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August 19, 2025 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hamilton's hotline, Hamilton's two locations on Magnolia and Ogletree. We
go to Montgomery to bring in Jonathan Channela, the first
year you'd had coach at Montgomery Catholic.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, jac Good morning d Mark. How are you
guys this morning.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Then, coach? What's going on in your world?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Awesome? We just got workouts going on this morning, had
some pre meetings and getting ready for our first game
week Tuesday practice Here in Montgomery's we get ready to
play Saint James this Friday, Saints.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I couldn't get Saint James out. I don't know why
I couldn't get that out. You're not fired up, are you?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I don't think Friday can get here fast enough.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Tell me about your team, coach, Tell me about them.
What you're looking like.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
We're we're a totally different team by way of you know,
a whole new coaching staff, be a lot of a
lot of new names. You know, young men's young men.
They're gonna have a chance to have an opportunity to
to compete for a state championship, for region championship. We're
very young on the de censive side of the ball,

(01:04):
very experienced on our offensive line, and uh, you know,
we're really ready just to go out and see what
they can do and honestly, just play somebody else. We're
tired of practicing against each other.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
No, I'm sure you know that seems to be the
story Adam Hunter this morning with Valley talking about man,
we're tired of hitting each other. Kids are you know? Nowadays?
Kids work so long? I mean they work from January
till now, you know, so to play games. Now, what
is your team looking like, coach? You mentioned some new
faces and new things like that. Tell me about your.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Team, Yes, sir, so on the offensive side of the ball,
we're really led by three senior offensive linemen. You know.
Of those three seniors, they have all started and played,
you know, on two back to back state championship teams.
So they know the way, they know the path, they
know the standard. Led by our left tackle, Caden d

(01:57):
Caden will play both ways for US. He's currently committed
to Miami Ohio. He's a projected defensive lineman on the
on the next level, but he's you know, pretty much
played offensive line his whole high school career. Uh you know,
he's a six three, two hundred and fifty five pound
young man that a pretty quick off the edge, you know,

(02:18):
good with his hands and those things. So he kind
of fits the mold of what colleges are looking for.
As far as the defensive lineman, we're we're got two
new starters on our offensive line, and then really at
our skill positions is where we have the most depth,
and but we don't have much experience. So you know
as you go through that, the only way they can

(02:39):
get experienced is by getting in a game and play.
And so we'll be led at quarterback by C. J. Sankey.
I know that's the familiar name, uh to the folks,
to the listeners there, to the on the mark shows,
Uh Cejas was at OPAL like the last year. At
our receiving spots, we've got some dynamic playmakers and really
our only returning starters, young man named Michael Stethfield had

(03:01):
about six hundred yards and twelve touchdowns receiving last year.
And then on the outside spot, we've got a young
man named Jacob Eae. Maybe familiar with his father. His
dad used to be the head coach at Alabama State
and he works up at Georgia Tech now. And then
in other spots we've got some pretty dynamic, you know,
nice and tent traders that are going to get a

(03:21):
chance to get in and make some plays early on.
You know, Offensive Belief was able to hire Schuler Bentley
as our offensive coordinator and he brings in a dynamic
passing game scheme. So we've had a really good time
with getting that put in. And really really me is
the head coach. He's been totally in charge of the offense.
You know, I know, kind of an offensive guy, offensive background,

(03:45):
but it's been nice to have somebody in there that
we trust that can you know, take care of the offense.
He's done it at a high level. He's only coached
in college, so this will be his first high school
you know, coaching job. But he's great with the young
men and building relationships and you know, really at the
end of the day, the things that matter. So he's
he's be heading up for our offense. Uh, we're able

(04:06):
to hire Cabotier Smoke you guys, probably.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
I remember him. He was a good player.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, with he and I actually had a conversation
last night the twenty seventeen game, Opal like and we tunka.
I can't remember our kicker's name, but kicked the field
goal right there at the end of the game to
win it. Coach Caleb Brosse was our head coach at
that time, and I was giving coach Smoke a hard time.
I said, man, you were you were a two way
player and they had to play at defensive end, and

(04:34):
you got one out towards the end of the game
and that gave us a chance to chance to win
that game. He's like, no, Coach, I was in shape.
I was like, no, you got pretty tired, buddy. So
enjoyed cutting it up with him on.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, that was a stadium go ahead. That was a
boardall stadium. I remember that night and made that kick
to the north. I can remember it. I can't remember
who kicked it, but he nailed it.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Had some good battles with the opal like and we
tumkin yeah. And then the defensively coach Patrick Plott. You know,
he needs no introduction and absolutely awesome. I am so
blessed to have him on our coaching staff. And and
we're all about coaching coaches, you know. I'm a product
of that with the folks that I've worked worked for

(05:15):
in the past at all the stops that I've been,
but Coach Plott has been absolutely awesome. Probably the most
homble person I've ever been around in He does not
mind walking in in the morning and it looks like
the laundry needs to be done, He'll start the laundry.
He's covered some classes here at the school. He's just
an awesome guy, and he's done a tremendous job with

(05:37):
having our defense ready to play. Our Our defense is
gonna be Uh, they were gonna be pretty sticktackular. Those
guys are foaming out in the mouth to get out
and place somebody else. But we'll be led on defense
again by Kyden D's He'll he'll play multiple spots. Uh.
A young man named Kenny Bell Couch Brian Blackman used
to say a few years ago, he's just a ball
playing Jesse. He loves the game of football. Uh. He'll

(06:00):
be our starting middle linebacker. And then we've got some
pretty young talentsed young men and our secondary Ladell McQueen,
Miles Gordeen, both tenth graders. Uh, they're gonna have an
opportunity to be really good in the future. Both of
them are about six one, six to two, you know,
long and rangey. They just don't have game experience, and
so we're gonna we're gonna put them in there and

(06:21):
see what they can do. We've been very pleased with them.
Our secondary is led by salth barenco Uh, the Branco
families big supporters of Montgomery Catholic and Sal. I know
you guys were talking about catchers earlier as you were
talking about maybe the next head coach for the Braves
and the catcher being the quarterback of the offense or
the team. You know, Sal's kind of the quarterback for
our defense, and he's also the starting catcher for our

(06:43):
baseball team. He helps absolutely everybody get lined up and
he knows what every position is doing. So he's a
he's an asset for us to have back there. And
then our kicking game, we'll have we'll have one kicker
that handles all three JP Coaster was originally from Berszille.
He'll be a junior and he does a tremendous job.

(07:04):
We're pretty consistent, i'd say about ninety percent of the
time able to kick the ball into the end zone,
which I know is again another great asset to have
as a as a high school football team. If you
got one that can put it in the end zone.
You know, that's kind of one less thing that you
got to work on in your special teams games, and
he does a great job with that. So, you know,
all in all, we're excited about this Friday. We are

(07:26):
the WSFA game of the week. I've got about eighteen
WSFA interviews lined up starting with today's really neat job.
I know you keep up with Rosie Langelo on on
X and Twitter in the Facebook world. She's her and
David Speker have done a tremendous job with developing a
new WSFA Sports app. So our game will be streamed

(07:51):
on WSFA Channel twelve, So that's the main you know,
WSFA NBC channel this Friday night, and then you can
also stream all of our game for free on the
new WSFA Sports app the school has. Our school has
a contract with WSFA, so every single one of our
games this year will either be on wsfa's main channel

(08:13):
or their alternate channel. And we've got a great TV
production crew that's led by our president, Justin Constanza.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Interesting didn't realize that, all right, how many players you
got on your team, JC Coach.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
We'll be we'll dress out right at sixty players. This Friday.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
That's a good number. It is a really good number.
That numbers increased since the day that I got here.
I think we were sitting around, you know, forty nine
fifty fifty one. So you know, we've had some players.
We've recruited the hallways a little bit, so we've got
those numbers up, and you know, by true numbers. Putgomery
Catholic is a three A school even though we compete

(08:49):
in five A. You know, probably a strong possibility with
the multiplier rule and the competitive balance rules that are
in place by the AHSA, we make it out of
the first round the playoffs this year. We will bump
up to six A next year. All those rules are
still in place, so we'll really be scratching our heads
at that point. But you know, our main focus is

(09:10):
just playing this Friday night.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Dang, coach, that's tough. I didn't realize you'd move up.
A competitive balance is tough, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
That's right, yes, sir, And also I think I mentioned
it to you earlier since Coach Blackwell left about midsummer
from Saint James to get a job down there at
Spanish Sport. Larry whare uh taken over as the head
coach for Saint James. He's also serves as their athletic director.
You know, it's pretty unique to this game on Friday.

(09:38):
You've got two former coach McCracken, you know, players from
two totally different errors. Yeah, Coach Larry Ware has mister Football.
I think in nineteen eighty six or eighty five when
Robert E. Lee won the state championship went on to
play at Georgia. You know, then, of course I played
for coach McCracken and graduated in two thousand and six.
So you know, coach where and I have had some

(10:00):
conversations about that, you know, over summer and leading up
to this game. So we definitely wish that coach McCracken
could be here and be at this game. You know,
we know he's got other responsibilities on Friday night, but
you know, just something a little bit unique to this
game on Friday.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, it'll be a good one. Sounds like your team's prepared.
Y'all morning, crew, coach, y'all afternoon, how you doing you practice?
Jonathan Chandler, Well, wet.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
We're a little bit of both. So our young men
coming in the morning. We've got you know, first block workouts,
if you will. But we take advantage of getting here
just a little bit earlier. You know, they all report
in every morning at six point thirty and they have
a hot breakfast, and you know, we get them the
way in go ahead and start some of our meetings.
Will work out in the mornings, and then on Wednesday

(10:43):
and Thursdays we get a little closer to the game.
We'll hit our workouts in the afternoon and actually practice
in the morning. So again we do a little bit
of both. I think that's something that's kind of new
really really just taking a blend of what I've done
at Opalaika and we Tamka and pike Ro you know,
just kind of kept that little notebook and put ideas down,

(11:04):
and you know, every year is different. You know, you
kind of figure out what works best for your team.
You know, we may work one week and not work
the next. But so we've we're practicing a little bit
in the mornings and afternoons.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
So yeah, so Thursday and Friday you get him in
the mornings and in the afternoon you let them go go.
That's pretty cool. I like that, Yes, sir, times have changed,
all right, Jonathan's good to hear from me, Coach Channon,
and I'm looking forward to it. I hope you do well.
How's your family?

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Family, family's doing well. Its Tiffany hanging in there. She
had a small She's had two procedures, I guess since
the last time we thought she had another knee surgery
which was scheduled, went up to Birmingham with doctor Dugs.
Always takes care of her, just to scope on that
same knee that you know she's had three ACL surgeries on.
And then asking about midweek last week she had a

(11:51):
late night scare and had to go in and get
a procedure done. But you know, you guys know her
and what she's about. She's already up and running again. Uh,
my oldest, oldest stalling. She's nine fourth grader now and
I's in this a c A which is Alabama Christian Academy.
They have a flag football league.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
She was cutting up.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
She is, she's uh, she's having a lot of fun
with doing that. She'll she'll serve as a ballgirl for
some of our home games for our flag football team
here for Coach Whitney Toole and our girls flag football
team which they're the reign and state tempt for you know,
the one A through five A division, and they'll actually
be up there next excuse me, Thursday of this week.

(12:35):
They've got a three team uh set up with uh,
you know, Montgomery Catholic Central and Bestavia Hills there at
Phoenix City. So that'll be three really good flag football
teams in the state of Alabama kicking and off. Yeah
this Thursday, yep. And then our youngest five and she's
three years old in the Free K school. Both of
our daughters go to what's called Holy Spirits is the

(12:58):
elementary school here with much jemmy athlete aka right down
the road from me, and she's she's the redheaded boss
of the family.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I doing well, good good. I saw the one playing football.
Goodness gracious, they couldn't stop her, coach. She went pay dirt,
she went all the way to the house. There you go.
Well good, it's good to hear from you. I love you, buddy.
Best of luck to you Friday night. Thank you for calling.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Okay, yes, sir, absolutely have good you too.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Jonathan
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