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my woman, uh, I would probably the same thing. Maybe
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dishes isn't too bad with just us too, but yeah,
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I would say dishes for her.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Take it out of the trash. That's I, I enjoy that.
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There's nothing wrong with that. It's good to lift something
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and go outside and all that stuff.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Um, Now, when you bring the bins out to where
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they get picked up, is that a far away or
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is that a short way?
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It used to be a far away, but now my
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apartment's not too far, but at my mom's house, it
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used to be really far. Nice little decompressing moments there.
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Yeah, absolutely. I've been there before, and those are long walks,
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but those are good walks. Well, unfortunately, On Friday, you
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went on the road, took care of business down in Concrete,
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a team that scored 90 points the week before. Tell
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us about the game.
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It was a real nice executed game by our Blackhawks.
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We played hard all four quarters, no giving up, no
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heads down. We played at every play, out of time, nothing,
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no looking towards the end results.
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We just played every quarter to our best ability.
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And as a coach, you've got to love that because
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it's easy to say, hey, this is what we want
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to do, but it's rare when that actually happens. So
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when that was actually happening, you must have felt pretty
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good about it.
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Yeah, I felt really good.
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We had a good conversation this last week about where
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we want to be for this playoff and postseason. So
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a lot of our kids are just playing every down,
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every play to their best ability. So it's really nice
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to see them want it more this year.
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Yeah, that's awesome. And we've talked in the past about
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this year was kind of the year you were looking
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to for a while. And going into this year, you
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knew you had a lot of key players coming back.
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But who has been a pleasant surprise on your team
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this year?
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I would have to say Cason Williams.
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He's one of our athletes on the field right beside
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Mason and Greg and Landon LaFontaine, DeAndre. Real shifty, quick kid, resilient,
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doesn't have any Too many down moments on himself, but
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he's real corrective on his actions and how he plays.
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Real coachable kid, but has been one of our players
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that's been able to light our match and get us
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fired up and going.
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That's awesome. And he's just a sophomore, right?
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Correct, correct.
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Yeah, that is. And, you know, it is because it
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is pretty senior heavy, but it's nice to have some
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of those guys that you can rely on for the
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future as well. And it's really good to see him
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making a big impact. And, uh, this Friday night, you're
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back at home against the Connor. Um, I believe a
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6 PM kickoff. Is that right?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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So everybody be known. It's not seven. It's six o'clock.
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Get there early. What can you tell us about the Braves?
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Uh, so they run a double wing, uh, offense and
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eight man football with quarterback under center. Um, a lot
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of basic, just sneaks, dives, reverses, counters, um, nothing too special,
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but they're another hard nose football team. That's going to
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be giving us a good fight for every, every down,
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every play.
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Man, when you would think that, and I don't know
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enough about eight man football, but I would think a
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double wing and eight man, look, it sounds like they
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have no problems, you know, using four plays to get
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10 yards and just kind of grinding it out. And
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then they might spring one here and there. So you
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gotta be ready for that. And, How often percentage-wise would
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you say they put the ball in the air?
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Probably three to four times a game.
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They're real, real run-heavy, just like the old Ferndo where
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we just run, run, run, run, run, and then once
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those DBs come playing up, we've got to pass.
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So I've seen that a lot in their previous games.
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So, yeah.
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And that's crazy. And, you know, a big deal about
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a run team, and you would know this better than
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anybody– is those receivers have to run block, and you
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were a receiver for that Ferndale team, and so, you know,
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talk about the pride it takes in run blocking as
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a wide receiver.
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Yeah, because as a wide receiver, you're always looking for
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the ball, and that's your time to actually get some action,
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but those run blocks are real important to the plays,
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and leaving one guy open or missing your block can
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determine whether they get their five yards the first down,
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or even just a tackle for a loss.
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Yeah.
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And they had a, they had a really similar score
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against concrete. You know, they beat them 64, 26. You
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guys be concrete 68 to 32. So very, very similar
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to that. So when you look at that, do you
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go into it saying this is going to be a
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pretty even game against an evenly matched opponent?
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Yeah, I would say so.
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They're real hard nose kid, not kids team, but last
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year we came up short losing by three touchdowns. But yeah,
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Just the same thing as last year. They're just going
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to be running, running, running, hopefully get the ball out
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a couple times. But we just got to stay disciplined
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and do our responsibilities defensively and execute our blocks on
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the offensive side.
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With this double wing stuff, is there a lot of deception,
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like sleight of hand behind the backfield? Or is it
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kind of more just power and belly and dive and
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stuff like that?
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They do a lot of.
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How would I say this? They mostly do heavy stuff,
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so if they're going to run it one way, they're
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going to have a puller or even their quarterback pull
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in to lead block for them on a toss. A
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lot of counters, a couple misdirections here and there. But
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most of their offensive game is just hard nose, marching
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down the field, getting it to the end zone and
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run some time off the clock.
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Yeah, so they're looking at it like, this is where
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we're going, try and stop us.
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And.
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And so with your secondary, then they're going to kind
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of have to, you know, play more linebacker type positions.
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They're gonna have to probably come up in the box
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a little bit and play a little closer to the ball.
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Are they ready for that kind of a task?
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Yeah.
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So we, we had film yesterday and we talked about, um,
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our placements and where we're going to be at for
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every situation, what we're going to key on, uh, defensively. Um,
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we are, I told our DVs, they're going to have
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to be, um, more available on the tacking, tackling in
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the box, um, and be more available.
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Yeah, absolutely. And then they might get too invested in that.
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And then you never know, like you said, three or
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four times a game, you got to keep an eye
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out on the pass play and, and, uh, hopefully you
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guys on the sideline yelling pass because, uh, it's pretty
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rare when it happens, but, um, That could be one
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that you really have to make a play on. It's
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going to be a great one, Coach. Best of luck
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on Friday against the Connor. 6 p.m. kickoff, everybody. So
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be ready for that. Thank you so much for joining
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me today on the Gatorade Game Day podcast.
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Yeah, thanks for having me, Tyler.
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Take care.
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Well, thank you very much, Coach. And that will be
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one we will definitely keep an eye on. And as
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we now jump to the 1A games. And we start
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at 7 o'clock out at Sid Lambert Field. Lyndon Christian
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coming to town to take on Nooksack Valley. This is
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going to be a great one. Lyndon Christian, the coaches
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poll that came out this week, they have Lyndon Christian
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ranked as the third best team in the state. Nooksack
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Valley ranked fourth best in the state. So this will
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be a fantastic matchup. This will be out at Sid
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Lambert Field on the new turf. And Lyndon Christian, 4-2
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coming into this one. Nooksack Valley, 5-1. And, yeah, it's good.
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to be a fantastic matchup. I am now joined on
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the Gatorade game day podcast by Linden Christian head football coach,
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Greg Terpstra coach. Thank you for joining me today. How
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are you doing?
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Good.
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Doing great. Thanks for having me.
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You bet. What is a chore around the house that
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you really enjoy doing?
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All the yard work. I love it. I like pruning things.
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I do love my lawnmower. It's kind of burly. It's
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a zero turn.
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It flies.
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The first time you were on that thing and you
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made that one turn, did you almost go off it
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or were you ready for it?
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Oh, yeah.
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I almost put it out into the road.
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Yeah.
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Blew my mind, yeah.
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I've never been on one, but when you see one
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and you make that turn, it's like, holy cow, you've
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got to hold on for dear life.
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Yeah, a lot of Gs.
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Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of one heck of a game,
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I was on the sidelines saying Gs a lot because
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Thursday night, great game against Archbishop Murphy. Um, they took
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an early lead. You must've made some adjustments at half and,
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and came back, tied the game at 17, 17 with
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a little over five minutes left and a crowd was
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going nuts. It was a great atmosphere. They scored a
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late touchdown and eventually took the 24, 17 win. Tell
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us about the game.
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Yeah.
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You know, um, it's kind of odd your frame of
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mind when you go to, you know, you schedule certain
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teams just to make you.
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Better and, and you know, challenge you.
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And then you've got Meridian, a league game, and you're like,
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we've got to do whatever it.
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Takes to win that.
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And then you go back to, hey, we scheduled this
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great team to get better. We're going to try some
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things and do some stuff.
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And now we have Nooksack this week. You know, you've
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got to win.
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So it's a little bit of an interesting emotional roller
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coaster there. But, man, we just felt it was a
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really great night for both. The offense and defense to mature. Defensively,
246
00:12:07.830 --> 00:12:12.269
Kent had a really good game plan. We brought in
247
00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:16.769
Veldman in the second half. That was helpful coming off
248
00:12:16.789 --> 00:12:22.210
of his injury. And, you know, offensively with Kellen filling
249
00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:24.889
in at quarterback, doing a great job, ran the offense
250
00:12:24.950 --> 00:12:25.470
really well.
251
00:12:26.250 --> 00:12:27.110
Really proud of the boys.
252
00:12:27.769 --> 00:12:29.889
Yeah, I was too.
253
00:12:30.009 --> 00:12:30.210
I mean.
254
00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:33.529
In a way, I have no dog in the fight,
255
00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:37.649
but I'm always rooting for Whatcom County, obviously. And going
256
00:12:37.690 --> 00:12:40.240
into it, knowing that you were missing some key guys
257
00:12:40.289 --> 00:12:42.840
or some guys might be playing but be playing hurt.
258
00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:46.139
I did look at Caden's ankle about twice the size
259
00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:48.059
of his other one. I thought, oh, my goodness, he's
260
00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:52.580
a warrior out there. And it was just so great
261
00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:58.230
to see the fight. And the crowd was amazing. It
262
00:12:58.269 --> 00:13:01.100
was just, you know, doing the show now on Friday nights,
263
00:13:01.169 --> 00:13:03.340
it's rare that I'm actually at games. So I was
264
00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:05.419
blessed to be able to go out there on that
265
00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:07.940
Thursday night game. You know, I thought your run defense
266
00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:12.080
in the second half really came up huge. Especially, you know,
267
00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.370
you mentioned Veldman being out there, Peter Enfield, Gavin Van Lowe.
268
00:13:16.450 --> 00:13:19.490
These guys were making some big tackles right near the
269
00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:21.909
line of scrimmage to make sure they didn't break the
270
00:13:21.950 --> 00:13:25.029
long plays. What kind of adjustments were made at halftime?
271
00:13:26.289 --> 00:13:26.889
You'll never know.
272
00:13:28.809 --> 00:13:32.549
Was it, was it, were there adjustments or were there just, Hey,
273
00:13:32.690 --> 00:13:35.120
let's just do what we're supposed to be doing. We
274
00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:36.820
didn't know.
275
00:13:37.789 --> 00:13:38.789
Both, both.
276
00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:42.200
I mean, um, in every situation we can pick on
277
00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.840
a couple of kids of, you know, just alignment assignment, um,
278
00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:52.419
where they're supposed to fill. Um, honestly, you know, making
279
00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.519
these reads, you just got to get better at them.
280
00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:56.919
And when you're playing like a wing T and, uh, uh,
281
00:13:58.620 --> 00:13:59.139
You know, you get.
282
00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:00.779
A lot of cross-action and things like that, and your
283
00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.470
eyes kind of bug out, and you're not looking at.
284
00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:05.169
What you're supposed to. It takes a little bit to
285
00:14:05.230 --> 00:14:05.649
settle in.
286
00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:09.070
You know, there's a reason why we're playing several wing
287
00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:11.870
tee teams. Don't tell Lepper, but, you know, there is
288
00:14:11.909 --> 00:14:16.289
a reason. And it's a difficult offense to stop when
289
00:14:16.389 --> 00:14:19.370
ran really well, and we feel that we've found teams
290
00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:23.500
that do it well. So, yeah, we just, I think
291
00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:28.519
we settled in, got a little more disciplined, And we're
292
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.679
able to make some really good stops. Peter Enfield's really
293
00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:35.100
coming on. Boy, that kid is unblockable. And then you
294
00:14:35.139 --> 00:14:38.960
talk about making tackles. You know, a younger guy out
295
00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:44.179
at corner, Josh Senti, was talking to Chris this morning
296
00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:46.740
in the weight room, and he's like, that kid's probably
297
00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:48.799
the best tackler pound for pound on our team.
298
00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:50.679
So really happy with a bunch of kids.
299
00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:54.279
Yeah, he did make that great tackle for loss. You know,
300
00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:56.809
if he doesn't make that tackle– uh that is a
301
00:14:56.850 --> 00:14:58.669
big big play and so that was really cool to
302
00:14:58.710 --> 00:15:01.120
see the sophomore step up there and you brought up
303
00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:04.840
kellen blankers earlier and i i was just over the
304
00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.120
moon proud of him uh i thought he played extremely
305
00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:09.980
well he had some big zip on those quick passes
306
00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:11.860
i thought maybe he was a little amped up but
307
00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:14.460
he was under control there was no a ton of
308
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.490
like overthrowing that seems to happen in your first varsity
309
00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.710
start how was he feeling going into the game.
310
00:15:20.769 --> 00:15:24.059
Oh he's feeling good he He's a really, really bright kid.
311
00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:25.919
Understands the game.
312
00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:28.019
I think he told me once he wants to be
313
00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:30.240
a broadcaster someday, so you better look out.
314
00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:32.419
Nice.
315
00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:37.980
He understands the routes, the concepts. He understands how to
316
00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.710
manage the game. I think he'd be the first to
317
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:43.070
tell you he's not going to rip.
318
00:15:43.009 --> 00:15:48.450
Off an 80-yard run. But what he's tasked with doing.
319
00:15:50.610 --> 00:15:54.110
Is distributing the ball to the playmakers and he is,
320
00:15:54.870 --> 00:15:58.470
he's really good at that. So, um, yeah, you know,
321
00:15:58.509 --> 00:16:00.960
just talking ball behind the scenes with him too.
322
00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.000
He's very, very knowledgeable.
323
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:07.139
And, uh, that's exciting for us to have two quarterbacks
324
00:16:07.179 --> 00:16:09.419
that are diametrically different.
325
00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:12.659
Um, and maybe that's a real problem for teams that
326
00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:13.080
face us.
327
00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:16.200
Absolutely. I mean, it was, you know, you got him
328
00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:18.950
some run earlier in the season, which proved to be valuable, uh,
329
00:16:19.309 --> 00:16:21.509
playing this whole game here and, you know, almost leading
330
00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:23.990
them to a comeback win. It was just really, really
331
00:16:24.049 --> 00:16:26.470
great to see. And it's just another weapon that you have,
332
00:16:26.509 --> 00:16:29.429
but let's talk about this Friday night. Now you're back
333
00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:32.019
on the road against Nooksack Valley. What can you tell
334
00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:33.500
us about this year's pioneers team?
335
00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:35.759
Uh, really talented.
336
00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:40.460
Um, they, you know, they always seem to have, um,
337
00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:46.000
plenty of size and then plenty of, um, of guys
338
00:16:46.019 --> 00:16:51.509
just with great ball skills. Um, you know, starting sophomore quarterback, boy,
339
00:16:51.549 --> 00:16:54.529
they found some gold there. And then, you know, just
340
00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:56.610
having a bunch of guys to distribute the ball to.
341
00:16:56.629 --> 00:17:00.549
It looks like they have two good-sized tight ends that
342
00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:05.980
find those open holes and then can also block. So, yeah,
343
00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:10.319
they present a great matchup. And then, you know, defensively,
344
00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:13.910
they're just really stout. They've got great tacklers. They've got
345
00:17:13.970 --> 00:17:17.950
great safeties and defensive backs that come up and, you know,
346
00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:21.339
aren't aren't afraid to make a hit, and it's going
347
00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.019
to be a dogfight.
348
00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:26.359
Yeah, it's a pretty well-rounded team, and it seems like,
349
00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:28.579
you know, I've seen a lot of teams over the
350
00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:32.180
years where, boy, they have everything, and it happens to
351
00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:35.029
be a sophomore quarterback, which usually can bring a team
352
00:17:35.089 --> 00:17:37.910
down a little bit, but he's, like you said, they've
353
00:17:37.930 --> 00:17:39.509
kind of found gold with him, and he's a pretty
354
00:17:39.549 --> 00:17:44.039
darn good quarterback. You know, last year's game was a
355
00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.680
pretty big dogfight as far as it was pretty close
356
00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.640
for a while. You got some turnovers late and ended
357
00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:53.519
up winning by a couple scores. And, you know, facing
358
00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:57.849
them now after them coming off a league loss, they
359
00:17:57.890 --> 00:18:00.609
might have a little extra juice in them. Would you–
360
00:18:01.170 --> 00:18:02.109
would that be fair to say?
361
00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:05.549
Oh, yeah, I think so. I think, you know, both teams,
362
00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:08.950
I think, ramp it up for this game. I mean,
363
00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:10.730
every league game we all get up for.
364
00:18:10.750 --> 00:18:10.829
Sure.
365
00:18:11.910 --> 00:18:14.329
I think it's going to be an intense showdown on
366
00:18:14.829 --> 00:18:18.809
the new turf. I expect both teams to play really,
367
00:18:18.849 --> 00:18:22.509
really well, be really, really prepared, and it should be
368
00:18:22.529 --> 00:18:23.230
a great show.
369
00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:25.670
That's going to be awesome. Coach, best of luck on
370
00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:27.950
Friday at Sid Lambert Field. Thank you so much for
371
00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:30.079
joining me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast.
372
00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:31.230
All right, thanks.
373
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.039
I am now joined on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast
374
00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:39.140
by Nooksack Valley Head Coach Craig Bartle. Coach, thank you
375
00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:40.559
for joining me today. How are you doing?
376
00:18:41.549 --> 00:18:42.549
Doing okay. How are you?
377
00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:44.490
Doing okay as well.
378
00:18:44.890 --> 00:18:45.230
Good.
379
00:18:45.789 --> 00:18:48.349
What is a chore around the house that you really
380
00:18:48.430 --> 00:18:49.250
enjoy doing?
381
00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:50.990
None of.
382
00:18:52.349 --> 00:18:52.829
Them.
383
00:18:53.809 --> 00:18:56.250
There's got to be something that you just don't mind.
384
00:18:56.289 --> 00:18:59.009
You're like, oh, I got to do that. That's no problem.
385
00:18:59.690 --> 00:19:00.210
You know what I.
386
00:19:00.170 --> 00:19:05.559
Really like doing? It's kind of my zen place, I guess,
387
00:19:05.710 --> 00:19:06.430
is mowing the lawn.
388
00:19:07.019 --> 00:19:07.339
Yeah.
389
00:19:07.579 --> 00:19:11.009
Put the headphones on and... go out there and just
390
00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:15.089
kind of get lost in a podcast or music and just, uh,
391
00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:18.369
kind of a perfectionist when it comes to the lawn,
392
00:19:19.049 --> 00:19:21.269
you know, I want it to be short and, you know,
393
00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:23.869
like a golf course type. It's not there right now,
394
00:19:23.970 --> 00:19:26.599
but yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the goal.
395
00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:29.380
Do you edge it as well and do it look
396
00:19:29.460 --> 00:19:29.940
all sharp?
397
00:19:29.980 --> 00:19:31.079
Yeah. Yeah.
398
00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:33.900
My dad is like that and he takes a lot
399
00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.240
of pride in that. You drive by the house and
400
00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:39.039
it's like, Whoa, that, that stands out. And so, uh,
401
00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:43.180
I've absorbed some of that. I do my best. I
402
00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:47.890
don't really have a huge lawn, but I do enjoy
403
00:19:47.910 --> 00:19:49.940
it as well. Like you said, putting the headphones on.
404
00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:53.099
and just kind of getting lost in that for a
405
00:19:53.099 --> 00:19:55.539
little bit is kind of nice. That's one of those
406
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:59.839
things that like, and I know I'll never retire, but, uh,
407
00:20:00.299 --> 00:20:02.569
but if, if there was a retirement, I would love
408
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.029
to like mow football fields for the County. Like I would,
409
00:20:06.150 --> 00:20:08.410
I would love doing that. That would be so fun,
410
00:20:08.450 --> 00:20:12.279
you know? Um, So, yeah, I get you on that one.
411
00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.819
On Friday, your team suffered its first loss of the
412
00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:19.569
season after a really hard-fought battle against Mount Baker. 21-14
413
00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:22.589
was the final score and, again, came down to the
414
00:20:22.630 --> 00:20:24.410
very end. Tell us about the game.
415
00:20:26.329 --> 00:20:26.829
Yeah.
416
00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:34.559
You know, we made some mistakes early and, you know,
417
00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:38.589
a couple of missed assignments, but And not the kids' fault.
418
00:20:38.710 --> 00:20:43.690
That's ultimately my fault for, you know, just not getting
419
00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:46.910
us prepared. I think allowing us to do some things
420
00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:50.009
in practice that aren't up to our standards. And so,
421
00:20:51.369 --> 00:20:54.329
you know, all on that. I think, you know, Baker's
422
00:20:54.349 --> 00:20:55.710
a really good team. So I'm not going to take
423
00:20:55.730 --> 00:21:00.420
anything away from them at all. And at the end, yeah,
424
00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:02.880
this is a if you know, you know. I feel
425
00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.460
like Kaelin DeBoer after.
426
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:05.920
The end of that game.
427
00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:06.019
Yeah.
428
00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:12.049
Was there anything that surprised you in that game, like schematically?
429
00:21:12.369 --> 00:21:14.309
Or was it just– I would imagine there isn't anything
430
00:21:14.369 --> 00:21:17.670
the two coaching staffs haven't seen against each other. Like,
431
00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:18.910
you know what I mean? You guys have faced each
432
00:21:18.930 --> 00:21:21.390
other so much. You know each other so well. Was
433
00:21:21.410 --> 00:21:24.380
there anything that kind of made you coaches go, oh,
434
00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:26.099
what are they doing here or anything like that? Or
435
00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:28.400
was it basically just lining up and playing football?
436
00:21:28.859 --> 00:21:35.519
Yeah, it was– Who's lining up and playing? We've played
437
00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:39.200
each other so many times in the past five years
438
00:21:39.700 --> 00:21:45.609
that nothing really jumps out that's surprising. They have some
439
00:21:45.730 --> 00:21:50.470
wrinkles that they threw throughout us, and we did as well.
440
00:21:50.509 --> 00:21:53.430
But if you go back over the film for the
441
00:21:53.470 --> 00:21:57.049
last five years, what they did is somewhere in that
442
00:21:57.150 --> 00:21:57.670
five years.
443
00:21:58.130 --> 00:21:58.289
Sure.
444
00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:01.309
Yeah, exactly. And that's, you know, you're going to stick
445
00:22:01.349 --> 00:22:03.210
to what you know, and it's hard to pull out
446
00:22:03.269 --> 00:22:06.309
something brand new. And one thing I did notice in
447
00:22:06.349 --> 00:22:12.759
the game too was neither team really took a lot
448
00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:15.980
of chances. Both of you guys punted a lot. And
449
00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:18.240
that was, you kind of know each other, you respect
450
00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:22.430
each other, and you know, punting is important. You know,
451
00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:25.359
I think Lucas may have punted seven times in the
452
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:28.380
game and and mount baker punted maybe five or six
453
00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:30.700
i mean that's a that's a lot but that shows
454
00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:35.420
like not a ton of turnovers ball control good good
455
00:22:35.579 --> 00:22:39.140
football was it you know i mean i don't know
456
00:22:39.289 --> 00:22:41.130
i don't know really what the question is here but
457
00:22:41.349 --> 00:22:42.609
but it's kind of like you know what i mean
458
00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:45.029
like you went into it knowing like hey we're not
459
00:22:45.069 --> 00:22:47.609
gonna like take chances we need to we need to
460
00:22:47.670 --> 00:22:48.930
stay in the game the best we.
461
00:22:48.849 --> 00:22:52.990
Can yeah and i think that's you know uh both
462
00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:56.180
Both teams, I mean, we trust our defenses. And so
463
00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:59.359
at that point, you're playing field position type games. But
464
00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:02.480
also there's a respect on the offensive side that, hey,
465
00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:07.240
if we don't get something at midfield, then their offense,
466
00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.779
even though the defense has been playing pretty good, their
467
00:23:09.900 --> 00:23:11.519
offense has the ability to.
468
00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:12.160
Break a play.
469
00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:15.109
So I think there's a mutual respect both on offense
470
00:23:15.140 --> 00:23:17.299
and defense. And it's kind of that chess match of,
471
00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:19.910
all right, do we play the field position game?
472
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:20.630
Do we go for it?
473
00:23:20.630 --> 00:23:23.779
But if we don't, you know, we've stopped their offense,
474
00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:27.000
but they're, you know, they're just one play away from
475
00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:29.869
breaking something big. And so, yeah, there's a lot of
476
00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:32.049
that that plays into, but I think ultimately, I mean,
477
00:23:32.269 --> 00:23:34.670
both teams were pretty confident in the way the defenses
478
00:23:34.710 --> 00:23:35.190
were playing.
479
00:23:35.470 --> 00:23:35.710
Yeah.
480
00:23:36.089 --> 00:23:37.289
Now it's just a field position.
481
00:23:38.109 --> 00:23:41.109
Speaking of your defense, I thought, I don't know if
482
00:23:41.130 --> 00:23:43.890
it's a breakout game, but I thought Paxton Miller had
483
00:23:43.910 --> 00:23:47.490
a tremendous game just as far as making an impact
484
00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:49.299
at the line of scrimmage, which you have to do
485
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:53.049
against that kind of team. And he's been a good player. uh,
486
00:23:53.150 --> 00:23:54.970
for the past year and a half, but I think
487
00:23:54.990 --> 00:23:58.269
he kind of elevated himself to a all conference type.
488
00:23:58.529 --> 00:24:01.250
The guys are going to have to notice him now. Um,
489
00:24:01.349 --> 00:24:04.769
you know, and, uh, just talk about his impact and
490
00:24:05.170 --> 00:24:07.839
kind of his improvement as you've been coaching him last
491
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:08.720
year and a half or so.
492
00:24:09.180 --> 00:24:11.339
Yeah, he, he, he did. He had a, he had
493
00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:14.500
a really good game defensively. Um, he's just got to
494
00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:17.539
work on his pad level. Um, but he is, he's
495
00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:22.109
understanding now what, what we're asking him to do. And in,
496
00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:26.940
you know, we're a gap control defense. And so he's understanding,
497
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:29.000
all right, where do I need to go?
498
00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:30.319
And, you know.
499
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:34.269
For a lot of those defensive linemen, you know, across
500
00:24:34.309 --> 00:24:37.509
the board, kind of throughout our league and in football,
501
00:24:37.529 --> 00:24:41.329
I mean, their job is to create double teams and
502
00:24:42.130 --> 00:24:45.309
basically keep linemen off the linebackers. And the linebackers are
503
00:24:45.329 --> 00:24:46.880
the ones that get all the credit for everything. But,
504
00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:52.430
you know, that defensive line, once you understand that, this
505
00:24:52.490 --> 00:24:54.900
is my job and I'm just a part of, I'm
506
00:24:55.099 --> 00:24:57.380
one person, a part of 11 that if I just
507
00:24:57.420 --> 00:25:00.339
do my job, then that allows somebody else to, to
508
00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.059
be able to break free and maybe do their job
509
00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:05.819
a little bit better. And TQ is really starting to
510
00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:08.299
grasp that concept and that makes him better and.
511
00:25:08.259 --> 00:25:09.940
It makes us better. Yeah.
512
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:13.799
He, it is so true because, you know, you, you know,
513
00:25:13.819 --> 00:25:16.839
people talk about that Baltimore Ravens defense in the early
514
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:20.029
two thousands and obviously Ray Lewis and Ed Reed get
515
00:25:20.049 --> 00:25:22.700
a lot of credit, but you, You watch Tony Saragusa
516
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.559
taking up two or three blockers. That's where it all starts,
517
00:25:26.700 --> 00:25:30.779
and you go from there. And so, yeah, there is
518
00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:34.279
a lot to that that I think that once players
519
00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:38.339
buy into that, it shows success for your team. This
520
00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:41.279
Friday night, you're back at home against Lyndon Christian. Last
521
00:25:41.299 --> 00:25:43.279
year's game was a close one until the fourth quarter
522
00:25:43.299 --> 00:25:45.700
when a few turnovers allowed the Lynx to win by
523
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.240
a few scores. What can you tell us about this
524
00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:49.180
year's LC team?
525
00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:56.460
They're probably the best team in the state. Across the board,
526
00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:00.960
they're really good. I don't think there's anybody in 1A
527
00:26:00.980 --> 00:26:05.640
that's better than them. It's going to be a tough challenge.
528
00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:08.839
They've got a great coaching staff that gets them prepared.
529
00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.359
They're all phases of the game they're really good at.
530
00:26:14.299 --> 00:26:16.420
We're just going to have to try to focus on
531
00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:20.539
what we do and just worry about each play in,
532
00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:23.559
in our, our jobs, every play.
533
00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:24.799
Absolutely.
534
00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:29.220
Uh, Chris Coleman looks to be probably the top one, a, um,
535
00:26:29.819 --> 00:26:31.680
running back in the state. You know, he was all
536
00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:34.339
state last year. It's, it's pretty tough to stop him,
537
00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:36.329
but how can you at least slow him down?
538
00:26:36.349 --> 00:26:39.769
I think a lot of teams have tried and they
539
00:26:39.809 --> 00:26:40.890
haven't been successful.
540
00:26:41.750 --> 00:26:42.970
Um, I don't know.
541
00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:46.069
I mean, play 12 guys on the field maybe and put,
542
00:26:46.490 --> 00:26:47.829
you know, a bunch of guys up on a line
543
00:26:47.849 --> 00:26:51.230
of scrimmage and, and, uh, you know, I'm not sure
544
00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:54.109
that anybody's figured that out yet. He's just, he's a
545
00:26:54.170 --> 00:26:55.490
really good, powerful player.
546
00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:58.990
Yeah. And it's, you know, it's probably just, you know,
547
00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:02.119
multiple guys flying to the football, right? I mean, that's,
548
00:27:02.779 --> 00:27:04.440
it's going to be really hard for one guy to
549
00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:08.079
bring him down. He's very, you know, he's always been
550
00:27:08.099 --> 00:27:11.079
a strong running back, but he's added something this year
551
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:13.579
and he's got some moves and he's got some more
552
00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:17.599
speed and maybe another five or 10 pounds. And it really,
553
00:27:17.619 --> 00:27:22.619
really shows. And so it just kind of, Like I said,
554
00:27:22.670 --> 00:27:25.960
multiple guys trying to tackle him, and that's kind of
555
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:32.759
the way to go. It's been an interesting football year,
556
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:37.190
and I think that you guys having a loss, even
557
00:27:37.210 --> 00:27:40.150
though it's a conference loss, is a really, really tough thing.
558
00:27:40.230 --> 00:27:45.769
But is that in a way... something that can motivate
559
00:27:45.789 --> 00:27:48.009
the players into now they're going to really listen to
560
00:27:48.069 --> 00:27:49.769
what you guys have to say. I mean, even though
561
00:27:49.789 --> 00:27:52.130
they've been doing it all year, is there something special
562
00:27:52.170 --> 00:27:55.000
about this week of practice of, Hey, we just, you know,
563
00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.140
we just, we just took a loss and now we're facing,
564
00:27:58.319 --> 00:27:59.819
you know, one of the top teams in the state.
565
00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:03.000
Is there, is there extra motivation just from that during practice?
566
00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.599
No, I don't think so. I, but I do think,
567
00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:10.329
you know, the, the loss was, it's a wake up
568
00:28:10.380 --> 00:28:13.660
call and not for the players. I think, you know,
569
00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:17.859
for our staff as a coaching staff of, all right,
570
00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:21.420
let's reflect back on if the kids aren't getting a
571
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:24.460
couple of things, then why is that? And that ultimately
572
00:28:24.500 --> 00:28:28.099
comes down to us and me ultimately. And so it's,
573
00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.839
this was a really good weekend for us as a
574
00:28:30.900 --> 00:28:34.349
coaching staff to figure out, okay, what can we do
575
00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:39.049
better as a staff at practice? And, you know, it's
576
00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:41.430
cliche and I say it a lot, but it's what
577
00:28:41.450 --> 00:28:44.789
we believe and it's what we do. we just focus about,
578
00:28:44.890 --> 00:28:47.589
we focus on us. And so there are some things
579
00:28:47.609 --> 00:28:50.230
that we have to fix and we'll, we'll get those
580
00:28:50.339 --> 00:28:53.660
fixed on us. And really, you know, if you're playing
581
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:57.680
Linda Christian, if you're playing, you know, the Seattle Seahawks,
582
00:28:57.700 --> 00:28:59.839
it doesn't matter. We're, we're just going to do what
583
00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:02.200
we need to do as far as us. And we'll
584
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:06.440
worry about us and, and, and, you know, we'll, we'll
585
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:10.950
have a good week of practice. It'll be intense. And, Um,
586
00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:12.900
you know, there's no more free passes for guys that
587
00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:15.220
don't know what they're doing. And so, um, you know,
588
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:16.279
it'd be a competition week.
589
00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:17.579
Yeah.
590
00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:18.759
It's, it's interesting.
591
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.319
You brought up like, like, you know, the teaching aspect
592
00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:23.819
of it, because this is something that just kind of
593
00:29:23.859 --> 00:29:26.119
popped in my head. So excuse me for this, but
594
00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:30.609
as a, as like a teacher, everybody learns differently, right?
595
00:29:30.630 --> 00:29:33.470
Some people are visual learners. Some people can hear it
596
00:29:33.609 --> 00:29:35.569
and they understand that some people need to do it
597
00:29:35.950 --> 00:29:38.390
and they understand it. And I could imagine it's the
598
00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:41.539
same thing for coaching. You can explain, something and maybe
599
00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:44.660
a third of their players understood what you what you said.
600
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:47.289
And then another third, you might need to work on
601
00:29:47.329 --> 00:29:49.289
them one on one and have that kind of walk
602
00:29:49.349 --> 00:29:51.910
through it. And another third, you might have to draw
603
00:29:51.930 --> 00:29:53.650
it up and then they see it and they go.
604
00:29:54.299 --> 00:29:54.920
Oh, okay.
605
00:29:54.980 --> 00:29:57.160
And so that's got to be an interesting challenge. You
606
00:29:57.180 --> 00:30:00.680
really have to know your players. And, you know, and so,
607
00:30:00.819 --> 00:30:03.640
and I've seen this out at different practices where a
608
00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:06.740
play will happen, you know, against the scout team or whatever,
609
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.210
and then they blow the whistle. And as the scout
610
00:30:09.230 --> 00:30:11.490
team offense, let's say, is getting ready to run the
611
00:30:11.529 --> 00:30:14.230
next play, multiple coaches are going out to talk to
612
00:30:14.349 --> 00:30:17.430
individual players and saying, hey, this is what you need
613
00:30:17.450 --> 00:30:19.609
to do for this and that. And you know, do
614
00:30:19.630 --> 00:30:21.569
you feel like you have a pretty good grasp on
615
00:30:21.589 --> 00:30:24.349
your guys on which players need to learn a certain way?
616
00:30:24.410 --> 00:30:25.849
And do you have a good feel for that?
617
00:30:26.329 --> 00:30:27.210
Yeah, absolutely.
618
00:30:27.289 --> 00:30:29.630
And you're, you're a hundred percent right. Some, some guys
619
00:30:29.690 --> 00:30:32.849
are visual learners. Some guys are, you know, draw it
620
00:30:32.890 --> 00:30:36.339
up on the board once and they get it. And yeah,
621
00:30:36.539 --> 00:30:39.980
it is, it's, how do you get them? I mean,
622
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.700
you got to kind of go across the board. You
623
00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:43.420
have to put it up on the, on the chalkboards
624
00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:46.880
or the whiteboard now that, You know, draw it up
625
00:30:46.940 --> 00:30:48.789
so they can see it. You have to play video
626
00:30:48.809 --> 00:30:50.640
so they can see it, like a clip of the play.
627
00:30:51.049 --> 00:30:52.769
And then you've got to walk through it at practice
628
00:30:52.809 --> 00:30:53.869
and then slow it down.
629
00:30:53.690 --> 00:30:54.549
A little bit at practice.
630
00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:58.009
And so, yeah, there's a lot of different ways that
631
00:30:58.349 --> 00:31:01.750
I think that coaching has evolved. You know, it used
632
00:31:01.789 --> 00:31:04.750
to be just do this and go out and run it.
633
00:31:05.430 --> 00:31:07.450
You know, back when we played, we didn't question anything.
634
00:31:07.490 --> 00:31:10.809
And not that the kids question anything, but they want
635
00:31:10.849 --> 00:31:13.190
to know the why's now. And so I think the
636
00:31:13.250 --> 00:31:17.380
good coaches explain the why's. This is why we have spacing.
637
00:31:17.410 --> 00:31:19.960
This is why we run these plays. So when the
638
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:23.259
kids understand, okay, if this is why we're doing what
639
00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:26.680
we're doing, then it just makes more sense to them
640
00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:30.579
and they understand it. And when they understand that and
641
00:31:30.619 --> 00:31:35.440
they don't have any questions, they play faster. And I mean,
642
00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:37.960
we've talked about it before, but if the kids don't
643
00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:42.059
get it after the first time or second time, then
644
00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:45.039
we as coaches need to look back and go, gosh, okay,
645
00:31:45.059 --> 00:31:47.460
how come they're not getting it? Is it the way
646
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:50.839
I'm delivering it to them? Is it the form I'm
647
00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:55.849
delivering it to them? And so we'll ask, hey, I've
648
00:31:55.900 --> 00:31:57.660
explained this to you a couple times and you're not
649
00:31:57.700 --> 00:31:59.930
getting it, so what am I doing wrong? And then
650
00:32:00.230 --> 00:32:02.190
we'll take some feedback from the kids and we'll kind
651
00:32:02.230 --> 00:32:04.950
of adjust. And if they still don't get it, then
652
00:32:05.849 --> 00:32:07.990
that's our job as coaches is to put them in
653
00:32:08.029 --> 00:32:12.569
the best position to have success. And if we're not
654
00:32:12.690 --> 00:32:16.670
getting through to them, then we need to adjust. And,
655
00:32:16.990 --> 00:32:19.589
you know, if after five or six times they don't
656
00:32:19.650 --> 00:32:21.710
get it, maybe that kid just is not going to
657
00:32:21.769 --> 00:32:23.829
get it. Then we put somebody else and we move
658
00:32:23.869 --> 00:32:26.569
them to a different position. But, I mean, that's kind
659
00:32:26.609 --> 00:32:30.039
of the whole process of getting it. And it's not
660
00:32:30.099 --> 00:32:32.380
just a, hey, just roll the balls out there and
661
00:32:32.420 --> 00:32:35.839
here we go. There's a lot that goes into coaching.
662
00:32:37.009 --> 00:32:39.569
For all you out there that want to become a coach,
663
00:32:40.509 --> 00:32:44.529
there's a lot more to it than you think. You
664
00:32:44.549 --> 00:32:47.380
can start at the youth level and have fun and
665
00:32:47.930 --> 00:32:49.880
show them the basics and stuff like that, but once
666
00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:51.980
you get to the varsity level, there's a lot of
667
00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:55.160
layers involved, there's a lot of hours involved, and there's
668
00:32:55.180 --> 00:32:57.079
a lot of passion in it. I want to thank
669
00:32:57.160 --> 00:32:59.819
all you coaches for doing what you do because it
670
00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:02.920
shows on the football field really good, talented teams up
671
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:05.410
here and it makes for a tremendous product on the
672
00:33:05.450 --> 00:33:08.029
field that we get to enjoy every single week. So
673
00:33:08.690 --> 00:33:10.930
best of luck on Friday against Linda Christian. Thank you
674
00:33:10.970 --> 00:33:13.089
so much for joining me today on the Gatorade game
675
00:33:13.109 --> 00:33:13.769
day podcast.
676
00:33:14.210 --> 00:33:15.309
Awesome. Thanks again, Tyler.
677
00:33:16.089 --> 00:33:18.230
All right. Thank you to both the coaches for being
678
00:33:18.269 --> 00:33:19.809
able to cut some time out of their day to
679
00:33:19.869 --> 00:33:23.130
join me and talk about those games. Again, seven o'clock
680
00:33:23.230 --> 00:33:26.599
said Lambert field should be great one. Another one, a
681
00:33:26.660 --> 00:33:29.619
battle as Blaine, the border rights will come out to
682
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.940
Deming to take on the Mount Baker Mountaineers. Blaine, 2-4
683
00:33:34.339 --> 00:33:38.740
on the season, Mount Baker 4-2. And this is a
684
00:33:38.859 --> 00:33:41.960
longtime rivalry. This is a game that's been going on
685
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:46.029
for almost 100 years now. There's been over 100 matchups.
686
00:33:46.089 --> 00:33:48.549
I can't remember the exact number. It's like 108, something
687
00:33:48.569 --> 00:33:51.009
like that. But I think they started playing each other
688
00:33:51.049 --> 00:33:54.009
in the early 30s. And so it's always fun. This
689
00:33:54.069 --> 00:33:56.269
is kind of like the Packers and Bears playing each
690
00:33:56.309 --> 00:33:59.559
other in the NFL. I'm now joined on the Gatorade
691
00:33:59.579 --> 00:34:03.500
Game Day podcast by Blaine Head Football Coach Andy Olson. Coach,
692
00:34:03.539 --> 00:34:05.200
thank you for joining me today. How are you doing?
693
00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:07.160
I'm doing well, Tyler. How are you?
694
00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:11.519
Doing well as well. What is a chore around the
695
00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:13.429
house that you really enjoy doing?
696
00:34:15.070 --> 00:34:15.710
Mowing the lawn.
697
00:34:18.030 --> 00:34:20.809
Yeah, mowing the lawn, I just have always enjoyed being, like,
698
00:34:21.070 --> 00:34:21.969
taking care of outside.
699
00:34:22.630 --> 00:34:24.550
We kind of live out in the woods, so it's
700
00:34:24.590 --> 00:34:27.210
a project to fight the war against the blackberries and
701
00:34:27.230 --> 00:34:30.610
keep the backyard looking nice. So I enjoy mowing the lawn.
702
00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:32.980
It takes about an hour and a half to do it. And,
703
00:34:33.019 --> 00:34:35.340
you know, with as many kids as I have, sometimes
704
00:34:35.380 --> 00:34:37.159
an hour and a half apiece. Kids don't like to
705
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:37.639
walk up.
706
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:41.480
To, you know, dad mowing the lawn. So it's a
707
00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:42.000
nice break.
708
00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:45.239
Yeah, and it's interesting. If you're out in the woods,
709
00:34:45.300 --> 00:34:49.550
it's probably not like a, cookie cutter square uh spot
710
00:34:49.570 --> 00:34:52.090
you're cutting your car you're probably going around trees and
711
00:34:52.130 --> 00:34:55.949
all sorts of whips and wines there yeah yep that's
712
00:34:56.050 --> 00:34:58.909
a makes it kind of uh yeah it makes it
713
00:34:58.929 --> 00:35:00.739
so you can't really zone out while you're doing it
714
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:03.880
you really have to pay attention um because a lot
715
00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:06.179
of times you know you just kind of like that's
716
00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:08.159
your time to just kind of reset and just kind
717
00:35:08.199 --> 00:35:11.139
of mow you've done it a million million times uh
718
00:35:11.219 --> 00:35:13.219
but you probably have to pay a little more attention.
719
00:35:13.530 --> 00:35:15.369
I've got to have a head on swivel for the
720
00:35:15.449 --> 00:35:17.570
random tennis ball laying out in our yard or a
721
00:35:17.590 --> 00:35:18.730
wiffle ball, too.
722
00:35:18.750 --> 00:35:19.610
They pop out of nowhere.
723
00:35:20.130 --> 00:35:25.300
Yes, absolutely. On Friday night, your team hosted Meridian. It
724
00:35:25.340 --> 00:35:28.159
was a one-score game for the majority of the time,
725
00:35:28.219 --> 00:35:31.539
either down two or down eight. But they got a
726
00:35:31.579 --> 00:35:33.760
few short fields in the fourth quarter and were able
727
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:36.099
to take advantage and pull away 41-26. Tell us about
728
00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:36.360
the game.
729
00:35:39.099 --> 00:35:42.320
Yeah, well, we started out actually in a pretty big
730
00:35:42.380 --> 00:35:42.860
hole early.
731
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:44.840
We were down 15-0 right out the gate.
732
00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:48.380
Meridian did a good job getting a couple quick three
733
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.980
and outs, and then we let Trey get loose and
734
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:53.739
do what Trey does on an 88-yard scamper on the
735
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:56.300
first play of a drive after Connor had pinned him deep.
736
00:35:57.539 --> 00:36:00.760
You know, Meridian's really good. They have some really good athletes.
737
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:03.739
I would argue that they're probably the fastest team in
738
00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:05.570
our league, so that was a great challenge for us is,
739
00:36:06.510 --> 00:36:08.789
How do we avoid giving up the big pot play
740
00:36:08.829 --> 00:36:12.210
to them? Obviously, when we talked about that 80-yard scamper,
741
00:36:12.250 --> 00:36:15.130
we missed an assignment or a call there, and he
742
00:36:15.170 --> 00:36:19.010
got loose. Good athletes make good plays, and they got
743
00:36:19.050 --> 00:36:20.800
a lot of them, and Coach Ames had them ready
744
00:36:20.820 --> 00:36:24.199
to go. Good football game, competitive, like we've kind of
745
00:36:24.219 --> 00:36:27.039
learned to expect. Crazy things tend to happen when Blaine
746
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:29.019
and Meridian meet. It's usually a lot of points, and
747
00:36:30.019 --> 00:36:31.400
usually decide to come the fourth quarter.
748
00:36:31.420 --> 00:36:32.300
Yeah, it was tough.
749
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.579
It was fun to watch, and I really thought you
750
00:36:35.619 --> 00:36:38.030
had some good things going with the run game, too.
751
00:36:38.789 --> 00:36:41.369
Was there an exerted effort to have that be more
752
00:36:41.389 --> 00:36:41.889
of a factor?
753
00:36:43.269 --> 00:36:43.449
Yeah.
754
00:36:43.590 --> 00:36:46.570
I mean, we know that team's got our pass game.
755
00:36:47.210 --> 00:36:49.610
And if you're going to drop seven guys or eight
756
00:36:49.650 --> 00:36:51.679
guys deep, we've got to be able to run the football.
757
00:36:52.780 --> 00:36:55.400
Asher Hagee, our sophomore, is starting to come into his own.
758
00:36:56.139 --> 00:36:57.989
Um, and it's cleaned some things up and keeps getting
759
00:36:58.030 --> 00:37:01.329
better every week, which is awesome. Uh, Tanvir here was
760
00:37:01.349 --> 00:37:03.730
awesome as a lead blocker and then getting a couple
761
00:37:03.750 --> 00:37:05.750
of carries here and there and same with Sayu Kanaji.
762
00:37:05.789 --> 00:37:07.590
But I mean, we talked about if you want to
763
00:37:07.610 --> 00:37:09.860
win in the Northwest Conference 1As, you have to be
764
00:37:09.900 --> 00:37:10.619
able to be physical.
765
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:12.019
You can't just finesse it down the field.
766
00:37:12.780 --> 00:37:15.280
Um, so we're starting to learn through some growing pains
767
00:37:16.019 --> 00:37:17.380
what that requires.
768
00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:19.300
And we saw some growth there last week.
769
00:37:19.949 --> 00:37:22.429
Yeah. And I think I've told you before, but you know,
770
00:37:22.590 --> 00:37:25.159
Asher Hagee is such a raw athlete that you know,
771
00:37:25.179 --> 00:37:27.559
he kind of reminds me of those toy cars that you,
772
00:37:28.099 --> 00:37:29.800
you hold onto the ground, you roll back and you
773
00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:32.679
let go and they just go forward. And it's like
774
00:37:32.980 --> 00:37:36.480
second step. He's at top speed already. And, um, but
775
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:39.050
what I saw, or maybe, maybe, I mean, I think
776
00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:40.829
what I saw, cause I, you know, I know a
777
00:37:40.869 --> 00:37:43.309
little bit of football, not near as much as you do,
778
00:37:43.369 --> 00:37:46.170
but it looked like he was more, um, he was
779
00:37:46.230 --> 00:37:48.550
able to cut to the outside or cut to the inside,
780
00:37:48.590 --> 00:37:51.090
or he was able to do more running back type
781
00:37:51.110 --> 00:37:53.610
stuff instead of just, I'm really fast with the ball.
782
00:37:53.650 --> 00:37:54.469
Is that safe to say?
783
00:37:55.090 --> 00:37:55.730
Yeah. Yep.
784
00:37:55.750 --> 00:37:58.349
That's been a concerted effort on our part is, you know,
785
00:37:58.369 --> 00:38:01.329
the development of Asher Hagee at running back. You know,
786
00:38:01.349 --> 00:38:03.210
a few years ago, kids have these things called Beyblades
787
00:38:03.230 --> 00:38:04.829
that they'd wind and let go and they just kind
788
00:38:04.849 --> 00:38:07.949
of ricochet off everything. He kind of reminds me of
789
00:38:07.989 --> 00:38:11.070
one of those, I guess he's a modern toy for
790
00:38:11.110 --> 00:38:14.010
the audience that maybe doesn't know what the wind up cars.
791
00:38:13.829 --> 00:38:15.590
Used to be.
792
00:38:15.730 --> 00:38:17.630
But yeah, you know, he's just kind of the Tasmanian
793
00:38:17.670 --> 00:38:19.809
devil with the football. He takes off and he's going
794
00:38:19.829 --> 00:38:21.610
to hit somebody and then he's going to ricochet and
795
00:38:21.690 --> 00:38:25.199
keep going. And, You know, I think that effort and
796
00:38:25.260 --> 00:38:28.599
energy is contagious and is infectious. And when he runs
797
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:31.239
the ball, you'll see like as a, as a former lineman,
798
00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:33.179
if a guy's going to run hard downhill and finish
799
00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:35.059
like that's inspiring.
800
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:37.519
So he's inspiring his teammates by how he plays the game.
801
00:38:37.940 --> 00:38:38.539
Absolutely.
802
00:38:38.659 --> 00:38:40.800
And a lot of times in 1A football, you know,
803
00:38:40.820 --> 00:38:42.679
a team will go into the season knowing that you
804
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:44.840
have some dudes that you can rely on that are
805
00:38:44.860 --> 00:38:47.260
going to be pretty good. And there's always those players
806
00:38:47.300 --> 00:38:50.139
that raise their ability during the season. It's kind of,
807
00:38:50.630 --> 00:38:53.130
Not that it's out of nowhere, but it's like, okay,
808
00:38:53.969 --> 00:38:56.050
this is great having these extra guys. Is there a
809
00:38:56.090 --> 00:38:57.920
player on your team that you look at and you say,
810
00:38:57.940 --> 00:39:00.739
this player's really stepped it up perhaps more than you expected?
811
00:39:02.280 --> 00:39:08.699
Yeah, you know, we're pretty young, you know. On Friday night,
812
00:39:08.860 --> 00:39:11.179
I think we had three sophomores and a freshman starting
813
00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:15.889
on our defense. You know, the continued maturation of Dimitri
814
00:39:16.170 --> 00:39:17.409
Shvorak's always awesome.
815
00:39:17.429 --> 00:39:18.070
You know, you kind of.
816
00:39:18.539 --> 00:39:20.019
You kind of wonder what the feeling's going to be
817
00:39:20.059 --> 00:39:23.199
like for a kid like that. What's been most impressive, though,
818
00:39:23.260 --> 00:39:26.130
is his maturity and how he's kind of handled learning
819
00:39:26.170 --> 00:39:28.070
the game of football and adjusting to, I'm not just
820
00:39:28.110 --> 00:39:31.440
the biggest, fastest, strongest kid on the field. um and
821
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:34.340
how coachable he's been like it's been a real blessing
822
00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.460
to be able to spend time with that kid and
823
00:39:36.619 --> 00:39:39.679
um help him along the way um physically he looks
824
00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:41.559
like he's about 17 years old but you know it's
825
00:39:41.579 --> 00:39:43.489
just different when you jump from playing eighth grade football
826
00:39:43.510 --> 00:39:47.289
to here's varsity friday nights right And I think a
827
00:39:47.309 --> 00:39:49.050
lot of the kids that play against him would have
828
00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:52.889
no idea that he is a freshman. So just by, again,
829
00:39:52.949 --> 00:39:54.320
the way he talks on the field and the way
830
00:39:54.360 --> 00:39:57.579
he leads, he already has kind of a leadership role
831
00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.619
within our program. So the future is very bright for
832
00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:02.800
that young man and the direction that the program's heading.
833
00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:06.329
And for those of you that don't know, he's about 6'2,
834
00:40:06.300 --> 00:40:10.219
200 pounds, and starts on the defensive line, plays a
835
00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:14.000
lot as kind of an H-back. And, you know, I...
836
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.519
It's one of those things where I didn't see him
837
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:19.880
play in eighth grade, but I would imagine he was
838
00:40:19.960 --> 00:40:22.320
featured quite a bit. Is this defensive line kind of
839
00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:24.260
a whole new thing for him, or is that something
840
00:40:24.300 --> 00:40:28.019
he's done before maybe as an end? A little bit
841
00:40:28.039 --> 00:40:28.440
of both.
842
00:40:28.519 --> 00:40:30.219
I mean, how we use him is different, right?
843
00:40:30.739 --> 00:40:32.710
And I mean, I think the biggest thing that's different
844
00:40:32.750 --> 00:40:34.409
is the things that you can get away with when
845
00:40:34.429 --> 00:40:37.769
you are just physically gifted. A lot of times your
846
00:40:37.809 --> 00:40:41.030
technique goes out the window because you can get away
847
00:40:41.070 --> 00:40:43.710
with bad habits that just work effectively.
848
00:40:43.789 --> 00:40:44.030
Right.
849
00:40:44.110 --> 00:40:47.440
And it's hard to tell a young man who's, you know,
850
00:40:47.539 --> 00:40:49.860
making the play that you're making the play in a
851
00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:51.360
way that's not going to help you in your future.
852
00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:51.559
Right.
853
00:40:52.780 --> 00:40:55.219
So the the arm tackles and the things like that.
854
00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:57.760
And, you know, I can just run and run at
855
00:40:57.780 --> 00:40:59.400
a poor angle, but I'm still fast enough where I'm
856
00:40:59.420 --> 00:41:02.260
going to be able to recover. Um, so that's been
857
00:41:02.300 --> 00:41:04.989
like the continued maturation of him is like learning that, Hey,
858
00:41:05.050 --> 00:41:07.170
I can't do a false step. I have to actually read,
859
00:41:07.190 --> 00:41:09.449
I have to create separation in my hands, you know,
860
00:41:09.750 --> 00:41:11.610
how to tackle at a 17 year old when you
861
00:41:11.650 --> 00:41:13.710
are a 14 year old, um, that's going to be
862
00:41:13.750 --> 00:41:16.960
stronger than you at times. So, um, you know, those
863
00:41:17.019 --> 00:41:20.300
little things and just how coachable he's been to picking
864
00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:23.139
them up and recognizing like, ah, yeah, I can't do
865
00:41:23.179 --> 00:41:25.500
that anymore. I have to, I have to learn the
866
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:27.539
right way to do it. Um, that's been really great.
867
00:41:27.559 --> 00:41:29.119
And our coaches have worked really well with him too.
868
00:41:29.159 --> 00:41:30.139
So I appreciate that piece.
869
00:41:30.659 --> 00:41:34.300
Yeah, that's great to hear that he is open and
870
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:37.840
willing to learn because you do get those studs that
871
00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:41.590
come in. And it's hard sometimes to mold a piece
872
00:41:41.619 --> 00:41:44.690
of clay that's already been hardened by success. And so
873
00:41:45.150 --> 00:41:48.989
that's really pleasant to hear because I'm excited for his future.
874
00:41:49.050 --> 00:41:52.550
Probably not as excited as you are, but I love
875
00:41:53.030 --> 00:41:55.619
when these new players come in and really show what
876
00:41:55.659 --> 00:41:58.340
they can do. As long as I can just get
877
00:41:58.380 --> 00:42:01.079
his name spelled correctly, that's all that I need to
878
00:42:01.099 --> 00:42:04.230
worry about. But this Friday night, you're back on the road.
879
00:42:04.269 --> 00:42:08.809
You're facing Mount Baker. It's been a tough one since
880
00:42:08.829 --> 00:42:11.650
you've come to Blaine playing Mount Baker. What can you
881
00:42:11.670 --> 00:42:13.809
tell us about this year's group of the Mountaineers?
882
00:42:15.389 --> 00:42:20.800
It's another Coach Lepper team that is going to maximize
883
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:21.519
the talent they.
884
00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:22.139
Have on the field.
885
00:42:22.179 --> 00:42:25.539
They're going to be arguably one of the two most
886
00:42:25.619 --> 00:42:29.179
disciplined football teams in 1A football, that right there with
887
00:42:29.219 --> 00:42:31.400
the other program that wins all the state titles from
888
00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:34.150
the east side. They do it the right way. They
889
00:42:34.190 --> 00:42:36.389
go and execute. They all know their jobs. They've been
890
00:42:36.409 --> 00:42:38.809
doing it for a long time. I mean, he's got
891
00:42:38.829 --> 00:42:42.710
a program going. So we know that we're going to
892
00:42:42.730 --> 00:42:44.389
expect a lot of the same, but every year it
893
00:42:44.409 --> 00:42:46.630
looks different with different athletes, which is also.
894
00:42:47.230 --> 00:42:49.070
You know, it's exciting.
895
00:42:49.329 --> 00:42:51.369
And I know I always say, you know, Mount Baker's
896
00:42:51.389 --> 00:42:54.550
the measuring stick for public school football on the west
897
00:42:54.590 --> 00:42:56.329
side of the state. Like you want to become more
898
00:42:56.369 --> 00:42:58.610
like Baker and how they go about doing their business.
899
00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:02.159
And in high school football, you don't control necessarily where
900
00:43:02.179 --> 00:43:04.280
the bus stops and who they're picking up, but you
901
00:43:04.300 --> 00:43:05.539
do control what you do with that.
902
00:43:05.559 --> 00:43:08.000
And I think that nobody does it better than the Mountaineers.
903
00:43:08.500 --> 00:43:11.659
Wow. Yeah, that's a great compliment. And You know, they've
904
00:43:11.719 --> 00:43:14.519
ran that same offense for quite a while. There's been
905
00:43:14.539 --> 00:43:17.599
a few, you know, wrinkles over the years. I think
906
00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:20.260
back in 08, 09, they kind of had more like
907
00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:23.900
a double-wing shotgun type thing. And they went to the
908
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:26.300
spread in 2000. But other than that, it's been pretty
909
00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:30.309
much straight wing T. And, you know, I'm sure this
910
00:43:30.349 --> 00:43:34.750
week of practice has been interesting with scout team wing T.
911
00:43:35.130 --> 00:43:37.449
What's the biggest thing you have to tell, especially your
912
00:43:37.489 --> 00:43:38.630
linebackers on defense?
913
00:43:38.650 --> 00:43:38.809
Yeah.
914
00:43:40.119 --> 00:43:42.980
You know, we've tried different things in teaching how to
915
00:43:43.019 --> 00:43:46.280
defend the wing tee out at Blaine. That has become,
916
00:43:47.329 --> 00:43:51.210
you know, it's a great challenge. This week, we're actually
917
00:43:51.230 --> 00:43:53.210
doing something a little bit different, which Lef's going to
918
00:43:53.250 --> 00:43:56.369
laugh about is, you know, we've been defending our scout
919
00:43:56.389 --> 00:43:57.820
team and the scout team doesn't have a football.
920
00:43:58.719 --> 00:43:59.380
Yeah.
921
00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:02.300
Like we've been tackling kids without footballs because if your
922
00:44:02.380 --> 00:44:03.920
eyes read you to the right place, then you're going
923
00:44:03.940 --> 00:44:06.090
to be tackling the right kid. Last year we took
924
00:44:06.150 --> 00:44:08.849
out a little mini Nerf football and did it as
925
00:44:08.909 --> 00:44:10.210
an idea of trying to hide it, and I felt
926
00:44:10.230 --> 00:44:11.969
like our kids just looked even harder for the football.
927
00:44:12.329 --> 00:44:15.010
So if you have your eyes on the backfield, they're
928
00:44:15.030 --> 00:44:16.869
going to take advantage of you, and they have in
929
00:44:16.889 --> 00:44:19.150
the past, and they do it every week when you
930
00:44:19.210 --> 00:44:20.949
look at, well, how did they break a big one?
931
00:44:21.389 --> 00:44:23.420
Is the linebacker running in the wrong direction because he's
932
00:44:23.460 --> 00:44:26.860
looking at their wingback or their tailback or even the
933
00:44:26.920 --> 00:44:27.960
kind of sniffer player.
934
00:44:27.739 --> 00:44:29.019
That they have on the side there.
935
00:44:29.420 --> 00:44:33.539
So that is a tremendous challenge for our guys, but
936
00:44:33.699 --> 00:44:34.559
we look forward to it.
937
00:44:35.429 --> 00:44:36.809
And, you know, one thing that's a little bit different
938
00:44:36.849 --> 00:44:37.289
this year.
939
00:44:37.170 --> 00:44:39.920
Than last year, last year I kind of penned them
940
00:44:39.980 --> 00:44:41.940
as the flying lepers because they were throwing the ball
941
00:44:41.960 --> 00:44:43.260
all over the place downfield.
942
00:44:43.940 --> 00:44:45.480
They still won't be able to do that, too.
943
00:44:45.539 --> 00:44:48.119
So we have what we call outside drill where we
944
00:44:48.159 --> 00:44:50.510
work on actually defending passes and stuff like that.
945
00:44:50.869 --> 00:44:52.750
But when we're on inside, there's no ball, which is
946
00:44:52.769 --> 00:44:53.110
kind of fun.
947
00:44:53.750 --> 00:44:56.300
Yeah, and that's, I mean, I've heard that expression, you
948
00:44:56.340 --> 00:44:58.920
have to tackle everybody. Like that's, and against the Wing T,
949
00:44:58.940 --> 00:45:01.980
you have to tackle everybody. So I could totally see
950
00:45:02.039 --> 00:45:07.159
where that is a method to practicing, and that's a
951
00:45:07.179 --> 00:45:09.139
good way to go. It's going to be a fun
952
00:45:09.219 --> 00:45:12.630
one out there. I think it's the longest, maybe not
953
00:45:12.650 --> 00:45:15.190
the most games, but the longest running rivalry. I believe
954
00:45:15.210 --> 00:45:18.309
the first game was 95 years ago, 94 years ago,
955
00:45:18.329 --> 00:45:22.139
something like that. Um, so it's kind of cool that
956
00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:25.300
these two teams are still going at it every year and, and, uh,
957
00:45:25.340 --> 00:45:27.199
best of luck at Mount Baker. And thank you so
958
00:45:27.239 --> 00:45:29.500
much for joining me on the Gatorade game day podcast.
959
00:45:30.179 --> 00:45:31.780
Thanks for having me, Tyler. Appreciate you.
960
00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:35.500
I am now joined on the Gatorade game day podcast
961
00:45:35.539 --> 00:45:38.559
by Mount Baker head football coach, Ron Lepper coach. Thank
962
00:45:38.579 --> 00:45:40.039
you for joining me today. How are you doing?
963
00:45:40.599 --> 00:45:42.679
Doing well and a pleasure to be hanging out with
964
00:45:42.719 --> 00:45:43.840
you once again this week.
965
00:45:44.469 --> 00:45:47.550
Oh, thank you very much. What is a chore around
966
00:45:47.590 --> 00:45:49.190
the house that you really enjoy doing?
967
00:45:50.170 --> 00:45:52.610
Cutting the grass or vacuuming, either one.
968
00:45:54.070 --> 00:45:58.550
You know, cutting grass is a very popular answer, but
969
00:45:58.610 --> 00:46:00.690
I hadn't heard vacuuming. Why vacuuming?
970
00:46:01.090 --> 00:46:04.760
Because automatic results, man. You see what you did, and
971
00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:08.719
it's clean right now. So I do a lot. I mean, yeah,
972
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:11.559
when I'm home, especially in the summer, but when I'm home,
973
00:46:12.579 --> 00:46:15.139
I'll jump on the old vacuum cleaner there and get
974
00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:18.059
that done for Trish. Yeah, she thinks I'm kind of crazy,
975
00:46:18.099 --> 00:46:18.719
but it's okay.
976
00:46:20.840 --> 00:46:23.420
That's funny because i i think back of uh the
977
00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:25.489
show who's the boss from the 80s and he used
978
00:46:25.510 --> 00:46:27.449
to like lift the couch up with one hand and
979
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.789
vacuum underneath and start vacuuming the curtains and i was
980
00:46:30.809 --> 00:46:32.829
like i could see you doing that.
981
00:46:32.670 --> 00:46:35.389
Yeah exactly so yeah that's i don't mind doing that
982
00:46:35.409 --> 00:46:35.809
at all.
983
00:46:35.969 --> 00:46:40.170
That's awesome um on friday your team hosted nooksack valley
984
00:46:40.210 --> 00:46:43.170
another classic game you pick up the 21 to 14
985
00:46:43.170 --> 00:46:45.230
win um tell us about the.
986
00:46:45.170 --> 00:46:49.340
Game yeah like like you said you know uh kind
987
00:46:49.380 --> 00:46:53.059
of a defensive game on both sides. You know, first,
988
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:55.199
you know, I think we both had to punt on
989
00:46:55.260 --> 00:46:57.550
our first possessions, and then they get a big play,
990
00:46:58.250 --> 00:47:00.230
and then we were able to come right back and
991
00:47:00.269 --> 00:47:03.489
kind of answer that, get a couple stops, and then,
992
00:47:03.530 --> 00:47:06.230
you know, Kel Reardon gets a big, you know, makes
993
00:47:06.269 --> 00:47:08.380
a big play on defense, you know, gets a sack,
994
00:47:08.420 --> 00:47:09.940
causes a fumble, and we get that.
995
00:47:09.980 --> 00:47:11.000
It sets us up to.
996
00:47:11.900 --> 00:47:14.059
You know, a little bit shorter field, and so then
997
00:47:14.079 --> 00:47:16.849
we're able to get that in there, and then kind of,
998
00:47:16.849 --> 00:47:19.409
you know, like back and forth for the half. And then, again,
999
00:47:19.550 --> 00:47:20.880
we were able to find a way to get in
1000
00:47:20.889 --> 00:47:25.000
the end zone in the third quarter. Gave them opportunity
1001
00:47:25.059 --> 00:47:26.960
where we turned the ball over and gave them a
1002
00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:28.760
short field and they took advantage. And then it was
1003
00:47:28.940 --> 00:47:33.940
defense after that. And, you know, like I said, pretty excited.
1004
00:47:33.960 --> 00:47:36.449
I'm pretty sure the fans were pretty excited about it.
1005
00:47:37.050 --> 00:47:41.050
You know, first down at the 13-yard line or something
1006
00:47:41.070 --> 00:47:42.150
like that with four plays.
1007
00:47:42.250 --> 00:47:45.550
And we were able to– get out of there with
1008
00:47:45.570 --> 00:47:45.909
a win.
1009
00:47:45.949 --> 00:47:48.599
So big win, you know, first league game of the year,
1010
00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:52.019
but also against a real quality opponent. And for us
1011
00:47:52.039 --> 00:47:53.960
to bounce back after the week before, I was just,
1012
00:47:54.639 --> 00:47:56.659
you know, down a few guys and, you know, we
1013
00:47:56.679 --> 00:47:59.300
didn't have a lot of, a very deep rotation on Friday.
1014
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:01.460
A lot of guys, you know, had to get it
1015
00:48:01.539 --> 00:48:03.320
out a little bit and it was, it was, it
1016
00:48:03.340 --> 00:48:04.079
was fun to watch.
1017
00:48:04.840 --> 00:48:07.119
You know, it's, it's a good thing you mentioned that,
1018
00:48:07.860 --> 00:48:10.909
you know, those, those turnovers resulted into short fields, which
1019
00:48:10.969 --> 00:48:13.670
resulted then into touchdowns. It just shows the importance of,
1020
00:48:14.010 --> 00:48:16.309
especially when it's two even teams, you know, a lot
1021
00:48:16.329 --> 00:48:17.829
of punts in the game. So you're not taking a
1022
00:48:17.869 --> 00:48:21.349
lot of chances and you have trust in your defense and,
1023
00:48:21.590 --> 00:48:24.769
and those two big turnovers resulted in scores. And it's
1024
00:48:24.809 --> 00:48:28.570
so amazing how quickly that can happen in a, in
1025
00:48:28.590 --> 00:48:30.590
a game that only had five touchdowns and two of them,
1026
00:48:30.710 --> 00:48:33.250
you know, came that way. And so it really does
1027
00:48:33.309 --> 00:48:36.190
show the importance of turnovers, especially when you make them,
1028
00:48:36.269 --> 00:48:39.909
you know, near mid midfield. Um, You made a change
1029
00:48:39.969 --> 00:48:42.570
in personnel during the week. It was an unselfish move
1030
00:48:42.630 --> 00:48:44.969
by a star player that made the difference. Can you
1031
00:48:45.010 --> 00:48:46.090
expand more upon that?
1032
00:48:46.550 --> 00:48:51.010
Yeah, you know, as, you know, we talked about earlier,
1033
00:48:51.849 --> 00:48:54.329
you know, we had a couple guys out and then
1034
00:48:54.369 --> 00:48:57.750
we had a couple people at a family wedding in,
1035
00:48:57.789 --> 00:48:58.550
you know, in Missouri.
1036
00:48:58.590 --> 00:49:00.050
And so we were just down some numbers.
1037
00:49:00.130 --> 00:49:04.630
And I approached, you know, Noah Nicole Mills and said, hey, listen,
1038
00:49:04.989 --> 00:49:07.699
you know, it's not as crazy as you think if
1039
00:49:07.739 --> 00:49:10.599
you're sitting in my chair. and kind of explained what
1040
00:49:10.619 --> 00:49:13.219
we needed to get done. And, you know, on Monday
1041
00:49:13.280 --> 00:49:14.900
last week, he kind of said, okay. And then, I,
1042
00:49:14.889 --> 00:49:16.510
you know, I can tell you, it wasn't like, you know,
1043
00:49:16.550 --> 00:49:19.800
jumping in with both feet. And then Tuesday I just said, Hey, listen,
1044
00:49:19.960 --> 00:49:22.039
you know, um, you're going to give us our best
1045
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:24.619
opportunity here because, and nothing against it. You know, there's
1046
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:26.679
a reason why they're varsity guys because they've earned that.
1047
00:49:26.719 --> 00:49:29.159
But if we would have to put some, a couple
1048
00:49:29.179 --> 00:49:31.539
of younger guys in there, it probably wouldn't, it would
1049
00:49:31.579 --> 00:49:32.360
not have gone as well.
1050
00:49:32.380 --> 00:49:35.070
I know that for a fact. And, and, uh, so
1051
00:49:35.510 --> 00:49:36.210
for him to.
1052
00:49:36.849 --> 00:49:39.579
Put the team in front of himself, uh, something that
1053
00:49:39.619 --> 00:49:41.400
we really try to hang our hats on over here
1054
00:49:41.480 --> 00:49:43.199
in our program is one of our, you know, our
1055
00:49:43.239 --> 00:49:46.480
foundational pieces is about team, you know, team first kind
1056
00:49:46.519 --> 00:49:48.860
of thing and doing what's best for the team. And
1057
00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:51.039
Noah did it. And, you know, again, he wasn't perfect,
1058
00:49:52.219 --> 00:49:54.710
but he'll admit that. But at the end of the night,
1059
00:49:54.869 --> 00:49:57.630
you know, walking off the field with a, with a win, I,
1060
00:49:57.650 --> 00:49:59.050
he had a pretty big smile on his face.
1061
00:49:59.449 --> 00:50:02.389
Yeah, absolutely. And so, and for those who don't know,
1062
00:50:03.070 --> 00:50:05.750
traded in the number nine for number 52, started on
1063
00:50:05.769 --> 00:50:11.190
the offensive line and, and it went pretty well after that.
1064
00:50:11.369 --> 00:50:16.719
Speaking of that touchdown after Reardon's forced fumble that Silas
1065
00:50:16.760 --> 00:50:20.619
Maple recovered with the short field, I believe it was
1066
00:50:21.619 --> 00:50:24.099
pretty close after that where there was a tremendous route
1067
00:50:24.139 --> 00:50:27.179
that was ran by Zion Paglia on a fake slant
1068
00:50:27.219 --> 00:50:29.889
and then to the corner. It was a great play call,
1069
00:50:29.949 --> 00:50:33.090
and it looked like it couldn't have been executed any better. Yeah.
1070
00:50:35.230 --> 00:50:38.190
When I was playing, that was a 92 corner, I
1071
00:50:38.230 --> 00:50:43.409
guess you'd call it. Is it still just what it is?
1072
00:50:45.150 --> 00:50:49.409
We call it a 96 slant corner. You've got to
1073
00:50:49.449 --> 00:50:54.199
sell that and get out there. We haven't used it
1074
00:50:54.260 --> 00:50:57.320
too much. It was just an opportunity where I felt
1075
00:50:57.340 --> 00:51:00.699
like what we were trying to do and we were
1076
00:51:00.719 --> 00:51:02.199
still moving the ball a little bit, but I just
1077
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:04.710
felt This would be a good time to call that.
1078
00:51:04.750 --> 00:51:06.489
Might be expecting a run.
1079
00:51:07.349 --> 00:51:10.530
And, again, you can call a great game from the sideline,
1080
00:51:10.550 --> 00:51:12.050
but the kid's got to execute it on the field.
1081
00:51:12.090 --> 00:51:14.070
Those two guys did a nice job. The offensive line
1082
00:51:14.090 --> 00:51:16.329
gave us time to do that, a little pump fake.
1083
00:51:16.369 --> 00:51:19.510
And then I told Zion when he came to the sideline,
1084
00:51:19.530 --> 00:51:21.320
those are the toughest ones to catch when you're kind
1085
00:51:21.360 --> 00:51:22.440
of no one around.
1086
00:51:22.219 --> 00:51:23.300
You a little bit. Yes.
1087
00:51:24.340 --> 00:51:26.559
But, yeah, it was huge. Huge to be able to
1088
00:51:26.579 --> 00:51:29.159
capitalize after the turnover. That was a big, big, big
1089
00:51:29.179 --> 00:51:29.699
play for us.
1090
00:51:30.099 --> 00:51:30.400
Absolutely.
1091
00:51:30.420 --> 00:51:30.619
Absolutely.
1092
00:51:31.070 --> 00:51:32.900
And at the 1A level, you know, every team will
1093
00:51:32.940 --> 00:51:34.900
tell you, you know, they have a few dudes, they
1094
00:51:34.920 --> 00:51:36.659
have guys that you know you can count on during
1095
00:51:36.679 --> 00:51:38.960
the season, but then there's always a few players that
1096
00:51:39.039 --> 00:51:41.860
step up, maybe even surprise you a little bit. Who
1097
00:51:41.900 --> 00:51:44.139
has been a pleasant surprise for you so far this season?
1098
00:51:45.159 --> 00:51:48.360
Um, I think, uh, you know, Anak Smith a little bit,
1099
00:51:48.400 --> 00:51:50.630
just being a little more involved on both sides of
1100
00:51:50.659 --> 00:51:52.510
the ball instead of just primarily.
1101
00:51:52.150 --> 00:51:52.730
Being a kicker.
1102
00:51:52.750 --> 00:51:55.650
Um, we kind of knew that going in a little bit,
1103
00:51:55.670 --> 00:51:57.730
he'd have that opportunity and, you know, he's got that
1104
00:51:57.809 --> 00:51:58.610
chance to do that.
1105
00:51:59.550 --> 00:52:03.289
Um, Jaden, Nicole Mills, doesn't get a lot.
1106
00:52:03.309 --> 00:52:05.690
Of praise per se, but he comes in in tough
1107
00:52:05.710 --> 00:52:09.070
spots and is able to spot guys like Smith and
1108
00:52:09.090 --> 00:52:10.480
Paglia on offense and defense.
1109
00:52:10.539 --> 00:52:12.559
And so he's been pretty solid this year.
1110
00:52:13.519 --> 00:52:15.360
As I look, you know, I think about our list,
1111
00:52:15.400 --> 00:52:17.840
those kind of the guys that, you know, other guys
1112
00:52:17.880 --> 00:52:19.360
we kind of knew, yeah, this is what we're going
1113
00:52:19.380 --> 00:52:19.679
to get.
1114
00:52:19.699 --> 00:52:21.320
But those two guys, I think, have done a really
1115
00:52:21.360 --> 00:52:22.519
nice job for us this year.
1116
00:52:23.719 --> 00:52:25.300
This Friday night, you're back at home.
1117
00:52:25.340 --> 00:52:27.519
I got one more. I'm going to interrupt you. Sorry.
1118
00:52:28.190 --> 00:52:28.789
Eli James.
1119
00:52:28.829 --> 00:52:31.090
Eli James has had to play about 18 different spots
1120
00:52:31.130 --> 00:52:31.550
this year.
1121
00:52:33.110 --> 00:52:33.809
He's another kid.
1122
00:52:33.829 --> 00:52:38.170
I go back to our philosophy of doing what's best
1123
00:52:38.190 --> 00:52:39.789
for the team. We needed him to play quarterback as
1124
00:52:39.829 --> 00:52:42.510
a freshman. He really didn't want to do that, but
1125
00:52:42.530 --> 00:52:48.650
he did it. He's played running back. He's played tight end, receiver, safety, linebacker, corner.
1126
00:52:49.469 --> 00:52:53.489
He's another kid that's really become somebody that we're starting
1127
00:52:53.510 --> 00:52:54.909
to use a lot more and count on.
1128
00:52:55.829 --> 00:52:59.389
He's definitely had to fill in some, some roles and,
1129
00:53:00.059 --> 00:53:01.960
and all of a sudden you look after a game
1130
00:53:02.019 --> 00:53:04.179
and he's got a bunch of tackles and he's in
1131
00:53:04.239 --> 00:53:06.300
on a lot of plays. And so that's always great
1132
00:53:06.320 --> 00:53:09.539
to see the senior, uh, get his opportunity and make
1133
00:53:09.559 --> 00:53:12.550
the most of it. Um, this Friday night, you're back
1134
00:53:12.590 --> 00:53:15.670
at home against Blaine. You know, there's been over a
1135
00:53:15.750 --> 00:53:18.889
hundred games against Mount Baker and Blaine. I think it's
1136
00:53:18.929 --> 00:53:21.690
the longest rivalry, maybe not the most games, but the
1137
00:53:21.750 --> 00:53:25.099
longest rivalry going back to the, early 30s or late
1138
00:53:25.559 --> 00:53:28.780
20s uh you coached in maybe 78 of those i'm
1139
00:53:28.800 --> 00:53:30.360
just kidding uh but.
1140
00:53:30.340 --> 00:53:33.900
But i know you're probably not that far off and
1141
00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:37.800
we used to play twice a year so that's true.
1142
00:53:37.199 --> 00:53:39.690
That's true uh what can you tell us about this
1143
00:53:39.710 --> 00:53:41.889
year's border right club well.
1144
00:53:41.690 --> 00:53:44.230
You know they uh the quarterback is back from last
1145
00:53:44.269 --> 00:53:46.190
year and he's uh he's kind of a shifty little
1146
00:53:46.230 --> 00:53:48.809
character uh does a good job throwing the ball i
1147
00:53:48.809 --> 00:53:51.849
know one of their um better receivers got dinged up
1148
00:53:51.969 --> 00:53:54.230
and so but they still got some other athletes out
1149
00:53:54.250 --> 00:53:56.989
there that, you know, that are able to catch the
1150
00:53:57.010 --> 00:53:59.110
ball and got some speed. They got a couple of
1151
00:53:59.130 --> 00:54:02.730
younger skill type of guys that they're playing on the
1152
00:54:02.750 --> 00:54:06.530
defensive line, linebacker and as running back that move around
1153
00:54:06.550 --> 00:54:09.679
a lot. So, you know, the record isn't maybe what
1154
00:54:09.699 --> 00:54:12.159
people would want it to be, but, you know, they've
1155
00:54:12.179 --> 00:54:14.679
been in ball games, you know, and they've got, and
1156
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:16.659
they do enough things that if you don't take care of,
1157
00:54:16.699 --> 00:54:18.260
you know, you come in and not ready to go,
1158
00:54:18.280 --> 00:54:20.139
it can cause a lot of problems for you.
1159
00:54:20.179 --> 00:54:21.969
So, They definitely have our attention.
1160
00:54:21.989 --> 00:54:24.369
You know, we realize that, you know, we're not good
1161
00:54:24.389 --> 00:54:28.090
enough to overlook anybody. And so, you know, we're working
1162
00:54:28.130 --> 00:54:30.800
hard and preparing what we can to get ready for blame.
1163
00:54:31.639 --> 00:54:34.079
You know, they changed their defense up a little bit
1164
00:54:34.119 --> 00:54:36.940
from last year. You know, they were kind of a
1165
00:54:37.019 --> 00:54:40.929
three-man front with two stand-up ends. This year, they're more
1166
00:54:40.949 --> 00:54:43.929
of a traditional four down front. And those four guys...
1167
00:54:44.219 --> 00:54:46.320
except for maybe Hicks in the middle, who you know
1168
00:54:46.599 --> 00:54:50.960
obviously from wrestling. The other three guys are more speed guys.
1169
00:54:51.880 --> 00:54:55.820
When you're going up against quicker defensive linemen, does that
1170
00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:57.579
kind of throw things off for what you're trying to
1171
00:54:57.639 --> 00:54:58.619
do offensively?
1172
00:54:58.639 --> 00:55:01.599
Well, I mean, yes and no. I mean, if a
1173
00:55:01.639 --> 00:55:03.409
guy's just that much quicker or faster, it's going to
1174
00:55:03.429 --> 00:55:06.630
be hard. But then some of our schemes that we do,
1175
00:55:06.730 --> 00:55:08.750
we can kind of help mitigate that a little bit.
1176
00:55:09.460 --> 00:55:12.239
And ultimately, we've got to adjust to what we see
1177
00:55:12.260 --> 00:55:13.900
in the game come game time. So you have a
1178
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:17.869
plan going in, but at the same time, things could
1179
00:55:17.909 --> 00:55:20.869
change a little bit. So I would expect to see
1180
00:55:21.289 --> 00:55:25.090
some multiple fronts there. And then, like I said, it's
1181
00:55:25.110 --> 00:55:27.210
my job to find out what's working and how we
1182
00:55:27.650 --> 00:55:29.920
can use that and how we can attack what the
1183
00:55:29.960 --> 00:55:30.599
defense is doing.
1184
00:55:30.619 --> 00:55:32.699
But you're right, they do move around a little bit.
1185
00:55:32.719 --> 00:55:34.199
Like I said, they were in the ballgame last week.
1186
00:55:34.300 --> 00:55:39.039
I know they kind of were even with Nooksack and
1187
00:55:39.059 --> 00:55:40.880
then kind of Nooksack kind of got going a little bit,
1188
00:55:40.900 --> 00:55:42.320
but then he came back out of the halftime and
1189
00:55:42.340 --> 00:55:45.050
had put together a real long, you know, successful drive. They,
1190
00:55:45.070 --> 00:55:47.710
you know, they moved the ball against LC early on. So,
1191
00:55:48.210 --> 00:55:49.909
you know, they've got some guys that can do some things.
1192
00:55:49.989 --> 00:55:53.750
And so we just have to understand that we got
1193
00:55:53.769 --> 00:55:55.469
to come ready to go because if we're not ready,
1194
00:55:55.530 --> 00:55:57.469
it could be, it could make it really tough.
1195
00:55:58.369 --> 00:56:00.710
That's awesome coach. Thank you so much. Best of luck
1196
00:56:00.750 --> 00:56:03.409
against Blaine. And thank you so much for joining me
1197
00:56:03.530 --> 00:56:04.949
on the Gatorade game day podcast.
1198
00:56:05.340 --> 00:56:07.389
Well, thank you, Tyler, again. Thank you for everything you
1199
00:56:07.409 --> 00:56:09.130
do for the kids, and you have a great weekend.
1200
00:56:09.550 --> 00:56:13.110
You too. All right, thank you to both the coaches
1201
00:56:13.190 --> 00:56:16.889
for joining me on that one. Next up, Bellingham, the Bayhawks.
1202
00:56:17.409 --> 00:56:20.869
They're going to head to Anacortes to take on the Seahawks.
1203
00:56:21.730 --> 00:56:25.030
And Bellingham, you know, had a rough one there against Sehome.
1204
00:56:25.050 --> 00:56:26.650
They're going to try to bounce back, but doing it
1205
00:56:26.710 --> 00:56:29.269
against one of the top-ranked teams in the state, as
1206
00:56:29.309 --> 00:56:32.530
a matter of fact, in the coaches' pool, they have
1207
00:56:32.690 --> 00:56:36.190
Anacortes ranked third in the state. And I forgot to
1208
00:56:36.230 --> 00:56:39.449
mention in the earlier matchup, Mount Baker is ranked sixth
1209
00:56:39.570 --> 00:56:42.769
in the state in 1A. But right now, Anacortes is
1210
00:56:42.829 --> 00:56:46.829
ranked third as they will host Bellingham. And the Bayhawks,
1211
00:56:46.889 --> 00:56:49.250
they have their work cut out for them. I'm now
1212
00:56:49.349 --> 00:56:52.090
joined on the Gatorade Game Day podcast by Bellingham head
1213
00:56:52.110 --> 00:56:55.090
football coach Adam Leonard. Coach, thank you for joining me today.
1214
00:56:55.110 --> 00:56:55.690
How are you doing?
1215
00:56:55.710 --> 00:56:57.650
I'm doing okay, Tyler. How are you?
1216
00:56:57.989 --> 00:57:01.730
Doing okay as well. What is a chore around the
1217
00:57:01.769 --> 00:57:03.530
house that you really enjoy doing?
1218
00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:07.800
That I enjoy doing?
1219
00:57:07.820 --> 00:57:08.940
Yeah.
1220
00:57:09.110 --> 00:57:11.909
I love cleaning my garage. I just love it. I
1221
00:57:11.929 --> 00:57:14.489
have a beautiful three-car garage.
1222
00:57:15.269 --> 00:57:19.269
I have a fridge out there. I'm going to be
1223
00:57:19.289 --> 00:57:21.969
putting a TV. We have weights out there, a little
1224
00:57:21.989 --> 00:57:25.380
weight room out there. I clean that garage once.
1225
00:57:25.260 --> 00:57:29.239
A week minimum, maybe more. I mean, it's cleaner than
1226
00:57:29.280 --> 00:57:29.760
my kitchen.
1227
00:57:29.820 --> 00:57:32.139
It's the cleanest room in the house is my garage.
1228
00:57:32.159 --> 00:57:33.800
I love it. It's my spot to go.
1229
00:57:34.869 --> 00:57:37.590
And I love just cleaning it, organizing it. I'm a
1230
00:57:37.630 --> 00:57:39.530
little OCD with lining up.
1231
00:57:39.409 --> 00:57:41.369
The shoes and putting things away.
1232
00:57:42.090 --> 00:57:44.070
But I'd have to say cleaning my garage is my
1233
00:57:44.110 --> 00:57:46.260
favorite chore to do around the house.
1234
00:57:46.519 --> 00:57:51.239
That's awesome. What was not awesome was Friday taking a
1235
00:57:51.280 --> 00:57:54.980
loss at home against Sehome. It was 7-7 after one
1236
00:57:55.039 --> 00:57:58.480
quarter of play. But the Mariners just went off for
1237
00:57:58.480 --> 00:58:01.840
25 points in the second quarter. Tell us about the game.
1238
00:58:03.010 --> 00:58:06.630
Well, you know, it started off, Seaholm's first drive was tough.
1239
00:58:06.730 --> 00:58:09.590
You know, 15, 16 plays, just running the ball and
1240
00:58:09.650 --> 00:58:10.449
pounding the ball.
1241
00:58:10.510 --> 00:58:12.590
And, you know, Cash had a heck of a game.
1242
00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:15.400
I believe he went over 200 yards. And, you know,
1243
00:58:15.420 --> 00:58:16.739
that kind of takes the wind out of your sails
1244
00:58:16.760 --> 00:58:19.219
a little bit. But I love the way we responded.
1245
00:58:18.719 --> 00:58:19.340
To that touchdown.
1246
00:58:19.380 --> 00:58:21.719
And we scored, I think, within four plays on a
1247
00:58:21.719 --> 00:58:24.360
61-yard touchdown pass from Ben Leonard.
1248
00:58:24.119 --> 00:58:24.880
To Matthew Steele.
1249
00:58:25.239 --> 00:58:27.039
So we thought, okay, here's the game, kind of what
1250
00:58:27.079 --> 00:58:30.500
we expected, you know, back and forth. you know, they
1251
00:58:30.539 --> 00:58:33.039
come down, they score again, they're running the ball very effectively,
1252
00:58:33.619 --> 00:58:37.690
and then, you know, we just, we get the ball back, and,
1253
00:58:37.730 --> 00:58:39.949
you know, we go three and out, we have a punt,
1254
00:58:40.650 --> 00:58:44.489
snaps over all of Andros' head, safety, this time a safety,
1255
00:58:44.710 --> 00:58:46.349
I know, we've taught him, you know, when the ball
1256
00:58:46.369 --> 00:58:48.369
goes in the end zone, kick it out, or lay
1257
00:58:48.449 --> 00:58:49.420
on it, so.
1258
00:58:50.079 --> 00:58:53.119
Like the Linden game, and it didn't happen again to
1259
00:58:53.179 --> 00:58:53.480
us on.
1260
00:58:53.440 --> 00:58:55.139
A bad snap, I think a lot of it, you know,
1261
00:58:55.159 --> 00:58:57.260
the pressure, I gotta give all the credit to Seaholm's
1262
00:58:57.280 --> 00:59:00.469
defensive line, led by Logan Rogers, he's just He's such
1263
00:59:00.489 --> 00:59:01.250
a stud out there.
1264
00:59:01.289 --> 00:59:03.809
You know, he's a player. He's the coach of youth football.
1265
00:59:03.829 --> 00:59:06.690
He's just, you know, one of the best D-line men
1266
00:59:06.730 --> 00:59:07.630
in the conference.
1267
00:59:08.170 --> 00:59:09.449
He's tough, and I think it kind of, you know,
1268
00:59:10.010 --> 00:59:12.510
got a little bit in the head of our O-line. And,
1269
00:59:12.550 --> 00:59:14.210
you know, we had trouble with the snap and things
1270
00:59:14.250 --> 00:59:16.630
kind of fell apart. There's four straight points on safeties.
1271
00:59:17.210 --> 00:59:18.949
And it kind of spiraled from there. I think some
1272
00:59:18.969 --> 00:59:21.380
of our guys were getting pushed around a.
1273
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:25.679
Little bit on the D-line, other O-line. And it came
1274
00:59:25.699 --> 00:59:27.619
a little bit, you know, it wasn't our style. It
1275
00:59:27.900 --> 00:59:29.320
was probably.
1276
00:59:30.480 --> 00:59:33.139
the most difficult game to watch as a coach and
1277
00:59:33.159 --> 00:59:34.239
to coach because it just.
1278
00:59:34.139 --> 00:59:37.099
Wasn't our identity, who we are. We weren't as physical
1279
00:59:37.119 --> 00:59:38.199
and we weren't as aggressive.
1280
00:59:38.400 --> 00:59:41.019
And definitely when a kind of team smells blood in
1281
00:59:41.039 --> 00:59:42.739
the water like that, they're going to just run the
1282
00:59:42.760 --> 00:59:43.500
ball down your throat.
1283
00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:44.280
That's what C & L did.
1284
00:59:45.260 --> 00:59:45.699
Yeah.
1285
00:59:45.719 --> 00:59:48.159
And you brought up Alejandro Pringle and I want to talk,
1286
00:59:48.380 --> 00:59:49.739
I want to take a moment to talk about him
1287
00:59:49.800 --> 00:59:52.699
because as far as kicking off goes around Whatcom County,
1288
00:59:53.389 --> 00:59:56.789
he's the best one I've seen this year. Consistent kickoffs
1289
00:59:56.949 --> 01:00:00.280
into or through the end zone, How did it come
1290
01:00:00.360 --> 01:00:02.000
about that he came out for football?
1291
01:00:03.079 --> 01:00:07.730
Well, Alejandro and Diego Diaz are both soccer players at Bellingham.
1292
01:00:07.889 --> 01:00:10.869
And we have a great soccer program, both for.
1293
01:00:10.760 --> 01:00:14.079
Our boys and our girls. And, you know, Alejandro is
1294
01:00:14.099 --> 01:00:15.780
pretty good. put together too.
1295
01:00:17.239 --> 01:00:18.530
He looks like, you know, we're trying to get him
1296
01:00:18.550 --> 01:00:20.250
to play some running back, play some, you know, some
1297
01:00:20.289 --> 01:00:22.590
linebacker because he's built that way. But he's like, coach,
1298
01:00:22.610 --> 01:00:24.750
I just want to kick. And both him and Diego
1299
01:00:24.789 --> 01:00:26.849
have been very, very effective. Kind of a lot of
1300
01:00:26.869 --> 01:00:29.750
Diego's are, you know, short and specialist and extra point.
1301
01:00:29.989 --> 01:00:34.110
Alejandro's our kickoff guy. And, you know, we have seen
1302
01:00:34.130 --> 01:00:37.760
some impressive kicks in practice, you know, 50 plus yard
1303
01:00:37.800 --> 01:00:40.800
field goal attempts in practice. And, you know, obviously you
1304
01:00:40.820 --> 01:00:42.840
mentioned his kickoff ability and putting the ball in the
1305
01:00:42.880 --> 01:00:44.420
end zone. That's just a huge difference maker for us,
1306
01:00:44.460 --> 01:00:47.730
you know, losing Constantine Franz, who was our foreign exchange
1307
01:00:49.030 --> 01:00:50.909
player last year. He went back to Germany for a
1308
01:00:50.929 --> 01:00:53.449
senior year. You know, that was tough, but these guys
1309
01:00:53.489 --> 01:00:55.489
coming out have been a real blessing for us. And,
1310
01:00:55.510 --> 01:00:57.889
you know, and they're both, they're both juniors. So we
1311
01:00:57.909 --> 01:00:59.610
get them back next year as well. So that's great.
1312
01:01:00.099 --> 01:01:03.510
That is awesome. And, you know, it's, And one thing
1313
01:01:03.550 --> 01:01:05.670
that a lot of people may not have realized is
1314
01:01:06.050 --> 01:01:07.750
you don't see a lot of safeties in high school.
1315
01:01:07.769 --> 01:01:09.030
And then all of a sudden you see two of
1316
01:01:09.050 --> 01:01:12.500
them in one quarter. And when that happens, then that
1317
01:01:12.539 --> 01:01:15.000
team that took the safety has to kick the ball off.
1318
01:01:15.019 --> 01:01:16.940
But you have to kick it off from the 20.
1319
01:01:16.940 --> 01:01:19.079
And he was kicking off to like the five-yard line
1320
01:01:19.179 --> 01:01:22.639
from the 20. And really impressive. You could hear the
1321
01:01:22.739 --> 01:01:26.280
crowd on the film just kind of go, whoa, on
1322
01:01:26.300 --> 01:01:29.260
the kickoffs. And so that is such a weapon to
1323
01:01:29.300 --> 01:01:31.860
have to make it so the other team is starting
1324
01:01:31.900 --> 01:01:33.300
at the 20 all the time. And you see a
1325
01:01:33.340 --> 01:01:37.360
lot of this in high school football, especially around the counties.
1326
01:01:37.429 --> 01:01:39.889
If you don't have a kicker that can consistently boom
1327
01:01:39.929 --> 01:01:42.409
it into the end zone, they'll do short kicks and
1328
01:01:42.510 --> 01:01:46.550
try to make something happen on a kickoff. Or you
1329
01:01:46.570 --> 01:01:48.989
see that short kick to the right that usually lands
1330
01:01:49.030 --> 01:01:52.199
it around the 30 or 35. And if they kick
1331
01:01:52.239 --> 01:01:53.920
it out of bounds, they don't really care because it's
1332
01:01:53.940 --> 01:01:56.530
going to be at the 35 anyways. But they'll all
1333
01:01:56.570 --> 01:01:58.190
tell you if they have a kicker that can kick
1334
01:01:58.230 --> 01:02:00.849
it through the end zone, they will do that instead.
1335
01:02:00.929 --> 01:02:03.690
And so you're blessed to have someone that can do that,
1336
01:02:03.730 --> 01:02:04.769
which has been a lot of fun.
1337
01:02:05.170 --> 01:02:05.750
He is.
1338
01:02:05.909 --> 01:02:08.409
And during that scene home game, you know, he was like, Coach,
1339
01:02:08.659 --> 01:02:10.119
I go, don't kick it to 13.
1340
01:02:10.099 --> 01:02:12.280
We know Nicky Smith was extremely explosive.
1341
01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:13.860
I go, if you want to just kick it in
1342
01:02:13.880 --> 01:02:15.659
the end zone, because I'll just do that coach. I'm like,
1343
01:02:16.039 --> 01:02:18.869
I love having that. That's a great option.
1344
01:02:19.369 --> 01:02:22.550
Yeah, that's something that like, you know, not a lot
1345
01:02:22.590 --> 01:02:25.650
of teams have that option. So some guys can do
1346
01:02:25.710 --> 01:02:28.409
it here and there. Jackson Yoon at Lyndon Christian. We've
1347
01:02:28.429 --> 01:02:30.489
seen a few in Knox Smith. We've seen a few
1348
01:02:30.570 --> 01:02:33.469
Parker McManus had a few, but he's the one that
1349
01:02:33.510 --> 01:02:36.329
does it the most consistently. So it's really cool to see.
1350
01:02:37.230 --> 01:02:40.639
And what's the best way to flush away a tough
1351
01:02:40.699 --> 01:02:43.360
loss against a rival and move on to the next week? Like,
1352
01:02:43.420 --> 01:02:47.179
what's the thing you want, you know, what's the thing
1353
01:02:47.199 --> 01:02:49.079
that you can do as a team to move forward
1354
01:02:49.119 --> 01:02:50.639
and just kind of get that one out.
1355
01:02:50.579 --> 01:02:50.940
Of the way?
1356
01:02:51.739 --> 01:02:53.590
Well, this one was a tough one to move forward from.
1357
01:02:53.619 --> 01:02:55.489
It was a homecoming game. It's a game that we
1358
01:02:55.510 --> 01:02:58.190
thought we matched well up on paper. We had common opponents.
1359
01:02:58.289 --> 01:03:00.050
Everything kind of lined up to be a close game,
1360
01:03:00.090 --> 01:03:02.210
and it just got away from us. You know, we
1361
01:03:02.230 --> 01:03:05.449
usually have film study and just me reading the room
1362
01:03:05.489 --> 01:03:07.289
as a head coach was like, you know what, we're
1363
01:03:07.329 --> 01:03:09.030
going to, there's nothing really to watch from this film.
1364
01:03:09.090 --> 01:03:11.369
You know, we know we already talked about what we did. We,
1365
01:03:11.829 --> 01:03:13.849
we were on, it was uncharacteristic of what we've been
1366
01:03:13.889 --> 01:03:14.670
doing this season.
1367
01:03:15.130 --> 01:03:17.690
And so we canceled, canceled that, told the guys, I
1368
01:03:18.110 --> 01:03:20.250
kind of like, you know what, spend the weekend, not
1369
01:03:20.289 --> 01:03:23.309
thinking about football, go just clear your mind, have fun
1370
01:03:23.329 --> 01:03:26.550
at homecoming. Do you know, you know, the high school
1371
01:03:26.590 --> 01:03:29.210
students just, you know, keep your mind away from that.
1372
01:03:29.230 --> 01:03:30.889
So we're trying to kind of clear that and, you know,
1373
01:03:30.929 --> 01:03:33.900
clean that slate. Obviously, I have some things we're going
1374
01:03:33.920 --> 01:03:36.039
to be saying on Monday at practice, and we're going
1375
01:03:36.059 --> 01:03:38.320
to get back to work in a way that, you know,
1376
01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:41.940
as we prepare for, you know, a tremendous team in Anacortes.
1377
01:03:42.079 --> 01:03:44.119
But it was one of those things, I think this was.
1378
01:03:44.039 --> 01:03:46.659
The weekend we needed to kind of not think about football, if.
1379
01:03:46.639 --> 01:03:47.239
That makes sense.
1380
01:03:47.280 --> 01:03:49.099
You know, just kind of reset the brains, get back
1381
01:03:49.179 --> 01:03:51.659
and realize that, you know, we want to still have
1382
01:03:51.679 --> 01:03:54.260
fun playing this game and start preparing for the next week.
1383
01:03:55.500 --> 01:03:55.980
Absolutely.
1384
01:03:56.219 --> 01:03:58.440
And speaking of that, this Friday night, you're back on
1385
01:03:58.480 --> 01:04:02.280
the road against Anacortes. You know, it's just, it's what
1386
01:04:02.300 --> 01:04:05.480
a conference, right? These opponents, what can you tell us
1387
01:04:05.519 --> 01:04:06.239
about the Seahawks?
1388
01:04:07.159 --> 01:04:10.639
I mean, just again, top to bottom, they're tremendously well coached,
1389
01:04:11.139 --> 01:04:11.900
great program.
1390
01:04:11.920 --> 01:04:14.280
Coach Portis has been building that up for many years
1391
01:04:14.300 --> 01:04:16.420
when he was involved with the youth program. Now as
1392
01:04:16.460 --> 01:04:20.170
the high school athletic director and head football coach, I mean,
1393
01:04:20.190 --> 01:04:23.769
he's just got a tremendous team over there. Multiple state championships,
1394
01:04:24.789 --> 01:04:28.170
you know, one of the top quarterbacks in the entire state.
1395
01:04:29.010 --> 01:04:31.570
uh wazoo commit ryan harry next ryan fight since he
1396
01:04:31.610 --> 01:04:35.820
was in middle school just you know tremendous athlete quarterback
1397
01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:40.780
leader um they've just got they've got tough defensive players
1398
01:04:40.820 --> 01:04:42.920
andre cantino and they're.
1399
01:04:42.800 --> 01:04:44.829
Just they're well-rounded they have great receivers every.
1400
01:04:44.690 --> 01:04:46.309
Year i feel like they just have a factory of
1401
01:04:46.329 --> 01:04:49.630
receivers they just keep developing and they're going to be
1402
01:04:49.670 --> 01:04:51.349
really tough they do things well on both sides of
1403
01:04:51.369 --> 01:04:53.670
the ball and it's just going to be a challenge
1404
01:04:53.710 --> 01:04:56.059
but I think, you know, we've got to try to win,
1405
01:04:56.340 --> 01:04:58.719
you know, just the battle within the battle. We're going
1406
01:04:58.760 --> 01:05:01.019
to try to win matchups and try to be as
1407
01:05:01.059 --> 01:05:02.920
competitive as possible against a very good team.
1408
01:05:03.920 --> 01:05:07.550
Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, last year's game, you
1409
01:05:07.590 --> 01:05:10.349
went into it, and I remember that one was at home,
1410
01:05:10.750 --> 01:05:14.170
and it was, you know, kind of the defensive look
1411
01:05:14.190 --> 01:05:16.860
that you gave was– We're going to try to make
1412
01:05:16.900 --> 01:05:18.809
sure we keep things in front of us, kind of
1413
01:05:18.849 --> 01:05:21.719
put an umbrella. You're not going to pass all over us.
1414
01:05:21.769 --> 01:05:23.590
And they looked at it and they may have switched
1415
01:05:23.769 --> 01:05:26.389
to runs a lot because they ended up running the
1416
01:05:26.429 --> 01:05:30.800
ball quite a bit with Shia Webster. You know, Webster's gone.
1417
01:05:31.760 --> 01:05:35.530
Their big running threat is their quarterback. So how do you,
1418
01:05:35.969 --> 01:05:37.869
you know, do you have a spy on him or
1419
01:05:38.230 --> 01:05:40.409
how do you go into this game? Because their offense
1420
01:05:40.610 --> 01:05:44.070
is maybe a little bit more predicated to the pass,
1421
01:05:45.250 --> 01:05:48.159
but the big running threat is the quarterback. So does
1422
01:05:48.199 --> 01:05:50.280
that change things as far as, man, we might need
1423
01:05:50.300 --> 01:05:53.239
to play a zone instead of man, because we want
1424
01:05:53.300 --> 01:05:55.960
our eyes looking that way and not back.
1425
01:05:57.119 --> 01:05:58.480
Well, you know, we don't want to get caught with
1426
01:05:58.500 --> 01:06:00.400
our eyes in the backfield too much on Harrington. We
1427
01:06:00.420 --> 01:06:02.019
do have to spy him, but if you do that,
1428
01:06:02.039 --> 01:06:04.420
he's going to, he's going to, He's going to kill
1429
01:06:04.579 --> 01:06:07.199
you with his barrage of receivers that he has that
1430
01:06:07.219 --> 01:06:09.239
are just tremendous athletes.
1431
01:06:09.320 --> 01:06:11.719
So we have to be balanced in our defensive approach.
1432
01:06:12.050 --> 01:06:14.150
And one thing we want to do on offense is
1433
01:06:14.190 --> 01:06:17.170
make sure, as we are a heavy passing team, we
1434
01:06:17.210 --> 01:06:18.389
also want to be smart.
1435
01:06:18.150 --> 01:06:20.210
With keeping our offense off the field.
1436
01:06:20.250 --> 01:06:22.869
So be a little bit more deliberate in how we
1437
01:06:22.909 --> 01:06:24.550
run our offense, more balanced.
1438
01:06:25.369 --> 01:06:27.360
I did like the way last week MJ Maena ran
1439
01:06:27.380 --> 01:06:29.800
the ball in the first half. I think there are
1440
01:06:29.820 --> 01:06:31.739
some things to build off on that. I think it's
1441
01:06:31.760 --> 01:06:32.840
a clock control game.
1442
01:06:33.739 --> 01:06:36.869
And they have great crowds down there and great energy,
1443
01:06:37.110 --> 01:06:38.750
and it's supposed to be decent weather Friday night, so
1444
01:06:38.769 --> 01:06:39.510
that kind of favors.
1445
01:06:40.070 --> 01:06:41.949
We like to throw the ball as well, and I
1446
01:06:41.949 --> 01:06:43.309
think this is a week where we.
1447
01:06:43.170 --> 01:06:45.789
Kind of put, we're thinking as a game plan, putting
1448
01:06:46.349 --> 01:06:49.469
some of the offensive scheme and planning into Ben's hands
1449
01:06:49.489 --> 01:06:50.969
and see what he reads on the field and kind
1450
01:06:50.989 --> 01:06:53.300
of give him a little bit more autonomy to do what.
1451
01:06:53.219 --> 01:06:56.300
He sees out there and try to make things happen
1452
01:06:56.320 --> 01:06:56.599
that way.
1453
01:06:57.300 --> 01:06:59.539
Absolutely. Coach, it's going to be an awesome one. Best
1454
01:06:59.579 --> 01:07:01.860
of luck on Friday at Anacortes. Thank you so much
1455
01:07:01.900 --> 01:07:04.300
for joining me today on the Gatorade game day podcast.
1456
01:07:05.050 --> 01:07:06.210
Thanks Tyler. Have a wonderful week.
1457
01:07:07.650 --> 01:07:09.989
All right. Next up. We always, this is a great
1458
01:07:10.050 --> 01:07:13.309
matchup at year in and year out. Um, really excited
1459
01:07:13.349 --> 01:07:16.010
for this one as the Burlington Edison Tigers come to
1460
01:07:16.050 --> 01:07:18.820
town to take on the Linden lions. Linden currently ranked
1461
01:07:18.980 --> 01:07:21.739
second in the state in two way after their big
1462
01:07:21.800 --> 01:07:25.320
win over Anacortes last, last week, just one spot behind
1463
01:07:25.380 --> 01:07:29.880
Tumwater and, um, Yeah, this is one where, like I said,
1464
01:07:30.199 --> 01:07:32.579
every single year these two teams seem to put on
1465
01:07:32.780 --> 01:07:35.619
one heck of a game. And Burlington and Linden are
1466
01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:39.920
very much mirror images of each other. I'm now joined
1467
01:07:39.960 --> 01:07:42.719
on the Gatorade Game Day podcast by Linden head football
1468
01:07:42.780 --> 01:07:45.739
coach Blake Van Dalen. Coach, thank you for joining me today.
1469
01:07:45.760 --> 01:07:46.389
How are you doing?
1470
01:07:47.130 --> 01:07:49.570
Good. Thanks for having me on. And always good to
1471
01:07:49.610 --> 01:07:50.489
spend time with you.
1472
01:07:50.929 --> 01:07:54.730
Yeah, I love it as well. What is a chore
1473
01:07:54.849 --> 01:07:57.070
around the house that you really enjoy doing?
1474
01:07:59.829 --> 01:08:03.349
Probably mowing the lawn. You know, it's that white noise.
1475
01:08:04.230 --> 01:08:06.909
You'd be amazed where your brain goes when you're just
1476
01:08:06.989 --> 01:08:12.719
out there walking back and forth and nobody bugs you. So, yep,
1477
01:08:12.820 --> 01:08:14.480
mowing the lawn.
1478
01:08:14.500 --> 01:08:18.420
Yeah, and that seems to be a popular answer. And
1479
01:08:18.859 --> 01:08:22.060
do you just zone out with the white noise or
1480
01:08:22.079 --> 01:08:24.380
do you put on headphones and just kind of listen
1481
01:08:24.420 --> 01:08:24.880
to something?
1482
01:08:27.899 --> 01:08:31.260
It's all... based on time and score, if you will.
1483
01:08:31.279 --> 01:08:33.920
Like sometimes I'm organized enough that I'll go have it
1484
01:08:33.960 --> 01:08:37.300
all charged and I'll put the headphones on. Sometimes, oh shoot,
1485
01:08:37.340 --> 01:08:39.189
I have an hour to get the lawn mowed and
1486
01:08:39.210 --> 01:08:40.649
I better get out there and get going. And so
1487
01:08:40.670 --> 01:08:43.449
then not that time, but either way, it's the same
1488
01:08:43.489 --> 01:08:46.090
headspace because with music or just white noise, it allows
1489
01:08:46.170 --> 01:08:48.029
my brain to go wherever it wants to go.
1490
01:08:48.350 --> 01:08:50.569
Absolutely. And you need that every once in a while,
1491
01:08:50.649 --> 01:08:54.819
as I have learned as well. On Friday, your team
1492
01:08:54.859 --> 01:08:58.199
hosted Anacortes, one of the most anticipated games of the season.
1493
01:08:58.600 --> 01:09:00.479
and it didn't disappoint as you came away with the
1494
01:09:00.479 --> 01:09:03.859
41 to 26 win what allowed you to come out
1495
01:09:03.939 --> 01:09:05.300
on top after that game.
1496
01:09:06.340 --> 01:09:10.010
Well number one the kids you know they played to
1497
01:09:10.850 --> 01:09:14.869
our standard, to our potential. We've been talking about it
1498
01:09:14.909 --> 01:09:17.010
all year. And so number one, it was the players.
1499
01:09:17.050 --> 01:09:20.770
Number two, I felt like our coaches did an outstanding job,
1500
01:09:21.350 --> 01:09:25.590
thoroughly prepared themselves, which also put us in a situation
1501
01:09:25.630 --> 01:09:29.140
to prepare the kids. And then this doesn't always happen,
1502
01:09:29.180 --> 01:09:32.939
believe it or not. The game plan was what we
1503
01:09:33.020 --> 01:09:37.369
thought it would be the kids executed it well enough
1504
01:09:37.409 --> 01:09:40.590
that we could stay on track or on plan if
1505
01:09:40.630 --> 01:09:43.449
you will never really had to go to plan b
1506
01:09:44.189 --> 01:09:47.229
and that once again comes back to the kids execution
1507
01:09:47.250 --> 01:09:50.399
but i just really wanted to compliment uh the humility
1508
01:09:50.409 --> 01:09:53.180
of our players because there was some very um um
1509
01:09:53.960 --> 01:09:56.100
Things that happened in the game where kids had to
1510
01:09:56.140 --> 01:09:58.180
buy into the team concept for us to win, and
1511
01:09:58.220 --> 01:10:01.680
they did. And then the coaches were really dialed in, even,
1512
01:10:02.060 --> 01:10:04.189
you know, giving me little reminders. You know, don't forget
1513
01:10:04.430 --> 01:10:06.229
we said we wanted to do this, and don't forget
1514
01:10:06.270 --> 01:10:08.630
we want to, you know. Because sometimes you have the
1515
01:10:08.810 --> 01:10:11.609
urge to even little things. Like there were times we
1516
01:10:11.630 --> 01:10:15.149
felt like we could score quickly, and we didn't want to. So, yeah.
1517
01:10:15.680 --> 01:10:18.359
It was it was the game plan was followed by
1518
01:10:18.420 --> 01:10:20.880
the kids. The coaches did a great job. And then
1519
01:10:21.300 --> 01:10:24.380
it was just probably one of the more electric atmospheres
1520
01:10:25.460 --> 01:10:28.220
in recent memory. So really neat for our kids to
1521
01:10:28.260 --> 01:10:33.300
get to experience the old school tradition legacy night at Linden.
1522
01:10:34.300 --> 01:10:34.600
Yeah.
1523
01:10:34.659 --> 01:10:36.640
And speaking of game plan, you know, you ran the
1524
01:10:36.680 --> 01:10:39.810
ball 83 percent of the time. I had to be
1525
01:10:39.850 --> 01:10:40.590
part of your game plan.
1526
01:10:41.390 --> 01:10:45.130
Yeah, we had two quarterbacks, extremely athletic. I know how
1527
01:10:45.250 --> 01:10:47.949
difficult it is. Even their quarterback, you know, he hurt
1528
01:10:47.989 --> 01:10:51.289
us as much running as he did throwing. And so
1529
01:10:51.369 --> 01:10:53.390
we were going to put them in a position where,
1530
01:10:53.810 --> 01:10:56.069
you know, we wanted to run a lot of plays
1531
01:10:56.140 --> 01:10:59.579
to score. And one way to guarantee a few extra
1532
01:10:59.600 --> 01:11:03.359
yards each time is to have your quarterback run the ball.
1533
01:11:03.399 --> 01:11:06.180
So I think both our quarterbacks had a total over
1534
01:11:06.180 --> 01:11:09.960
30 carries. So that's a load for one position.
1535
01:11:10.569 --> 01:11:14.390
Absolutely. And, you know, speaking of quarterback, you held Ryan
1536
01:11:14.409 --> 01:11:18.979
Harrington to under 50 percent passing, which was incredible. You know,
1537
01:11:19.060 --> 01:11:21.420
when you watch him, I mean, he's he's so accurate
1538
01:11:21.439 --> 01:11:24.619
and everything is great. What contributed to that?
1539
01:11:25.359 --> 01:11:27.659
Early on, I could tell he was like, that's a
1540
01:11:27.699 --> 01:11:31.810
look he hadn't seen. And so luckily for us. they
1541
01:11:31.989 --> 01:11:36.270
only had one competitive game. And so they've been able
1542
01:11:36.310 --> 01:11:39.710
to do whatever they want. And so we, once again,
1543
01:11:39.729 --> 01:11:41.649
there was a lot of preparation that went into it.
1544
01:11:41.670 --> 01:11:44.689
And I give our defensive backs as well as our coaches,
1545
01:11:44.729 --> 01:11:47.369
a lot of credit for, we try to put our
1546
01:11:47.409 --> 01:11:50.810
kids in positions to be successful and force him to
1547
01:11:50.869 --> 01:11:54.260
make those throws that honestly only he can make any hit.
1548
01:11:54.720 --> 01:11:54.939
Right.
1549
01:11:55.399 --> 01:12:00.539
But anytime it was just off a little, it had
1550
01:12:00.560 --> 01:12:04.220
a huge impact. And so that was our goal was
1551
01:12:04.279 --> 01:12:06.960
to make him feel uncomfortable, get him off his spot
1552
01:12:07.539 --> 01:12:10.520
and make those throws and catches as difficult as possible.
1553
01:12:10.939 --> 01:12:12.619
And I really felt like we did that.
1554
01:12:13.500 --> 01:12:17.149
You know, every school goes, deals with this, I should say,
1555
01:12:17.189 --> 01:12:20.409
maybe where, you know, you walk the halls and you
1556
01:12:20.470 --> 01:12:23.659
see a kid and you go, Man, I wish he
1557
01:12:23.699 --> 01:12:26.520
was playing football. Even Lyndon maybe would go through this,
1558
01:12:26.560 --> 01:12:29.500
even though you have 100 kids turning out. And this
1559
01:12:29.520 --> 01:12:31.199
year you had a kid that turned out that's an
1560
01:12:31.239 --> 01:12:34.359
amazing athlete, Jack Lovegren. And I want to talk about
1561
01:12:34.399 --> 01:12:37.770
his impact on special teams so far because it has
1562
01:12:37.850 --> 01:12:41.430
been fun to see. Talk about him a little bit
1563
01:12:41.569 --> 01:12:41.829
on that.
1564
01:12:42.029 --> 01:12:46.050
Yeah, it started during track season. Coach Palmer took over
1565
01:12:46.090 --> 01:12:48.369
the track team this year, and I was the starter.
1566
01:12:48.869 --> 01:12:50.329
And so I get to see the start and the
1567
01:12:50.449 --> 01:12:52.229
end of all the races, and there was a kid.
1568
01:12:52.770 --> 01:12:56.210
that just caught his eye and then caught my eye.
1569
01:12:56.569 --> 01:12:59.210
So we broached him and said, hey, we really think
1570
01:12:59.310 --> 01:13:01.590
you would enjoy football. And he's a junior and he's
1571
01:13:01.630 --> 01:13:04.989
never played. So we had to tell him there's going
1572
01:13:05.010 --> 01:13:06.710
to be a learning curve. You can jump on a
1573
01:13:06.750 --> 01:13:10.409
JV field and have a lot of success being extremely athletic.
1574
01:13:10.789 --> 01:13:13.050
On a varsity field, there is a little bit of
1575
01:13:13.670 --> 01:13:17.470
extra that's needed. And so, for example, we started with
1576
01:13:17.630 --> 01:13:20.229
one task. We gave him on a kickoff. and put
1577
01:13:20.270 --> 01:13:22.399
him in a perfect position where we said, hey, when
1578
01:13:22.439 --> 01:13:24.680
this and this and this happened, you're going to have
1579
01:13:24.699 --> 01:13:27.640
an opportunity to make a play. And we've been repping
1580
01:13:27.720 --> 01:13:31.170
it like more than we'd probably rep anything. But we
1581
01:13:31.189 --> 01:13:33.310
felt like we have the right guys in the right spot.
1582
01:13:33.760 --> 01:13:36.600
And there was a sequence in the game where we
1583
01:13:36.640 --> 01:13:39.619
had to punt. It was a 55-yard punt. Then they
1584
01:13:39.689 --> 01:13:42.890
fumbled the next play. We scored. It was that next kickoff.
1585
01:13:43.390 --> 01:13:47.050
He popped it loose literally right before their kid was
1586
01:13:47.069 --> 01:13:51.119
going to grab it. And then Cash Triplett dove on it.
1587
01:13:51.520 --> 01:13:53.779
And it was that exact play. And so, like I
1588
01:13:53.960 --> 01:13:55.640
pointed out to him in film, I go, this is
1589
01:13:55.819 --> 01:13:58.470
part of being on a team. You've worked so hard
1590
01:13:58.770 --> 01:14:02.189
for the last six weeks and sometimes wondered why and
1591
01:14:02.449 --> 01:14:05.260
your body takes a beating. But this was a moment
1592
01:14:05.319 --> 01:14:08.699
where in front of You know, 4,000 people, that cheer
1593
01:14:08.760 --> 01:14:10.680
was as loud as anything he's ever going to hear
1594
01:14:10.720 --> 01:14:12.739
in his life. And it was because he made a
1595
01:14:12.800 --> 01:14:15.720
play and everybody celebrated what he had done. And we
1596
01:14:15.779 --> 01:14:18.079
scored on the next two plays or three plays, I think.
1597
01:14:18.520 --> 01:14:20.250
And it put us in a two score game. And
1598
01:14:20.289 --> 01:14:23.670
so we give helmet stickers away for players of the week.
1599
01:14:24.229 --> 01:14:26.329
And he's going to get one this week for that play.
1600
01:14:26.949 --> 01:14:29.970
And that's a number one team in the state, hugest
1601
01:14:29.989 --> 01:14:32.869
game we've had this year. And he made a key
1602
01:14:32.909 --> 01:14:34.710
play in it. So how cool is that for him
1603
01:14:34.750 --> 01:14:37.170
to go from never playing a sport to having an
1604
01:14:37.250 --> 01:14:38.710
impact on the biggest game of the year?
1605
01:14:38.729 --> 01:14:42.170
Yeah, and that speaks a lot to coaching staff as
1606
01:14:42.210 --> 01:14:46.329
well and finding a spot that really works. And it's,
1607
01:14:46.470 --> 01:14:48.189
you know, let's be honest, it's hard to get on
1608
01:14:48.229 --> 01:14:53.100
the field for Linden High School. There are dozens of
1609
01:14:53.409 --> 01:14:58.029
scout team coaches guys that get recognized at your banquet that,
1610
01:14:58.350 --> 01:15:00.350
you know, that you do a great job with that.
1611
01:15:00.750 --> 01:15:02.640
And they might see the field a little bit here
1612
01:15:02.680 --> 01:15:05.670
and there. And so it's really hard to get on
1613
01:15:05.689 --> 01:15:07.529
the field. So when you can find a spot where
1614
01:15:07.550 --> 01:15:09.520
a guy can contribute and make a play like that,
1615
01:15:10.460 --> 01:15:12.979
it's been it's really cool to see how that all
1616
01:15:13.340 --> 01:15:16.859
comes together. And, you know, I want to bring up
1617
01:15:16.899 --> 01:15:19.100
a little bit, too. You just played, you know, the
1618
01:15:19.119 --> 01:15:21.500
number one team in the state, as you mentioned, and
1619
01:15:21.720 --> 01:15:23.579
that can take a lot out of a team. How
1620
01:15:23.659 --> 01:15:25.770
is your team feeling as a whole this week?
1621
01:15:27.100 --> 01:15:29.930
Health-wise, you know, this was the game last year where
1622
01:15:29.970 --> 01:15:34.329
we lost Max and Danny. And so last year, not
1623
01:15:34.369 --> 01:15:37.270
only did we lose the game, we lost 1A, 1B
1624
01:15:37.340 --> 01:15:41.800
as far as our offensive weapons and defensive impact players. Well,
1625
01:15:41.960 --> 01:15:44.420
this was the exact opposite of that. We came out
1626
01:15:44.439 --> 01:15:48.420
of the game healthy, so that's... the best case scenario.
1627
01:15:48.840 --> 01:15:52.399
But now the prep begins on, you know, teaching the
1628
01:15:52.439 --> 01:15:56.159
kids why there's phrases like hangover game, why there's phrases
1629
01:15:56.229 --> 01:16:00.109
like trap game, why there's, you know, and training them
1630
01:16:00.170 --> 01:16:04.970
that it's natural for your body to want to say, okay, relax.
1631
01:16:05.659 --> 01:16:08.500
And I'm so glad Nick Saban just released a really
1632
01:16:08.619 --> 01:16:12.000
cool thing on ESPN because he's the perfectionist when it
1633
01:16:12.039 --> 01:16:15.159
comes to how to handle not having a letdown. And
1634
01:16:15.260 --> 01:16:16.979
he was doing it the next day after they won
1635
01:16:17.000 --> 01:16:19.500
the national championship. So then he gave some really good advice.
1636
01:16:19.520 --> 01:16:21.899
So we've been talking about it a lot. We had
1637
01:16:21.939 --> 01:16:24.520
a really great practice yesterday and we'll have another good
1638
01:16:24.560 --> 01:16:27.380
one today. I'm sure, but there's no way to, you
1639
01:16:27.420 --> 01:16:29.560
can't fake it. You've got to show up every day
1640
01:16:30.039 --> 01:16:33.539
and put the effort in to prevent the the body
1641
01:16:33.619 --> 01:16:37.430
from having that letdown. So luckily we're healthy and we
1642
01:16:37.470 --> 01:16:41.869
can go to war with the next, you know, it's,
1643
01:16:41.949 --> 01:16:45.310
it's a cliche, but going one and O each week
1644
01:16:45.350 --> 01:16:48.430
in our conference is not easy. And that's our goal
1645
01:16:48.449 --> 01:16:49.420
this week. One and O.
1646
01:16:50.069 --> 01:16:50.170
Yeah.
1647
01:16:50.210 --> 01:16:53.300
And this week you're back at home against Burlington Edison and,
1648
01:16:53.319 --> 01:16:56.060
you know, year in and year out, it's always a
1649
01:16:56.100 --> 01:17:00.220
great matchup. It seems like there are, you know, if
1650
01:17:00.260 --> 01:17:02.739
there was point spreads and stuff and all that stuff,
1651
01:17:02.840 --> 01:17:04.939
it would be like, well, when this game comes up,
1652
01:17:05.479 --> 01:17:07.659
it's going to be close. It just always seems to
1653
01:17:07.699 --> 01:17:10.479
be that way. And, you know, I don't know much
1654
01:17:10.500 --> 01:17:13.239
about the Tigers. I know they like to run the ball.
1655
01:17:13.359 --> 01:17:14.319
What can you tell us about them?
1656
01:17:15.069 --> 01:17:16.909
Yeah, I mean, I think they have one of the
1657
01:17:17.010 --> 01:17:21.090
hardest runners in our conference. And so this will be
1658
01:17:21.189 --> 01:17:24.399
like when we played Lentzen from This will be a
1659
01:17:24.539 --> 01:17:27.920
great challenge, but they also run their quarterback, which we
1660
01:17:27.960 --> 01:17:30.539
know a lot about, and that's what we like to
1661
01:17:30.600 --> 01:17:33.619
do as well. And so they've got a two-headed monster
1662
01:17:33.659 --> 01:17:35.939
in the backfield just like us and do a lot
1663
01:17:35.960 --> 01:17:39.319
of stuff off of play action just like us. They're
1664
01:17:39.340 --> 01:17:44.619
a downhill, hard-hitting defensive team just like us. I love
1665
01:17:44.680 --> 01:17:47.510
it that, you know, Craney's roots were in Burlington. Yeah,
1666
01:17:47.569 --> 01:17:50.810
he played at Blaine, but his coaching roots were with
1667
01:17:50.850 --> 01:17:54.130
Glenn Ricker, who they've named their stadium after. And we
1668
01:17:54.170 --> 01:17:57.489
have conditioning drills that we do that are named after
1669
01:17:57.970 --> 01:18:02.229
Burlington Edison players because Craney stole them from them back
1670
01:18:02.270 --> 01:18:03.840
in the day. And we've done the same thing now
1671
01:18:03.880 --> 01:18:07.960
for 30 plus years. And so our two programs are
1672
01:18:07.979 --> 01:18:12.279
extremely mirrored. I think they hopefully have a ton of
1673
01:18:12.319 --> 01:18:13.779
respect for us. And I know we have a ton
1674
01:18:13.810 --> 01:18:16.050
of respect for them. Even one of our own, Andy Olson,
1675
01:18:16.069 --> 01:18:18.890
was coaching there for a while. And there was a
1676
01:18:18.909 --> 01:18:21.670
couple of games when we were winning our championships that
1677
01:18:21.869 --> 01:18:24.010
where we had to score on the last drive of
1678
01:18:24.069 --> 01:18:27.119
those games to win. I remember we didn't take a
1679
01:18:27.140 --> 01:18:29.600
knee on the one, but we kind of did so
1680
01:18:29.619 --> 01:18:32.100
that Pats could kick a field goal to beat them,
1681
01:18:32.199 --> 01:18:34.680
and we won state that year. So that's how this
1682
01:18:34.760 --> 01:18:40.899
Burlington-Lyndon rivalry is. And like you said, they get hard.
1683
01:18:41.020 --> 01:18:44.329
And so last year, it was a mud bowl, and
1684
01:18:44.529 --> 01:18:46.529
our kids are mudders, and their kids are mudders, and
1685
01:18:46.590 --> 01:18:48.949
they're used to grass, and we're used to grass. There's
1686
01:18:48.970 --> 01:18:51.920
just a lot of commonalities. in this game. And that
1687
01:18:51.960 --> 01:18:55.180
makes for a great Friday night for our seniors and
1688
01:18:56.159 --> 01:18:58.439
their last game at home, which is amazing how quick
1689
01:18:58.479 --> 01:19:02.409
the season goes. And we're just excited that we get
1690
01:19:02.470 --> 01:19:03.590
a chance to go back out there.
1691
01:19:04.149 --> 01:19:06.270
Yeah, I think we're all excited about that. It's going
1692
01:19:06.289 --> 01:19:08.609
to be an awesome one. Best of luck on Friday
1693
01:19:08.670 --> 01:19:11.010
against Burlington Edison, Coach. Thank you so much for joining
1694
01:19:11.029 --> 01:19:12.989
me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast.
1695
01:19:13.729 --> 01:19:14.720
All right. Have a great week.
1696
01:19:15.640 --> 01:19:18.159
Well, now we'll jump to 3A for a second as
1697
01:19:18.279 --> 01:19:21.500
the Ferndale Golden Eagles will travel south to take on
1698
01:19:21.520 --> 01:19:26.020
the Stanwood Spartans. Stanwood is undefeated on the season and
1699
01:19:26.060 --> 01:19:30.590
is currently ranked 10th. in the 3A coaches poll, and
1700
01:19:31.130 --> 01:19:33.649
Ferndale not ranked. So this is a really, this will
1701
01:19:33.670 --> 01:19:37.789
be a, you know, Ferndale's the underdog in this one. And,
1702
01:19:38.369 --> 01:19:41.210
you know, you could look at it early on and say, well,
1703
01:19:41.430 --> 01:19:44.539
this might be for the West Coast 3A North Championship,
1704
01:19:44.579 --> 01:19:49.520
although Cedro Woolley looms in the background for a game
1705
01:19:49.560 --> 01:19:52.840
in a few weeks. But this will be one heck
1706
01:19:52.920 --> 01:19:56.199
of a matchup. I'm now joined on the Gatorade game
1707
01:19:56.220 --> 01:19:59.859
day podcast by Ferndale head coach, Jamie Plankovich coach. Thank
1708
01:19:59.880 --> 01:20:01.340
you for joining me today. How are you doing?
1709
01:20:01.359 --> 01:20:02.460
I'm doing good.
1710
01:20:02.479 --> 01:20:03.100
How about yourself?
1711
01:20:03.380 --> 01:20:06.319
Doing pretty good as well. Uh, what is a chore
1712
01:20:06.420 --> 01:20:08.479
around the house that you really enjoy doing?
1713
01:20:09.560 --> 01:20:10.279
Mowing the lawn.
1714
01:20:11.260 --> 01:20:15.420
That seems to be a popular answer. Why, what, what
1715
01:20:15.460 --> 01:20:17.060
makes that so great for you?
1716
01:20:17.079 --> 01:20:21.779
It just, one, you see, uh, when you're done, it
1717
01:20:21.850 --> 01:20:26.069
looks good. You see, uh, see the fruits of your labor.
1718
01:20:26.310 --> 01:20:30.550
Now labor being, I do sit on a riding mower,
1719
01:20:30.630 --> 01:20:34.670
so it's not very difficult, but it just allows.
1720
01:20:34.329 --> 01:20:37.729
You to kind of be in your own world.
1721
01:20:37.750 --> 01:20:44.380
You can think through things and yeah, that is one
1722
01:20:44.399 --> 01:20:45.140
of my favorites.
1723
01:20:45.680 --> 01:20:48.939
Especially if you mowed the same lawn a lot of times,
1724
01:20:49.100 --> 01:20:51.319
then you kind of, you don't have to really think
1725
01:20:51.359 --> 01:20:53.619
about what you're doing. You can really kind of go
1726
01:20:53.680 --> 01:20:55.140
into a different world at that point.
1727
01:20:55.510 --> 01:20:56.100
Exactly.
1728
01:20:56.710 --> 01:21:00.189
That's pretty nuts. I like doing that. Uh, on Friday,
1729
01:21:00.369 --> 01:21:02.909
your team hosted Oak Harbor, even though the Wildcats went
1730
01:21:02.989 --> 01:21:05.609
down and scored on the first drive, uh, they didn't
1731
01:21:05.829 --> 01:21:08.510
score another point after that, as you picked up the
1732
01:21:08.510 --> 01:21:11.100
22 to six win. Tell us about the game.
1733
01:21:12.180 --> 01:21:14.720
Yeah, I thought, um, you know, they did a good
1734
01:21:14.779 --> 01:21:18.340
job executing on their first drive. Um, like you said,
1735
01:21:18.420 --> 01:21:21.829
after that, we felt, um, They had less than 200
1736
01:21:21.829 --> 01:21:25.149
yards of total offense, so you take that first drive
1737
01:21:25.289 --> 01:21:27.560
out of the equation. We really did a good job
1738
01:21:27.569 --> 01:21:32.100
shutting them down the rest of the game defensively. Offensively,
1739
01:21:32.220 --> 01:21:36.220
we did not punt, so you would think that there's
1740
01:21:36.260 --> 01:21:38.539
a lot of good things happening there. We should have
1741
01:21:39.159 --> 01:21:42.229
put more than 22 points on the board when you
1742
01:21:42.270 --> 01:21:46.000
don't punt all game. But we had four turnovers. So
1743
01:21:46.560 --> 01:21:49.930
those things were drive killers. We had two times that
1744
01:21:49.970 --> 01:21:53.270
we were stopped inside the five-yard line, one with a
1745
01:21:53.289 --> 01:21:57.449
turnover and one on a fourth down. So, you know,
1746
01:21:57.550 --> 01:22:01.510
still stuff that we got to improve on, get better at,
1747
01:22:01.609 --> 01:22:04.000
get crisper at coming into this week.
1748
01:22:04.899 --> 01:22:07.640
And it's kind of nice to have those teaching moments still, right?
1749
01:22:07.659 --> 01:22:10.239
There's still things you can point to and say, hey,
1750
01:22:10.619 --> 01:22:13.319
this has to be better, especially with the kind of
1751
01:22:13.340 --> 01:22:16.270
the gauntlet you have coming up here. So, um, it's
1752
01:22:16.279 --> 01:22:19.029
nice to have those things. And coach, I can't recall
1753
01:22:19.090 --> 01:22:21.869
a single player blocking more extra points in a season
1754
01:22:22.149 --> 01:22:25.430
than Brayden Hendrickson has done. Can you, can you, I mean,
1755
01:22:25.449 --> 01:22:28.310
you've been coaching a long time. Can you recall ever
1756
01:22:28.369 --> 01:22:29.909
a player on a role like this?
1757
01:22:30.390 --> 01:22:31.989
No, not even close.
1758
01:22:32.449 --> 01:22:36.750
If you get one a year, um, it's, it's pretty good,
1759
01:22:36.850 --> 01:22:39.880
but yeah, we, I think we might've only had one
1760
01:22:39.939 --> 01:22:44.949
game where we didn't block one. Um, And, yeah, it's largely,
1761
01:22:45.390 --> 01:22:47.409
you know, he and Trey are doing a good job
1762
01:22:47.430 --> 01:22:52.989
at what we call our bully position in the interior
1763
01:22:53.050 --> 01:22:55.869
of the line. Both of them are pretty tall, get
1764
01:22:55.909 --> 01:22:59.130
their hands up and get good push. It has been, yeah,
1765
01:22:59.229 --> 01:23:00.550
it has been remarkable.
1766
01:23:01.010 --> 01:23:03.680
And it's, you know, once you get into close games,
1767
01:23:03.939 --> 01:23:07.180
playoff type stuff, I mean, that is so important because
1768
01:23:07.220 --> 01:23:09.619
you might, you know, squeak one out by one point.
1769
01:23:09.640 --> 01:23:11.300
And I know you've had games like.
1770
01:23:11.220 --> 01:23:11.840
That in the past.
1771
01:23:13.770 --> 01:23:15.970
You know, and it's trickier because you got to lay
1772
01:23:16.069 --> 01:23:18.689
off the long snapper, right? So you have to, there's
1773
01:23:18.710 --> 01:23:23.430
an art to being close enough, but you're not lined up, um, illegally.
1774
01:23:23.489 --> 01:23:25.689
Is this something that you guys have really worked on
1775
01:23:25.789 --> 01:23:27.810
or is it just kind of been happening for you?
1776
01:23:28.689 --> 01:23:31.189
No, we work on it every week, you know, not
1777
01:23:31.250 --> 01:23:31.670
a ton.
1778
01:23:32.109 --> 01:23:35.369
Um, we have the right guys in the right positions, both,
1779
01:23:35.750 --> 01:23:39.779
you know, like you said, with both, uh, Trey and
1780
01:23:39.819 --> 01:23:45.810
Braden's size, you know, they've gotten good push and they're tall,
1781
01:23:46.020 --> 01:23:49.050
you know, so they get their hands up. So they've
1782
01:23:49.069 --> 01:23:52.670
just done a really good job of liking to do that.
1783
01:23:52.710 --> 01:23:55.590
They're both starters, right, two-way starters, and they still like
1784
01:23:56.050 --> 01:24:01.229
being on that team. And it's a huge momentum piece
1785
01:24:01.430 --> 01:24:04.729
as well. You think about just, you know, you can
1786
01:24:04.789 --> 01:24:07.979
be down after just giving up a touchdown and and
1787
01:24:08.010 --> 01:24:09.890
then they come out and block the extra point, it
1788
01:24:09.949 --> 01:24:13.869
really kind of turns the momentum back around to your
1789
01:24:13.909 --> 01:24:17.970
side a little bit. So it's also good emotional play,
1790
01:24:18.010 --> 01:24:19.689
not just keeping points off the board.
1791
01:24:20.050 --> 01:24:23.609
That's a great point because it is, you're so right,
1792
01:24:23.729 --> 01:24:26.640
right after a touchdown and that can really swing things
1793
01:24:26.720 --> 01:24:28.840
and you know you're getting the ball back. But if
1794
01:24:28.859 --> 01:24:31.699
you're getting the ball back with a great attitude and
1795
01:24:31.779 --> 01:24:36.460
great momentum, that can be a great thing for your offense.
1796
01:24:36.539 --> 01:24:41.020
And And, you know, it's funny because I mentioned something
1797
01:24:41.060 --> 01:24:43.100
on the podcast maybe a week and a half ago
1798
01:24:43.159 --> 01:24:45.420
or something, and I just kind of threw it out there.
1799
01:24:45.680 --> 01:24:48.260
I said, hey, you West Coast 3A North teams, you
1800
01:24:48.479 --> 01:24:50.779
don't want to put little guys at guard when you're
1801
01:24:50.800 --> 01:24:53.939
kicking extra points just against Ferndale. And so I was
1802
01:24:54.010 --> 01:24:59.079
actually trying to help these teams, and it still didn't work. No,
1803
01:24:59.100 --> 01:25:01.359
I know, but I'm just saying, I mean, they know
1804
01:25:01.380 --> 01:25:03.819
that they've been watching the film, but it's crazy how
1805
01:25:04.770 --> 01:25:07.789
it just keeps happening. And it's really, really fun to watch.
1806
01:25:09.590 --> 01:25:12.289
Is there a player on your team this season that
1807
01:25:12.310 --> 01:25:15.229
has been the most pleasant surprise? And, you know, I
1808
01:25:15.270 --> 01:25:16.750
don't want to, I don't want to mean that in
1809
01:25:16.770 --> 01:25:19.390
a way like, like, wow, he wasn't any good, but
1810
01:25:19.449 --> 01:25:22.270
someone that you knew could contribute, but has maybe taken
1811
01:25:22.300 --> 01:25:26.039
that extra step to being one of your biggest impact
1812
01:25:26.079 --> 01:25:26.659
players this year.
1813
01:25:27.939 --> 01:25:33.960
Oh man, that's a really good question. I think Brock
1814
01:25:33.979 --> 01:25:38.220
Hoyt on defense was a starter for us last year
1815
01:25:38.539 --> 01:25:41.300
at corner and we moved him to our nickel position.
1816
01:25:42.539 --> 01:25:45.720
He's just gotten better and better. He's very physical. He's
1817
01:25:45.739 --> 01:25:50.800
a very good open field tackler. He's important in how
1818
01:25:50.859 --> 01:25:55.369
our defense functions. And I wouldn't say that he's a surprise,
1819
01:25:55.390 --> 01:25:58.520
but he moved to a new position. Sometimes that can,
1820
01:25:59.060 --> 01:26:02.739
you know, take a while to, to get used to
1821
01:26:02.779 --> 01:26:05.880
playing that new spot. So I'd say he's done a
1822
01:26:06.500 --> 01:26:09.970
great job. Other guy that didn't get a lot of
1823
01:26:09.979 --> 01:26:13.250
playing time got hurt last year is Tyler cuts. And
1824
01:26:13.430 --> 01:26:17.050
he also has had a couple of weeks. We've missed
1825
01:26:17.090 --> 01:26:19.710
him for a couple of weeks this year as well.
1826
01:26:20.750 --> 01:26:23.649
But he, has come in and done a great job
1827
01:26:23.729 --> 01:26:25.899
at the end and is one of our group of
1828
01:26:25.920 --> 01:26:31.699
tight ends. So I think he's been a real pleasant
1829
01:26:32.100 --> 01:26:35.359
addition as well for somebody that you weren't sure how
1830
01:26:35.420 --> 01:26:38.779
he would translate to more varsity reps.
1831
01:26:39.060 --> 01:26:41.020
So those are a couple off the top of my head.
1832
01:26:41.350 --> 01:26:44.670
Yeah, and he's one that definitely passes the eye test
1833
01:26:44.770 --> 01:26:46.869
at about 6'4, 6'5, 235 pounds. And so you love
1834
01:26:46.890 --> 01:26:54.489
it when they take what God gave them and then
1835
01:26:54.970 --> 01:26:57.949
you put that on the football field. You've got to
1836
01:26:58.109 --> 01:27:02.270
love seeing that. This Friday night, back on the road
1837
01:27:02.479 --> 01:27:06.840
at Stanwood, you know, I don't want to say it's
1838
01:27:06.880 --> 01:27:09.439
for the league title or anything like that, but they're
1839
01:27:09.479 --> 01:27:12.659
the only undefeated team in the conference right now. What
1840
01:27:12.680 --> 01:27:14.239
can you tell us about the Spartans?
1841
01:27:15.180 --> 01:27:18.859
Well, they're a dang good football team. Starts with their quarterbacks.
1842
01:27:19.600 --> 01:27:23.180
He is a very special player, both with his arm
1843
01:27:23.279 --> 01:27:24.840
and his feet.
1844
01:27:25.439 --> 01:27:27.640
We're going to have to do a really good job of.
1845
01:27:27.680 --> 01:27:32.109
Containing him because he's not only a very accurate passer
1846
01:27:32.189 --> 01:27:36.529
and that, but he has broken down teams by his
1847
01:27:36.569 --> 01:27:41.529
scramble ability and then making big plays when he does
1848
01:27:41.569 --> 01:27:45.199
do that run in the ball. So we've got to
1849
01:27:45.260 --> 01:27:47.060
do a really good job of containing him.
1850
01:27:47.619 --> 01:27:48.039
They're really.
1851
01:27:49.119 --> 01:27:52.060
Watching them, they're really well coached on both sides. Their
1852
01:27:52.100 --> 01:27:56.479
kids play exceedingly hard. Their scheme-wise on offense causes you
1853
01:27:56.500 --> 01:28:01.359
a lot of problems with their spread and still have
1854
01:28:01.380 --> 01:28:03.380
an ability to run the ball and then, like I said,
1855
01:28:03.399 --> 01:28:04.979
that difference maker at quarterback.
1856
01:28:06.590 --> 01:28:08.189
Defensively, their kids just play really.
1857
01:28:08.229 --> 01:28:08.770
Really hard.
1858
01:28:08.789 --> 01:28:15.050
You can see they beat Cedar Woolley earlier this year
1859
01:28:15.109 --> 01:28:17.789
and then going last week against a very good Snohomish
1860
01:28:17.810 --> 01:28:23.189
team and jumping on them early and hanging on, they're
1861
01:28:23.569 --> 01:28:25.170
going to be a tough matchup on Friday.
1862
01:28:25.930 --> 01:28:29.810
You know, you talk about like a quarterback that you're
1863
01:28:29.829 --> 01:28:33.130
going to be going against that's, you know, can run
1864
01:28:33.270 --> 01:28:37.140
and throw. And so, you know, kind of help me
1865
01:28:37.520 --> 01:28:40.560
with this a little bit. When he breaks down containment
1866
01:28:40.579 --> 01:28:42.399
and he's out there, is he more of a threat
1867
01:28:42.439 --> 01:28:45.720
to keep a play alive, looking down the field to throw?
1868
01:28:45.739 --> 01:28:48.180
Cause a lot of quarterbacks are good like that. Or
1869
01:28:48.220 --> 01:28:50.850
is he more just like, Oh, he's going to run.
1870
01:28:50.869 --> 01:28:52.609
We need to get that. Or can he do both?
1871
01:28:53.130 --> 01:28:54.930
That's the problem. He can do both.
1872
01:28:55.149 --> 01:28:55.449
Okay.
1873
01:28:55.510 --> 01:28:55.949
Yeah.
1874
01:28:55.970 --> 01:28:57.529
Um, Yeah, because you're right.
1875
01:28:57.640 --> 01:29:00.600
Some guys really are making one read and then just
1876
01:29:00.720 --> 01:29:04.659
using their feet and getting out of harm's way, right?
1877
01:29:04.699 --> 01:29:08.180
Making something happen, running the ball. He has shown that
1878
01:29:08.800 --> 01:29:11.159
he will definitely do that. If he sees a running
1879
01:29:11.199 --> 01:29:14.960
lane and it's there, he will take it. But he's
1880
01:29:15.060 --> 01:29:19.079
also still directing receivers down the field. They do a
1881
01:29:19.119 --> 01:29:23.460
very good job of scramble drill, what we call scramble drill,
1882
01:29:23.500 --> 01:29:25.859
where the receivers know what to do as he starts
1883
01:29:25.899 --> 01:29:31.739
to scramble. A couple of key plays in the Cedar
1884
01:29:31.779 --> 01:29:35.439
Woolley game that they come back and score late to
1885
01:29:35.479 --> 01:29:38.140
win it were scramble plays that he kept his eyes
1886
01:29:38.199 --> 01:29:40.180
downfield and made big plays.
1887
01:29:39.920 --> 01:29:44.659
Throwing the football. He is a problem.
1888
01:29:44.699 --> 01:29:47.210
He's going to be the best one we've seen yet
1889
01:29:47.270 --> 01:29:49.529
this year, and we've seen some good quarterbacks.
1890
01:29:50.560 --> 01:29:51.920
He'll he's going to be a challenge.
1891
01:29:52.239 --> 01:29:55.359
Wow, that's a that's pretty high praise. And that's one
1892
01:29:55.380 --> 01:29:57.590
of those things where I saw a little bit of
1893
01:29:57.619 --> 01:30:01.649
this last week with Meridians quarterback Trey Alexander, where he will,
1894
01:30:02.029 --> 01:30:04.640
you know, he ran for over 100 yards. But what
1895
01:30:04.680 --> 01:30:07.390
he did really well was when he would. when he would,
1896
01:30:07.630 --> 01:30:10.789
you know, scramble a little bit and the defender has
1897
01:30:10.829 --> 01:30:12.789
to make that choice kind of in the flat. Do
1898
01:30:12.909 --> 01:30:16.050
I stay back? Do I go at the quarterback and
1899
01:30:16.109 --> 01:30:18.539
good quarterbacks are good at baiting that and then just
1900
01:30:18.720 --> 01:30:21.039
hitting that open guy. And that's going to be a
1901
01:30:21.100 --> 01:30:25.100
challenge for you defensively. It sounds like, because, you know,
1902
01:30:25.119 --> 01:30:28.640
hopefully you have ways to combat that. And of course
1903
01:30:28.680 --> 01:30:33.310
I know coach Freeman is, is probably digging deep and
1904
01:30:33.649 --> 01:30:36.550
all these things and wide eyed and getting his kids going. So,
1905
01:30:37.350 --> 01:30:39.470
Do you feel like you kind of have an idea
1906
01:30:39.489 --> 01:30:41.350
of how to deal with that kind of stuff?
1907
01:30:41.689 --> 01:30:45.420
Well, we're definitely– that's the focus this week, right? Our
1908
01:30:45.460 --> 01:30:47.439
pass rush has to be very disciplined.
1909
01:30:47.859 --> 01:30:48.260
Yeah.
1910
01:30:48.460 --> 01:30:50.899
Our goal is to try to keep him in the
1911
01:30:50.939 --> 01:30:55.779
pocket at times to bring pressure and still, again, not
1912
01:30:55.819 --> 01:31:00.000
create running lanes. We do have a pretty good scout
1913
01:31:00.020 --> 01:31:04.050
team quarterback this year– this week with Jake doing a
1914
01:31:04.090 --> 01:31:04.649
lot of this.
1915
01:31:04.729 --> 01:31:05.090
Sure.
1916
01:31:05.920 --> 01:31:09.859
He's taking off and running and challenging our defense when
1917
01:31:09.899 --> 01:31:13.569
he sees openings. So we're prepping the best we can
1918
01:31:13.590 --> 01:31:17.869
to try to take away those plays. He's still going
1919
01:31:17.890 --> 01:31:20.810
to make some plays. He's just that good. So we
1920
01:31:20.829 --> 01:31:22.840
just got to do a good job of that not
1921
01:31:22.899 --> 01:31:27.760
being something that continues to happen on critical downs.
1922
01:31:27.500 --> 01:31:27.939
In the game.
1923
01:31:28.510 --> 01:31:31.289
Yeah, that's a great point. And that's, you know, a
1924
01:31:31.350 --> 01:31:35.109
lot of coaches, that's pretty amazing that you actually admit that.
1925
01:31:35.170 --> 01:31:38.350
He will have some plays. The big thing is to
1926
01:31:38.399 --> 01:31:40.920
make sure it doesn't happen over and over again. So
1927
01:31:41.260 --> 01:31:43.300
as long as the kids understand that and they just
1928
01:31:43.359 --> 01:31:45.020
go to the next play. If there happens to be
1929
01:31:45.060 --> 01:31:47.479
a first down on something big, just move on to
1930
01:31:47.500 --> 01:31:50.319
the next play and play football there. Do your assignment
1931
01:31:50.380 --> 01:31:52.770
after that. Coach, man, it's going to be a fun one.
1932
01:31:52.850 --> 01:31:55.210
Everyone's looking forward to this one at Stanwood. Thank you
1933
01:31:55.250 --> 01:31:57.609
so much for joining me today on the Gatorade Game
1934
01:31:57.630 --> 01:31:58.229
Day Podcast.
1935
01:31:58.569 --> 01:32:00.079
Thanks a lot, Tyler. Appreciate it.
1936
01:32:01.039 --> 01:32:04.119
And now one of my favorite matchups here as we
1937
01:32:04.140 --> 01:32:08.380
got a 2A versus 1A. Sehome Mariners, they are going
1938
01:32:08.460 --> 01:32:12.409
to head up I-5 to take on the Meridian Trojans
1939
01:32:12.470 --> 01:32:15.770
in a tremendous Whatcom County matchup that we don't see
1940
01:32:15.810 --> 01:32:21.510
very often. They played a few times in the 2000s
1941
01:32:21.550 --> 01:32:23.880
in the aughts, if you will, but it's been a
1942
01:32:23.939 --> 01:32:26.890
while since they've played each other. I really love the
1943
01:32:26.930 --> 01:32:31.029
contrast of styles here and should make for a pretty
1944
01:32:31.109 --> 01:32:34.630
darn good game. I am now joined on the Gatorade
1945
01:32:34.670 --> 01:32:38.510
Game Day podcast by Meridian Head Football Coach Patrick Ames. Coach,
1946
01:32:38.550 --> 01:32:40.149
thank you for joining me today. How are you doing?
1947
01:32:40.810 --> 01:32:41.930
I'm doing well, Tyler.
1948
01:32:41.949 --> 01:32:42.189
Thanks.
1949
01:32:42.210 --> 01:32:42.590
How are you?
1950
01:32:43.029 --> 01:32:47.090
Doing pretty darn good. What is a chore around the
1951
01:32:47.109 --> 01:32:49.029
house that you actually really enjoy doing?
1952
01:32:49.789 --> 01:32:50.289
Mowing the lawn.
1953
01:32:51.210 --> 01:32:54.989
Yeah, that's a popular answer. Yeah. I, I, I love
1954
01:32:55.029 --> 01:32:57.710
it myself. I started, I loved mowing my grandmother's lawn
1955
01:32:57.729 --> 01:32:59.449
when I was six years old. It was like the
1956
01:32:59.510 --> 01:33:03.819
coolest thing. Uh, yeah, it's, what is it about it
1957
01:33:04.000 --> 01:33:04.720
that you enjoy?
1958
01:33:04.739 --> 01:33:06.760
Um, you know what?
1959
01:33:06.819 --> 01:33:10.619
It's one of the few times and tasks it feels
1960
01:33:10.680 --> 01:33:12.859
like that I have this routine, right?
1961
01:33:12.899 --> 01:33:14.079
Like you're going to do it at least once a
1962
01:33:14.119 --> 01:33:16.729
week where you just do it so much.
1963
01:33:17.100 --> 01:33:18.689
You, you know, if you live in the same place
1964
01:33:18.770 --> 01:33:20.979
long enough, you know, you can certain parts of your
1965
01:33:21.020 --> 01:33:23.380
brain can, can quiet down and shut down. And you
1966
01:33:23.420 --> 01:33:27.359
have an opportunity to, to fill that brain space with,
1967
01:33:27.460 --> 01:33:28.199
you know, something else.
1968
01:33:28.300 --> 01:33:29.260
And, you know, like when it's.
1969
01:33:29.180 --> 01:33:33.060
Football season, like when I mowed the lawn, uh, I
1970
01:33:33.079 --> 01:33:35.899
guess it would have been Sunday afternoon. Um, we'd just
1971
01:33:35.960 --> 01:33:38.039
come out of our, our coaches meeting and, you know,
1972
01:33:38.079 --> 01:33:40.659
it's still turning over, uh, you know, a few things
1973
01:33:40.699 --> 01:33:42.760
while I was out here mowing. So I really appreciate
1974
01:33:42.779 --> 01:33:46.529
that time, right. Where it's just kind of, um, I
1975
01:33:46.550 --> 01:33:49.949
don't want to say completely brainless because that's not what
1976
01:33:49.989 --> 01:33:52.090
I enjoy about it. It's just that you have the
1977
01:33:52.130 --> 01:33:54.939
opportunity to think about other things and still be super
1978
01:33:54.979 --> 01:33:55.960
productive at the same time.
1979
01:33:56.300 --> 01:33:59.880
Yeah, that's very true. You kind of reset, right? And
1980
01:34:00.140 --> 01:34:02.859
like you said, you get to be productive. You're actually
1981
01:34:02.899 --> 01:34:07.500
doing work, and that's a big deal. On Friday, your
1982
01:34:07.539 --> 01:34:10.560
team went on the road again and defeated Blaine, this
1983
01:34:10.590 --> 01:34:13.369
time 41-26, in a game that saw you do a
1984
01:34:13.430 --> 01:34:17.100
lot of things well, especially offensively. Tell us about what
1985
01:34:17.119 --> 01:34:19.649
you liked about that game.
1986
01:34:19.859 --> 01:34:24.029
We did play pretty well offensively in some spots, and
1987
01:34:24.069 --> 01:34:28.310
there were a few possessions that we didn't execute really well.
1988
01:34:28.829 --> 01:34:32.649
We had some drives that were derailed by a couple
1989
01:34:32.670 --> 01:34:36.340
of really costly penalties, and at times we just weren't
1990
01:34:36.380 --> 01:34:39.460
really as sharp as we needed to be. But we
1991
01:34:39.520 --> 01:34:43.100
played some pretty decent complementary football there in the fourth
1992
01:34:43.159 --> 01:34:48.569
quarter where our defense– we took the ball away, you know,
1993
01:34:48.590 --> 01:34:50.569
a couple of times we got a couple of sacks
1994
01:34:50.640 --> 01:34:53.359
and we're able then to, to quickly convert those chances
1995
01:34:53.420 --> 01:34:57.279
into scores to end up getting a win that, you know,
1996
01:34:57.340 --> 01:34:58.680
you look at it on the scoreboard, it was a
1997
01:34:58.720 --> 01:35:01.600
lot closer game to that, that anybody who was there
1998
01:35:01.640 --> 01:35:04.779
or watched it knows. And, you know, we were just
1999
01:35:05.060 --> 01:35:06.689
able to be sharp enough there at the end to
2000
01:35:06.710 --> 01:35:08.270
be able to hold on for that one.
2001
01:35:08.750 --> 01:35:08.850
Yeah.
2002
01:35:08.890 --> 01:35:10.569
It seems like for the majority of the game, you
2003
01:35:10.590 --> 01:35:12.550
guys either had an eight point lead or a two
2004
01:35:12.609 --> 01:35:14.029
point lead. It was kind of, it was always a
2005
01:35:14.130 --> 01:35:17.010
one score game there for, A big, big chunk, especially
2006
01:35:17.029 --> 01:35:18.989
the middle of that game. And you're right in the
2007
01:35:19.029 --> 01:35:22.859
fourth quarter. I thought the interception by Josiah Harris was huge.
2008
01:35:23.460 --> 01:35:25.939
That kind of got the ball rolling. And and he's
2009
01:35:25.979 --> 01:35:28.180
a kid that, you know, correct me if I'm wrong.
2010
01:35:28.220 --> 01:35:30.060
I know he's a basketball player, but I don't recall
2011
01:35:30.100 --> 01:35:32.510
him playing a ton of football growing up. Is he
2012
01:35:32.529 --> 01:35:34.510
a first year senior or is he did he play
2013
01:35:34.529 --> 01:35:35.069
in the past?
2014
01:35:36.090 --> 01:35:37.229
He's a first year senior.
2015
01:35:37.909 --> 01:35:41.010
I believe he he played growing up, but this is
2016
01:35:41.050 --> 01:35:43.470
the first time he's played in high school. And so
2017
01:35:43.510 --> 01:35:48.770
his ceiling, because he's really athletic, is really high. And
2018
01:35:49.210 --> 01:35:50.930
he's going to be one of those kids that we
2019
01:35:50.989 --> 01:35:52.789
know it and feel it right now. But at the
2020
01:35:52.810 --> 01:35:55.220
end of the season, you know, we're going to say, gosh,
2021
01:35:55.229 --> 01:35:57.300
we wish we would have had this kid for four
2022
01:35:57.319 --> 01:35:59.720
years and not just the one. But yeah, he's really
2023
01:35:59.779 --> 01:36:02.460
coming into his own and getting really comfortable. And you
2024
01:36:02.479 --> 01:36:03.500
saw that on Friday night.
2025
01:36:03.779 --> 01:36:04.260
Yeah, you're right.
2026
01:36:04.279 --> 01:36:06.380
That interception he made there in the fourth quarter was
2027
01:36:06.420 --> 01:36:08.619
an outstanding play for a corner to make.
2028
01:36:09.319 --> 01:36:09.520
Yeah.
2029
01:36:09.579 --> 01:36:11.760
And it kind of got your team rolling. Then the
2030
01:36:11.800 --> 01:36:14.159
next set of downs or the next possession that you
2031
01:36:14.180 --> 01:36:17.180
had on defense, you know, you get them to turn
2032
01:36:17.220 --> 01:36:19.149
the ball over on downs and other short field. And
2033
01:36:19.159 --> 01:36:21.550
it just kind of went from there. So I thought
2034
01:36:21.569 --> 01:36:24.109
that was a really big play and a kid that
2035
01:36:24.170 --> 01:36:27.210
kid that I've really enjoyed covering in basketball too, because he's,
2036
01:36:27.609 --> 01:36:31.069
he's really just, you know, he's happy. He loves, you
2037
01:36:31.090 --> 01:36:32.109
can tell he loves sports.
2038
01:36:32.210 --> 01:36:32.430
Right.
2039
01:36:32.569 --> 01:36:35.449
Yeah. And so that's, what's really fun. He's been returning
2040
01:36:35.489 --> 01:36:38.220
kicks and, and catching some passes as well. And so
2041
01:36:38.260 --> 01:36:41.100
it's nice to have athletes like that out there. Um,
2042
01:36:41.359 --> 01:36:44.670
and speaking of athletes, uh, that 88 yard touchdown run,
2043
01:36:44.710 --> 01:36:47.989
I mean, we've talked at nauseam what Trey Alexander has done,
2044
01:36:48.069 --> 01:36:50.470
but the effort that was given by Casey Brennan on
2045
01:36:50.489 --> 01:36:53.529
that play was extraordinary. Can you, so for people that
2046
01:36:53.569 --> 01:36:56.939
don't know, can you kind of explain, uh, what happened
2047
01:36:56.960 --> 01:36:59.779
in that play and what Casey Brennan did? Yeah.
2048
01:36:59.899 --> 01:37:03.680
As, as, uh, Trey, um, it was a draw play
2049
01:37:03.699 --> 01:37:04.359
a quarterback draw.
2050
01:37:04.399 --> 01:37:06.100
And as he, as he breaks out of the second
2051
01:37:06.140 --> 01:37:09.000
level and heads to the sideline at that point, you know,
2052
01:37:09.039 --> 01:37:10.619
when you get to the sideline, it's a foot race
2053
01:37:10.689 --> 01:37:12.689
and you hope that, you know, the defenders don't have
2054
01:37:12.729 --> 01:37:16.289
the right angle. And, and for those who don't know Casey,
2055
01:37:16.350 --> 01:37:20.319
Casey's really, really fast. And he's, he's been on our
2056
01:37:20.340 --> 01:37:23.560
track team and, been on a part of a state championship,
2057
01:37:23.600 --> 01:37:26.619
you know, four by one team. He's, um, he's, he's
2058
01:37:26.659 --> 01:37:28.819
got the cred, so to speak as, as a sprinter
2059
01:37:28.859 --> 01:37:30.899
to be able to show up on Friday nights like that.
2060
01:37:31.039 --> 01:37:33.079
And it was just an incredible effort play.
2061
01:37:33.359 --> 01:37:35.460
And it was, it was literally something that, you know,
2062
01:37:35.479 --> 01:37:38.439
I'm sure every team talks to their receivers about at
2063
01:37:38.479 --> 01:37:40.890
different times. And it was something that we stressed also that,
2064
01:37:40.970 --> 01:37:45.609
you know, in, in tight, big football games, um, big
2065
01:37:45.649 --> 01:37:49.000
plays make a big difference and big plays happen oftentimes
2066
01:37:49.079 --> 01:37:51.319
because you've got effort, not just from the ball carrier,
2067
01:37:51.340 --> 01:37:54.680
but for everybody else on that field who's going to
2068
01:37:54.720 --> 01:37:58.060
try to sell out to make another block. or to
2069
01:37:58.100 --> 01:38:00.510
try to hustle to at least get in the way. Um,
2070
01:38:00.729 --> 01:38:03.430
so whoever's got the ball can continue down the field. And,
2071
01:38:03.899 --> 01:38:06.489
and yeah, it was almost like Casey decided he was
2072
01:38:06.510 --> 01:38:08.189
going to race Trey to see if he could get in.
2073
01:38:08.170 --> 01:38:08.609
Front of him.
2074
01:38:09.229 --> 01:38:12.130
Um, and, and yeah, he, he literally sprung Trey with,
2075
01:38:12.189 --> 01:38:14.170
with that effort. And then it was kind of fun, um,
2076
01:38:14.350 --> 01:38:16.090
to be honest on Monday to come into a team
2077
01:38:16.130 --> 01:38:18.529
meeting and, and, you know, people are giving Trey a
2078
01:38:18.569 --> 01:38:22.380
bad time and, There's no shame in being passed by Casey,
2079
01:38:22.399 --> 01:38:24.720
but Trey said, well, I.
2080
01:38:24.689 --> 01:38:26.369
Was slowing down, right?
2081
01:38:26.670 --> 01:38:28.529
I was going sideways to try to set up his
2082
01:38:28.590 --> 01:38:31.100
block for him. But, I mean, anybody who watched that
2083
01:38:31.199 --> 01:38:34.880
knows it was just Casey just hustling like crazy to
2084
01:38:34.920 --> 01:38:36.899
try to make sure that, you know, that.
2085
01:38:36.979 --> 01:38:37.850
Trey could keep going.
2086
01:38:37.899 --> 01:38:39.670
And I'm sure Casey didn't know at the time that
2087
01:38:39.710 --> 01:38:41.390
was going to turn into an 88-yard touchdown.
2088
01:38:41.430 --> 01:38:42.710
He was just trying to get one more block.
2089
01:38:43.609 --> 01:38:46.430
It was crazy, Coach. You know, we're doing our live
2090
01:38:46.510 --> 01:38:49.489
show where we're kind of talking about all the games
2091
01:38:49.550 --> 01:38:51.609
at once. And when we see a big play, there's
2092
01:38:51.649 --> 01:38:53.520
a button we can hit. And so it captures the
2093
01:38:53.579 --> 01:38:56.000
last 15 or 20 seconds. And then we can show
2094
01:38:56.039 --> 01:38:58.539
a replay later. We're not allowed to show NFHS stuff
2095
01:38:58.619 --> 01:39:01.439
live for certain reasons like that. But we know we
2096
01:39:01.460 --> 01:39:03.560
have this one caught in our replay. And then so
2097
01:39:03.600 --> 01:39:06.000
we can put it on later and watch it when
2098
01:39:06.020 --> 01:39:09.250
we watched it. We just gushed over it because my partner,
2099
01:39:09.289 --> 01:39:12.859
Jim Brin, goes, who's seven? And he's just pointing at
2100
01:39:12.880 --> 01:39:16.699
the screen. And I said, that's Casey Brennan. And we
2101
01:39:16.739 --> 01:39:18.800
watched it. Like, we showed it three times in a row.
2102
01:39:18.880 --> 01:39:22.060
It was just one of those plays that was just
2103
01:39:22.100 --> 01:39:24.539
so fun to see. And it's one of those plays,
2104
01:39:24.560 --> 01:39:27.100
like you said, as coaches, you try to stress the
2105
01:39:27.340 --> 01:39:32.229
importance of downfield blocking. But not many receivers from that
2106
01:39:32.310 --> 01:39:35.170
far away could have even had the chance to make
2107
01:39:35.189 --> 01:39:38.369
a play if it was– his effort and it looked
2108
01:39:38.390 --> 01:39:40.210
like he almost took out a couple guys on that
2109
01:39:40.250 --> 01:39:43.470
play it was a it was a tremendous play and
2110
01:39:43.529 --> 01:39:45.449
it probably got the sidelines hyped it was right on
2111
01:39:45.489 --> 01:39:48.569
your guys's sidelines so that was uh that was something
2112
01:39:48.609 --> 01:39:50.720
to watch and you know a lot of times in
2113
01:39:50.949 --> 01:39:53.119
1a football team will go in the season knowing that
2114
01:39:53.159 --> 01:39:55.020
you have some dudes on the team that you can
2115
01:39:55.060 --> 01:39:57.380
rely on to be pretty good and then there's always
2116
01:39:57.420 --> 01:40:00.619
those players that really raise their ability during the season
2117
01:40:00.659 --> 01:40:02.340
is there a player that you could think of from
2118
01:40:02.359 --> 01:40:04.859
your team this year that has stepped it up perhaps
2119
01:40:04.920 --> 01:40:05.579
more than you've.
2120
01:40:05.439 --> 01:40:10.470
Expected Uh, that, that's a really astute observation, Tyler. And,
2121
01:40:10.710 --> 01:40:12.649
and you're right. You're going to find those guys on,
2122
01:40:12.829 --> 01:40:15.039
on every team. We already talked about Josiah.
2123
01:40:15.079 --> 01:40:18.939
He's certainly one, uh, one guy that we're, um, that
2124
01:40:18.960 --> 01:40:21.880
we're kind of missing at the moment and you saw
2125
01:40:21.899 --> 01:40:24.520
him play, you know, kind of sparingly on Friday. Um,
2126
01:40:24.619 --> 01:40:27.649
and that's case in Culp, um, a senior for us.
2127
01:40:27.689 --> 01:40:30.970
That's just had, you know, really, really fine senior year. Um,
2128
01:40:32.390 --> 01:40:34.590
dealing with a little bit of an injury, and he
2129
01:40:34.630 --> 01:40:37.210
just is chomping at the bit to come back. And
2130
01:40:37.250 --> 01:40:40.149
we're trying to be smart and sensible and protect him
2131
01:40:40.189 --> 01:40:44.220
from himself a little bit. But he's one of the
2132
01:40:44.260 --> 01:40:46.680
first ones to come to mind for me, certainly, as
2133
01:40:46.739 --> 01:40:49.760
somebody who has elevated his game and improved just a
2134
01:40:49.800 --> 01:40:54.720
ton and knows all of our receiver spots. and knows
2135
01:40:54.760 --> 01:40:57.220
where to align and what to do he's just super
2136
01:40:57.260 --> 01:41:00.760
valuable is doing a really good job with our younger
2137
01:41:00.800 --> 01:41:03.359
players also mentoring them and helping them out and then
2138
01:41:03.399 --> 01:41:05.279
can play you know a couple different spots which he
2139
01:41:05.319 --> 01:41:08.439
has this year on defense so uh he's he's really
2140
01:41:08.500 --> 01:41:12.119
kind of the epitome of what um we like to
2141
01:41:12.159 --> 01:41:14.779
think as a, as a Meridian football player, not only
2142
01:41:14.800 --> 01:41:16.640
is he a generational.
2143
01:41:16.079 --> 01:41:17.920
Guy that, you know, his dad played for us.
2144
01:41:18.699 --> 01:41:21.340
Um, but you know, we talk to kids about, you know,
2145
01:41:21.380 --> 01:41:23.619
the more that you know how to do, the more
2146
01:41:23.699 --> 01:41:26.529
valuable you're going to be to the team and, and
2147
01:41:26.609 --> 01:41:29.470
be able to create opportunities for yourself to contribute.
2148
01:41:29.569 --> 01:41:31.970
And, and he's absolutely lived up to that.
2149
01:41:32.630 --> 01:41:32.869
Yeah.
2150
01:41:32.989 --> 01:41:35.510
That's, that's a great point. You know, he is definitely
2151
01:41:35.529 --> 01:41:38.149
a guy that, you know, he had some moments last year,
2152
01:41:38.489 --> 01:41:40.689
but this year, you know, it's, you know, especially in
2153
01:41:40.729 --> 01:41:43.989
that the Colville game. I mean, he's really had big,
2154
01:41:44.029 --> 01:41:47.449
big moments and it's been a lot of fun to see. And, and, um,
2155
01:41:47.750 --> 01:41:49.289
like you brought up, you know, his dad was a
2156
01:41:49.350 --> 01:41:53.600
phenomenal player, uh, back on that 99 state championship team averaged, like,
2157
01:41:53.720 --> 01:41:56.140
I don't know, 78 yards a catch or whatever crazy
2158
01:41:56.399 --> 01:41:59.739
number it was. A lot of bombs down the field
2159
01:42:00.699 --> 01:42:04.239
to 81 there. Um, and this Friday night, you're back
2160
01:42:04.279 --> 01:42:08.229
at home finally, and you're playing the, playing the Sehome Mariners.
2161
01:42:08.270 --> 01:42:10.960
And I love, when two local teams come together for
2162
01:42:10.979 --> 01:42:13.039
a non-conference game, it makes my job a heck of
2163
01:42:13.060 --> 01:42:15.840
a lot easier. And, and it's a lot, so it's
2164
01:42:15.859 --> 01:42:18.340
a lot of fun. I love these, you know, I
2165
01:42:18.359 --> 01:42:20.600
go back to the 06 season. You guys played an
2166
01:42:20.960 --> 01:42:24.319
amazing game against them that year. Also to open up
2167
01:42:24.359 --> 01:42:27.819
the 03 season, a great game against a very good
2168
01:42:28.380 --> 01:42:32.090
Seaholm team that year. And so there's been some prior matchups,
2169
01:42:32.109 --> 01:42:34.130
but it's been a while. What can you tell us
2170
01:42:34.170 --> 01:42:35.949
about Seaholm's team this year?
2171
01:42:37.279 --> 01:42:40.659
When we watch him on film, we're really, really impressed
2172
01:42:40.739 --> 01:42:45.479
with number 50, the Rogers kid. He's just a heck
2173
01:42:45.520 --> 01:42:47.539
of a football player on both sides of the ball.
2174
01:42:48.739 --> 01:42:53.039
So he's going to be top of mind for our
2175
01:42:53.079 --> 01:42:57.369
guys up front, knowing where he is and how to
2176
01:42:57.430 --> 01:43:00.909
deal with him on both sides of the ball. Obviously,
2177
01:43:00.970 --> 01:43:03.189
last week, their running back, who I think is just
2178
01:43:03.270 --> 01:43:06.390
a sophomore, um, had a really, really good game and,
2179
01:43:06.710 --> 01:43:10.510
and they exerted their will in that one, certainly. So, uh,
2180
01:43:10.529 --> 01:43:12.350
we know that we're going to have, you know, our,
2181
01:43:12.479 --> 01:43:15.569
our hands full, but you're right. It is kind of fun, um,
2182
01:43:15.649 --> 01:43:17.619
to play somebody that you're, you know, you're kind of
2183
01:43:17.680 --> 01:43:21.520
aware of, but we don't match up with very often. And, um,
2184
01:43:21.600 --> 01:43:23.539
we know that we don't know them as well as,
2185
01:43:23.560 --> 01:43:25.560
you know, we know the other teams and in Whatcom
2186
01:43:25.579 --> 01:43:27.159
County that we match up with often.
2187
01:43:28.000 --> 01:43:28.939
Um, so you're right.
2188
01:43:29.039 --> 01:43:30.340
It is going to be, it is going to be
2189
01:43:30.359 --> 01:43:33.470
fun to, to play another group of, kids from, from
2190
01:43:33.529 --> 01:43:36.649
our County that we don't match up with regularly.
2191
01:43:36.670 --> 01:43:40.640
And, you know, I'm, I'm just, it's just coming to
2192
01:43:40.680 --> 01:43:42.819
my head right now. I don't know if Seaholmes played
2193
01:43:42.859 --> 01:43:45.260
a game on natural grass this season to this point.
2194
01:43:45.279 --> 01:43:46.060
Oh, that's wild.
2195
01:43:46.079 --> 01:43:50.180
And so I, cause they, they, they hosted Linden. I
2196
01:43:50.220 --> 01:43:54.439
don't think they've played Burlington yet. It's not, I just can't,
2197
01:43:54.460 --> 01:43:56.720
it's not my Rolodex right now in my head. So
2198
01:43:56.770 --> 01:43:58.619
I don't know if they've actually played a game on
2199
01:43:58.659 --> 01:44:01.579
natural grass. So do you, is there anything that you
2200
01:44:01.619 --> 01:44:05.399
can think of, of like, you know, Hey, they, you know, they're, they,
2201
01:44:05.600 --> 01:44:07.859
they might not ever practice on this. There's, are there
2202
01:44:07.899 --> 01:44:10.579
things you can take advantage of there? Or is it just, Hey,
2203
01:44:10.619 --> 01:44:11.899
you just, you know, we just got to go out
2204
01:44:11.920 --> 01:44:12.539
and play football.
2205
01:44:13.140 --> 01:44:15.119
Yeah, I think you just have to go out and play.
2206
01:44:15.260 --> 01:44:17.359
I mean, if the weather were going to be bad,
2207
01:44:17.479 --> 01:44:20.810
I don't think it's supposed to be. Maybe there might
2208
01:44:20.859 --> 01:44:24.350
be something to that, but that's not something that.
2209
01:44:24.449 --> 01:44:25.750
We've got enough to worry about, right?
2210
01:44:25.770 --> 01:44:29.050
Try to slow them down and block those guys than
2211
01:44:29.350 --> 01:44:31.409
thinking about whether or not they're going to have solid
2212
01:44:31.430 --> 01:44:34.050
footing or be worried about playing a Whatcom County on
2213
01:44:34.090 --> 01:44:34.649
a grass field.
2214
01:44:35.300 --> 01:44:38.699
Yeah, I mean, if you look at Sion from week
2215
01:44:38.880 --> 01:44:40.840
one to last week, I feel like there's been a
2216
01:44:40.899 --> 01:44:44.939
lot of improvement. They're a team that's kind of started
2217
01:44:44.979 --> 01:44:48.079
to build their identity with their running game. You've played
2218
01:44:48.140 --> 01:44:51.590
some really run-heavy teams so far, so at least you've
2219
01:44:51.619 --> 01:44:53.550
kind of seen that a little bit, and you've had
2220
01:44:53.630 --> 01:44:59.630
success against these teams. I mean, I know that Onalaska
2221
01:44:59.710 --> 01:45:03.270
is a different kind of running team, and Colville is
2222
01:45:03.310 --> 01:45:05.859
a different kind of running team, uh, you know, see
2223
01:45:05.920 --> 01:45:09.560
him as more just double tight, a single backfield and
2224
01:45:09.600 --> 01:45:12.079
just give the ball to him 30 times. Is there
2225
01:45:12.159 --> 01:45:14.819
anything that you could be like, Hey, this worked against
2226
01:45:15.000 --> 01:45:17.039
on Alaska. We could try that here. Or is it
2227
01:45:17.100 --> 01:45:18.560
completely different because of the styles?
2228
01:45:19.039 --> 01:45:20.060
Yeah, it's, it's different.
2229
01:45:20.140 --> 01:45:23.020
It's, it's more similar, I guess, to, to trying to
2230
01:45:23.050 --> 01:45:25.390
match up with, with Lynn and Christian and just the,
2231
01:45:25.510 --> 01:45:27.930
the sets that they run and the blocking schemes they
2232
01:45:27.970 --> 01:45:30.850
run and the way that, you know, They're going to
2233
01:45:30.880 --> 01:45:33.979
try to keep it between the tackles. There's some similarity
2234
01:45:34.020 --> 01:45:36.779
in style there for sure. And yeah, we like to
2235
01:45:36.819 --> 01:45:40.079
think that we've learned about our team and about what
2236
01:45:40.119 --> 01:45:43.180
we need to do differently as coaches to prepare our
2237
01:45:43.220 --> 01:45:45.300
team to be able to defend a team that's going
2238
01:45:45.319 --> 01:45:48.579
to come downhill at you like that. So yeah, there
2239
01:45:48.619 --> 01:45:52.020
are some things that are in our recent history that
2240
01:45:52.060 --> 01:45:55.029
we're hoping have informed the way that we're going to
2241
01:45:55.529 --> 01:45:56.649
be able to defend these guys.
2242
01:45:57.390 --> 01:45:57.949
Absolutely.
2243
01:45:58.010 --> 01:46:00.539
Best of luck Friday against Seaholm. Thank you so much
2244
01:46:00.579 --> 01:46:02.989
for joining me today on the Gatorade Game Day Podcast, Coach.
2245
01:46:03.010 --> 01:46:03.329
Good luck.
2246
01:46:04.109 --> 01:46:05.569
Thank you, Tyler. Always a pleasure.
2247
01:46:06.810 --> 01:46:10.010
And then finally, the Squalicum Storm will be hosting the
2248
01:46:10.130 --> 01:46:14.899
Lakewood Cougars. Squalicum, you know, they came off a four-game
2249
01:46:14.920 --> 01:46:17.699
losing streak and defeated Sultan last week on the road.
2250
01:46:18.140 --> 01:46:23.520
Game-winning field goal by Elias Laranaga and... You know, and
2251
01:46:23.619 --> 01:46:25.460
one thing I would like to mention, too, is the
2252
01:46:25.520 --> 01:46:30.619
long snapper for Squalicum. He shoots missiles back there. I
2253
01:46:30.640 --> 01:46:33.430
don't know if I've seen a better long snapper in
2254
01:46:33.470 --> 01:46:38.189
Whatcom County history. You know, Jake Mason was very, very good.
2255
01:46:38.970 --> 01:46:42.050
Randy Fleming going back to the 90s was very, very good.
2256
01:46:42.569 --> 01:46:46.029
There's been a few that have been just really accurate
2257
01:46:46.050 --> 01:46:48.430
and on the money every single time. But I don't
2258
01:46:48.470 --> 01:46:51.789
like if you're taking a stopwatch out and clocking it.
2259
01:46:52.180 --> 01:46:54.619
I don't know if anyone's doing what Eli Chavez is
2260
01:46:54.659 --> 01:46:59.319
doing at Squalicum. He will definitely go play somewhere high
2261
01:46:59.399 --> 01:47:02.680
level as a long snapper, which is not the most
2262
01:47:02.779 --> 01:47:06.060
glorious position, but he is really taken to it. And
2263
01:47:06.460 --> 01:47:09.199
it really helps that special teams going and a big
2264
01:47:09.260 --> 01:47:12.020
reason why Laranaga is able to get off these kicks.
2265
01:47:12.079 --> 01:47:13.579
And like I said, he got off the game winning
2266
01:47:13.619 --> 01:47:16.800
kick against Sultan. And this is a part of their
2267
01:47:16.880 --> 01:47:19.039
schedule now where it will start to calm down a
2268
01:47:19.060 --> 01:47:22.020
little bit as Squalicum will take on the Cougars. And
2269
01:47:22.119 --> 01:47:23.939
I think the storm is, you know, they're going to
2270
01:47:23.960 --> 01:47:26.720
be heavily ranked in this one. Um, it's going to
2271
01:47:26.739 --> 01:47:29.539
be back at civic stadium. I, I really feel like,
2272
01:47:29.560 --> 01:47:33.220
you know, after getting that win against Sultan, that fifth
2273
01:47:33.260 --> 01:47:36.770
spot is theirs to hold on to right now. And, um,
2274
01:47:36.810 --> 01:47:39.909
they kind of have the advantage over other teams for that,
2275
01:47:39.989 --> 01:47:43.810
for that spot. And, um, this is one where you
2276
01:47:43.829 --> 01:47:46.569
get another win here and even, it makes it even
2277
01:47:46.750 --> 01:47:49.520
easier for you to claim that fifth postseason spot and,
2278
01:47:50.010 --> 01:47:53.069
I really feel like the storm has what it takes
2279
01:47:53.109 --> 01:47:55.689
to do that. And, you know, the run game has
2280
01:47:56.029 --> 01:47:59.600
been great. We saw Phoenix Price with that big pass
2281
01:47:59.640 --> 01:48:04.159
to Mason Sone late against Squalicum, which enabled the kick,
2282
01:48:04.199 --> 01:48:08.300
the game-winning field goal there. And Tucker Hofstede, I mean,
2283
01:48:08.319 --> 01:48:11.520
we've seen what he does as a running back, just
2284
01:48:11.590 --> 01:48:14.029
a sophomore, but what he's doing on the defensive line
2285
01:48:14.130 --> 01:48:17.289
as of late has really, really stood out. Just super
2286
01:48:17.510 --> 01:48:20.680
active makes tons of plays, makes a lot of them
2287
01:48:20.699 --> 01:48:23.539
behind the line of scrimmage. And so I'm really loving
2288
01:48:23.600 --> 01:48:27.680
what the Storm are doing right now. And it's going
2289
01:48:27.699 --> 01:48:30.399
to be interesting because Lakewood loves to pass the ball.
2290
01:48:30.500 --> 01:48:33.569
So it's going to be about the secondary, you know,
2291
01:48:33.630 --> 01:48:39.470
Wilsoni and Hoffman and those guys be able to stay
2292
01:48:39.510 --> 01:48:42.810
in coverage long enough and you got to spy that quarterback.
2293
01:48:42.890 --> 01:48:44.909
So I don't know if that'll be Noah Gilbert or
2294
01:48:44.949 --> 01:48:47.539
Brock Scammell. Someone's going to have to keep an eye
2295
01:48:47.600 --> 01:48:50.140
on that quarterback because he will take off and run
2296
01:48:50.260 --> 01:48:52.600
quite a bit. So you got to be leery of
2297
01:48:52.800 --> 01:48:56.100
all that stuff. And then, you know, offensively, I think
2298
01:48:56.119 --> 01:48:58.100
you just keep pounding the ball and that's going to
2299
01:48:58.149 --> 01:49:01.829
be a big thing for the storm going forward. Well,
2300
01:49:01.869 --> 01:49:04.130
that wraps up all the games that are coming up
2301
01:49:04.250 --> 01:49:07.100
on Friday night. Be sure to check out the Wacom
2302
01:49:07.119 --> 01:49:10.960
preps YouTube page for Gatorade game day live. We'll bring
2303
01:49:10.979 --> 01:49:14.020
you all the action of all eight games, updated scores
2304
01:49:14.100 --> 01:49:17.399
to the second of everything going on. We'll show you
2305
01:49:17.439 --> 01:49:21.510
highlights of plays as soon as they happen. Um, we'll
2306
01:49:21.550 --> 01:49:23.550
be able to go live to a few games. I
2307
01:49:23.590 --> 01:49:26.529
believe the, um, Lyndon Christian Nooksack game will be able
2308
01:49:26.550 --> 01:49:28.409
to go live. Bellingham and a Cordis will be able
2309
01:49:28.430 --> 01:49:31.069
to go live. Burlington Edison at Lyndon will be able
2310
01:49:31.090 --> 01:49:34.529
to go live. So really excited about all those things. And, uh,
2311
01:49:35.100 --> 01:49:37.989
It's going to make for a very busy Friday night,
2312
01:49:38.029 --> 01:49:41.649
so hopefully everybody tunes in when they're able to, and
2313
01:49:41.689 --> 01:49:43.810
we'll be able to catch you then. Until then, this
2314
01:49:43.829 --> 01:49:47.399
has been Episode 457, the Week 7 Gatorade Game Day
2315
01:49:47.420 --> 01:49:50.699
Football Preview. I am Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps, and
2316
01:49:50.739 --> 01:49:51.850
I'll talk to you next week.