The Undefeated '94 Judges: A Legendary Team's Journey to State Victory

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The undefeated 1994 Handley High School football team stands as the last to bring a state championship home to Winchester, Virginia. Thirty years later, running back Trey Kern and wide receiver/safety Danny Westfall join BWO to share what made that legendary squad special.

Their championship journey began with heartbreak – a tough loss to Matoaca in the 1993 state semifinals that lit a competitive fire. Built on connections forged since Little League, the '94 team dominated opponents, regularly scoring 30+ points while starters rarely played fourth quarters. The defensive backfield was equally impressive, with Westfall and teammate Michael Partlow combining for an astonishing 25 interceptions.

The championship game itself has become Winchester folklore. Played at Gate City on a deliberately flooded field – "I'm standing at running back and I can't see my feet," Kern recalls – the team abandoned their sophisticated passing attack for power football. When injury struck, teammates stepped up, including Jerome Brooks, who created running lanes that sealed victory in the mud bowl.

Beyond X's and O's, the players credit Coach Ron Linden's calm leadership and their team's unwavering confidence. "It wasn't if we were going to win, it was by how much," explains Westfall. The championship celebration included a late-night return to Winchester with fire trucks escorting them through town.

The conversation expands beyond 1994, touching on Handley's Saturday game tradition, the current state of high school football participation, and hopes for future championship teams. For fans of local sports history, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into what creates championship DNA and why, three decades later, this team's accomplishments still resonate throughout the community.

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Intro and Outro music credit to Wooka Da Don

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I was already rapping .
It's a hindrance.
Silence is cassette, so letyour voices be heard, man.
We brothers with opinions.
Now we spreading the word.
Bringing light to the darkRevolution is our art.
Man, a lot of people talk, butthey ain't never walked apart.
Gotta shine a light on povertyand fight against injustice and
always speak the truth when theenemy's amongst us.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Alright, everybody, welcome to BWM.
I'm here with Chris Tucker andwe're about ready to have the 94
champs on.
It looks like we only got one.
Right now.
I guess Sunday mornings are tooearly for everyone.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, that 94 undefeated team.
They actually went 27 and oneor something like that in two
years 26 and one or somethinglike that in two years, 26-1.
They crushed everybody in theirway, lost to Matoka in the
region and State Semis 93 season, which was most of their junior
year Right, and then bouncedback in 94 and blew the doors

(01:16):
off almost all their opponentsand won the States by a funny
game down in Gate City thatwe'll let Trey and the guys tell
you guys about.
But definitely excited to havehim on.
We tried to get him on about amonth ago and unfortunately
there was a power outage inWinchester that derailed that.
But we're back, we're ready.

(01:37):
Hope you guys are excited.
Man, let's go, because we'reexcited to have these guys on
and tell their stories.
All right, cool.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Let's get on Trey Kern.
He's the one that's jumped onthe early bird, obviously a
hardworking man.
So let's get Trey Kern on here.
Hey Trey, you hear us, I canhear you loud and clear.
Hey man, how are you?
I'm doing great, doing great.
Good man, good good, I'd sayyou're the only one who jumped

(02:03):
on Where's all the people.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
I coached middle league football and I was just
running yesterday and I madesure I got to bed early, so I
felt good for you guys.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, we appreciate it.
I know it's hard to geteverybody.
There's a lot of people, sohopefully maybe more will jump
on here in a minute.
Yeah, but since you're on, youknow we're talking about the 94
state championships.
That will take you back wayback, if you can remember,
because I can barely remember.
But, um, let's start with uh,because what you guys lost the

(02:37):
year before to who was it?
Um, in the playoffs?

Speaker 4 (02:41):
yeah, it was a bit tough, you know we played
against the.
Hamlets and that was a crazygame.
I think you know we were usedto winning, you know we were
undefeated through the regularseason and you know they were
just more physical than we wereand I think we all kind of lost
our cool.
You know that's the only gamein my career I got a personal

(03:05):
foul penalty, really.
Yeah, you know, we kind of knew.
You know, towards the middle ofthe you know second half that
we weren't going to win and theywere kicking an extra point and
the starting quarterback, hewas the power of his chance, he,
we had jumped off sides so theyblew the whistle point and the

(03:26):
starting quarterback, who wasthe power of his defense we had
jumped off sides and they blewthe whistle.
I never heard the whistle.
He stands up and I'd be clear,right, but their guys are
pressed.
That's the only personal foul Iever got, that's okay.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Right.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Tony, you weren't there, I was there.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, you live and learn.
Hold on Danny's here.
Let's get Danny on.
Oh great, yeah, Danny, he wasexcited.
I was waiting.
I was like I can't believeDanny's not here.
Hey, Danny, you got on.
Welcome, welcome.
Trey Dunn started off with atoken game.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Oh nice.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
But welcome.
Yeah, I want to take it backbecause what I'm leading to is
because I know a lot of you guysplayed together in Little
League, right coming up.
You know a lot of you right?
Yeah, trey and Danny.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Danny was one of the guys that came on later.
He wasn't part of our littleleague program but you know he
stepped in.
He had a really good freshmanteam and Danny was fantastic in
that and of course Dippermancame late as well.
But Jerome and Michael, vineand Neroon, we were all part of

(04:44):
the women's program, yeah right.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Which I feel that probably really helped you being
together at a young age andbuilding continuity and all that
kind of stuff.
Do you agree?

Speaker 4 (04:58):
Absolutely.
I mean, we had battles inLittle League.
Jerome Brooks was fantasticplaying for the Little League
Bears and, yeah, we had afantastic team with the Redskins
.
We had Kevin Kelly and JaredPortland with our teammates and

(05:18):
me and Michael and Brian, so wewon three straight Super Bowls.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
See, that's not even fair.
Y'all have to load in yourteams.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Well, my dad was a commissioner, so I don't know
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Tell Tony to be quiet .
He had a few of your guys'backups on his team in Little
League Right.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
But so from that loss we'll go back to the Patoki.
How did that motivate you guyslosing that game?
Because, like you say, you guysweren't used to losing.
You know what I mean it's like.
How did that propel, you know,motivate you for going into the
next season, into the 94 season?

Speaker 4 (06:02):
You know, actually, dan, if we go back and talk
about that game, one thing thathappened to us that really hurt
our team going into the Matokigame was we practiced on
Thanksgiving Day in the snow andsomething happened and Danny
freaking broke his wrist withhis hand and he was hands down.
One of our top guys, you knowobviously.

(06:22):
So he's trying to play thatMatosha game with one hand.
He comes out, he can stretchthe ball with one hand.
Somehow he pulled that step off.
He got the best hands ofanybody ever played with and
Mike's probably not going tolike me saying that, but I think
, danny, you know, if you're theguy to catch the ball, danny
really, really had a fantastichand.

(06:44):
Of course, him and I wereroommates as well.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
I've actually heard that a lot as great as Mike was.
Also I heard that Danny was byfar the best receiver as far as
hands and route running.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
Mike's not here to defend himself, but we had some
great battles in practice and,you know, perfect complement for
one another and you know wewouldn't have obviously gotten
to where we were without, youknow, overall, just the talent
that we had, not at the receiver, only at the receiver position,

(07:20):
but also at safety, with bothof us being at safety as well.
I mean you know he had, I wantto say, 13 interceptions senior
year I had 12.
So I don't think you can find asafety duo with 25, 26
interceptions roughly in oneseason.
But yeah, as Trey was saying,as far as the Motoki that kind

(07:44):
of fueled, you know, the fire Ithink, heading into our senior
year.
And again it was unfortunatethat the they were a great team
I mean Matoka really was and puta good game plan together.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
It was raining that game too, wasn't it?

Speaker 5 (08:00):
Yeah, it was.
There was some.
It was kind of drizzling andrain.
It was cooler and you know,obviously my injury really
wasn't a factor.
They were able to double-teamMike in that situation.
They were able to load the boxas well and you know really
blitz at will on Brian and thatput a lot of pressure.

(08:20):
You know, overall on ouroffensive line and just a good
game plan on their part, andjust you know overall on our
offensive line and just a goodgame plan on their part, and
just you know just badcircumstances on ours.
You know, heading into the game, and Tony.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
If I'm correct, I believe James Farrier was on
that defense, so that's no smalltask to have to defend Trey, do
you remember Danny?

Speaker 5 (08:44):
I remember Kirk Ovea was one of their coaches and
that son of a gun.
I mean, hey, I know there's alot of Redskins fans on here,
but I go for a ball and he yellsto me and says, hey, kid, you
can't even catch with two hands,let alone one.
And I said you just wait if I'mhealthy, kirk, and you know,

(09:06):
unfortunately they got thebetter of us that day, but that
goes to show the passion, evenfrom these coaches, when you're
playing one another in a playoffgame like that.
Right, yeah, right.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
One quick story I got from that.
They had a tight end UriahTaylor was his name, I just
remembered and they had a quickrunner with an intact hand.
Yeah, but I'm trying to guardhim.
And he's going down this thingthat I can't run with and he
catches a pass and Tyrone Bowlesis like man, what's wrong with
you, trey, why can't you handlehim?

(09:38):
I said, tyrone, if you thinkyou can do better, you go ahead
and step out here and guard thisdude.
Yeah, right, and Tyrone goesout there.
He gets beat down the field, hegoes all right, you got it, man
, you got it.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, shit.
See, that's good stuff, guys.
So we'll start off with anarticle going into the 91st
season, guys what was yourbiggest?
Challenge as a team andindividually.
Trey, you go first.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I missed thatquestion.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
What was your guys' biggest challenge for the 94
season as a team andindividually season as a team
and individually?

Speaker 4 (10:25):
I feel like it's kind of weird to say, but we knew we
were going to do it.
We had a majority of the guysback.
We did lose some key players,but we were going to work in the
offseason and we definitelylifted weights.
I ran tracks and tried to getmore speed.

(10:45):
We came in with a sense ofconfidence that this is our year
.
This is all time style type ofthing.
We just played together so long.
We had such a great coachingstaff.
When we switched the offense upa little bit, which was
coaching, we couldn't tie it in,instead of being in a four-wide

(11:07):
spread.
We really helped our runninggame for our senior year.
For me, as a running back, weran the ball in my back that
year.

Speaker 5 (11:19):
I'd say the biggest challenge and Trey's hit the
nail on the head there was a lotof confidence going into our
senior year and it really wasone of those teams probably one
of the only teams I've everplayed on since maybe a little
league team where it wasn't ifyou were going to win, it was by
how much you were going to winby.

(11:40):
And the probably the biggestchallenge was there was only one
football to go around and weall had, you know, look, I think
anybody that's a great athlete.
You know you got to haveconfidence and there's a fine
line between you know,confidence and cockiness.
But at the end of the day yougot to back that up with your
play.
And you know we allcomplemented each other

(12:01):
perfectly and the coaches againdid a great job of distributing
the ball in the right moments.
But that was probably thebiggest thing is we all wanted
the ball at any given time and Ithink we were all dogs.
When the game's on the line,give me the ball.
And when you've got that manyguys that have that mentality at

(12:23):
one time coming together, it'sthe perfect storm.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Right, right, yeah.
So I guess what you guys aregetting at because I've been
there coaching is that when youknow your team's keeping you
guys humble right, I guess itwas more probably the coaching
staff a challenge to keep youguys humble because you knew you
were good.
That's the biggest thing, man.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
And they were.
That was like 30 points a game.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Oh, at least I'd have to calculate it up.
But it was, yeah, at least over30 points a game.
And we were Michael and I, trey, all the starters, for the most
part Brian.
We were all taken out by thefourth quarter.
Beginning of the fourth quarter.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Right, yeah, we very rarely played the fourth quarter
.
Beginning of the fourth quarter.
Right, yeah, we very rarelyplay the fourth quarter.

Speaker 5 (13:05):
Yeah, ron Linden would not, and that you know.
Respect right there, you knowagain to the opposing coaches,
he would take us out and youknow we wanted to keep running
the score up, like some teams do.
I'm not going to name them inthe panhandle, west Virginia.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, they got smoked the other night.
They got smoked the other night.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
They got smoked.
Yeah, I think Goose Egg on theboard up there.
Again, we won't name names, butwe could have put up 70 points
a game.
I mean there's no doubt in mymind.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Oh, I believe, easily , easily, a lot of teams.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Too bad, justin.
But I can remember when I was akid we played a fall field team
that was really good, likesecond, third name of the year,
and Danny and I hooked up Gladto play the first half.
We're going to hook the lateraland I score from 50 or 60 yards
out.
We're up 24-0.
We get the ball, start thesecond half, we got 31-0.

(14:01):
And I'm it's like halfwaythrough the third quarter and he
pulls us and they come back.
They end up scoring threetouchdowns and it's like two or
three minutes to go and he'slike we got to get the starters
and warm back up.
You know, warm back up, we'reback in the game but we haven't
played for.
You know, we kind of cooleddown but he didn't have to run

(14:23):
the score up.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
You see, tony, that's what happens when they put the
97 guys in.
Now, here we go.
I'm just messing with you guys,javon.
You guys don't get in yourfeelings Real quick.
I want to shout out people likeBrian Vardaro and Brian Cavill
and everybody else, the unsungheroes that don't get a lot of
love, but they were a big partof your team too.

Speaker 5 (14:48):
Yeah, I think that whole offensive line and I'd
trade as a running back and Ithink we all know the offensive
line and running back group.
They want them hip by hip, sideby side.
They work together in unisonthere and we couldn't have the
success without them.
Side by side, they workedtogether in unison there and we
couldn't have the successwithout them.
I would like to put a vote infor them to nominate that whole

(15:09):
offensive line for the Hall ofFame.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
They were y'all's hogs.
They really were.

Speaker 5 (15:16):
And Keith Covert.
They all deserved it.
Kevin Kinley and you name theothers.
They all deserved to be inthere.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
I got to talk about that just briefly because we
started getting a consecutive100-yard game streak going and
my dad's team had the record ineight games from the 1960s and
17s.
So after we got about fivegames we started to pay
attention to that staff.
But it really wasn't just likeit was me my mom would have like

(15:50):
a Monday night spaghetti dinnerand we'd have the whole
offensive line.
Everybody would eat, we'd watchthe film from the previous week
and really just somecamaraderie.
And when we ended up breakingthe record, um against, uh,
warren callum, actually when webroke the record, uh, it was

(16:10):
like we did, it wasn't just, itwasn't like a me thing.
You know, it really was a teamthing.
And uh, keith clover, brown,vadero was to me the strongest
dude on the line.
I mean keith keith was atactician, uh, vadero was was a
tactician, videro was only ajunior, cavill was only a junior
, but Cavill was fantastic.
And then you had Kevin Finleywho played center all the way

(16:32):
from the time we were 10 withBrown, all the way until we were
seniors in high school.
It was the Brian and Carlo andFinley had ESP.
So I'm with Danny man, thatoffensive line was really an
unsung part of that team, forsure.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Right, right.
Well, they always are.
But we always say, as footballguys, it starts in the trenches.
You don't have a line on eitherside of the ball, you can't get
there.
I don't care how good you areas a running back, it starts
with them big guys up front.
I love that man.
They do deserve it.
I'm with you.

(17:11):
I wish Andy was on here.
Mr Hall of Fame, let him know,put it in his ear.
Get all them guys in there.
I love it.
Guys, this will help with thekids in there.
I love it.
Oh yeah, so guys.
So this will help with the kids.
Answer this question how didyou guys handle your academics

(17:32):
in sports while you was inschool, high school, college?
I know you guys played collegelevel.
How did you guys balance yourschedule, your academically in
your sports?
I?

Speaker 4 (17:42):
don't know I'm not doing the answer, to know I'm
not doing anything.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
My sister did my homework.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
At the end of the day , obviously we've all done well
for ourselves in life and ourprofessions.
But sports, I think we showedup to school because we couldn't
play if you didn't show up Atthe end of the day, I think we
showed up to school because youknow we couldn't play if you
didn't show up.
So you know the day it was, youknow our excitement was to go

(18:14):
to school for practiceafterwards.
I mean I have some great, wehad some great teachers and you
know certainly you know they'rea big part of that too and
shaping our, you know our livesand but you know it's a
balancing act.
I mean you've got, especiallyduring summer camps, especially
in college, you've got threepractices a day.
And you know, for those whenyou go to college, you know that

(18:37):
are listening and they're inhigh school and they aspire to
be there.
I mean you're doing so in thewinter, for example.
You get up at 5am, you have togo work out and you're there for
at least two to three hours andthis is not only weight room
workouts but you knowconditioning as well.

(18:58):
So you're running and and theywould hold you until five
minutes before your first classstarted and you'd have to rush
to get to class.
You haven't even eaten yet andyou have to get you know.
Next thing you know you getdone with your morning classes.
You're grabbing a quick bite toeat and you've got to go to you
know whatever your positiongroup meeting that you have,

(19:19):
whether it's the running backswith Trey or wide receiver group
and then you've got to go tomore afternoon classes.
Then you have to go to yourafternoon practice.
Then you get done, you get back,you get cleaned up, you go eat
and then you have to go to aspecial teams meeting at night.
So it's a full-time job and Idon't think a lot of people
recognize that.
And for college NIL, I am allfor it.

(19:42):
I know the way that it's shapedand they need to put some
regulations in, I think.
But at the end of the day theydeserve to be paid for what they
do.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah, I agree, that's good.
Kids need to know, like youjust said.
Hey, it's a job, yeah, it's afull, it's actually two
full-time jobs.
Like you say, you start wayearly and you're not done until
10, 11, and turn right backaround and do it all over again.
The kids don't understand thegrind they got to go through,

(20:13):
through, the higher levels theyget.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Do you guys keep up at all with the current teams or
recent teams and the guys thatare in college and things of
that nature to see howeverybody's doing, or are you
guys kind of busy with youreveryday life to worry about
that?
Uh?

Speaker 4 (20:29):
for me.
I'm, I'm football night, I'm onthe local sports hockey.
I keep up with I mean yeah, Imean I know who's good and who's
not good, like stephen daly,but he was to me one of the best
that's ever played.
So I'm really I didn't get tosee how he did yesterday in the
end, but Malachi Emo I waspretty close with.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
He's still William Mary.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Well, he just graduated.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah, but he had a fantastic career, one of the
best to play Jeremiah Wilsonhe's coaching now.
I was a big, big fan of him.
Man, what a punt returner.
Right Went to Maryland.
So yeah, I mean anybody forHanley, pretty much for local,
especially Hanley for me.
I'm watching and definitelyfollowing their careers for sure

(21:19):
.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
That's why Jason didn't get on.
Right, that's why Jason didn'tget on.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
Right, Just try to keep up with him.
I know Trey, A lot of thosekids he coached in Little League
too and that's a lot ofDedication there For work
purposes.
It's tough for me to get thereand haven't had that opportunity
, but would love to have coachedOn a basis.
But I keep up with the guys youknow remotely and go to the

(21:51):
games you know here and there onSaturday, with certain matchups
when I have an opportunity towatch these guys.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
So a lot of talented guys good first win for him
Friday night.
Yeah, absolutely I haven't evenheard of that high school, but
that's cool.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
Yeah, eastern View and Culpepper, they're a good
program, right.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
I talked to Reid Pross about that.
He thinks they're a seven oreight win team, so that was a
quality win off of that.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, I agree, right, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So, guys, let's jump back.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
How was it for you guys?
My fault, Tony.
One question I know a lot ofpeople like to ask.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
How was it for you guys playing for Coach Ron
Linden?
For me, I absolutely lovedCoach Linden.
He was a very, very simple guyand, of course, one of his
famous speeches was in the statechampionship game and I tried
to use it with my little leaguekids yesterday.
It didn't quite work out for usbut you know, we were up 12-7

(22:51):
at halftime and the mood of theteam in that game was, you know,
we couldn't get our offensegoing.
It wasn't, things weren'treally going our way per se, and
he kind of calmed everybodydown and said hey guys, we're up
12-7.
If they don't score, they'regoing to win.
And it was like the simplestthing.

(23:14):
But it's like, hey, yeah, let'sjust play some defense and stop
them.
And hey, we got the game.
So you know.
One other quick story for acouple from coach linden.
For me personally, um, I reallywanted to be a big time when I
went back.
I wanted to play in college andthe first game of the season we
played broad run.
I had like 35 yards rushing,maybe six or eight carries in

(23:35):
the game and I never spoke up.
But I wentennon and I said, hey, it's my senior year, I've
worked really hard.
I'd like an opportunity to getthe carries.
You know I was a good insiderunner.
My speed was maybe not top, topnotch, but still good.
And he said, trey, you'veearned the right.

(23:56):
And he looked at Derek Dowd andhe said, hey, he's going to get
the ball, we're going to giveTrey the ball.
So the following day we playedfall here and I had 169 yards in
the first half and, you know,really showed myself then in the
rest of the rest of the world.
That's when the 100-yard gamestreak started.
So Coach Lennon really had hisplayers back.

(24:18):
As long as you were true to him, he'd be true to you and I
loved it.
He was great.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
I can second that.
At the end of the day, they sayyou're a reflection of your
leader.
It's calm under pressure, andthat's what we were.
Also, the other sign of a greatleader is surrounding yourself
with talented people, and hiscoaching staff was phenomenal

(24:47):
and he had that trust.
They had that trust in him andyou know that ultimately was.
You know, every position grouphad great coaches.
Offensive coordinators,defensive coordinators were
fantastic.
Everything Our trainers werefantastic.
You just couldn't ask for justa better team coaching staff as
a whole.
So rest in peace to CoachLennon.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Right, yeah, so guys, so going into we're not going
into it, but into the 94th seed,going into the state
championship.
Let's just jump straight to it.
Right?
You guys have what blown outeverybody through, regions,
regional, all that, and we getto states.
And then what gate city?
We've got to talk about thefeet.

(25:33):
What happened?
The mud race?

Speaker 4 (25:39):
I can tell you guys are running back.
I'm standing in the middle ofthe field and I can't see my
feet.
I'm completely entrenched inwater.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Right Before the game you're saying Is this before?

Speaker 4 (25:53):
I'm warmed up.
I just can remember distinctlybeing comfortable in my stance
and running back and lookingdown at my feet.
I couldn't see my feet.
I stand and run back and lookdown at my feet I couldn't see
my feet, and so you could get alittle bit of traction on the
wide parts of the field, but inthe middle there's nothing.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
We went to warm up.
It was in between the hashes.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
So my question, let it be more direct.
So what were you guys saying?
Because obviously, it didn'train the night or that day, did
it?
No, it was drizzling.
Yeah, it was like a haze orwhatever.
So what were your oldestthoughts?
Like, okay, what the hell?
Why is this field so wet?
They hosed it down.

(26:39):
Well, I know that, we know that, like in the moment, I'm trying
to show you what they werethinking, what the hell's going
on here.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
With my coaching and just the way I play.
I'm not worried about excuses,right, whatever the field is,
it's the field, they got to playon the field.
It certainly was not to ouradvantage.
I mean, brian Palmer, he's moreof a throw the ball well, so
he's struggling to throw theball.

(27:11):
I think his stats were three orfour for 22, with one touchdown
and like three picks in thatgame.
Right.
I mean, but you know we had tolean on the running game the way
it worked out.
But you know I didn't worryabout making excuses about what

(27:31):
it was.
This is what it is, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (27:35):
Now Trey's a running back, so they Right.
You know they're different.
Hey, that's what they want to doat the end of the day is we're
going to run the ball more inthose conditions.
That's great, but Mike and Iwere like what the heck is going
on with this field?
This is, and we're having topick spots out by the numbers on
where we can run our routedepth too, so we actually can

(27:58):
get footing, and you know, itwas just impossible.
So it prevented our passinggame from really being able to
showcase how good it was, andthat's unfortunate.
I wouldn't change anythingthough, because to me it was a
storybook ending and it reallywas something out of a movie,
even when we're driving in onthe bus, right and the crowd,

(28:19):
and you know, just, you knowthey had, you know, some of the
banners that, ultimately, ourathletic directors had to go
over and say, look, you got totake those down because they're
pretty bold, we're not steppingfoot on this field, and so that
was something else.
It was a pretty nasty, nastycrowd, it was nasty conditions,
and, but you know we persevered.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
I wish I got to say one thing real quick.
I wish Jerome Brooks was onhere right now, because in the
second half of that game we hadthree receivers out there, but
we realized that one of thereceivers was pretty much a
wasted spot.
So they pulled our slot guy offand just put Jerome in front of
me and it was like we weredrawing nothing to dirt, like we

(29:06):
had our play, but all it waswas I was drawing.
You know where we're going?
You just hit the first officebecause we're the guy, you see,
and Jerome was just treatingpeople, yeah, and I can still
see him sitting down in athree-point stand running from
him, and he goes, just follow me, man.
Yeah, and I can still see himsitting down in a three-point
stand running from him, and hegoes, just follow me, man, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
I thought you would, I thought I would do it, and we
ended up popping some big runsat the end of that game to run
the clock out.
And that was all because ofbrother Brooks man, he was
drilling people.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
So would you say he's one of the unsung heroes of
that game.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Jerome yeah, jerome yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Back in the day I don't think you could ever say
he was not unsung because he wastalking and saying something.
I mean he was going to kick offand he was talking.
But yeah, it definitely was abig part of that, huge part of
that final couple of rounds wehad that's awesome, though, like
you say, y'all just going backto literally I-formation and

(30:14):
Pabst.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Pretty much that's it .

Speaker 3 (30:16):
That's all we can do, and they had who was their
quarterback Shoemaker?
He went to Wake Forest, rightyeah.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
He played basketball yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Josh Shoemaker.
I believe you guys playedagainst a lot of talented
individuals.
Who was the toughest team youguys had in 94 that you had to
play against?

Speaker 5 (30:34):
Wilder County.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Dan Ganey was quick with that.

Speaker 5 (30:40):
No doubt in my mind, they had 3 three thousand yards.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
So, yeah, real tough offense to be struggling with
defensively Right Out in county,yeah, and then Dan in part Mike
was hurt, so he was about halfplaying on offense and then, of
course, he filled in late in thegame on defense and calls the
fumble.
He didn't really help us, butthat was one of Danny's.

(31:07):
Danny showed how much of amany-be player he was because he
really torched them.
They thought, you know, they'regoing to bring some lightning
and hurt them.
Then Danny stepped right up.

Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah, that was a big game for us and you know it was
44 to 38.
They were driving the ball,they had the ball last and they
were.
I don't know, trey, what yardline they were on, but they were
in our territory, they wereprobably what 30-yard line.
20-some yard line.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Yeah, they looked like they were at four.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
And you know, at that point it's a concern.
You put up 44 points, you mightlose the game, and that's how
good of a running attack thatthey had.
And so Mike had been asking allgame long.
I got coach put me in, coachput me in, so he's got this.
Was it a cast, I guess?

Speaker 4 (31:57):
It's a huge, huge thing that's wrapped around his
right arm.

Speaker 5 (32:01):
With padding and stuff, that the only way he
could be legal to play.
So you know, you have to kindof put together with knee pads
and things like that and thentape it up with athletic tape.
So it's this huge club.
So he comes in for the one play.
Guy breaks a huge run.
He's probably got like a15-yard run.
He's already in the secondary.
Mike comes around and clubswith that arm and forces a

(32:24):
fumble for the only play heplayed on defense and I
recovered it and that was allshe wrote.
But those were the type ofmoments that lead to those type
of miracle seasons to goundefeated, and just another
example of how great Mike was aswell.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
The funny part of that was the guy who ran the
ball was named Chris Alcala andhe was a really good player.
He was a honey-cugging shepherd.
When we went to Shepherd and hestill held his hand.
The guy was holding his handlike a little raffle Right.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yeah, the club and that was at their school, right
that?

Speaker 5 (32:58):
game.
Yeah yeah, it was Friday nightgame.
Yeah yeah, yeah, it was aFriday night game.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that leads into a goodquestion.
What do you feel?
Because I know you guys felt,you know, going in the season,
like, oh, you know you guys aregood, you're hot, the team's
great, but what do you feel likewas a turning point, like in
the season, where, man, we canwin this thing, or did the
beginning of the season that,man, we can win the whole thing?

Speaker 5 (33:20):
When Dwayne Borden intercepted a ball truck and ran
it for a touchdown on defense.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
How far did that intercept?
I remember that.
Yes, like this orange county,that's right, that's right.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
We're like it's meant to be.
We're meant to win this wholething You're like.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
hold on if truck scores on a defense.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
That was regionals.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Yeah, that was regional finals at Hanley and I
tell you, of all the games weplayed, I think I had the
biggest crowd.
I mean, that game was packed.
You know, they were undefeated,we were undefeated.
And yeah, when they threw ascreen pass and Stumpy
intercepted that and ran it back, it was a wrap, right.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
But I think you guys blew them out, didn't you?

Speaker 5 (34:09):
No, yeah, they didn't put a third on the board.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, you guys smoked them.
Was it 38-0, I believe, orsomething like that.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
I think they did score on the second team at the
end.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
Oh, did they score.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
That's right.
They did score At the end ofthe game.
The damn 97 class, tony, I knowAdam Brantley and all them here
I got you.
Y'all beat Orange 38-9.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
Well, we didn't play in the fourth quarter again of
that game, yeah, Any of ourplayoff games.
We were already out in thefourth quarter, except for Gate
City, and I think we can can allagree would have blown them out
in a good condition neutralsite.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
uh, right, you know those conditions forced.
I was on your freshman teamthat year and I've I've never
felt any energy, the way youguys had that stadium rocking
those two years your junior andsenior year and just the
atmosphere the band, thecheerleaders, like it was
amazing atmosphere.
You guys made it feel like youwere the pros and we all looked
up to you like you were thesuperstars.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Well, I just say it felt like a college atmosphere
because I was a sophomore at thetime and I'll just say, when
coming in as a freshman andseeing you guys like Trey, you
and LaRouge, I'm like these guyslook like grown-ass men, like
they are huge to me.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
Well, Trey, you always got compared your calves
to Daryl Green.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
Oh yeah, I always think about my calves and I wish
I could spend it with them.
I mean, I did work hard, but itwas pretty much genetics.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
I could definitely tell your son.
Out there in basketball, me andWayne are like look at the cat,
that's his son.
I'm sorry, go ahead, dave.

Speaker 5 (35:51):
I was just going to go back to, like you said, the
atmosphere, the crowd.
They traveled to every game.
It was a community victoryevery single time and and
everybody, just kind ofgalvanized, came together and
backed us and, um, we reallyappreciated that.
I mean, we had the guys thatwere had their shirts off in,

(36:12):
like you know, 30 and 40 degreeweather, with the judges, you
know, painted on their chestsand they're just crazy.
That was like, uh, you know,mike sawhawk, and those guys,
fred haymaker is the judge, uh,you know, so I, I remember they.
They were just so enthusiasticand and, um, it means a lot to
the players on the field.
I wish we could get that sametype of energy.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I'm gonna say, yeah, how can we, how can we get that
back?

Speaker 5 (36:35):
I know it's tough I feel like some people just sit
there and it's a clap.
Right right, right To me,that's not so strong.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
It feels like the band only has 10 members and
that gets very different.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
I want intensity and passion from my crowd.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Right, exactly, yeah, well, I say that, danny, going
to other games, like ClarkCounty, you know other areas,
school, james, like to me.
They show up To me.
I'm like why are they moreenergetic?
The crowd gets into it.
So I don't know what's up withour Hanley crowd here lately.
But, like you say, it's just alittle.
Somebody makes a big play, so Idon't know how can we get that

(37:16):
energy back.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Well it's been 30 years 31 years since Hanley's
won states man.
We've had a lot of greatplayers and great teams, but
nobody's done it like you guysand the team of 84.
So we got to figure somethingout over there.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
Yeah, right, yeah, we got a good coach right now, man
, we do.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah, I will say, yeah, that they do have a great
coach right now.
I really like him.
Yeah, good guy do have a greatcoach right now.
I I really like him.
Yeah, good guy liningconnection, so he's to me, he's
gonna turn it around big time.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
And I won't say, partying on friday nights and
being up early on saturdays forthe games is an excuse, because
it's always been that way.
But how was it for you guys,being the only team that I've
ever known that plays onsaturdays when college is
playing, but to come out underthose steps and the sun's
beaming?
It was amazing, at least justto be there for you guys.
So how did it feel playing onSaturdays at home?

Speaker 4 (38:11):
I mean I liked it.
That's all we ever knew.
You know I grew up with the kidcoming to watch games on
Saturdays.
It was always just a specialthing at Hanley and you know it
changes your weekend, of course.
But you do get an opportunityto go out and watch other games
on Friday night, you know, andkind of stay out of training,
watch a high school game and getup and Coach Leonard would have

(38:32):
donuts and orange juice for usnext time we came into the
locker room early and then youknow we'd get out and run for
special teams and you know yougot to really comfortably go
into playing a football game on.
Friday I definitely think we hada home field advantage.
You know, just intimidatingwhen people drive up and see the
school it looks like a college.

(38:53):
Right.
I think it's a good thing.
Of course, I'm all for havinglights so they can play whenever
they want to play.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Oh, that was my next question Like what do you all
think about the lights?

Speaker 4 (39:07):
Light those jokers up .
Man Use that turf.

Speaker 5 (39:11):
The cool thing about it is, you know the Saturday
games is, you know you're themain event, so everybody else is
done.
It's like Monday night football.
So there's, everybody else isdone.
It's like Monday night football.
So we got to put on a show andthat's.
You know, I feel like.
And then that energy you getcoming out from underneath the
steps and the band's plan andand you know even the national

(39:34):
anthem with the flag and allthat on the steps.
It's just that's a traditionlike none other and you like
none other, and you know that'swhy it's handling.
Right right.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Hello man, I'm playing right now.
What's that?
The way Danny's saying it.
I'm like I'm going to go outthere and play right now.
Right, right.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Right, but that's a tough question, lights or not.
But to me, if they put you haveoptions, then you play, still
do Saturdays, in my opinion.
Hey, you're a Saturdaytradition, play a few rivalry
games or something on Saturday,but at least you have the option
.
Like Tracy, I'd love to seethat field lit up on a Friday

(40:14):
night.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
I think it would be amazing.

Speaker 5 (40:17):
It would be a huge crowd for the first Friday night
under the lights game at Hanley.
That would be a huge crowd forthe first Friday night under the
lights game at Hanley.
That would be a huge event.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, and it's funny because we've talked about this
a while back when it came up.
Now, do you think speaking ofattendance is Saturdays hurting
attendance?
Now these days, because parentsare so busy Like Trey, you know
, so much goes on duringSaturdays Me and Chris talk
about like like we think thathurts attendance just because

(40:45):
people not that they don't wantto go, they just can't make the
game Travel sports has reallychanged the whole scheduling of
a family and they just don'thave that free time anymore to
keep that tradition alive on aSaturday because there's I mean
travel sports.

Speaker 5 (41:04):
They may be in manassas or leesburg or even
down in richmond sometimes, it'sright, whole different dynamic
compared to what it was in thein the 90s right yeah, tony,
tony, to your point.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
you know, I've been coaching little league football
and our games are, you know,right in the middle of the night
on the side and, and, and.
You want the kids going to thegame to see the high school
they're going to play for.
Yes, you want that.
So you guys are playing on set,yeah.
So, man, yes, I would say itwould be great to have.

(41:36):
You want your kids to see theteam they're going to play for.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
They learn from watching the game.
Yeah, kids, to see the teamthey're going to play for.
They learn from watching thegame.
They become a bigger fan fromdoing that.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
Yeah, I think, right there, that's the biggest case
for lights at Hanley, even ifyou had to do portable lights or
something like that not to takeaway from the aesthetic of the
front of the school and so forthwith permanent lights.
I love the tradition, don't getme wrong.
Like you said, do it for sometraditional matchups James Wood

(42:08):
or something like that.
But yeah, I think the lightsare much needed.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
All right, I think we're going to start with
something.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
again A lot to do with the housing being so close
on Jefferson and HanleyBoulevard.
Move and people not.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
To me, if you live there on that street, you should
be at the damn game anyway.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
Yeah, good point Right.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
You should be there.
I agree.
Yeah right.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
And Trey, you're coaching Little League
Winchester, Frederick CountyParks and Rec, or something.
Yeah right, Trey, you'recoaching Little League in
Winchester, Frederick CountyParks and Rec or something.
Yeah, yep, and you play onSaturdays.
Now we used to play atnighttime all the time when we
were little.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Well, yeah, we don't even have that field anymore.
You know, the soccer leaguetook our old field.
So you know, we play at DanielMorgan.
We did play at Hanley for ourfirst game, which was nice, my,
and we did play at Hanley forour first game, which was nice.
My team yesterday played inJefferson High School.
So you know, I tell you though,man we've got, we're having a

(43:12):
hard time to get two teams as 10and 11-year-olds.
When I was coming up, when ourtime was coming, we had six,
right, yeah, that kind of tellsyou there the interest You've
got to get the interest up at ayoung level.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
And I think and we all have kids and I think I've
started to notice when I coachedfootball years ago, you know,
when my boys were younger, sameage, 8, 9, 10, 11, you know,
through the WFYFL, that's whenthe whole CTE, you know, came in
and then parents startedgetting scared not signing their

(43:50):
kids up.
But now I'm starting to see, Ithink kids are starting to come
back now and play.
Like there's a lot ofbasketball players from Hanley
who are out there playingfootball this year who haven't
played since they were in LittleLeague, like Amari Brown's out
there, amari is killing it outhere and Kyron Oglesby is

(44:12):
playing.
My son was going to play.
He was out there but thenunfortunately Tristan went down
and he changed his mind.
He's like, well, maybe that's aside I shouldn't play, but I
wish he would have playedbecause, because the scrimmage
he was in he had like 12receptions, four touchdowns and
whatever.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
I know he was good at Daniel Morgan.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Oh yeah, christian.
And Quincy.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
Yeah, quincy, my oldest, played for a while,
those boys, man, those boys canplay.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, they're all right.
They're all right they get itfrom their mom.
But that's my thing.
It's like I think I'm startingto notice just slightly.
I think kids are getting backslowly into football because
they're for a while it was justmainly parents like no, I'm not
signing them up because of thewhole what will smith?
You know the movie that cameout?

(45:00):
oh, dude, I'm telling you itdidn't scare people like I
literally talked to parents andthey'd be like no, I don't want
to say you know, yeah, so that's, but I, I think it it's
starting to come back like it'sbuilding flag football.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
I know I think that helps too that helps and that's,
you know, it's, uh, I think,bringing the interest again and
and it's going to be in theOlympics as well.
So I think that's going to helpcontinue to draw, you know, the
younger kids in to want to play.
Good point, dad, I didn't thinkabout that.

Speaker 4 (45:30):
I will say this Everybody looks at football,
especially in the Little League,and you say that there's some
sort of big concussion problem.
Well, I've played for 10years't I I can't hardly
remember any concussion.
My son asked me today how manytimes he tells me concussions.
They don't run fast enough toget concussions yet right, and

(45:52):
it's not until I remember when Istart lifting weights and get
explosive.
That's when you can get guysknocked out, but it really don't
happen much when they're young,yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
I mean, I remember too.
I could say everybody remembersMano.
Right, that takes me back.

Speaker 5 (46:10):
Mano Lusk.
He played for A&M?

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah, I coached him.
He lit some kid up and the kiddid not know where he was.
Yeah, we were at Dade andMorgan.
He thought he was at hiselementary school.
But I added I was like, yep, goto the doctor.
And then my son, christian, gotone at it and all we were doing
was with the tackling dummy andall he did was it was a

(46:32):
freakish thing he rolls up on it, goes and hits his head on the
ground.
So sometimes it's just freakishstuff too, but my main thing is
just teach them properly.
When you get them into footballit's just freakish stuff too,
but my main thing is just teachthem properly.
When you get them into footballit's like they definitely.
To me, a big thing is techniqueand you know knowing how to
tackle, Because a lot of thesecoaches out here you know this
Trey being out there in day 82,it's a lot of them just go out

(46:54):
there and hit somebody.
No safety, nothing.
You know what I'm saying Hitsomebody.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I get it.
We're all old school, we lovethe big hits, but it's like
teach them the proper way, firstand foremost, you know, to
protect themselves.
For the most part, who?

Speaker 3 (47:10):
is your vocal leader for the team.
There you go, yeah, I was goingto break.

Speaker 5 (47:17):
He's not on the call right now.
Yeah right, Vocal leader Andywas call right now.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
Yeah right, Vocal leader Andy was a big one.
Yeah, I mean, Jerome Brooks wasa pump you up type of guy.
You know Mike had thatconfidence, that swagger.
You know Mike's one of the bestthat I've ever played with.
I mean, you know, offensively,defensively and Mike could play

(47:48):
basketball, baseball, tennis.
He's one of the best athletesto ever come through handling.
I mean, he just is.
I love the fact that he had 25touchdowns and I matched him
with 25 touchdowns in the sameyear.
That's kind of always a coolstat to throw out to people.
Oh, okay, but we're not eventalking about Brian Parler.

(48:11):
I mean, he was our startingquarterback and ran our offense,
so he certainly needs to getcredit as a leader and a vocal
person as well.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Right yeah, so were you quiet, trey?
You just said you were thatsilent assassin.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Yeah, I didn't talk much.
I was definitely more quiet andshy when I was in high school.
I got out of that into college,but I was just trying to focus
and make sure I didn't screw up.
Right.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
What was your single game?
High Like almost 280 yards,right 270 something.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Actually, no, the funny thing is it was my senior
year, the last game of theregular season, we're playing
Warren County, and they knewthat that was the game that
would break the consecutive100-yard game record from 1967.
The consecutive 100-yard gamerecord from 1967.
Right, notoriously I would getoff to a slow start and, like

(49:07):
the first carry or two, I getstuffed, you know no yards and
they start running their mouth.
You ain't getting that recordtoday, kerm.
You ain't getting that recordtoday, right.
Well, the coaches figuredsomething out.
We were on a counter play and Icome back to the left-hand side
and it turns into how fast canI run?
Because this sucker is wideopen, right, and I ended up

(49:31):
running for it was like 210, inthe ballpark of 210.
I didn't have any huge, hugegames.
That was the only time I ranover 200 yards in high school.
I had a couple games at leastone game in college where I did
but shoot.
I only averaged 12 carries agame, 14 carries a game.
I mean we threw the ball a lot,so I had almost nine yards a

(49:55):
carry.
But yeah, we had such a goodbalance and you know, you stop
our passing game.
Well, we run the ball, you stopthe running game.
Well, we pass the ball, so Ithink that's why we were so
dangerous.
But it was great to run overtop of Warren County and you
know, I need to break the recordin the first half or the second

(50:18):
half.
Which one do you want?
Right, right, danny, what wasyour?

Speaker 3 (50:21):
game for receiving.
I was going to say yeah.

Speaker 5 (50:26):
For receiving.
I had the Hanley record for themost receptions in a game and
this was actually junior year.
Against Waynesboro I had ninereceptions and then that's the
week before that Thanksgivingwhere I broke my wrist that Trey
was talking about.
So that was kind of my breakoutgame that didn't last.

(50:47):
That record, of course, wasbroken senior year.
Mike, I think, had like 14receptions or something against
Loudon Valley, but I'd probablysay the first game ever against
Sharando, our senior year, thatwas my best game.
I had about 150 yards, twotouchdowns and I had three
interceptions at safety.
I only played safety one yearat Hanley and I think I'm in the

(51:08):
top five in interceptions alltime.
So give me more time.
I probably could have beenright there, uh, with
interceptions, but um, yeah,that's probably my best game.
Uh, was Sharando my senior year.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Nice, nice.
So what is your guys' fondestmemory?
It don't even have to be the 94season looking back Mine.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
So Virginia Tech agrees we're heading to the
state championship game.
They agree to let us practiceon their field at Lane Stadium,
which is fantastic To walkthrough the tunnel from the
locker room to the field.
Was Beamer there, beamer wasthere.
Only players get to do that,and so when you get that chance

(51:57):
to be able to walk through thattunnel, and so I remember, we
get into their locker room andthey got this really nice locker
room Virginia Tech logos in themiddle of it and you know, it
looks like something.
It looks like something out ofa movie, right, and you're just
like what?
So we're all in awe, we'relooking at the lockers and a big
football movie came out rightaround that time.

(52:18):
You guys remember Rudy?

Speaker 3 (52:21):
one of the best movies I watched it the other
day.

Speaker 5 (52:24):
They got those wooden stoolsools and I pull that
wooden stool into the middle ofvirginia tech logo and I stand
on top of and I start recitingthat listen up, men, we're gonna
go inside, we're gonna go, andeverybody just I think it just
kind of broke through the youknow, the being in shock and awe
of being in a college lockerroom in that situation, and I

(52:49):
think that's what you need, thatyou know you can't be uptight
and wound too tight when you'rein those situations and got to
go play loose and that's what wedid.
So that was one of my fondestmemories there Awesome.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
That was great.
That was great.
If I'm thinking about a memoryfor myself, or just the season
in general, the first thing thatcomes to my head is a selfish
thing, but I had hurt my footagainst Orange County and I'm
hoping to get back.
I couldn't practice all weekagainst Nottoway.

(53:23):
I played the game, but in thestate championship game I
re-injured that same sprainedarch in my foot and I'm getting
helped off the field and I'mthinking, please get better.
I got to finish the game andsomething.
Somehow I got over it and Istarted.
I was walking off the field andI shook the trainers off and I

(53:46):
ran to the sideline because Ididn't want everybody to think
we were down, like we were goingto lose, like we're getting
beat.
So then I, you know, hoppedaround and just be able to get
over that injury and then getback in and make a couple of big
runs.
I, you know, I just rememberfeeling so fulfilled, uh, when
we ended up winning that game asa team and just the feeling of
winning the state championshipwas, uh, that was really special

(54:07):
.
And then fire trucks andeverything coming into town.
It was really late.
Uh, right, that that was.
That was special feelings rightright I don't think that was so
.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
That was just you not wanting to let down your
teammates.
That's being, you know.
I mean, that's just beingcompetitive, you know.
But oh, so we'll go to.
So how was the celebrationcoming back?
How did the town react?
And the community?
You guys winning the 94 statechampionship?
I'm sure you all got freebreakfast at the Triangle Diner,

(54:41):
oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
I'll tell you, the thing that was not good was
after the game was over.
We had no hot water, zero Ice,cold water.
I mean we're dirty as we'veever been.
I had mud in my ear for threeor four straight days.
I still find stuff in my ear,that's true.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
So you're talking about at Gate City, at the
school where you guys.

Speaker 4 (55:10):
They gave us no hot water.
It was terrible.
Yeah right, that ride back tookforever.
It seemed like I mean you knowyou're hurting from the game,
but the celebration was great.
We got back late.
It was real late, though it wasreally late.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Yeah, do you know what time it was.

Speaker 5 (55:30):
It was like 12 o'clock, yeah, it was probably
one or two in the morning.
Yeah, yeah, everybody was thereto cheer you on and people
traveled.
I mean it was just amazing howmany people traveled all the way
down there too and you know,take that time out of their busy
lives to come watch us in aballgame all the way down and at

(55:52):
the edge of Virginia in GateCity.
So that's celebration, wise,you're kind of tying.
In the CTE earlier I think I hadone concussion in my life and
that was from Jimmy Gaynor whocame and he tackled me after I
knocked the ball down at the endof the game and I lost my

(56:12):
helmet.
It hit me so hard, it was thehardest hit I think I've had,
but it was in celebration forthe victory.
So that's what I remember asfar as celebration and just
everybody, you know it was justelation across the board in the
mud and and you know some of theguys you all had mentioned
earlier from the 96, 97 teamsthey're out there doing mud,

(56:34):
angels laying in it and and youknow it was just, it was just.
Finally it was.
You know, we got, we got thechampionship crowd was was huge
in that.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
I did want to bring that up real quick before we end
up jumping off.
I always pick on the 97 class.
I'm 99 but because of tony andthe podcast and everything.
But I played little league jetswith adam brathwaite justin,
thank you and I wanted to knowhow it was with troy, sloan and
spencer and everybody from 97 inpractice and helping you guys
prepare for the season can'tforget.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
forget, mr Rush, carl Rush.

Speaker 5 (57:09):
Yeah, I want to shout out all those guys that you
know on the depth chart, thatyou know that are there, and you
know the scout team, thepractice team, and they're
really you know iron, you knowyou know shapes, iron at the end
of the day, and you know youget these guys that are out
there.
You know they're giving ittheir all.
They're like, man, I'm playingagainst, you know, an all region

(57:31):
or an all state player.
I'm going to show them what Ican do and that's the type of
team mentality you have.
You're there to make each otherbetter and we couldn't have
done it without them.
Ray Ray mud, I mean another guywho's out there in practice.
He shows up every single day,he's there every single game.
I want to give him a shout-outas well.
And you know those guys.
I just thank them from thebottom of my heart and we

(57:53):
couldn't.
I mean, hey, they're champs aswell, man, and they deserve it.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
Right, quick story on Carl Russ.
I remember Keith Cover got hurtand he missed the majority of
the Osborne game, which was theclinching, record-tying thing
that we had going that year.
And one of the first coupleplays Carl gets beat.

(58:20):
And I remember going up thereand I wasn't that vocal but I
was like Carl, you're going tohave to step up, dude.
I mean Keith's not here and youcan't mess this whole thing up
right and he stopped it up andhe ended up.
He ended up doing a great jobthat game.
So right, of course, with AdamBrathwaite.
Um, I ended up working out withhim when he got into college.

(58:41):
He was a fantastic athlete.
He was great in little leagueand Adam was always very, very
tough, uh.
So he had a great career and hewas great to have on the team.
Yeah, I'm lucky enough for this.
Right now I got troy sloan'sson on my little league team so
nice yeah he's looking real good.
Uh and uh.
Yeah, devon and and and troyand those guys they were, they

(59:03):
were right in there, man, theywere right in there carrying on.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
Shout out.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Rudy, he was on that team.
Yeah, Rudy, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
Rudy Yep, I remember I think it was the Now.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
How could all these great names and players, how
could we not win after that?

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Yeah, it's Unfortunately we should have won
my senior year With Lang andPatrick, but oh.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
That was the man.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
We had Paul Carpenter , my buddy, throw it past the
Lang instead.
It was like the Marshawn Lynchthing for me Against the
Patriots, like hand the guy theball.
We tried to do a trickery Playwith Paul and Lang and it didn't
work.
But you know, and I was againstNottoway.

Speaker 4 (59:47):
I was at that game.
I went down to that game.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
I was going to say the team that and you guys
obviously made the statechampionship game.
We were down there watching it.
But the one that they had thelead against Turner Ashby, and
by two touchdowns.
And in the fourth quarter, Imean the game's done Right and

(01:00:11):
they get a touchdown.
Luckily we go to intercept it,it goes to the hands of the
safety, the Turner-Ashby guysbehind him catches, it runs for
one touchdown.
Now it's cut to a one-touchdownlead.
Then they kick an onside kickand I don't know, I'm not going
to name names the kid turns hisback to the onside ball onside
kick and it bounces off his backbecause the kick was so hard.

(01:00:32):
It ricochets back to turnerashby.
They, they get it, they go downand score and win the game.
Then they win the statechampionship the next week by
three or four, four touchdownsat least.
It wasn't even close.
Hanley shouldn't want it thatyear.
What year was that, myley?

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
should have won it that year.
What year was that?

Speaker 5 (01:00:48):
My little brother was on that team.
Senior year Was that with LA.
It was LA yep, yeah that wasthat team?
And LA should have won.
They should have won.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Yeah, right man, I remember hearing that I didn't
make the, but yeah, I rememberhearing that Like I said from my
years with Lang and Patrick,we've had amazing athletes,
amazing teams.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Shout out to everybody that's come through
Hanley.
Yeah, nobody's done it since 94, man, and that's hey, you guys
should still be very proud of.
You guys have all made the Hallof Fame.
You guys have been all Congrats.
Your team was the mostimpressive team I've ever seen
in my life as a little kid andlike that's why I was so excited
to have you guys on, because,like the whole community was all

(01:01:34):
about you guys and you guyshave shown us something that
we've never been able to puttogether since.
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
I'm getting.
I'm getting cold chills rightnow, man.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
It was.
It was a pleasure having youguys on.
Now the debate's going to bewho was better, 84 or 94?
Who's the better team?

Speaker 5 (01:01:57):
I'm not saying anything.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
They were good.
We scored a heck of a lot morepoints.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Yeah, I was three when they won but I would say,
from what I know and read andtalking to even some of their
guys, like they might have hadthe best defense but hey, by 94
definitely had the best offense.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Hey, but 94,.
Don't sleep with theanti-defense too.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
I know, but Danny's right there in part.
If Jerome was on here he wouldhave not had any of that.
Qb Sacker Jason.

Speaker 5 (01:02:26):
LaRue, that guy Right , yeah, monster.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
He had the record right until Stephen Daly broke
it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that'sgood for like 25 years Long time
, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
But hey, danny Trey, appreciate you guys jumping on
man, taking the time out of yourmorning to jump on here with us
and give us your stories.
Maybe we'll have you guys backoff or something else, but keep
doing what you guys are doing.
Man Trey, keep coaching.
Danny, keep doing your thing.
You guys, we look up to youguys.

(01:03:05):
I do, I'll admit it.
Yeah, hey, I didn't did in highschool.
I didn't want to admit it atthe time, but yeah, I did.
You guys, you guys were those,those guys in high school.
So keep doing what you guys aredoing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
But we appreciate you guys have going on or coming up
that you guys want to speak onand the community know about.
Coming up just as far asAnything like even your Little
League coaching and your teamsand anything you guys may have
going on with your businessesand stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Yeah, you can get a little promo Trey oh you can
come to Car and Motor Companyand get a new GMC or Buick.
I'll be right back.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
I mean all right, that's your only freebie.
All right, that's the pitchright there.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
Yes, now my kids have graduated high school, they're
in college and so forth, andit's moving on to their adult
life.
So now it's to enjoy a littlebit of free time and hopefully
get a chance to go see some moreHanley games too.
That's another thing I lookforward to doing and see a

(01:04:10):
championship in the future,because I think it's inevitable,
it's going to happen.
It's not a matter if it's when,and so hopefully we can all be
there to celebrate them on too.
But we appreciate Tony andChris for having us on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
Yes, yes, no problem, Danny, no problem, trey,
appreciate it on too, but weappreciate tony and chris for
having us on and uh, yes, yes,it was.
Yeah, no problem, danny, noproblem, trey, appreciate it.
Very exciting, very exciting,good stuff, guys.
Will you guys enjoy the rest ofyour day and we'll talk to you
later?
All right, thank you, all rightyeah all right fellas blessings
.
All right, brother, that's it.

(01:04:48):
We just had on two out of the.
How many were we supposed tohave on About?

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
six or seven Things happen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Things happen, but you know it is what it is.
You know hopefully we can getall them other guys back on, but
it's hard to schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
You know a lot of guys at one time and so that's
why we try to do it on a sunday,but it is what it is, danny and
trey, man, for getting on, likeyou said in the early morning,
and, um, those that didn't makeit.
It is what it is but, like wesaid, we're trying to get you
guys back on.
We can always have a secondpart to this, but, um,
definitely appreciate it, man,and to all the the players over

(01:05:24):
there at haley and the coachesright now man, look, we're all
pulling for you and rooting foryou.
We know Tristan's down.
It seems like the quarterbackthe other night had a really
good game.
So keep pushing, man, andhopefully we can see another
state championship soon.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Yeah, hopefully it's soon.
Like they say, it's not, it'llhappen, just win right.
Shout out to Isaiah.
Baxter and Amari who both cameout for the first year and had
big impacts in game one onFriday.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
What did Isaiah do?
I heard about Amari.
Isaiah had a big pick and hewas doing his thing out there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Nice, nice.
Good for them, man.
Like I said, there's a lot oflike I was telling them there's
basketball playing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
I mean, he had some catches and everything.
I think he scored a touchdown.
Amari scored also.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
Hey, isaiah Banks, he's just an athlete.
Just an athlete.
Like I said, telling these kidsI wish my son would have played
, don't sell yourself short.
You never know, they might endup with a football scholarship.
You know what I?

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
mean.
Yeah, shoot, shout out to JoJobecause he could be player of
the year in the whole state manbut just keep looking for me and
the leader of that team andthat defense man.
We're going to be pulling foryou guys all season long.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
All right.
So, chris, what's upcoming here?
We got, so Thursday, mr I'm inhere we got a.
So Thursday, mr, we were justtalking about him.
It should be.
Mr Paul rush will be thisThursday, so just came back to
the Winchester public schoolsystem.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
Yes, sir, even Loudon County was in Winchester and
Hanley went to Loudon County andnow he's back in Winchester so
excited to talk about him andeverything he's got going on for
the community and in the schoolsystem.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Yep, so excited to talk about him and everything
he's got going on for thecommunity and in the school
system.
Yeah, so that'll be our nextupcoming guest.
And then after that we gotBrian Pierce Gonzalez.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
The week after that, bpg Excited to have him on and
remember anybody who wants to bea guest or come on and speak
about anything.
Reach out to Tony myself.
Let us know what's going on,and we'd love to get you guys or
your ladies too.
So let us know what's going onand we'll set it up.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Right right, yep.
So, chris, I'll let you enjoythe rest of your day.
I'm here in Norfolk with my son.
He's at a camp right now, chris.
Hopefully he gets an offer, soI'm going to jump off of here
and I'm going to head down thereand see what he's doing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
I'm about to grab my stuff and hit the work for 12
hours, so that's a lot of fun.
But yeah, yeah, have fun withthat.
But no, it was.
It was a fun show man.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
I'm glad.
Yeah, good stuff.
So, everybody, please, you know, subscribe to our YouTube
channel.
You can follow us on Facebookor on Instagram, you know X.
So, yeah, please go subscribeto our YouTube channel, follow
us on Facebook and, anysuggestions, guys reach out to
us, send comments.
You know you can email, you cansend comments.
Look, I'm seeing them righthere Gerard Smith, you know.

(01:08:22):
And then who is that?
Smitty got on Shout out.
And then Brandon Lavender hey,go judges.
So guys keep commenting.
People, you can get on here andcomment live during the show.
But all right, chris andeverybody, we'll see you this
Thursday with Carl Rush.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
And I just saw that with Jerron and my buddy BL.
Both of them left comments.
See, I'm sorry, I'm learning, I, jaron and my buddy BL, both
they left comments.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
I didn't even see that.
See, I'm sorry, I'm learning.
I was like, oh shit, I was likeI got comments, I can check,
and I'm like, oh hey, people goton here, that's great.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Love it.
Shout out to Mr Smith too.
He was a part of that team anda big part of that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
And BO.
I didn't forget about you,buddy, because you was on the
squad with Patrick and Lang, andyou guys went to States the
next year too.
We can talk about that down theroad too, man.
Just let us know what you guyswant to do and we'll make it
happen, Right right.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
So all right, Chris, I'm getting blown up by my wife
now, so that means show's over,Go out there and watch the show
at the Norfolk State.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
Tell Mike Vick we said what's up, man, and maybe
be a guest.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
All right, Hopefully I'll get him on.
All right, bro, Love you andhey, everybody, tune in Thursday
7 pm with Carl Rush.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
All right, love you too, man.
All y'all have a blessed Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
All right, Later everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
We'll be you next time.
We'll be right back Outro Music.