August 20, 2024 • 17 mins
In our latest episode, host Jada Mirabelle sits down with the CIAC back-to-back Class SS Football State Champions, Joel Barlow High School! 🎙️🏆
Hear all about their unforgettable season and the journey to becoming back-to-back state champions. Hear exclusive stories, what drove them to success, hear their insights on hard work and leadership, the games they’re eagerly anticipating this season, and their thoughts on off-season training. Plus, enjoy a fun and fast-paced Q&A with Joel Barlow’s champions. 🔥🎙️
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to CIAC's Glory Days podcast.
I'm your host, jada Maribel,and today I'm joined by the 2023
CIAC Class SS Football StateChampions, joel Barlow High
School.
I'm joined by Senior RunningBack, scott Romano, head Coach
TJ Cavalier and Senior OffensiveLineman, pierce Counter.
Not only is Joel Barlow thereigning 2023 champions, but
also the 2022 champions, and notmany teams are fortunate enough
(00:25):
to be able to say they areback-to-back state champions.
In your 2022 state championshipgame against Valley Regional
High School, you won 61-6.
Now, this was not as close of awinning margin as this past
year's championship game, whereyou won 21-20 against Watertown
High School.
It took a stop on theirtwo-point conversion, a
successful on-sides kickrecovery and a late interception
(00:49):
for you to repeat as statechampions.
Your team scored a pair oftouchdowns less than just four
minutes apart in the thirdquarter to turn a seven-point
deficit into a 21-14 lead.
Coach, tell us a little bitabout your coaching strategy.
What is it that you focus onthe most to produce these
back-to-back championshipseasons?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The biggest thing is we really try and focus on the
things that we can affect.
Like we don't want to draw anyattention to things that we have
no control over.
So we talk at practice a lot oftimes can't worry about the
weather, we can't worry aboutthe other team, we can't worry
about the crowd.
We can affect our attitude andour effort and let's dial all of
(01:20):
our energy on that, becausethat's what helps make us
successful.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Just to be in the moment.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So what are some of the key lessons that you've guys
?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
taken from these back-to-back championship
seasons that you know hard workpays off.
You know what you put in.
You gotta back out.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
You know what I mean yeah, I think we've seen a lot
of like it's about the littlethings that really count,
because we had a lot of gamescome down to like um, like a one
point margin or like one score.
So it's really like like oneindividual play can like decide
a game.
So it's really focusing on,like every play to make sure you
do, like you give all of youreffort, each play to make sure,
like even with the two pointconversion, like if we didn't
(01:57):
get stopped there we may havenot won.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So it's really about yeah focusing every time giving
100 kind of to build off of whatscott said.
We have a period in practicewhere you know we really
emphasize special teams, fieldgoals, extra points or something
like that, and we talk all thetime about how a single play can
, you know, affect the game.
And you know, obviously lastyear that played out several
(02:20):
times for us.
So, uh, it's good when it comesto fruition and the kids
actually see that that lessonpays off.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, we saw that live in that championship.
We didn't know which way thatwas going to go, but your team
had a 3-0 start to the 2023season and then you dropped four
straight games.
So how did you guys deal withthose setbacks and those losses
and how were you able to turnthe season around?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So I think sometimes people look too much at like oh,
people look too much at like oh, you start at 3-0 and then you
go 4.
You know you lost 4.
We obviously got into theharder part of our schedule.
You know we ended up playingNotre Dame at Fairfield and we
played Massac and we played NewMilford and you know all of them
were playoff teams.
We ran into a real toughBrookfield team.
(02:59):
So I think sometimes you justplay the schedule as it comes.
And you know, sometimes youjust play the schedule as it
comes and sometimes you havethese patterns where you win a
few or you lose a few, but youtake each game, one game at a
time, and focus on the one forthat week.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There's ups and downs to every season.
So in this past year'schampionship game you were down
heading into the half.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat happened during halftime
behind the scenes to help shiftthe momentum.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Our big thing is we again try and focus on what we
can do.
So our goal at halftime was tofocus on just making some
adjustments.
Blocking schemes If there's oneor two players that have been
giving us trouble, how can wehandle them, or do we go away
from them, or whatever the caseis with that.
We really don't kind of usuallyscrap our entire playbook or
(03:45):
our plan at halftime.
It's just kind of little tweakshere and there.
But it came down to in thethird quarter we had a good
drive and then we had theturnover.
They turned the wall over andwe know that that's usually a
big momentum shift for us youjust had to adjust, make small
tweaks in the moment.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Yeah, so, players, how do you maintain focus in
those crucial moments?
I think it's really just likeum, kind of what I said before,
like taking it one play at atime, uh, keeping like a clear
mind because we know like wecan't affect what the rest are
going to do, or like what anyoneelse can do.
It's kind of just what we'redoing and even for, like at
halftime of that game, likelooking forward, we couldn't be
(04:24):
like, oh, we're down.
We knew that we'd like beenthere the week before against
sheehan and that we had beenable to pull off a win.
So we kind of knew we'd been inthe situation before and that
we were a good enough team to beable to pull it through and
pull it like and win the tightgames.
So I think you have to have theconfidence in yourself and also
like your teammates, that it'sa good group of people that are
able to like work together andpull out the tight wins yeah,
(04:45):
absolutely.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You have to have that belief in yourself and your
teammates out there yeah, Ithink also because you practice
things so many times, it's justlike second nature, to the point
where you get on the field andyou just execute, you don't even
need to think about it you justrevert back to those drills and
practice exactly so as thecurrent reigning class double s
champions.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
If you had to share a piece of advice to fellow
athletes and fellow coaches,what would it be?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I would say, just in the offseason, work as hard as
possible, because there's never.
You never want to have a momentafter a game or after like loss
or something, to say what if Idid that extra rep during the
season?
Or like during the offseason,what if I did this always like
try to give a hundred?
Because you never want to lookback and say like what if that's
like the?
Worst feeling you can have.
So that's probably my word ofadvice yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I think same thing.
You know you don't want to haveany regrets, so make sure you
put in as much work as youpossibly can when you have the
chance so that when you don't,you know you don't have any
regrets.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I would say for coaching, coaching.
I would tell coaches believe inyour system.
I mean, I feel like every yearwe go into the playoffs and some
newspaper writes that we havesome antiquated offensive system
that nobody runs anymore.
And we believe in it, you know,and we buy into it, the kids
buy into it and because of that,when push comes to shove or
when games get tight, we believethat it's gonna work.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So how do you think this new CIC rule allowing for
teams to now practice for twodays a week for two hours per
session will help benefit yourteam and other teams for the
upcoming season?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Do you want me to start with that?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, anyone, whoever .
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I'm curious to see how it's going to work, because
I think that it was great inthe sense that now teams can
practice.
You should be further alongwhen you get to August.
However, teams in the past havebeen going to camps and things
like that, so I don't know ifthey stop going to camps because
they can practice.
(06:40):
I'm curious to see, especiallyin week one, which is the week
where you really don't know whoyour team is yet.
Maybe you're a little bitfurther along and teams are a
little bit better prepared.
But the issue that we run intois that we have kids that play
other sports, they have jobs, soI don't know that we've still
seen our full team at any ofthose practices, whether it's
(07:01):
vacation, whether it's a job,whether it's, you know, some,
something else that they've gotgoing on.
So I think it benefits us andit'll be helpful, but I'm
curious to see what how it playsout.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I just hope that teams don't take advantage and
try and go beyond the two, twohours of practice or they don't
try and scrimmage each other,like you know, because they gave
us a gift by doing it and Ihope they don't ruin it by
trying to go too far with ityeah, I think it definitely
gives like a head start to likethe players and like the coaches
to be able to like kind ofstart to see like what the
team's gonna look like this yearand start to like maybe like
(07:34):
run through a few plays and likestart to get like where we
would be starting, like week onein august, of like kind of
starting to like get to see thatwe've been able to do that for
like last few weeks to try tostart getting an idea, so we
don't have to start from likesquare one when, like um, fall
camp starts.
But I think it'll definitelylike be interesting to see, once
we get into the season, likethe differences in like where
(07:55):
teams are starting off and likeif they did take advantage of
like the new rules and stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
You know, for my position at least, I don't think
it will have too much of aneffect because you know we don't
use the ball anyways.
So we kind of already had theability to execute these plays
and do everything the same way,and it's not very different for
us.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I would say the biggest group I think is going
to help is the incoming freshmen, because you can start to show
them the plays way ahead of timeand when they roll in late
August it's not a complete shockto them what you're doing and
how fast things are going, andthings of that nature.
I would say that that'sprobably the group that I would
think is going to help the mostit'll benefit the most
especially.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I know your team lost a few seniors, so this will be
a good time to see how thefreshmen will mesh in and how
new players can help maybe fillthose roles yeah, absolutely, I
think it's a good tool for that.
So what headings upcomingseason?
Who do you think will be yourtoughest matchup?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
I think from our schedule it's probably gonna be
Newtown because they they'vealways had like great team.
They always come ready to play.
They're also like a conference,some like rival, so they're
usually a pretty good team.
Last time we had a pretty closegame with them but lost.
So hopefully this year we canpull out a win against them.
Conference rival do a lot ofpeople show up to that game in
the crowd?
Yeah, usually a pretty goodattendance there, them, but lost
.
So hopefully this year we canum pull out a win against them.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Conference rivaled.
A lot of people shopped thatgame in the crowd uh, yeah,
usually we have pretty goodattendance there do you know how
long it's been since we beatthem?
I know it's been a while, butthere's like a big number.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I can't remember it, but it would be great if we
could turn that around I thinkto be, though each game is a
little bit unique.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So, like this year, we opened up with East Lime.
We haven't seen them in sevenyears.
We play East Catholic.
We don't know very much aboutthem, so they could be really
good, and you don't know,because we don't see them year
in and year out.
I think in league I would agreeNewtown is a perennial
powerhouse, new Mil a perennialpowerhouse.
New Milford, because in theSCBC it's very interesting
because we have schools that areall different sizes in the same
(09:56):
league.
So we play Ls and we playdouble Ms and we play Ss.
So because of that, you tend tohave different.
I think Brookfield's going tobe very good this year and
actually now, with Killinglydropping back down to the double
Ss, I think that's a big gamefor us.
So I think there's quite a fewgames on the schedule that are
big games for us, there'll be alot of good matchups.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, what game are you most looking forward to this
year?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Probably Weston.
It's their Thanksgiving rivalrygame, so it's always fun to go
in there.
Last few years we've been ableto win, so hopefully we can keep
that alive.
It's always fun to go out.
Usually get a good crowd forThanksgiving last game of the
season before playoffs start, soit's always a fun time.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, that sounds fun .
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I think I'm looking forward to Brookfield the most.
I work out with some of theplayers on the team and I'm
really mad that we lost themlast year because it was very
close.
So I'm going to give my allthat game, you know, and make
sure that we win.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
You're coming back for the win for them, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I would probably say just East Lime, because it's the
first game, you know.
Just get that season rolling.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Get it started, get a good start.
So, scott and Pierce, what willyour strategy be this season as
seniors, to lead the team?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I think really just like leading by example and kind
of showing like the other guyslike what it takes, Because
we've been able to like win thelast two years obviously.
So I think it's really showingthe guys and like some of the
younger people, what it takes tolike win these championships.
So really just like every drillgiving it, like you're all
(11:28):
trying to help out like theyounger guys, make sure that
they get it, because also, wewant to leave the program better
than like we got here.
So obviously we want to makesure that, like when we're
leaving, whether it's afterchampionship or just after a
season, we want to make surethat it's in good hands so that
they can hopefully carry on thelegacy that like we've created.
So I think that's like thebiggest thing is kind of just
(11:49):
lead by example and help likebuild the program up I was about
to say, the biggest thing iskind of just lead by example and
help build the program up.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I was about to say the same thing.
Took the words right out ofyour mouth.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You agree on that one .
So I know you mentioned leadingby example.
But if you had to choose onemotto heading into this upcoming
season, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
One of the mottos we usually use is a talent's down,
because we like to be on theattack and stuff.
But I don't know if pierce hasanother one.
I kind of like the, the machinekeeps rolling one.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, it's just every play.
You just keep going, yep that'sa good one.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I like that one.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yeah, I guess you could alternate, maybe switch it
up as the season goes on, wealso, every once in a while,
we'll have like a new one pop upyes, depending on where you are
in the season and what's goingon.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, so now we're gonna head into some rapid
questions.
So these are a surprise.
They're gonna be quick.
Okay, you just answer.
Okay, scott nfl goat tom bradyoh, classic.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Okay, pierce, favorite football memory man,
you're getting really hard,probably, uh, winning the first
state championship.
That was, that was amazing.
I was gonna say you, man,you're getting really hard on me
.
Probably winning the firststate championship.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That was amazing, I was going to say you had two
good options to choose from withthat one Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Coach.
Favorite thing about being acoach Helping young men, like
you know, leading them intotheir futures and hopefully, 10
years down the road, seeing themcome back and be good husbands
and good fathers.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Scott favorite pregame hype song.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Might be Superstar by Lupe Fiasco, I think.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Gets you amped up.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, it's a pretty good one.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Pierce, if you could be on the O-line of any NFL team
, which team would it be?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Probably the Patriots .
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Brady Patriots.
I see a theme here.
Coach, what is the best adviceyou've received?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Live in the moment.
Don't get too high or too lowafter a win.
Just keep moving forward andlive in the moment.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Sounds like the coaching strategy you just
talked about.
It's like the same thing.
Okay, Scott, best footballmovie.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
We all know it's the Program.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I don't know, Remember the.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Titans.
It's pretty good.
That was probably my first realfootball movie I watched and I
was like this is pretty good.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Pierce favorite jersey number 77.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
No bias there.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Do you wear that because your brother wore it, or
is it like I mean, I also justlike it?
Okay, my two brothers both worethat number too, so there you
go I like the tradition, yeah,exactly coach favorite sport to
watch other than football hockey.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Oh, okay, that's me too.
Okay.
We're gonna wrap up these rapidquestions with a question for
all of you who is your pick towin the super bowl this year?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I think we might have to go with the niners, because
I love christian mccaffrey so Igot no idea.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
No idea uh, I think the chiefs chiefs, oh okay,
chiefs and niners again uh, notsaying I'm a chiefs fan, but
yeah, I think they've been kindof a powerhouse for a while.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So yeah, they have a.
They have a good run going.
So, lastly, in the gloriouspodcast, we always like to wrap
up by asking our guests what doyou think the purpose of high
school sports is?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
We're going to let Peter start with this one so you
can't steal his answer.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, I think the purpose is just learning how to
discipline yourself and justlearning that what you put in,
you get out.
I know I already said thatbefore, but that's kind of what
matters.
Mm-hmm, like if you work hardfor something, you'll get a lot
out of it, but if you don't puta lot in, you're not going to
(15:22):
get anything out of it.
It's not going to be worth it.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So yeah, you can learn some really strong life
skills from sports uh, yeah, forme, I think it's really about
like, um, really just likecoming together, learning how to
like work together as a team,because obviously those are
skills you're always going useand I think, like overcoming
adversity is like a big one,because, I mean, those are
skills you're always gonna beusing and you also get to do it
(15:47):
with, like you're gonna meetpeople and like create these
bonds that you're probably gonnahave forever.
So I mean having like a teamand almost like a family away
from like your family, it's agreat thing to have and I think
it just gives like peopleoutlets.
Like after school you get to goand like enjoy, like do
something that you actually likeenjoy and love.
So I think it's really justgiving people like outlets to do
(16:08):
what they enjoy.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I would say opportunity, you know.
Opportunity to meet and hangout with new people.
Opportunity to try things maybethat you haven't tried before.
Opportunity to partake insomething that probably after
high school, 99% of the kids arenot going to be able to do
anymore.
So it's just the opportunity toget all of those different
(16:31):
choices or options that arethere for them in high school
that a lot of times they don'thave.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, it's a four years where you can make special
memories.
I mean, you guys got two statechampionships with your friends
out there, so that's a lifelongmemory you've got.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I'll be honest, though.
I hope that their bettermemories, beyond winning and
losing, is just, you know,hanging out and being with their
boys at dinner or in the lockerroom, or just, you know, 10
years down the road, come backand talk about it.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I can talk about it, Just the everyday moments.
Yeah, that's what it's allabout.
So thank you so much to CoachCavalier, Scott Romano and
Pierce Counter for joining me onthe CIAC Glory Days podcast.
I wish you the best of luck inthis upcoming season and I hope
you're able to come out withanother state championship title
.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Very much appreciate.
It Towns down, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Towns down there you.
Welcome to CIAC's Glory Days podcast.
I'm your host, jada Maribel,and today I'm joined by the 2023
CIAC Class SS Football StateChampions, joel Barlow High
School.
I'm joined by Senior RunningBack, scott Romano, head Coach
TJ Cavalier and Senior OffensiveLineman, pierce Counter.
Not only is Joel Barlow thereigning 2023 champions, but
also the 2022 champions, and notmany teams are fortunate enough
(00:25):
to be able to say they areback-to-back state champions.
In your 2022 state championshipgame against Valley Regional
High School, you won 61-6.
Now, this was not as close of awinning margin as this past
year's championship game, whereyou won 21-20 against Watertown
High School.
It took a stop on theirtwo-point conversion, a
successful on-sides kickrecovery and a late interception
(00:49):
for you to repeat as statechampions.
Your team scored a pair oftouchdowns less than just four
minutes apart in the thirdquarter to turn a seven-point
deficit into a 21-14 lead.
Coach, tell us a little bitabout your coaching strategy.
What is it that you focus onthe most to produce these
back-to-back championshipseasons?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The biggest thing is we really try and focus on the
things that we can affect.
Like we don't want to draw anyattention to things that we have
no control over.
So we talk at practice a lot oftimes can't worry about the
weather, we can't worry aboutthe other team, we can't worry
about the crowd.
We can affect our attitude andour effort and let's dial all of
(01:20):
our energy on that, becausethat's what helps make us
successful.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Just to be in the moment.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So what are some of the key lessons that you've guys
?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
taken from these back-to-back championship
seasons that you know hard workpays off.
You know what you put in.
You gotta back out.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
You know what I mean yeah, I think we've seen a lot
of like it's about the littlethings that really count,
because we had a lot of gamescome down to like um, like a one
point margin or like one score.
So it's really like like oneindividual play can like decide
a game.
So it's really focusing on,like every play to make sure you
do, like you give all of youreffort, each play to make sure,
like even with the two pointconversion, like if we didn't
(01:57):
get stopped there we may havenot won.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So it's really about yeah focusing every time giving
100 kind of to build off of whatscott said.
We have a period in practicewhere you know we really
emphasize special teams, fieldgoals, extra points or something
like that, and we talk all thetime about how a single play can
, you know, affect the game.
And you know, obviously lastyear that played out several
(02:20):
times for us.
So, uh, it's good when it comesto fruition and the kids
actually see that that lessonpays off.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, we saw that live in that championship.
We didn't know which way thatwas going to go, but your team
had a 3-0 start to the 2023season and then you dropped four
straight games.
So how did you guys deal withthose setbacks and those losses
and how were you able to turnthe season around?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So I think sometimes people look too much at like oh,
people look too much at like oh, you start at 3-0 and then you
go 4.
You know you lost 4.
We obviously got into theharder part of our schedule.
You know we ended up playingNotre Dame at Fairfield and we
played Massac and we played NewMilford and you know all of them
were playoff teams.
We ran into a real toughBrookfield team.
(02:59):
So I think sometimes you justplay the schedule as it comes.
And you know, sometimes youjust play the schedule as it
comes and sometimes you havethese patterns where you win a
few or you lose a few, but youtake each game, one game at a
time, and focus on the one forthat week.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There's ups and downs to every season.
So in this past year'schampionship game you were down
heading into the half.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat happened during halftime
behind the scenes to help shiftthe momentum.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Our big thing is we again try and focus on what we
can do.
So our goal at halftime was tofocus on just making some
adjustments.
Blocking schemes If there's oneor two players that have been
giving us trouble, how can wehandle them, or do we go away
from them, or whatever the caseis with that.
We really don't kind of usuallyscrap our entire playbook or
(03:45):
our plan at halftime.
It's just kind of little tweakshere and there.
But it came down to in thethird quarter we had a good
drive and then we had theturnover.
They turned the wall over andwe know that that's usually a
big momentum shift for us youjust had to adjust, make small
tweaks in the moment.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Yeah, so, players, how do you maintain focus in
those crucial moments?
I think it's really just likeum, kind of what I said before,
like taking it one play at atime, uh, keeping like a clear
mind because we know like wecan't affect what the rest are
going to do, or like what anyoneelse can do.
It's kind of just what we'redoing and even for, like at
halftime of that game, likelooking forward, we couldn't be
(04:24):
like, oh, we're down.
We knew that we'd like beenthere the week before against
sheehan and that we had beenable to pull off a win.
So we kind of knew we'd been inthe situation before and that
we were a good enough team to beable to pull it through and
pull it like and win the tightgames.
So I think you have to have theconfidence in yourself and also
like your teammates, that it'sa good group of people that are
able to like work together andpull out the tight wins yeah,
(04:45):
absolutely.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You have to have that belief in yourself and your
teammates out there yeah, Ithink also because you practice
things so many times, it's justlike second nature, to the point
where you get on the field andyou just execute, you don't even
need to think about it you justrevert back to those drills and
practice exactly so as thecurrent reigning class double s
champions.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
If you had to share a piece of advice to fellow
athletes and fellow coaches,what would it be?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I would say, just in the offseason, work as hard as
possible, because there's never.
You never want to have a momentafter a game or after like loss
or something, to say what if Idid that extra rep during the
season?
Or like during the offseason,what if I did this always like
try to give a hundred?
Because you never want to lookback and say like what if that's
like the?
Worst feeling you can have.
So that's probably my word ofadvice yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I think same thing.
You know you don't want to haveany regrets, so make sure you
put in as much work as youpossibly can when you have the
chance so that when you don't,you know you don't have any
regrets.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I would say for coaching, coaching.
I would tell coaches believe inyour system.
I mean, I feel like every yearwe go into the playoffs and some
newspaper writes that we havesome antiquated offensive system
that nobody runs anymore.
And we believe in it, you know,and we buy into it, the kids
buy into it and because of that,when push comes to shove or
when games get tight, we believethat it's gonna work.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So how do you think this new CIC rule allowing for
teams to now practice for twodays a week for two hours per
session will help benefit yourteam and other teams for the
upcoming season?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Do you want me to start with that?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, anyone, whoever .
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I'm curious to see how it's going to work, because
I think that it was great inthe sense that now teams can
practice.
You should be further alongwhen you get to August.
However, teams in the past havebeen going to camps and things
like that, so I don't know ifthey stop going to camps because
they can practice.
(06:40):
I'm curious to see, especiallyin week one, which is the week
where you really don't know whoyour team is yet.
Maybe you're a little bitfurther along and teams are a
little bit better prepared.
But the issue that we run intois that we have kids that play
other sports, they have jobs, soI don't know that we've still
seen our full team at any ofthose practices, whether it's
(07:01):
vacation, whether it's a job,whether it's, you know, some,
something else that they've gotgoing on.
So I think it benefits us andit'll be helpful, but I'm
curious to see what how it playsout.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I just hope that teams don't take advantage and
try and go beyond the two, twohours of practice or they don't
try and scrimmage each other,like you know, because they gave
us a gift by doing it and Ihope they don't ruin it by
trying to go too far with ityeah, I think it definitely
gives like a head start to likethe players and like the coaches
to be able to like kind ofstart to see like what the
team's gonna look like this yearand start to like maybe like
(07:34):
run through a few plays and likestart to get like where we
would be starting, like week onein august, of like kind of
starting to like get to see thatwe've been able to do that for
like last few weeks to try tostart getting an idea, so we
don't have to start from likesquare one when, like um, fall
camp starts.
But I think it'll definitelylike be interesting to see, once
we get into the season, likethe differences in like where
(07:55):
teams are starting off and likeif they did take advantage of
like the new rules and stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
You know, for my position at least, I don't think
it will have too much of aneffect because you know we don't
use the ball anyways.
So we kind of already had theability to execute these plays
and do everything the same way,and it's not very different for
us.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I would say the biggest group I think is going
to help is the incoming freshmen, because you can start to show
them the plays way ahead of timeand when they roll in late
August it's not a complete shockto them what you're doing and
how fast things are going, andthings of that nature.
I would say that that'sprobably the group that I would
think is going to help the mostit'll benefit the most
especially.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I know your team lost a few seniors, so this will be
a good time to see how thefreshmen will mesh in and how
new players can help maybe fillthose roles yeah, absolutely, I
think it's a good tool for that.
So what headings upcomingseason?
Who do you think will be yourtoughest matchup?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
I think from our schedule it's probably gonna be
Newtown because they they'vealways had like great team.
They always come ready to play.
They're also like a conference,some like rival, so they're
usually a pretty good team.
Last time we had a pretty closegame with them but lost.
So hopefully this year we canpull out a win against them.
Conference rival do a lot ofpeople show up to that game in
the crowd?
Yeah, usually a pretty goodattendance there, them, but lost
.
So hopefully this year we canum pull out a win against them.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Conference rivaled.
A lot of people shopped thatgame in the crowd uh, yeah,
usually we have pretty goodattendance there do you know how
long it's been since we beatthem?
I know it's been a while, butthere's like a big number.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I can't remember it, but it would be great if we
could turn that around I thinkto be, though each game is a
little bit unique.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
So, like this year, we opened up with East Lime.
We haven't seen them in sevenyears.
We play East Catholic.
We don't know very much aboutthem, so they could be really
good, and you don't know,because we don't see them year
in and year out.
I think in league I would agreeNewtown is a perennial
powerhouse, new Mil a perennialpowerhouse.
New Milford, because in theSCBC it's very interesting
because we have schools that areall different sizes in the same
(09:56):
league.
So we play Ls and we playdouble Ms and we play Ss.
So because of that, you tend tohave different.
I think Brookfield's going tobe very good this year and
actually now, with Killinglydropping back down to the double
Ss, I think that's a big gamefor us.
So I think there's quite a fewgames on the schedule that are
big games for us, there'll be alot of good matchups.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, what game are you most looking forward to this
year?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Probably Weston.
It's their Thanksgiving rivalrygame, so it's always fun to go
in there.
Last few years we've been ableto win, so hopefully we can keep
that alive.
It's always fun to go out.
Usually get a good crowd forThanksgiving last game of the
season before playoffs start, soit's always a fun time.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, that sounds fun .
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I think I'm looking forward to Brookfield the most.
I work out with some of theplayers on the team and I'm
really mad that we lost themlast year because it was very
close.
So I'm going to give my allthat game, you know, and make
sure that we win.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
You're coming back for the win for them, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I would probably say just East Lime, because it's the
first game, you know.
Just get that season rolling.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Get it started, get a good start.
So, scott and Pierce, what willyour strategy be this season as
seniors, to lead the team?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I think really just like leading by example and kind
of showing like the other guyslike what it takes, Because
we've been able to like win thelast two years obviously.
So I think it's really showingthe guys and like some of the
younger people, what it takes tolike win these championships.
So really just like every drillgiving it, like you're all
(11:28):
trying to help out like theyounger guys, make sure that
they get it, because also, wewant to leave the program better
than like we got here.
So obviously we want to makesure that, like when we're
leaving, whether it's afterchampionship or just after a
season, we want to make surethat it's in good hands so that
they can hopefully carry on thelegacy that like we've created.
So I think that's like thebiggest thing is kind of just
(11:49):
lead by example and help likebuild the program up I was about
to say, the biggest thing iskind of just lead by example and
help build the program up.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I was about to say the same thing.
Took the words right out ofyour mouth.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You agree on that one .
So I know you mentioned leadingby example.
But if you had to choose onemotto heading into this upcoming
season, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
One of the mottos we usually use is a talent's down,
because we like to be on theattack and stuff.
But I don't know if pierce hasanother one.
I kind of like the, the machinekeeps rolling one.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, it's just every play.
You just keep going, yep that'sa good one.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I like that one.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yeah, I guess you could alternate, maybe switch it
up as the season goes on, wealso, every once in a while,
we'll have like a new one pop upyes, depending on where you are
in the season and what's goingon.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, so now we're gonna head into some rapid
questions.
So these are a surprise.
They're gonna be quick.
Okay, you just answer.
Okay, scott nfl goat tom bradyoh, classic.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Okay, pierce, favorite football memory man,
you're getting really hard,probably, uh, winning the first
state championship.
That was, that was amazing.
I was gonna say you, man,you're getting really hard on me
.
Probably winning the firststate championship.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That was amazing, I was going to say you had two
good options to choose from withthat one Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Coach.
Favorite thing about being acoach Helping young men, like
you know, leading them intotheir futures and hopefully, 10
years down the road, seeing themcome back and be good husbands
and good fathers.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Scott favorite pregame hype song.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Might be Superstar by Lupe Fiasco, I think.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Gets you amped up.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, it's a pretty good one.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Pierce, if you could be on the O-line of any NFL team
, which team would it be?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Probably the Patriots .
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Brady Patriots.
I see a theme here.
Coach, what is the best adviceyou've received?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Live in the moment.
Don't get too high or too lowafter a win.
Just keep moving forward andlive in the moment.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Sounds like the coaching strategy you just
talked about.
It's like the same thing.
Okay, Scott, best footballmovie.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
We all know it's the Program.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I don't know, Remember the.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Titans.
It's pretty good.
That was probably my first realfootball movie I watched and I
was like this is pretty good.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Pierce favorite jersey number 77.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
No bias there.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Do you wear that because your brother wore it, or
is it like I mean, I also justlike it?
Okay, my two brothers both worethat number too, so there you
go I like the tradition, yeah,exactly coach favorite sport to
watch other than football hockey.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Oh, okay, that's me too.
Okay.
We're gonna wrap up these rapidquestions with a question for
all of you who is your pick towin the super bowl this year?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I think we might have to go with the niners, because
I love christian mccaffrey so Igot no idea.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
No idea uh, I think the chiefs chiefs, oh okay,
chiefs and niners again uh, notsaying I'm a chiefs fan, but
yeah, I think they've been kindof a powerhouse for a while.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So yeah, they have a.
They have a good run going.
So, lastly, in the gloriouspodcast, we always like to wrap
up by asking our guests what doyou think the purpose of high
school sports is?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
We're going to let Peter start with this one so you
can't steal his answer.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, I think the purpose is just learning how to
discipline yourself and justlearning that what you put in,
you get out.
I know I already said thatbefore, but that's kind of what
matters.
Mm-hmm, like if you work hardfor something, you'll get a lot
out of it, but if you don't puta lot in, you're not going to
(15:22):
get anything out of it.
It's not going to be worth it.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So yeah, you can learn some really strong life
skills from sports uh, yeah, forme, I think it's really about
like, um, really just likecoming together, learning how to
like work together as a team,because obviously those are
skills you're always going useand I think, like overcoming
adversity is like a big one,because, I mean, those are
skills you're always gonna beusing and you also get to do it
(15:47):
with, like you're gonna meetpeople and like create these
bonds that you're probably gonnahave forever.
So I mean having like a teamand almost like a family away
from like your family, it's agreat thing to have and I think
it just gives like peopleoutlets.
Like after school you get to goand like enjoy, like do
something that you actually likeenjoy and love.
So I think it's really justgiving people like outlets to do
(16:08):
what they enjoy.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I would say opportunity, you know.
Opportunity to meet and hangout with new people.
Opportunity to try things maybethat you haven't tried before.
Opportunity to partake insomething that probably after
high school, 99% of the kids arenot going to be able to do
anymore.
So it's just the opportunity toget all of those different
(16:31):
choices or options that arethere for them in high school
that a lot of times they don'thave.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, it's a four years where you can make special
memories.
I mean, you guys got two statechampionships with your friends
out there, so that's a lifelongmemory you've got.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I'll be honest, though.
I hope that their bettermemories, beyond winning and
losing, is just, you know,hanging out and being with their
boys at dinner or in the lockerroom, or just, you know, 10
years down the road, come backand talk about it.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I can talk about it, Just the everyday moments.
Yeah, that's what it's allabout.
So thank you so much to CoachCavalier, Scott Romano and
Pierce Counter for joining me onthe CIAC Glory Days podcast.
I wish you the best of luck inthis upcoming season and I hope
you're able to come out withanother state championship title
.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Very much appreciate.
It Towns down, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Towns down there you.
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