December 19, 2024 • 23 mins
My fellow Collins Hill alum Travis Hunter wins a Heisman. My hometown North Oconee Titans win State.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey all, welcome into Go Fight Win, the show with
all the high school football stories you love. This is
the final episode of the twenty twenty four season. As
state championships come to a close, so does Go Fight Win.
And I'm happy to say I got a couple great
local personal stories on this week's episode and a little
bit of shenanigans as well outside of my jurisdiction up
(00:23):
in Connecticut. But it will all combine for a wonderful
season finale here on the second season of Go Fight Win.
Travis Hunter, Colins Hill Great winning the Heisman, North of
Cony Titans winning their first state championship down the road
for me, got to shout them out. And an illegal
substitution that I've never seen anything like. Seems like something
(00:45):
you'd write into a Friday Night Lights script if you
were to do that. It's all coming up on Go
Fight Win. Hoistat trophy if you got it, if you
get the bottle of Donnie Tugs and let that pudget on. Well.
(01:07):
I want to shout out Coach Dooley's list one final
time this year. If you have not heard about Coach
Dooley's list, here's your chance. Coach Billy Dooley was one
of my high school football coaches when I played at
Collins Hill High School, and he went on to great
things in the realm of coaching coach football, coach baseball,
(01:28):
coach softball, and now he is launching his own site
that is similar to Angie's List if you know about that,
but it's specifically for high school athletics and Coach Doulie's
got a great list together, a great network of vendors
and companies that you can trust. If you listen to
the show and you run any aspect of a high
(01:50):
school athletics program, then you want to check out Coach
Dooley'slist dot com. It will show you where to get
the best mouthpieces, where to get the best shoelaces, where
to get the best signs for your seniors for that
senior Day celebration, whatever you need. You know how many
odds and ends it takes to launch a successful campaign,
(02:10):
whether it's a season or an entire year of high
school sports, and it never stops just because school is out,
just because it's win or break, just because it's summer break,
doesn't mean that you have to stop thinking about your team.
So check out Coach dooley'slist dot com to fill all
those buckets, all the things you need. Maybe you need
literal buckets. I don't know. I mean, we used to
(02:32):
have a drill where we'd fill up a bucket with concrete,
put some PVC pipe in it, and try to catch
footballs with our hands around that pipe and the pipe
between the hands and the body so you can't catch
a ball with your chest. I mean, there are all
kinds of little things that you need to make your
team successful and win state or maybe have a player
(02:54):
that goes on to win the Heisman Trophy one day,
as I'm about to talk about here in a moment,
So check out Coach Dooley's dot com. There's a link
in the show description if you need it. All right,
I just mentioned I went to Collins Hill High School,
Taylor Road, Swanee, Georgia, suburb of Atlanta. Well, I was
(03:16):
very proud a few years ago when my Eagles brought
home a state championship, their first ever. And on that
team was a young man by the name of Travis Hunter.
And Travis Hunter was special man. He was the kind
of guy that when you watched him, you knew he'll
(03:37):
be a difference maker at the college level. That's kind
of the bar, right. If you can watch a player
take over a high school football game in every phase
of the game, offense, defense, special teams, more than likely
they're going to be a difference maker at the college level.
Doesn't mean they'll be elite in college, but it means
they'll be able to hold their own means they got
(03:58):
a good floor. I was Hunter not only had a
good floor, he had a good ceiling. He had good walls,
he had good doors, good windows, good shingles on the roof.
He had it all man and you could tell when
you watched him. But he had a circuitous route in college,
went to Jackson State, surprised everybody went with coach Prime,
(04:22):
and then followed coach Prime to Colorado and what you
saw out of Travis Hunter in high school now, lo,
this is a high school football show. I won't dive
too deep into the college football aspect of Travis Hunter's game.
And there's a lot of debate. There was some talented
guys in New York could have gone to any of them,
(04:43):
but the fact that it went to Travis Hunter, who
I'm very proud to call a fellow collins Hill Eagle
was pretty special and I got to shout him out
this week, So way to go, Travis Hunter. Happy for him.
Lenny Gregory was his head coach at collins Hill, went
(05:04):
he won state, actually played him back to back state
championship games, but one state in the twenty one season,
and his defensive coordinator that year was Drew Swick. And
Drew and I played high school football together, and Drew
was a much better athlete than me. I went on
to play college ball at Presbyterian, hottest place I've ever
(05:25):
been in my life, Presbyterian College in South Carolina. But
Drew is a great leader, always has been, always done
things the right way, and it seems like Travis Hunter
learned a lot from Coach Swick. Proud of both of
those guys. Man, amazing, amazing accomplishment on the resume of
(05:50):
coach Gregory, certainly as the head coach during that time.
Certainly for Coach Swick, he's my guy. I mean, i'd
call him, I'd called him Drew if I was sitting
in the same room with him. Maybe I need to
call him up. But he's coach. Once you get the
title of coach, it's kind of like Reverend in the South.
(06:12):
If you're not calling someone coach this borderline disrespectful. So
congrats coach Swick. Congrats to Travis Hunter. Very proud to
watch really the transformation of Collins Hill football during his
time there, watch him win a state championship. And he
is now the second ever Heisman Trophy winner in Gwinnett
(06:37):
County history. Anyone know who the first was. It's been
a minute, It's been a while. George Rogers, George Rogers
forty four years, forty four year drought for Gwinnette County.
And that's actually kind of crazy because of all the
talent that comes out of Gwinnette. But Hunter breaks the drought.
(07:01):
George Rogers won the Heisman playing for Sacrolina and way
back in the day playing his high school football and
Guennette for Duluth. And if you know anything about Gwennette
County football, that's surprising in and of itself that a
Duluth a lum hoisted the Heisman. But Travis Hunter is
(07:24):
special and he will go on to a remarkable NFL career.
I have no doubt about that man. Five hundred and
fifty two first place votes. Runner up Ashton Genti of
Boise State at three hundred and nine. And my favorite
part about Travis's speech you might be able to guess,
(07:47):
is when he shouted out Colins Hill all, my Collins
Hill homies, coaches, teachers. I thank y'all. Y'all shine a
light on me and gave me everything I wanted and needed.
He went to Colin Hill, but he is majoring in football,
studying up on football. Student of the game, has a
(08:08):
fire that you can't put out. He's always moving, always dancing,
always creating stuff, creating content. I mean, he's the quintessential
twenty first century football stud Congrats Travis state champ as
a senior at Collins Hill, Heisman Trophy winner, number one
(08:29):
recruit overall, and the people who called him that knew
what they were talking about because he cashed in on
it all right. Speaking of state championships, first time state championships.
Right up the road my second school. I didn't go
to North o'conney High School, but I'm in honorary Titan
(08:52):
titaning spirit as of today. If oconey doesn't expand anymore,
that's where my kids will probably go to school. But
you never know what could happen. There's a lot of
people moving out here. But North o'conney made history as
the Titans win state. They beat Mariast fourteen to seven.
Coach Alan Chadwick a legend in Georgia high school football.
(09:16):
But the Titans had their night and head coach Tyler
Aren't gets it done. Fourteen to seven final at state.
Something really satisfying about that. A battle Mayrist running that
triple option. Oh h. Coach Sean McVay a product of
(09:38):
that system, product of coach Alan Chadwick's Maris system, and
the Mayrist you know they got a pretty good legacy too.
But North o'conny is starting theirs up. Harrison Faulkner, the
son of Buster Faulkner, the quarterback. There some talent on
the field. Land En rolled in. You're going to see
(10:00):
him at Georgia. Camari Brooks, who won a basketball state
title less than a year ago. Two way guy. I
don't know where he'll play college ball yet, but he
is a special game record and it's always cool to
see a program win its first state championship. So many
(10:23):
guys just working to define a legacy of what it
means to play at a certain high school, and schools
like Marist year after a year, they've cemented it right.
They've carved a deep groove in that record of Georgia
(10:43):
High School vinyl, and it's a sweet song. It's a
sweet song to win it once, but it's even sweeter
when you do it for the first time and you
feel like you've got a dynasty going. And let me
tell you, man, there's a lot of competition, a lot
of athletes out here in this part of the state
eight and it reminds me of growing up in Gwinnett.
(11:05):
People take it seriously. Some of them too seriously, but
I think they know how to have fun too. My guy,
David Pollock coaching on the staff, lives right up the
road for me. Really respect him and the passion that
he brings. I mean, he and Travis Hunter are cut
from the same cloth. He's not out here doing TikTok
(11:26):
dances or anything. But if you know anything about his
college football career, you know he never slowed down either.
And he's the same exact way as a coach. His son,
Nicholas is on the team. He's gonna be special. He's
young right now, he's young pup, but just so many
special things to consider. With North o'coney. And look, this
(11:48):
is a biased episode. It's all about me, but you
know what, it's the final episode of the year and
I can do that if I want to. So thanks
for sticking with me. And if you're a North o'conny Titan,
then congratulations to you. Coach Aren't said. It took everything
we had, took every bit of everything we pushed for
all season, took every ounce of energy. We knew it
(12:09):
was going to be a forty eight minute game. They're
just a good football team. We knew it was going
to come down to the inn. And our kids they
dug deep right there at the end, like they have
so many times, that were able to take a knee
and run that sucker out. And the thing about North
Ofcony kind of similar to the player dynamic that I
mentioned earlier about Travis. You saw that he could dominate
(12:34):
game in and game out. Well, North of'cony dominated pretty
much everyone it played all year, so you thought they
had the stuff to at least make it the state.
But what would happen when they went up against somebody
else in that class, somebody else that could bring it
to him for forty eight minutes and stick it in
their face mask. How would they hold up? Would the
(12:56):
lights be too bright at Mercedes been Stadium at moments?
Maybe it was but for a defense to shut down
that triple option in high school. Man, that's really satisfying.
And those guys are never gonna forget it. They'll never
ever forget it. It's that cliche that you hear so
(13:21):
many guys talk about that make it big in college,
make it in the pros. Everything they do after high
school is great, but you remember the things you did
in high school the most. You remember the guys in
the locker room the most, whether they go D one,
D two or go to LinkedIn, go to college and
(13:46):
just get quote unquote regular jobs. It's like destiny. It
brings you all together for a reason. And the North
o'cony Titans got it done. Way to go North o'coney.
As of right now, I am one of your biggest fans.
(14:08):
We'll see what happens if they build another high school
and my kids go somewhere else. But as of right now,
in twenty twenty four, the Titans are my guys. The
Titans are my dogs. I love it. The Titans, by
the way, do something unique North o'coney is the abbreviation no.
(14:35):
But they have a T on the helmet for Titans.
You don't normally see the school put the first letter
of the mascot name on the side of the helmet.
That's unique. And when we moved out here, I didn't
really like it that much. I thought it was kind
of weird. But I'll admit it's growing on me. That
(14:59):
red tea kind of looks like a sword on the
white helmet. They got the black jersey, the black pants.
I mean, who cares what they're wearing now. They're wearing
state rings now or whenever they get them in the mail.
(15:21):
So the Titans get it done. Travis gets some hardware.
Both of my teams give me a little high school
football juice going into the holiday season. Here. That's a
special feeling. It's like wearing a warm blanket at all times.
It is so nice. I'm on cloud nine, all right.
(15:43):
Someone who's not on cloud nine up in Connecticut. This
is from the CT Insider Connecticut Insider. Here's the headline.
CIAC rules sideline trickery by Darien in football playoff final
against New Canaan was illegal, and I believe Darien is
(16:08):
the name of the high school. I don't think it's
the name of an individual. I don't think they're just
singling out a guy named Darien. Yeah, Darian High School. Yead.
All right, here we go. What would the one hundredth
meeting between New Canaan and Darien football be without some controversy?
(16:30):
Scott Erickson Wrights. When Darien wide receiver Thomas Herget her Gay,
maybe the T is silent, maybe the H is silent.
Thomas Ergay, Thomas Ergot. There's really a lot of different
ways you could go with that. When Darien wide receiver
(16:52):
Thomas herget was all alone ten yards behind the New
Canaan defense catching a game tying touchdown pass and the
third quarter of the Class L championship game. Yes, some
states will do the letters, and some will do the numbers,
or they'll just stack up a bunch of a's, But
(17:13):
apparently up there in Connecticut they're going with the letters.
The NFHS broadcaster proclaimed it was a blown coverage by
New Canaan. Upon further review, the play Hrget got so
open on was not a blown coverage, but rather an
illegal substitution using deception and should not have counted according
(17:35):
to the CIAC in the state rules interpreter. They even
got a state rules interpreter up there. I wonder how
much that gig pays. How complicated are your rules that
you need an interpreter? I mean, what is happening in
the rule book where you need to designate somebody to
(17:57):
be on the salary to break down what the rules
even mean. In a statement issued Monday night, the CIAC stated,
in the third quarter of the CIAC Class L State
Championship football game, Darien ran in offensive play. Also in
offensive play because it offended Nu Canaan against New Canaan
(18:22):
that should have resulted in a penalty. The NFHS substitution
rules require standards and judgment regarding this situation. Blah blah blah. However,
the officials did not see herget run on the field
late and could do nothing about the play after it happened,
despite vehement protests from New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli
(18:47):
of course he's from Connecticut, and defensive coordinator Chris Silvestri.
I got a link to the play in the show
description here, and here's what happens. Darien breaks the huddle
with ten players in a tight formation prior to the snap.
(19:09):
Herget can be seen on video standing out of bounds
behind and then next to a coach. So there's the
deception that they refer to that is not something you're
supposed to do. So you can see him. He's on
(19:30):
the sideline, just hanging out with the coach. Well, they
break the huddle and then Hrget runs onto the field
and then he is wide open because no one on
the defense accounted for him, and he goes and ties
the ballgame. Now another thing to look at here, Tommy
(19:55):
Hrget almost falls victim to the dropping the football before
you cross the goal line disease that is plaguing so
many football players. Even in the NFL. Quarterback Ben roll
App hit Herget for a sixty five yeard score. I
(20:15):
don't believe in karma, but I do believe in justice,
and it looks like justice prevailed because New Canaan won
state thirty five twenty one, So seven of the points
there for Darien shouldn't have even counted, so it really
wasn't that close. But yeah, not a good look. Not
(20:41):
a good look. Marion Ellie said, we knew it was illegal.
Tried to talk to the official and they said the
call stands. I could go on and on about officiating
problems in college football, high school football, pro football. It's
a problem, but obviously, thankfully for New Canaan, it doesn't
(21:06):
end up hurting the Canaanites. I don't think that's actually
their mascot, but that's what I'm calling them. So way
to go New Canaan. You outlast, overcome the trickery, the deception.
If you're gonna trick a team, out do it the
right way. That just tells me right there, you don't
(21:29):
feel like you have the right stuff, tells me you
don't really. It tells your players you don't believe in them,
that you got to pull some dirty stuff like that.
But New Canaan wins and Darien keep working, keep working
hard on it. Not hating on you, Darien. If you
(21:50):
made it to state and was it even state, Yeah,
Class Al championship, you made it a state. Get there
the right way and play the right way the next
time you get there. Appreciate y'all listening to go fight.
Win each of the last two seasons. I hope that
(22:13):
each and every episode gives you joy and warmth this
holiday season. Go back and listen to them. If you're
having some high school football withdrawals, keep working towards the
state championship day by day. State championships in December are
one in the previous December West Blankenship. You can quote
(22:37):
me on that. Best to luck this offseason. Go play
some other sports too, Be well rounded, keep working. Maybe
you don't win the Heisman, maybe you don't win state,
but you'll never lose with the memories that you have
with all those guys on your team. And I mean
that if you're a coach, if you're a player, if
(23:00):
you're playing other sports. Thank y'all for joining me on
this journey this year. God bless Talk to you soon.
Hey all, welcome into Go Fight Win, the show with
all the high school football stories you love. This is
the final episode of the twenty twenty four season. As
state championships come to a close, so does Go Fight Win.
And I'm happy to say I got a couple great
local personal stories on this week's episode and a little
bit of shenanigans as well outside of my jurisdiction up
(00:23):
in Connecticut. But it will all combine for a wonderful
season finale here on the second season of Go Fight Win.
Travis Hunter, Colins Hill Great winning the Heisman, North of
Cony Titans winning their first state championship down the road
for me, got to shout them out. And an illegal
substitution that I've never seen anything like. Seems like something
(00:45):
you'd write into a Friday Night Lights script if you
were to do that. It's all coming up on Go
Fight Win. Hoistat trophy if you got it, if you
get the bottle of Donnie Tugs and let that pudget on. Well.
(01:07):
I want to shout out Coach Dooley's list one final
time this year. If you have not heard about Coach
Dooley's list, here's your chance. Coach Billy Dooley was one
of my high school football coaches when I played at
Collins Hill High School, and he went on to great
things in the realm of coaching coach football, coach baseball,
(01:28):
coach softball, and now he is launching his own site
that is similar to Angie's List if you know about that,
but it's specifically for high school athletics and Coach Doulie's
got a great list together, a great network of vendors
and companies that you can trust. If you listen to
the show and you run any aspect of a high
(01:50):
school athletics program, then you want to check out Coach
Dooley'slist dot com. It will show you where to get
the best mouthpieces, where to get the best shoelaces, where
to get the best signs for your seniors for that
senior Day celebration, whatever you need. You know how many
odds and ends it takes to launch a successful campaign,
(02:10):
whether it's a season or an entire year of high
school sports, and it never stops just because school is out,
just because it's win or break, just because it's summer break,
doesn't mean that you have to stop thinking about your team.
So check out Coach dooley'slist dot com to fill all
those buckets, all the things you need. Maybe you need
literal buckets. I don't know. I mean, we used to
(02:32):
have a drill where we'd fill up a bucket with concrete,
put some PVC pipe in it, and try to catch
footballs with our hands around that pipe and the pipe
between the hands and the body so you can't catch
a ball with your chest. I mean, there are all
kinds of little things that you need to make your
team successful and win state or maybe have a player
(02:54):
that goes on to win the Heisman Trophy one day,
as I'm about to talk about here in a moment,
So check out Coach Dooley's dot com. There's a link
in the show description if you need it. All right,
I just mentioned I went to Collins Hill High School,
Taylor Road, Swanee, Georgia, suburb of Atlanta. Well, I was
(03:16):
very proud a few years ago when my Eagles brought
home a state championship, their first ever. And on that
team was a young man by the name of Travis Hunter.
And Travis Hunter was special man. He was the kind
of guy that when you watched him, you knew he'll
(03:37):
be a difference maker at the college level. That's kind
of the bar, right. If you can watch a player
take over a high school football game in every phase
of the game, offense, defense, special teams, more than likely
they're going to be a difference maker at the college level.
Doesn't mean they'll be elite in college, but it means
they'll be able to hold their own means they got
(03:58):
a good floor. I was Hunter not only had a
good floor, he had a good ceiling. He had good walls,
he had good doors, good windows, good shingles on the roof.
He had it all man and you could tell when
you watched him. But he had a circuitous route in college,
went to Jackson State, surprised everybody went with coach Prime,
(04:22):
and then followed coach Prime to Colorado and what you
saw out of Travis Hunter in high school now, lo,
this is a high school football show. I won't dive
too deep into the college football aspect of Travis Hunter's game.
And there's a lot of debate. There was some talented
guys in New York could have gone to any of them,
(04:43):
but the fact that it went to Travis Hunter, who
I'm very proud to call a fellow collins Hill Eagle
was pretty special and I got to shout him out
this week, So way to go, Travis Hunter. Happy for him.
Lenny Gregory was his head coach at collins Hill, went
(05:04):
he won state, actually played him back to back state
championship games, but one state in the twenty one season,
and his defensive coordinator that year was Drew Swick. And
Drew and I played high school football together, and Drew
was a much better athlete than me. I went on
to play college ball at Presbyterian, hottest place I've ever
(05:25):
been in my life, Presbyterian College in South Carolina. But
Drew is a great leader, always has been, always done
things the right way, and it seems like Travis Hunter
learned a lot from Coach Swick. Proud of both of
those guys. Man, amazing, amazing accomplishment on the resume of
(05:50):
coach Gregory, certainly as the head coach during that time.
Certainly for Coach Swick, he's my guy. I mean, i'd
call him, I'd called him Drew if I was sitting
in the same room with him. Maybe I need to
call him up. But he's coach. Once you get the
title of coach, it's kind of like Reverend in the South.
(06:12):
If you're not calling someone coach this borderline disrespectful. So
congrats coach Swick. Congrats to Travis Hunter. Very proud to
watch really the transformation of Collins Hill football during his
time there, watch him win a state championship. And he
is now the second ever Heisman Trophy winner in Gwinnett
(06:37):
County history. Anyone know who the first was. It's been
a minute, It's been a while. George Rogers, George Rogers
forty four years, forty four year drought for Gwinnette County.
And that's actually kind of crazy because of all the
talent that comes out of Gwinnette. But Hunter breaks the drought.
(07:01):
George Rogers won the Heisman playing for Sacrolina and way
back in the day playing his high school football and
Guennette for Duluth. And if you know anything about Gwennette
County football, that's surprising in and of itself that a
Duluth a lum hoisted the Heisman. But Travis Hunter is
(07:24):
special and he will go on to a remarkable NFL career.
I have no doubt about that man. Five hundred and
fifty two first place votes. Runner up Ashton Genti of
Boise State at three hundred and nine. And my favorite
part about Travis's speech you might be able to guess,
(07:47):
is when he shouted out Colins Hill all, my Collins
Hill homies, coaches, teachers. I thank y'all. Y'all shine a
light on me and gave me everything I wanted and needed.
He went to Colin Hill, but he is majoring in football,
studying up on football. Student of the game, has a
(08:08):
fire that you can't put out. He's always moving, always dancing,
always creating stuff, creating content. I mean, he's the quintessential
twenty first century football stud Congrats Travis state champ as
a senior at Collins Hill, Heisman Trophy winner, number one
(08:29):
recruit overall, and the people who called him that knew
what they were talking about because he cashed in on
it all right. Speaking of state championships, first time state championships.
Right up the road my second school. I didn't go
to North o'conney High School, but I'm in honorary Titan
(08:52):
titaning spirit as of today. If oconey doesn't expand anymore,
that's where my kids will probably go to school. But
you never know what could happen. There's a lot of
people moving out here. But North o'conney made history as
the Titans win state. They beat Mariast fourteen to seven.
Coach Alan Chadwick a legend in Georgia high school football.
(09:16):
But the Titans had their night and head coach Tyler
Aren't gets it done. Fourteen to seven final at state.
Something really satisfying about that. A battle Mayrist running that
triple option. Oh h. Coach Sean McVay a product of
(09:38):
that system, product of coach Alan Chadwick's Maris system, and
the Mayrist you know they got a pretty good legacy too.
But North o'conny is starting theirs up. Harrison Faulkner, the
son of Buster Faulkner, the quarterback. There some talent on
the field. Land En rolled in. You're going to see
(10:00):
him at Georgia. Camari Brooks, who won a basketball state
title less than a year ago. Two way guy. I
don't know where he'll play college ball yet, but he
is a special game record and it's always cool to
see a program win its first state championship. So many
(10:23):
guys just working to define a legacy of what it
means to play at a certain high school, and schools
like Marist year after a year, they've cemented it right.
They've carved a deep groove in that record of Georgia
(10:43):
High School vinyl, and it's a sweet song. It's a
sweet song to win it once, but it's even sweeter
when you do it for the first time and you
feel like you've got a dynasty going. And let me
tell you, man, there's a lot of competition, a lot
of athletes out here in this part of the state
eight and it reminds me of growing up in Gwinnett.
(11:05):
People take it seriously. Some of them too seriously, but
I think they know how to have fun too. My guy,
David Pollock coaching on the staff, lives right up the
road for me. Really respect him and the passion that
he brings. I mean, he and Travis Hunter are cut
from the same cloth. He's not out here doing TikTok
(11:26):
dances or anything. But if you know anything about his
college football career, you know he never slowed down either.
And he's the same exact way as a coach. His son,
Nicholas is on the team. He's gonna be special. He's
young right now, he's young pup, but just so many
special things to consider. With North o'coney. And look, this
(11:48):
is a biased episode. It's all about me, but you
know what, it's the final episode of the year and
I can do that if I want to. So thanks
for sticking with me. And if you're a North o'conny Titan,
then congratulations to you. Coach Aren't said. It took everything
we had, took every bit of everything we pushed for
all season, took every ounce of energy. We knew it
(12:09):
was going to be a forty eight minute game. They're
just a good football team. We knew it was going
to come down to the inn. And our kids they
dug deep right there at the end, like they have
so many times, that were able to take a knee
and run that sucker out. And the thing about North
Ofcony kind of similar to the player dynamic that I
mentioned earlier about Travis. You saw that he could dominate
(12:34):
game in and game out. Well, North of'cony dominated pretty
much everyone it played all year, so you thought they
had the stuff to at least make it the state.
But what would happen when they went up against somebody
else in that class, somebody else that could bring it
to him for forty eight minutes and stick it in
their face mask. How would they hold up? Would the
(12:56):
lights be too bright at Mercedes been Stadium at moments?
Maybe it was but for a defense to shut down
that triple option in high school. Man, that's really satisfying.
And those guys are never gonna forget it. They'll never
ever forget it. It's that cliche that you hear so
(13:21):
many guys talk about that make it big in college,
make it in the pros. Everything they do after high
school is great, but you remember the things you did
in high school the most. You remember the guys in
the locker room the most, whether they go D one,
D two or go to LinkedIn, go to college and
(13:46):
just get quote unquote regular jobs. It's like destiny. It
brings you all together for a reason. And the North
o'cony Titans got it done. Way to go North o'coney.
As of right now, I am one of your biggest fans.
(14:08):
We'll see what happens if they build another high school
and my kids go somewhere else. But as of right now,
in twenty twenty four, the Titans are my guys. The
Titans are my dogs. I love it. The Titans, by
the way, do something unique North o'coney is the abbreviation no.
(14:35):
But they have a T on the helmet for Titans.
You don't normally see the school put the first letter
of the mascot name on the side of the helmet.
That's unique. And when we moved out here, I didn't
really like it that much. I thought it was kind
of weird. But I'll admit it's growing on me. That
(14:59):
red tea kind of looks like a sword on the
white helmet. They got the black jersey, the black pants.
I mean, who cares what they're wearing now. They're wearing
state rings now or whenever they get them in the mail.
(15:21):
So the Titans get it done. Travis gets some hardware.
Both of my teams give me a little high school
football juice going into the holiday season. Here. That's a
special feeling. It's like wearing a warm blanket at all times.
It is so nice. I'm on cloud nine, all right.
(15:43):
Someone who's not on cloud nine up in Connecticut. This
is from the CT Insider Connecticut Insider. Here's the headline.
CIAC rules sideline trickery by Darien in football playoff final
against New Canaan was illegal, and I believe Darien is
(16:08):
the name of the high school. I don't think it's
the name of an individual. I don't think they're just
singling out a guy named Darien. Yeah, Darian High School. Yead.
All right, here we go. What would the one hundredth
meeting between New Canaan and Darien football be without some controversy?
(16:30):
Scott Erickson Wrights. When Darien wide receiver Thomas Herget her Gay,
maybe the T is silent, maybe the H is silent.
Thomas Ergay, Thomas Ergot. There's really a lot of different
ways you could go with that. When Darien wide receiver
(16:52):
Thomas herget was all alone ten yards behind the New
Canaan defense catching a game tying touchdown pass and the
third quarter of the Class L championship game. Yes, some
states will do the letters, and some will do the numbers,
or they'll just stack up a bunch of a's, But
(17:13):
apparently up there in Connecticut they're going with the letters.
The NFHS broadcaster proclaimed it was a blown coverage by
New Canaan. Upon further review, the play Hrget got so
open on was not a blown coverage, but rather an
illegal substitution using deception and should not have counted according
(17:35):
to the CIAC in the state rules interpreter. They even
got a state rules interpreter up there. I wonder how
much that gig pays. How complicated are your rules that
you need an interpreter? I mean, what is happening in
the rule book where you need to designate somebody to
(17:57):
be on the salary to break down what the rules
even mean. In a statement issued Monday night, the CIAC stated,
in the third quarter of the CIAC Class L State
Championship football game, Darien ran in offensive play. Also in
offensive play because it offended Nu Canaan against New Canaan
(18:22):
that should have resulted in a penalty. The NFHS substitution
rules require standards and judgment regarding this situation. Blah blah blah. However,
the officials did not see herget run on the field
late and could do nothing about the play after it happened,
despite vehement protests from New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli
(18:47):
of course he's from Connecticut, and defensive coordinator Chris Silvestri.
I got a link to the play in the show
description here, and here's what happens. Darien breaks the huddle
with ten players in a tight formation prior to the snap.
(19:09):
Herget can be seen on video standing out of bounds
behind and then next to a coach. So there's the
deception that they refer to that is not something you're
supposed to do. So you can see him. He's on
(19:30):
the sideline, just hanging out with the coach. Well, they
break the huddle and then Hrget runs onto the field
and then he is wide open because no one on
the defense accounted for him, and he goes and ties
the ballgame. Now another thing to look at here, Tommy
(19:55):
Hrget almost falls victim to the dropping the football before
you cross the goal line disease that is plaguing so
many football players. Even in the NFL. Quarterback Ben roll
App hit Herget for a sixty five yeard score. I
(20:15):
don't believe in karma, but I do believe in justice,
and it looks like justice prevailed because New Canaan won
state thirty five twenty one, So seven of the points
there for Darien shouldn't have even counted, so it really
wasn't that close. But yeah, not a good look. Not
(20:41):
a good look. Marion Ellie said, we knew it was illegal.
Tried to talk to the official and they said the
call stands. I could go on and on about officiating
problems in college football, high school football, pro football. It's
a problem, but obviously, thankfully for New Canaan, it doesn't
(21:06):
end up hurting the Canaanites. I don't think that's actually
their mascot, but that's what I'm calling them. So way
to go New Canaan. You outlast, overcome the trickery, the deception.
If you're gonna trick a team, out do it the
right way. That just tells me right there, you don't
(21:29):
feel like you have the right stuff, tells me you
don't really. It tells your players you don't believe in them,
that you got to pull some dirty stuff like that.
But New Canaan wins and Darien keep working, keep working
hard on it. Not hating on you, Darien. If you
(21:50):
made it to state and was it even state, Yeah,
Class Al championship, you made it a state. Get there
the right way and play the right way the next
time you get there. Appreciate y'all listening to go fight.
Win each of the last two seasons. I hope that
(22:13):
each and every episode gives you joy and warmth this
holiday season. Go back and listen to them. If you're
having some high school football withdrawals, keep working towards the
state championship day by day. State championships in December are
one in the previous December West Blankenship. You can quote
(22:37):
me on that. Best to luck this offseason. Go play
some other sports too, Be well rounded, keep working. Maybe
you don't win the Heisman, maybe you don't win state,
but you'll never lose with the memories that you have
with all those guys on your team. And I mean
that if you're a coach, if you're a player, if
(23:00):
you're playing other sports. Thank y'all for joining me on
this journey this year. God bless Talk to you soon.
Host
Wes Blankenship
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