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December 23, 2024 • 16 mins
Vandergrift High School Coach Drew Sanders joins the show to discuss winning their first UIL state title.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glad to have you with us here on this Monday
afternoon and closing in on Christmas. Hey, if you're a
fan of the Vandergriff Vipers, you know Christmas came a
little early, it can't It arrived on Saturday with a
twenty four to seventeen win in their win in the
six to eight Division two state championship, knocking off South

(00:20):
Lake Carol twenty four to seventeen, first ever state title
for Vandergriff. And we're very pleased to be joined by
the head coach of the Vipers, Drew Sanders, who joins
us on the hotline. Has anybody come down from Cloud
nine yet?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
No? No, we're gonna camp out there for a little bit. Sure.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, that's good. Hey tell me, I'm trying to remember.
I know you've had some great and you have through
obviously being the athletic coordinator and head coach, so much
connection with every facet of extracurricular activities there at Vandergriff.
I have a feeling, maybe marching band or something, that

(00:59):
there's some other state champions in some other areas of
extracurricular activities, aren't they There just hasn't been one in
football before that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, we won a soccer girls soccer state championship. We've
won multiple golf, golf, individual tennis. Yeah, but as far
as team sports, the only state championship in Vandergriff history
has been girls soccer. We played for it in a
couple other sports and then and football, you know, we
played for it in twenty two, right, Yeah, that's only want.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, the reason why I asked that is because folks
who have seen the school and the program grow under
your direction going all the way back to two thousand
and nine, they've seen these steps and I talked about
it in on our final High School Scoreboard Live show
yesterday about the incremental steps that your program has taken.

(01:50):
But the school overall and all within a great educational
school district in the Leander ISD. So, I mean, this
is a natural progression. But we all know how difficult
it is to win six high school football playoff games, right, So,
I mean, obviously this has been building for a while,
and it does require you and the coaching staff getting

(02:10):
the guys to maintain their belief you're in year out.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, I mean I think that that was something that
I said on the postgame interview and that I meant
was that, you know, it wasn't just this year's team
that got us there, you know, I mean it was
The cool thing is is I've been here for so long.
It's just it's just been a process, and every year
I felt like we've you know, taken some sort of
progress towards our ultimate goal from you know, sometimes making

(02:35):
the first team that made the playoffs, and the first
team to win a playoff game, and then the first
team to get to the semifinals. You know, all that
stuff all built to where we could handle big games
and actually think we could win a big game like that.
And and so that's what I said in my post game.
And I want to make sure all my past players
know is I've gotten all my texts from my past players.
I'm still going through, and each one of them, I

(02:57):
told them that, you know, we did that because of you,
you know, and that's that's why we were ready for
that moment.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, what did you.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Mentioned Dakota Proukop among others. I mean, you mentioned guys
go away, didn't you.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, you know, those guys popped in my head. You know,
I just I love all my guys, you know, you know,
how coaches are about their players. But you know, those
guys were two that were two of the original Vipers
that that believed in me and my vision for the
program when you know, really there's really no reason to
And so I'm always indebted to that first group that
that allowed me to to do our thing and believe

(03:29):
and and go win, you know.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
No doubt about it. Visiting with Drew Sanders, head coach
of Vandergriff Vipers. One thing that you mentioned to Greg
Tepper was working the sidelines on that and he asked you,
I think what before the game about how you know
how it was different than a couple of years ago,
and you said you you felt a lot more relaxed.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Is that just.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Because of what you went through two years ago or
a combination of things.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think it's a build up of a lot of things.
But like I knew, you know, what went wrong, Like
last time, we were trying to get into the stadium
and we were you know, we had a window, I thought,
and we couldn't. We were five minutes, you know, past
that window. Supposedly, I still think we were within the
time we couldn't get in and so we had to
wait for thirty minutes, and then you know all these
little things like how's the pre game going to go?

(04:17):
Because a lot of people may or may not know this,
but like it is a moving thing that whole day
with multiple games, everything moves. They changed our game time
to three thirty. We didn't blink an eye. But that
was all because we were ready and we'd already been there.
And I'd be interested to see how many how many
people win at the second time or third time they
come and don't have success the first time because it

(04:38):
is such a different thing playing in Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
There is a wow factor when you walk in. Well
imagine the wow factor when you're standing on the field
and saying I'm about to play for state championship and
you look around and just it's just amazing. And so
all of that together, my coaches were ready to go.
I mean, I just it all our plan we went
up to spend the night. Our plan was even better

(04:58):
than it was and it was good couple of years ago,
but all of that stuff was already planned out and better,
and it just allowed for us to be just kind
of realizing all we need to go do is go
play our game. That was our speech all all weeks
is we don't you don't have to feel like in
a big game you have to do more than normal
because a lot of people think that all we need
is your best and that's what you've given all year.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, and and did it? Did it also happen?

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Because when I was doing the uh South Oakcliff Randall
five A Division two game Friday night, we had a
shot at your guys sitting in the stands.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Did it Did it help? Also?

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Just kind of getting them relaxed walking in and being
able to sit down and have a look around.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, you know all those guys, you know, I only
had one starter in with that was starting as a sophomore.
But after that, you know, all those guys were there
for the playoff team, so they had seen it. But
now they're seeing it and thinking about, well, I'm I
I've got to go play tomorrow. It's a lot a
lot different doing that. And and so we just felt
like any exposure to the stadium would be helpful. And

(05:55):
and then and then it's a good reminder also, you know,
on the on the flip side, you know, this is
a this is a big deal, and you watch how
the crowds react like literally, if people haven't been to
the game, they have to go because every play, every play,
the crowd lives and dies on it. It's crazy how
loud the crowds are. That was the way the semifinal
Game two was with Summer Creed. But and so that

(06:17):
takes a little bit to get used to too.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
It kind of has that Texas, so you vibe to
it with the crowds going crazy on one side to
the other. Let's talk about the game and going into it.
I know that you felt turnovers were going to be
a big part of your team has been so good
at causing, creating and coming up with turnovers, and that
proved to be a really big factor.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Again.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, I mean we're you know, typically the Vanderiff typical
team is going to be on defense, is going to
be a bunch of guys that line up right, play hard,
and then we're going to try to cause chaos with
our alignments and our blitzes and things like that, and
we're not going to physically dominate you up front. This
year we had physically dominated some people up front because
of our a couple of d linemen who you know,

(07:00):
and we had had done such a good job, but
we had been a bunch of ball hawks, That's how
we had created. So we've given up yardage, but not
many points because we just kind of found a way
to make the play when it counted. And I just
felt like, we've got to behave like we had all
year if we're going to win this thing. And we
had three key takeaways right when we needed and and

(07:21):
then we end up, you know, winning.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
So just for the record, only because I heard four
different pronunciations during the course of the game, how does
Miles pronounce his last name?

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Tia Decky?

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, okay, I heard Tao, I heard TODC heard all that.
I thought I thought it was Tiadecy. I just want
to make sure I hadn't had it wrong all that time.
My point was going to be, my question was, have
you ever had a quarterback in a postseason game where
a game of that magnitude, maybe not the magnitude of
a state game, but certainly a player play better than

(07:54):
what he did on Saturday. I mean, he was perfect
through the air. I mean, have you ever had a
quarterback play that well?

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Oh? I don't think so. I mean it was just
an unbelievable performance. I mean, he was so accurate with
the ball, making good decisions and and it's like we
were talking about, it's like he's already a senior, you know.
I mean he's already had his junior year and he's
into the senior year now with these six games, and
I mean, his his his ability to liver the ball
where we needed and get us, you know, get us

(08:20):
in the right read you know, do that. And and
you know he played through pain. He hurt his finger
in the second quarter and uh, the on his throwing
hand and and wouldn't come out of the game and
played through that, and I mean it was an amazing
performance by Himserve the MVP.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, absolutely. I want to go back to the defense,
to the goal line stand. And the reason why I
want to bring this up is I sent you a
photo of it.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
I had.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
We had your game on in a monitor in the
booth as we were calling Texas Clemson, and I got
to tell you, I haven't told you this. Your goal
line stand happened at almost exact same time the Texas
goal line stand happened against Clemson. They were separated by
maybe maybe I may be overthinking it, but I'm thinking
maybe five minutes.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
It wasn't much.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Wow, I can tell you that, and I know what
it took for the Texas goal line stand to happen.
But I wanted you to recap what was going on
because here's Carol driving late in the game and by
the way, the second half because your game started late.
Your game and the Texas game kind of mirrored one
another in terms of the clock where it was on

(09:26):
the clock. The Texas came ended maybe five ten minutes
after your ballgame did it was pretty close. And so anyway,
the wh when it came down to that goal line stand,
take me through what was going on with the with
the instruction to your guys about what you needed to do.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, so you know, obviously this will go down and
buy for history. Is one of the best. It's probably
the best defensive stop in our history. But you know
it's first and go from the one for the people
who didn't watch the game. First and go from the
one so that you know, I want to know the
success rate that was happening. If they had ESPN success
rate you know where you know you've seen that, or
it is like can this team win and first and
goal from the one they run. They haven't run their

(10:05):
their quarterback all day. We held them to probably fifty
yards rushing. They rushed for the quarterback rush for two
hundred against Geyer. We had held them the less of
fifty yards rushing total, and so our front was doing
their job. But they tried to run quarterback sweep and
has been in one of their main plays. Adam Scott
stopped it just just we blitzed him right to the right,
to the back and he just finally found a way

(10:27):
to make the play. We knocked him back four yards. Now,
second and goal from the four. They throw a pass
they've been throwing to. I'm sure everybody's aware. Number eleven
is one of their best players. He's got a million offers,
he's sixty five. I think it's TCUs he's a committee anyway,
he's just a junior. He's amazing, and so they kept
going to him. I think he had thirteen catches for

(10:48):
something crazy like one hundred and sixty yards, and so
we were just trying to bracket him. And so if Buchanan,
who ends up being the defensive VP, knocks the ball
away on like a little rollout play and then they
call time out, which I was very happy about because
that meant that they were only going to have one
left and that ended up costing them later. But this

(11:11):
is about, you know, three minutes less in the game
or so and and so then that time out allowed
me to talk about the coverage we were going to
put in because we were trying to get us in man.
But at Vandergriff we don't run a bunch of men.
We love to run our Tampa zone and so we
but we can run man, and so we were talking
about this double plan. So allowed us to scheme this up.

(11:32):
So the last two players are in the same coverage
this you know, this basically man double, and we were
doubling on eleven right and about to pass away on third,
and then on fourth they go to somebody else because
I guess they read that we're doubling them. And then
my linebacker CJ. Mooring, whose dad, who dad, by the way,
coaches at Texas, is that's to pass away and we

(11:54):
stop them on fourth down. So it was just a
tremendous series.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well and for you, an old defensive guy, that does
your heart good to see the defense bank as big.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
An impact play as some of your offensive plays done it.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean in that moment. I mean, you know
there the picture I think you sent me, but multiple
people have sent me because they know how much you know,
I love good defense of me celebrating after the fourth
down stop. And yeah, it's it's pure joy. It's about
as good as it gets for a defense. It's good.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Before we let you go, I want to I want
to ask you what you think it does in terms
of the immediacy and what the long term impact can
be for winning a state championship and in specific winning
one at your particular program where you have been the
only coach the program's ever known, and every player's come
through that door has been coached by you.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
What do you think this that the impact of this is.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, I think the first thing is is like, you know, man,
this is my twenty seventh year coaching. It's really hard.
I know so many winning coaches that have never even
been to the game, and for us, for us to
be able to get there twice and then find a
way to win one, I mean, it's just a legendary
status that nobody could ever take away from you. And
you know, you see all those people getting to put

(13:06):
stars in their logos and things like that, like like
Travis does or whatever else. I mean, that's that's something
earned that still people talk about decades later. You know.
We were playing South like obviously right they were interviewing
my guys. They have not won a state championship since
twenty eleven, okay eleven, yea, and they the question they
asked them all my guys was are you ready for this?

(13:27):
Because these guys have so much experience, and my guys
are like, they do, you know, because but that's the
way thirteen years ago, fourteen years ago, fourteen seasons and
and they're still talking about it. That's the kind of
you know, permanency a state championship has, and so that's
you know, that's a I'm really impressed with our guys.
So I think that it just spolidifies also that what

(13:49):
we've built here is real, you know. I mean, and
because sometimes in you're down down spot, you're like, well,
you know, I've won a lot of big games, but
I can't win the game. You know, we can't win
the game. And so it was nice to see us
find a way to do that because we have won
some big games, you know, Katie. Wasn't a ridiculously big
game for us to win, but it's nice to be
able to say, hey, for all the marbles, you were

(14:11):
able to do it. What that does for me overall?
It just you know, I mean, sixteen years at one
place and building it from when I got the job.
You know that there the school was even built. It
was just a dirt patch out there when I went
by to look at it when I interviewed, and to now,
you know, thinking we're in Cowboys Stadium and I see

(14:31):
South Lack on the other side, and I was just like,
I just can't even believe this is happening. Almost a
couple of times in the game, you know, you feel
like it's just too good, Like it's a dream, you know,
because you've built this and you've dreamed of it and
you've thought about it, and it comes to fruition. You know,
I just thank the Good Lord, and I'm really thankful
for the whole opportunity of building Vandergriff. And we're not done,

(14:52):
you know, but it's it's a pretty cool thing to
be able to get that done at a place that
you know you've loved and you've built up and you've
tried to make for and for people mentioned it as
a good program across the state and now you know
you do this, and it's like, yeah, they're definitely going
to mention it, no.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
And by the way, your next board meeting when you
walk in is the incoming president of the Texas High
School Coach Association.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
This is not a bad thing to walk in with.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
As well, right, I mean no, I can't tell you
the number of texts and hugs and calls and and
just got off a call, you know, for one of
my buddies and and yeah, I mean it's just coaches.
It's like the ultimate thing that that you all want
to do. And so yeah, it's a it's a pretty
tremendous thing.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, it's always great to visit with you. I couldn't
be happier for you. I think it's I think it's
been overdue and I think and I always knew you
were going to get one, So it's it's great to
see it verified off.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
For all that, I appreciate the time.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I hope you enjoy the holiday season, and uh, we'll
look forward to visiting with you around the corner again.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
But congratulations, Jar Okay, thanks Greg.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
All Right, that's true.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Sanders, head coach of the Vandergrift Vipers. They are the
twenty twenty four UIL six A Division two football state champions.
The beat South Lay Carol twenty four to seventeen for
the school's first ever football state crown. All Right, we
have a lot more coming up when we continue on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
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