Dakoda Shrader interview. #100

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
Hey everybody, welcome back.
I have a good friend, old friendI've known for a long time,
Dakota Schrader, on the phone.
We're gonna be talking about ourplaying time and um what he's
doing now, a little bit of whathe's doing now.
And hey Dakota, how are youdoing?

SPEAKER_04 (00:47):
Doing well.
Well, Josh.
Uh I appreciate you having meon.
Uh been looking forward to itthis week.
I'm glad it worked out.
Um do want to say though, um,unfortunately, um this is gonna
be prior to Virginia Tech goingup to Scott Stadium and taking
care of UVA.
I think you did this on purposeand kind of had our interview
set up for the tech UVA gamejust because our I feel like our

(01:10):
rivalry goes pretty far backwith each other.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Oh, it does, man.
We used to call each other allthe time.
Well you you used to call meafter every game.
We were calling each other.
And I I only had immediately Ionly had the privilege of doing
it one time in football, and Ithink Morgan made you answer the
phone because you did not wantto.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31):
I did not want to, but I I took no chance and I
think my direct statement to youwas this has been a long time
coming, and I I also told youthat I did not want to answer
the phone, but that you hadanswered every time that I
called you after tech one, so II had to rightfully answer.

SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
That's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:48):
Yeah, we hadn't done that in a while, but you know, I
mean but um maybe Oh well don'tget any big ideas if y'all won't
win the date.
If you call me, I'm I'm ignored.

SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Okay, I might just send you a text message.
And listen, someone I someonesomeone said y'all are probably
gonna beat us, is like I don'tknow.
I've seen UVA well I know thatwe got the better team this
year, but I've seen us lose thetech so many times it wouldn't
shock me, man.

SPEAKER_04 (02:15):
Uh uh well I mean as a tech fan I would I'd be very
happy if we went up there andplayed spoiler, but yeah.
I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Yeah, but if we go to ACC championship, you gotta
root for your Virginia fellowVirginia school to win.
Um Yeah, I know you had a I knowyou had a hard time when they
were in the nationalchampionship with Tony Bennett,
but you know.

SPEAKER_04 (02:41):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, well, that's after theygot beat by a sixteen, so you
don't forget.

SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
Okay, yeah, we did, and you called me after that
too, but we won the we won thenext we won the next year.

SPEAKER_03 (02:54):
I don't quite remember that as well.

SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, it was it was the yearbefore everything uh went down.

SPEAKER_00 (03:00):
So that'd be twenty nineteen.

SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
So Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, twenty nineteen.
But yeah, let's so I've knownDakota for a very long time.
Went to s uh went to schooltogether, elementary school,
high school, went to churchtogether for a very long time.
Um and uh you know, I r I movedthree years ago down to
Chihuahua, so I live furthersouth than west and he moved to

(03:25):
the other side of the river.
Um but um that's alright.
But um so yeah, just uh the umthe twenty thirteen season I
remember very well.
And I remember the m themajority of the games have all
of them on DVD except uhChristiansburg.

(03:46):
And uh um but uh the thing thatstands out to me when I was
looking at the scores and Iremember uh our very first game,
which I know we're fastforwarding past uh our two
skirmishes, but our very firstgame we played Blacksburg and we
won in overtime 38 to 37 by onepoint, and our very last game we

(04:07):
won in overtime by one pointtoo.
So that kind of um kind ofmashed well together.

SPEAKER_04 (04:15):
Yeah, it did.
It was I mean, it's kinda funnyhow that worked, and you you
talk about winning by a point ina state championship game, and I
feel like the majority of thestate championships that Giles
has won have have been by point.

SPEAKER_01 (04:28):
Yeah, I was looking back at that too.
So I believe that was a pointgame, yeah.
So it was I think every one butone, I think there was one that
we won by uh two touchdowns, andmaybe that was ninety-free.

(04:48):
Were you at that game, Dakota?

SPEAKER_04 (04:52):
The O five one?

SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (04:55):
I was uh actually was sitting, I'll mention two
people that you know and arefamiliar with.
I was sitting with Trenton Reidand Stuart Meyer.
It had snowed up inHarrisonburg, because that was a
mistake game, was that JamesMadison?
But it had snowed up inHarrisonburg and they had went
that morning and cleared thebleachers out, and there was

(05:15):
snow in the bleachers, man, itwas freezing.

SPEAKER_01 (05:17):
Maybe that's that was just a little bit of um
foreshadowing to you to yourcollege days in Harrisonburg.

SPEAKER_04 (05:30):
Or right now, Bridgewater's actually in, I
guess it's in Rockingham, but uhit is right beside it's like
Bridgewater's campus is aboutten minutes from James Massel.

SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Right, right. 'Cause I I remember I drove right I I
went I I I do feel bad because Iwas thinking about this.
I should have went and saw youplay more.
I did go to I went to about fouror five of your games when you
played at Bridgewater.
I feel bad I should have gone tomore.
But I um No shit, dude.

SPEAKER_03 (05:56):
I I appreciate you coming to just one of 'em.

SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, um, and I had a real goodtime because you got to play
John Teats.
Um we both played with him andyou got to play against him.
Uh he was playing for Apprenticeand uh so I I had a a great time
seeing both of y'all play fordifferent teams.

SPEAKER_04 (06:17):
So fun bogging.
I had a couple people from uhfrom Giles coming and coming
down for it.
And uh there's actually uhCameron Perkins also played on
that team the year that uh youcome down, we played at
Apprentice.

SPEAKER_01 (06:30):
That's right, he did, yeah.
Yeah.
Um yeah, 'cause I know Camplayed there for a little bit.
And uh I haven't heard from Johnin a long time.
But um but every time I talk toBrett Sarovsky, he says John's
doing well, so I'm glad.

SPEAKER_04 (06:46):
Um and he is uh I see his grandfather pretty
often.
Um just he'll come in the shopthat my dad owns and I get to
talk to him and he tells me howJohn's doing.
He's in the military now, so hetravels pretty frequently.

SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Yeah, he's been a little bit of a he's been in the
military since he's he's been inthe military a long time.
Um He did.

SPEAKER_04 (07:05):
He finished out of stuff at to be a friend of
school and uh then pretty muchwent into the military right
after.
So in twenty I guess probablysince about twenty seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen, somewherearound that time frame.

SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
Yeah, and um not not to not that we're gonna lose
focus, but that this is apodcast.
This is not radio time, we cando whatever we want.
But um you know, John John wasum one heck of a ball player on
both sides of the ball, but Iremember him mostly for his
defensive ball play and just howintense of a football player he

(07:41):
was.
And how how hard, how hard of ahitter he so when I when we
played J V and I was playing, Ialways played scout defense.
I tried my best to help y'allout, tried to be the best I
could.
Um when I played scout, and Iplayed a lot of scout.
And uh and he was our blockingback in J V.

(08:02):
Now they moved him the wingback, and every single time we
ran seven-hole, no one blockedme, and John would come and he
would he would hit me as hard ashe could and put me in the
ground, and I knew it was comingand I couldn't stop it, man.

SPEAKER_00 (08:18):
It just wondered.

SPEAKER_04 (08:21):
I remember playing like you were talking scout
team, and I remember for like ifyou recall, we used to love to
go to scout team our junior andsenior year just to talk trash
to each other.

SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (08:32):
Like I'd I'd go over and play receiver on scout team
just so I could talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Well, I don't know if it was channel seven or
channel ten came over and Idon't know if someone got played
a week or whatever, but channelseven and ten were regularly at
our practice field.

SPEAKER_00 (08:48):
And they they muted you guys.
They just put the sound on mutebecause y'all were trash talking
each other so bad.

SPEAKER_04 (08:59):
That was that was right after it was our senior
year, I do believe.
It was.
It was our senior year.
Brett Whitlow had got player ofthe week from the Blacksburg
game.
I believe it was Blacksburg.
It was either Blacksburg orChristopher.
Nonetheless, and you arecorrect.
They had to mute the backgroundof the interview to nothing.
I mean, it was just soundlessbecause we were talking so much.

SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
I would I would love to have the unmuted conversation
of that.
That would be great.

SPEAKER_04 (09:30):
Was it the FCC that runs it?
That may be an FCC violation.

SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, no, they it it woulddefinitely be an FCC violation.
Um but no, uh the y'all werehilarious and um but yeah, um,
but I just want to go throughreal quick everyone.
Uh just we can just go realquick through these games.
Or anything that stood out.
Is there anything that stood outto you before we got to

(09:56):
Blacksburg during those youknow, then what we called Hell
Week and just everything inparticular?
Uh we had a really, really goodgroup of guys, and uh once you
get once we get done with theinterview, I'll read off the
roster so no one feels uhunimportant, but um man, um I
know I know talking to otherpeople that actually had real

(10:17):
two days, we didn't have realtwo days.
We had a five minute break, weate our crackers, and then Coach
Williams said we had secondpractice.
But that week was a rough week.
They ran us to death.

unknown (10:30):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (10:31):
Yes, they did.
I mean, they I will say goinginto going into Blacksburg, you
know, obviously hindsight 2020win that game in overtime.
I did feel like we wereconditioned to play an overtime
game.
You know what I mean?
Like and that was a high scoringballgame.
Like every it wasn't one like itwasn't like a 2018.

SPEAKER_01 (10:50):
It was thirty thirty-eight-thirty seven.

SPEAKER_04 (10:53):
Yeah, thirty-eight-thirty-seven, and
I'm I I felt like we wereconditioned for that.
And I mean Blacksburg was a foureight team, had some great
players here, I believe.
Yeah.
Um Isaac Johnson was aquarterback on that team.
They had uh oh shoot, what washer running back's name?

SPEAKER_01 (11:09):
I don't know.
Um I know that one of ourathletes though.
I know one of our teachers whenwe were in elementary school,
and I I'm not trying to get realoff track, but Mr.
Weddle, you're me uh not Mr.
Weddle, forgive me.
Um, shoot, turn out I get nowI'm having a hard time.
Um, everyone loved him.
It was real Mr.

(11:29):
Rupert.
Um he was he was our historyteacher in sixth grade, and we
ended up playing against hisson, I think, our senior year.
Maybe not junior.

SPEAKER_04 (11:40):
He uh yep, his son played for Blacksburg.
He actually coached a little bitover at Blacksburg uh as well a
little bit after we hadgraduated.

SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (11:49):
He had coached soccer at Giles for a while, and
then he coached, I believe itwas at Blacksburg.

SPEAKER_01 (11:54):
I was about to say I thought he was a kicker.
Yeah, I thought he was a kicker.

SPEAKER_04 (11:58):
But Corbin Kendricks was a running back now that that
name came to me.
They had some good him, MorganMcCoy, uh Shelton was on that
team.

SPEAKER_01 (12:07):
I I'll I'll give I'll give us credit and Steve
Wilson.
They always scheduled us, wealways played teams that were
bigger than us, bigger schoolsthan us, and we always um our
group, you know, we we foughtagainst them hard, you know.
We had good games.
Um we pulled above our weight.

SPEAKER_04 (12:29):
I feel like that's also what started the
Christiansburg rivalry.
I mean, that there for a whileit was a pretty big rivalry
between Giles andChristiansburg.

SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
Yeah, and they before we got in there, they had
beat us three or four years in arow, and we just um we just
couldn't beat 'em.
But I think our team is thefirst one that beat them.

SPEAKER_04 (12:50):
I I would have to go back and I'm not as familiar
with that, but I do know thatthey had they beat us quite a
while.
Like I beat us pretty handilyfor a couple years in a row.
Yeah, and I know they also hadsome good teams.
I mean, they went to a statechampionship our freshman year.

SPEAKER_01 (13:06):
Yeah, and I know J V is different than varsity.
But I was on the field uh theyear before, and this is not
your fault.
You blamed yourself for this.
It was not your fault, but therewas a bad snap, and you just
picked up the ball and we lostin overtime by one point.

SPEAKER_03 (13:24):
And uh we did miss the extra point.

SPEAKER_04 (13:26):
I got tackled at like a half yard line.

SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
Yeah, and you blamed yourself for that, and it was
not your fault, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 (13:32):
Well, I should have I I should have gotten should've
gotten me into that's what Ishould have done.

SPEAKER_01 (13:37):
Well, and it just prepared us, and I don't know
why I'm talking about JV ballhere, but you know.
Um but so is there anything thatpopped out about that game
before we move on toChristiansburg?

SPEAKER_04 (13:51):
I think just the Blacksburg game was a as a tone
setter.
You had mentioned our twoprevious scrimmages.
I mean, we we had scrimmage KidValley, which is a bigger
school, scrimmage Giovanni,which is a bigger school.
And I think those two scrimmagesreally got us prepared to
compete against a school likeBlacksburg and fight fight out a
nail bottom and overtimeremember going we went for two

(14:13):
to win that game.
And Coach Williams is veryprepared.
Uh I mean, we scored, and it wasimmediately Coach Williams was
like, hey, we're going for two.
We got the momentum, we're gonnawin the ballgame, and I believe
it was 44 to Brian Man that gotin there and got us the victory
in the end.

SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
Yeah.
Well, I hadn't watched that gamein a while, but uh I might need
to.
I rewatched the state gamebefore I called you.
But um, yeah, it was um it was agood game.
And Coach Williams was neverafraid to go for it, even when
sometimes I thought he probablyshouldn't go for it.
He was he was an aggressive ballcoach for sure.

SPEAKER_04 (14:47):
He was, and I think that just goes to the you know
the trust that he had in us.
Because I mean, you know, as aas a coach now, if you if you
don't have the the trust in thein the play or the trust in your
coordinator, the trust here andthere, you know, you typically
don't go for it in situationslike that.
But I felt like he was alwaysyou know, he always had the
confidence in us and was alwaysprepared to to go for two to win

(15:08):
a ballgame if it need be.

SPEAKER_01 (15:10):
Sure.
Well you know any faults aboutChristiansburg?
We won 28-24.
That was a tough ball game.

SPEAKER_04 (15:17):
Yeah, Christiansburg was a very I mean, again,
Christiansburg was a great team,Charlie Jackson, a quarterback.
He wound up playing division onefootball for BTSU.
But that was a back and forthgame.
I remember Tyler Purdue had asecond game against
Christiansburg.
He returned a kick that prettymuch sealed the deal for us.
I mean, we were down at thetime, and he uh housed the kick

(15:39):
up right after Christensburgscored, and that really sealed
the deal.
And again, just another big winagainst against an opponent who
pretty much had our number forquite a few years before that.

SPEAKER_01 (15:48):
Did you do your homework before this game, or
you just remember all the gamespretty well?

SPEAKER_03 (15:54):
Uh I remember them pretty well.

unknown (15:56):
I uh didn't I didn't check on anything, but I I just
that's just suffered up.

SPEAKER_03 (16:01):
You're gonna ask you what it stood out now.
So that's that's what I'msaying.

SPEAKER_01 (16:03):
Oh, I know, I know, I know.
Well heck, I can I think I canremember them halfway decent.
But so next week um the nextweek after that um might might
feel a little awkward.
I I actually think we had a byeweek in between uh
Christiansburg and Nair's, butthen the or next week we played
was at Nair's.
Well we won forty-seven toeight.

(16:26):
And I gotta say, back thenNair's was not what y'all have
them now.
They were in a slump for quite awhile.
And y'all have um you know,y'all guys um have really
improved quite a bit since we'vebeen playing.

SPEAKER_04 (16:44):
That's you know, I I could talk about the game
against Narrows, but if yourecall the one thing that I
remember from that game was, youknow, that was Agiles.
And remember we knocked the fireextinguisher off in the ag game.

SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
Oh my gosh, yes, I do remember that.
I I think it was horrible.
Well, I remember I think youtook off really quick.
Everyone took off quick.
But we were trying to get out ofsmoke.
Well, yeah, we well, Cody Rhodeshit it.
I remember like I don't rememberhim hit it.
He hit it with his arm.
And we were all trying to rushto the door and there was a huge

(17:21):
jam.
And you c and I got I got sochoked, and I remember those
were the worst warmups of myentire life.
And by the time I start, youknow, breathing again, we go we
go back, uh, have a littlepregame speech.
We go back onto the field.

(17:43):
I'm I'm okay at this point, andI put my mouthpiece in when uh
to go on field goal team, and itis my mouthpiece is embedded
with all that foam.
And it just uh is so nasty, man.
So nasty.

SPEAKER_03 (18:00):
Yeah, it's but that's that's what I remember
about that game was knocking thefire extinguisher off before.
Oh my gosh, that was we went outand that was horrible.

SPEAKER_01 (18:09):
Yeah, I'm uh I'm terrified of fire extinguishers
now.
Just that mouth that mouth Iremember Coach Ratcliffe was
giving me like a piece of gumand I was squirting out my
mouthpiece.
That's the nastiest taste I'veever had.
Oh now.
And uh well, um and well, youknow, um then we moved on to

(18:30):
Graham, and that was one of themost high scoring football
games.
Max Preps has it 52 42, but forsome reason I think they might I
don't know, I feel like theymight have had forty-six for
some reason, but um I justremember that game.
There was no defense on bothsides, it was just a track fest.

SPEAKER_04 (18:52):
Oh yeah, I mean they had a uh Graham had a ton of
athletes, which is kind of thestaple of Graham.
I mean, just athletes onathletes, and I you're exactly
right.
It was an absolute track festwith no defense plate
whatsoever.

SPEAKER_00 (19:04):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (19:05):
But that they had speed, man.
I mean, we were fast, but theyhad they had some wheels, and
that's again fortunate.

SPEAKER_01 (19:13):
This was and that was our first being able to to
turn out another tight one.
And that was well, we had hadsome experience on turf with uh
our scrimates at Hidden Valley.
That is our first uh game onturf, and it's um now you've
played on it more than I have.
I did and did Bridgewater haveturf or was y'all were y'all

(19:33):
grass?

SPEAKER_02 (19:34):
We were turf.

SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Okay.
So you've played you've playedabout half and half then.
So would do you prefer turf justas a wide receiver and an end,
or did you because I I it doesmake your cuts easier.

SPEAKER_04 (19:49):
It does I would rather So the thing with turf is
it takes the field out of beinga factor, obviously.
You know, if it's raining orsomething and you're a power run
football team, it's tough tokeep your feet sometimes.
But turf definitely takes thatfactor out of the game.
But I'd I'd rather play ongrass.
It's it's softer.
You don't see as many injurieson grass, so I'm I'm I'm a grass

(20:12):
person.
I'd I'd rather play on Bermudaanytime.

SPEAKER_01 (20:15):
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, and and the worst thingabout turf is I remember we had
a scrimmage in JV and HunterSmith got so much hot turf in
his eye.
They had to squirt or squirt himdown with water and it was I
just remember if you don't waterit in the summer, it gets so hot

(20:35):
and it and those little beads ofrubber get all in your cleats.
And it's um but I don't know.
I don't know if you had aproblem with that at Bridgewater
if they did a good job ofkeeping it cool for you.

SPEAKER_04 (20:48):
But Yeah, but it it's it's hot.
I remember actually uh we had agame not to again get off the
topic up there talking aboutsome cool, but we had a game, we
played Thomas More at home mysophomore year.
And we actually weren't allowedto go out on the field and play.
We were almost an hour and ahalf delayed because it was too

(21:08):
hot.

SPEAKER_02 (21:08):
Really?

SPEAKER_04 (21:09):
And they put a bunch of the rules and stuff in for
player safety, but yeah, it wastoo hot, so the game was delayed
due to turf to picture.

SPEAKER_01 (21:16):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I believe it.
That turf gets super hot, man.

SPEAKER_03 (21:20):
And um So that burns you burns your cleats up, man.

SPEAKER_01 (21:24):
Right.
And uh but um so Galax, um now Iactually remember Galax.
I I remember all the gamespretty good, but Galax
definitely sticks out for mebecause um they had uh probably
uh with all love to the IanMans, Brian Manns, and Brett
Whitlows of the world, StevenPeoples I think is probably the

(21:46):
best high school running backI've ever seen play.

SPEAKER_04 (21:50):
Steven Peoples is definitely the best running back
I played against.
I mean he ran probably, he justran angry.
He yeah, that's he's a stud.

SPEAKER_01 (22:02):
Well he I mean Well I mean his his uh I mean he went
on to play for Virginia Tech atfullback, so um, you know, had a
great career.

SPEAKER_04 (22:12):
He did actually uh started running back at tech for
a while, won the game againstUPA the senior year, recovered
to follow the end zone.

SPEAKER_01 (22:21):
But we're talking about high school football right
now.
But Oh, you didn't want me tobring that up so but no, um but
he was just one heck of a b of aball player and and right before
he played us, I think he's inthe car, Eric.
And he still um he still cameout and uh I think he had over

(22:42):
two hundred rushing yards and weheld him to the least amount of
rushing yards that year.
And then the next week he wentto Mitchell Stadium and played
Graham and beat the Virginia wrecord in West Virginia.
And I think it still stands.

SPEAKER_04 (22:58):
I think it does too.
Five hundred and eight yards,and if you recall, you know, he
didn't play in the fourthquarter because he had rolled an
ankle and did not play theentire fourth quarter.

SPEAKER_01 (23:09):
Okay.
Well, I remember AustinCunningham hit him very hard.
Is that when he went out of thegame?

SPEAKER_04 (23:16):
That's pretty much yeah.
I mean, given us Yeah, we wereleading at the time, but that
they were driving down thefield.
That pretty much won us theballgame.
Now, don't get me wrong, uh whenSteven wasn't in the game,
Joseph Dixon was a running back,and I mean he wasn't no slots
either.

SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
Right.
No, that was a tough ball team.
That was a tough ball game too.
Uh so all of our football gamesexcept for Nairs were very close
games that could have won eitherway.

SPEAKER_04 (23:41):
Very very physical games too.

SPEAKER_01 (23:44):
Oh, absolutely they were.
Um that that I think that helpedprepare us in the playoff, but
um we did not that uh that's apretty tough schedule.
Blacksburg, Christmasburg,Graham, Galax.
Um and Galax was very uh Gaylaxback then was really good.
Um yeah, they were their theircoach played for the Miami

(24:05):
Dolphins at the time.
I don't know who coaches themnow.
I think so.
Am I right about that, Coda?

SPEAKER_03 (24:11):
Yeah, Mark Dixon.

SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Okay.
Yeah, and uh so s and Steven isthe only b guy I ever saw catch
Brian Mann from behind.
And Brian I thought everyonethought he was gone.
He's the only person he playedon defense too, and he caught
Brian Mann from behind.
I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 (24:29):
I remember him wearing the dog and print cleats
too.

SPEAKER_01 (24:33):
Yeah.
And I think I think Don I thinkum John Teats caught an
interception to end thatfootball game, if I'm right.

SPEAKER_03 (24:43):
Uh that's a possibility now that you
mentioned that.

SPEAKER_01 (24:47):
Yeah, it's been a long time.
I th I I thought that's whathappened though.
I could be wrong.
I know John had an interceptionthat game, but Yeah, I I
remember him having aninterception.

SPEAKER_04 (24:56):
I just can't remember if we held him on
fourth down, because that wasthe drive that uh Peoples took
himself out after cutting himand slanted through and and got
him.
But I could I could be justhaving an interception.
I just yeah, I can't rememberexactly what part of the thing.

SPEAKER_01 (25:13):
I could be I could be mismer misremembering that
remembering that because thatwas that's been twelve years
ago, so Yeah, it's been it'sbeen a little while.
Yeah.
For twelve years I think we'vegot a pretty good memory of our
playing time though.
Um but uh so Auburn um uh webeat 4914, and that might sound

(25:39):
like a blowout, but compared towhat we had beat them uh
previous years before we gotthere, that's improvement from
them.
And they were uh they got a newcoach and they were really
trying to rebuild and they gotthey made it to the playoffs
that year.

SPEAKER_04 (25:54):
They did.
That was the that was when JackTurner first got to Auburn.
And I mean, they had some ballplayers.
I mean, they had a couple guyson that team that played
Division I football.
I remember uh Fleener was onthat team, played at JMU for a
year before he transferred toEmory.
Uh Taylor Knaff was on thatteam, he went to Marshall for a
little bit.
Michael Hinckley played atBluefield.
I mean, they had some guys thatthat played ball at the next

(26:15):
level and were successful.

SPEAKER_01 (26:17):
Yeah.
And um but the year bef was itthe year before when we were
sophomores, um, we had to go toReiner, and it was like 40 to
nothing at in the end of thefirst.

SPEAKER_04 (26:32):
I mean they they were not very good that year or
sophomore year, but they turnedaround.
So Yeah, Coach Turner's he gotit turned around and he's
actually at Pike B now, just gotthem in the playoffs, uh no,
given they they lost toBridgeport in the first round,
but okay.
Some Pike V Pike hasn't been tothe playoffs in a while and he

(26:53):
was able to get him in thisyear.
So he he's in the process ofturning another program around.

SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
That's good.
That's good.
Hopefully he can, you know, gethim a a uh get him a team that
can go pretty far one year.

unknown (27:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (27:07):
Uh I mean he's he's definitely a winner.
So Eastmont um um it was at EastMont.
Um I I'll be honest, um I'mconfusing this game with another
game, but when we were s uhfreshmen when we moved up from
JV, we went to East Mont andprobably won the coldest regular

(27:28):
season games ever with all thatrain, um, our freshman year.
But um we we beat East Montpretty good 56-12 our junior our
junior year.
Do you have any m memories ofthat?

SPEAKER_04 (27:42):
Uh I mean, that was also the East Mont team that
Daryl Manns and Ron Ford was on,and that was before Daryl Manns
transferred, because if yourecall our senior year, he
transferred to Glimmer and woundup playing us on that Glimmer
team.
And though they Ron Ford was aRon Ford and Daryl were two very
good players that we got to playagainst.
Uh Ron Ford had actually beatWhitlow out the year before for

(28:03):
Sizzle and Sophomore, if yourecall.

SPEAKER_01 (28:07):
No, I don't remember him beating Whitley for Sizzle
and Sophomore, but I do I I doremember the guy you're talking
about that transferred toGlenver, so um but um so we move
on to Rafford.
And uh I this is the team thisto me this was our true rival

(28:28):
when we played.
Um, you know, the Nairs game wasfun and you know it's a county
rival, but to me the team Icould not stand won the most.
Um Rafford was up there.
We we won a very tough game atRafford.
It was 14 to 7.
Um and it was the only gamewhere Brett Sarowski had a bad

(28:50):
snap.
He had two bad snaps.
Brett, if you're listening tothis, I ain't making fun of you.
He had a great year.
Okay, he had a great career.
But there's he had two bad snapsum at Rafford.

SPEAKER_04 (29:02):
Um I I think the cr the crucial was not not the
crucial snap, but you know, theyhad a stud linebacker, uh, Eric
Benitez was his name.
And he gave us fits all night.
And I remember, you know, it was7-7.
And we ran Coach could call it43.
And everybody on the teamthought that we were running the

(29:25):
reverse.
And I remember Coach Williamshad grabbed it and Brian was
like, you're gonna fake thereverse.
And everybody on the team, andeven Ramford, thought we were
running the reverse, and thennext thing I know we're looking
up and there's running down theart.

(29:45):
But I also remember too whenTamil Purdue meant to think of a
play was always, you know, cometo think of it when you think of
like big plays like throughoutthat season.
Calla Purdue was always there.

SPEAKER_01 (29:55):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 (29:56):
Um the big play against Christian Bird filled
the deal.
Um, you go to Radford andremember Radford's running back,
I believe it was Marcus Finley,that went down the sideline.
And I mean, they were getting inposition to score and time the
ball game back up, and thenTyler stripped him and was able
to get the ball, and we kind ofuh build it out from there.

SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
And I agree, and and Tyler does not get enough credit
at all for the year for the yearwe had.
And um, I'll give you credit.
You've always gave Tyler tons ofcredit, and that's always
frustrated me because he wasjust one heck of a ball player.
on both sides of the ball.
And um and the thing that when Ithink about Tyler though, I

(30:37):
don't normally think aboutfootball.
I think about playing littleleague baseball with him.
My gosh, he was one heck of abaseball player in the little
league.

SPEAKER_04 (30:44):
And uh yeah he was a stun athlete.
I mean I agree.
And I don't think he gets enoughcredit for you know he was he
didn't put up a lot of stats ondefense because nobody ever
screwed killing because he wasso fundamental.
I mean he was just shut down onhis eye and yeah he he did
enough credit but he always likeit comes to the big moments and

(31:05):
you think back through thatseason.
Yeah you pretty much getguaranteed that Tyler Purdue had
had some impact in that game.

SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Tyler was very humble guy.
I remember I ran one I ran intohim one time in uh in Blacksburg
um and he was working for thepost office then and uh I talked
to him it's been several yearsago I was trying to find I was
trying to find some place and hehe led me right to it.
I didn't know where I was goingbut he led me to it.

(31:35):
Oh yeah yeah it was it was justit was just such an oddity.
I was I was um looking I I had asecurity job I had to I had to
get my fingerprints and I washaving a hard time finding where
I needed to go and I I just ranup on Tyler said hey to him told
him what I was doing.
He was like oh I know whereyou're going he just told led me
right to it so I was like welluh you know I didn't expect him

(31:59):
here right now but I appreciateit and uh but no Tyler's a great
guy and uh so Floyd County wewon forty t uh forty two to
eight um and um I think this isso this would be the year after
they had that phenomenal runningback I'm I'm pretty sure if you

(32:20):
remember who I'm talking about Ican't even get his name yes I
absolutely an absolutephenomenal running back our
sophomore year and I think he hegraduated that uh uh our
sophomore year but yeah he didand he they were Coach Bill was
over there in a little bit of arebuild that year but that's
another team that you know Floydwas always very physical though

(32:43):
the score doesn't necessarilyshow sometimes but Floyd was a
very physical football team.
Right, right and uh yeah and umI always like I I never mind
going to Floyd.
We always had some good footballgames and uh when we were in J V
I think um I think we beat Floydbarely and but there was a uh I

(33:04):
remember there was a play thatthey did a squib kick went right
over David Eads's head at inFloyd County if I remember
right.
Um but man it's that's reallydigging deep into my archives
there.

SPEAKER_04 (33:18):
So but Coach Bill always did a good job of getting
them boys from Floyd Ray.

SPEAKER_01 (33:25):
Well yeah and he coached there for a very long
time so I I think my uncle coplayed against him in the
eighties and uh so um you knowhe he was there for a very long
time.
Very nice guy too he's a supernice guy.
Um but then uh we played Glenveruh one of our other big rivals

(33:49):
and uh we we won that week 5721at Glenver.
Um this isn't the game uh sothere's a few Glenver moments I
remember.
Most of them are good and thenthere's one that I don't like
talking about as much.
But uh We won't discuss thatone.
Yeah but um I remember uh in JVwe were uh this would be our

(34:11):
freshman year.
It was a close game and theyscored on us real real late in
the fourth quarter and it lookedlike they were going to win and
they kicked at the Brett Whitlowand he ran it all the way back.
And we won the game.

SPEAKER_02 (34:25):
Yes he did.

SPEAKER_01 (34:26):
And uh and I think Coach Clifford's son what was
Coach Clifford's son that wasquarterback very good
quarterback.
Uh Zach Zach Zach got hurt thatgame and Jensen dolphin broke
his collarbone I remember thatum but us and Glenn Ver we just

(34:46):
had at the same time at the sametime we had two state
championship talent worth ofteams playing each other.
And uh we we now by the numberswe won more than they did but
they got us at the end.
Um and they won Yeah they theygot us and uh I wish I wish like

(35:07):
a Dickens I think about thatgame sometimes and uh I wish
that it was a best two out ofthree but that's not what
football is so um yeah sometimesyou sometimes the a game just
gets the better of you and theyin the game that you're talking
about where they did beat us uhyou know they were they were
prepared and we played them inthe re uh regular season.

SPEAKER_04 (35:27):
Right last game of the year is normal so tough to
beat a good football team twice.

SPEAKER_01 (35:31):
No I agree with you and um and you actually got to
play for Coach Clifford didn'tyou in this in the All-Star
game.

SPEAKER_04 (35:39):
I did and you know I was nervous about that just
because you know you you rivalswith him and you know you're an
18 year old kid you're just likeit's gonna be bad and shoot.
He took great care of us thatweek I mean it was you know my
roommates are our teammatesBrett and John and we go eat and
you know he did everything as ateam but man Coach Clifford was

(36:00):
always fine to see just to sitdown with us.
He'd come in a room give us moretime and leave I mean he he was
he's awesome and I actuallystill keep up and talk to Coach
Clifford.

SPEAKER_01 (36:09):
Yeah like today well heck they're still they're still
doing good they're um they'reundefeated right now in the
state semifinals so oh yeahprobably have one of the better
football players individually inthe state and I'm Brady Doyot
Glenver is a tough toughopponent and I hated them in a

(36:34):
in a way as a high school rivalbut I definitely always
respected them and um and I Irespected Coach Clifford he's
he's a heck of a coach and he'sreally done a a phenomenal job
there at Glenford right um theythey've always been competitive
but just couldn't get over thehump of Giles and he he's not
only got over the hump he justput them yeah in a in his I mean

(36:57):
they're a powerhouse in 2A nowright right well and um you know
um in my mind uh in my mind 2014I I know it couldn't have
happened because uh we're in thesame region but really the the
best two teams in the state wasus and Glenburn and that should
have been the state championshipgame.

SPEAKER_04 (37:17):
Um I agree and they had had some injuries earlier in
the year that had caused them tolose a couple ball games.
No, they were undefeated yeah umyeah they were undefeated and
they w they wound up gettinglike the three seed didn't they
I don't remember I know theyweren't the two seed because if

(37:38):
they would have been the twoseed we wouldn't have played
them until the statechampionship game because that
was when you cross bracketed thestate semi they got ready to
cross bracket.

SPEAKER_01 (37:49):
I wish I kind of wish they'd bring them back.

SPEAKER_04 (37:51):
I do too because I mean if you think about it the
two best teams in single A atthat time were also all the best
in Essex and they're on the sameside.
Right, right and speak andspeaking of Essex not to
completely bounce around theyjust lost they were very much
projected to win single A.

SPEAKER_01 (38:09):
And they just got upset by Ratman okay yeah yeah
and uh um yeah I wish we did thecross bracket.
The VHSL changes so many things.
I know you're still a coach andyou can't say anything bad
about 'em really but they'vethey they changed so many things
so frequently it getsflustrating.

SPEAKER_04 (38:32):
Yeah and they also went away, you know when we were
in school it was just east westin the region.
It wasn't region A B C D.
So you had one through sixteenon the East and the west as
opposed to now you're onethrough eight in region A and
one through eight in region uh BC and D.

SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
Right and um yeah some of that stuff gets messy
and um and I actually think thatthey gave they've so they've
basically told the regions nowthat you can decide how the
playoffs how who gets seated inthe playoffs and how if you want
to do a power ranking if youwant to do something else but

(39:10):
everyone just stays with thePowerPoints.

SPEAKER_04 (39:13):
If I PowerPoints is and I mean you could say what
you want about them butpowerpoints is probably the most
consistent way to do playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 (39:22):
Yeah I know I know a ton of people hated them at
first but I I think they'reprobably the most fair way.
I I I don't think it's fair thatyou can barely lose your
district 'cause b before it usedto be the district champs went
no one else did.
I don't think it's fair if youcan barely you know you win your

(39:42):
district um you barely lose yourdistrict but another team in a
weak district wins it and theyget in.
I I I've never thought that wasfair so yeah that's uh I think
the PowerPoints is the most fairway to do it.

SPEAKER_04 (39:56):
I do wish they would go back to the East West where
it was and I know they won'tbecause of travel.
Like that's a lot of money thatthe HSL would have to pay in
travel but I do think they needto go back specifically in
football to the one throughsixteen combined region A and uh
B combined region C and D to dothat.
And it eliminates me talking asa coach it eliminates the

(40:18):
playing of the teams that you'vealready played the regular
season.

unknown (40:21):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (40:23):
You may catch uh a team that you played in the
second or third round but thefirst round matchup you're not
going to play a team that you'vealready played.

SPEAKER_04 (40:31):
Yeah and the regions used to be a lot bigger and
that's why because you had youdidn't have region A B C and D
you just had east and west so Cand D working behind region A
and B working behind.

SPEAKER_01 (40:43):
Yeah.
Um but you know um but that'ssome VHSL talk and you could
talk about VHS.
Nonetheless we got a we got alittle bit off track no no it's
okay you can found that tomatter you can talk about VHSL
stuff all the time and andreally one of the best persons
uh for Ford at is uh SteveWilson honestly when it comes to

(41:06):
that oh yeah and he's um he'sjust an encyclopedia of uh of um
VHSL and Spartan football and soum we're I'm just operating off
of what I I was experienced tonow so but uh some of those guys
that go back to the 80s they gota they got a uh much larger

(41:28):
larger uh library to pull frombut you are correct but no um so
that was our last regular seasongame was Glenville then we uh
then we played uh Grayson Countywhich is the they they are
currently the uh oh shoot regionchamps I they I guess they're
Region D now they'd be used tobe Regent C but they're D now.

(41:50):
And uh no they're still Regen C.
Okay, well now okay I was justwondering because I know
Chilhoey's Region D and Ifigured they were Marvel.

SPEAKER_04 (41:57):
Yeah Chill yeah Chill Howe's Region D but no
Grayson's their Regency out ofMountain Empire.

SPEAKER_01 (42:03):
Okay yeah so yeah that's right we're in the same
oh okay now we're so we're allthe districts and stuff has
changed so much.

SPEAKER_04 (42:10):
But yeah Giles is Mountain Empire now used to be
Free River um that's you knowGrayson obviously Giles was 2A
at the time that you and Iplayed and Grayson was also 2A
at that time.

SPEAKER_01 (42:20):
And we've both dropped down to one.
And um so we beat Grayson County42 to 12 um you know I d I
remember this game because it'sthe only time anyone's ever hit
me in a football game after aplay.

SPEAKER_04 (42:37):
Grayson was there's a lot of sports and like
penalties.

unknown (42:40):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (42:42):
I don't know how they are now but they I don't
understand it because we justkicked the field goal and we
were winning uh very largely andsomeone just hit me as hard as
they could in a face mask.
It was like it it didn't itdidn't hurt me man.
It just you hit your bare youhit your bare knuckle against a
metal face mask.

SPEAKER_04 (43:04):
Yes it was they they were definitely they're a
different team now.
But yeah they a lot of us worthit like calling that game I
remember I remember Coach.

SPEAKER_01 (43:15):
I remember Coach Williams yelling he's like do
not retaliate it's it'll beokay.

SPEAKER_04 (43:20):
Just don't you know and he was right so we kept our
composure and again just goodwe're the one seed so very good
first round one playoff one.

SPEAKER_01 (43:32):
Yeah and that and that's when uh you know it used
to be now I I've seen us kind ofbreak with this a little bit but
um that's when we startedpainting our ball field and
that's when we put you knowfirst week we painted the single
wing and then we started addingmore and more and we had a very
decorative football field thatyear.

SPEAKER_04 (43:52):
Yeah that's uh yeah it kind of brought pride out
when you add something to thefield each week that you get to
host of it or get to hostagainst you.
But that was always fun.
Like the further you went in theplayoffs the more paint design
went on the field.

SPEAKER_01 (44:05):
Oh no well yeah it's very and your dad he your dad
used to help with the painting Ithink.
He did he did he he much heenjoys that was something he
always and now it is amazing.
Joya sent me so my uh my stepmomshe works at Giles and she sent
me a photo of this machine goingoff of GPS that paints the

(44:26):
entire football field now whichis amazing.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (44:28):
They have a robot now it doesn't it's I mean it's
pretty neat to watch.

SPEAKER_01 (44:31):
And I guess y'all have one too.

SPEAKER_04 (44:33):
We don't we actually still paint the field.

SPEAKER_01 (44:35):
Oh okay yeah the the robots are pretty cool.
Y'all need the good robots or umor just ask to borrow our robot.
So um we uh so we um next weekwe played Appomattox and that
was the um outside of the statechampionship game I think that's

(44:58):
the toughest ballgame we played.

SPEAKER_04 (45:01):
I I'd agree with that you know Appomattox is a
good team and the other thingthat goes into that too was um
you know the second round kindof was a low for Jones.
Yeah we hadn't we we never hadtrouble in the first round but
we just couldn't see to get outof the second round while we
were in school article beforethe game title the title of the

(45:35):
article was uh second round loseand it was a big article on
losing the John Battle the yearbefore and then it went on to
talk about you know if we weregoing to be able to get out of
the second round I mean Applematic was a great team.

SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
Oh yeah yeah for sure and I had just um that just
lingered over our head whatcould we get out of the second
round and that team oursophomore year which well we
both moved up and you played alittle bit that year.
I I didn't really do I didn'tplay that that much I got I
might have got two or threeplays in that year when I I

(46:10):
moved up and uh Ian man andthose boys they were very
talented and I always thoughtthat I thought out of our
sophomore our uh junior and oursenior I thought we had free
state caliber teams now oursophomore year they weren't as
talented but they were stillvery good.
I mean we had Brett Whitlowplaying his sophomore year and

(46:33):
we had Hunter Epperly startingand Cody Rhodes.
Um that was a good ball teamJensen Dolphin also started he
was the Mike Backer that's truebecause he had he had two senior
uh two senior years or whateverCoach Williams tried to say but
uh yeah so we had a a lot of ourclassmen were on were starters

(46:54):
on that team.

SPEAKER_04 (46:55):
Yep like you said Hunter started uh Whitlow
started I'm trying to think ofsophomores Jensen was the other
one.
Right.
It was him that Chad Randallplayed uh Mike and Sam.

SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
Mm-hmm.
But he but we just um Ian justgot hurt and it just I think it
just um he got hurt early on.
I think it just uh took all themotivation and all the uh
momentum out of us that year.

SPEAKER_04 (47:24):
So And it you know he came back and played because
he did he did a little bitagainst Christians Burke he
played and but the big thingwith that was John Battle it
went down and I mean we werewinning a ballgame and it
blocked a punt took it back fora touchdown and that was kind of
the momentum swing that theyneeded and they ran away with it
after that.

SPEAKER_01 (47:41):
And that's a long bus ride so so I actually live I
don't live that far from JohnBattle now.
It's here it's right it's wellum so I live I live pretty close
to uh Abenden area and JohnBattle's in Washington County so
they're just the county overfrom me.
Right.
Or on the border so um that Iremember that being a long bus

(48:03):
ride.
It's not as bad it's not as badin a car in a bus.
It's pretty long.

SPEAKER_04 (48:09):
And it was even longer coming back after a loss.

SPEAKER_01 (48:12):
Yeah yeah it's true.
So uh but um so we we beatAppomattox uh I rem the biggest
play was definitely we uh kickedthe field goal to win it and I
you know we just had our 10 yearclass anniversary which you
organized you and Hunter Epperlyand uh Bree and uh Chantry I

(48:32):
think I got everyone on a um anduh y'all organized our class
reunion and I was talking toBrett and I said you know um I
said you know Brett I said I Iknow you get kind of a hard time
for missing that extra point.
You did a a lot that year andBrett's like you're right and no
one brings up the kick I made atAppomattox and um and that and

(48:56):
that was uh for a high schoolfield goal what was that like a
25 yard field goal that wasn't achip shot I just think it was
about thirty yards it wasn't itwas not a chip shot we were
hashed I just remember I withthat Appomattox called the
timeout to icing.

SPEAKER_00 (49:12):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (49:13):
And if you remember Brett turned to the stadium and
was just like pumping up thecrowd.

SPEAKER_01 (49:17):
I mean you could just tell he was locked in and I
think I think that helped himbecause I find I think that the
um I don't I don't think theyshould have called timeout.
So what people don't understandis how much Brett was doing he
was our running back and he wasour kicker.
So he would break he would breaka long run and a lot of times

(49:38):
when you break a long run it was38 or 36 and right up the middle
and uh you know run a 50 yardplay oh touch score touchdown
kick the extra point he justbroke a pretty long run and then
he had to come uh take take theextra point I mean the field
goal I and I agree with you Ithink that I think the timeout

(50:00):
let him focus back in and I meanhe was like when they called
that timeout you could just tellhe was ready to go.
Yeah and um and you were hisholder so you and you have held
so many extra points for him umand and field goals and we
practiced man we practiced a lotof field goals when we were so

(50:21):
another another thing we talkedearlier I just felt like you
know Coach Williams always hadus prepared.

SPEAKER_04 (50:26):
And that was another situation you know we had
practiced game winning fieldgoals where we had to run the
field goal unit on and you knowI just again testament to him I
I I felt like we were preparedfor that moment and we executed
like he had coached us to do.

SPEAKER_01 (50:39):
Well you know and and you know I I got I didn't
start but I played field goalteam every and I used to have
people aggravate me all the timeI was like listen we can win the
game by one point.
I remember one person wasaggravating me I was like we won
the state championship by onepoint guys.
It's kind of important too Yeahand and you were a great I mean

(51:01):
you just had great hands.
I mean um you know we threw theball to you and but you also had
a great hands when it come to uhholding extra point which is not
an easy job.
And the snaps not an easy jobeither so Saroski to you to
Whitlow was a um y'all y'all gotthat thing down really well Pat
and but when I think of thatthough Dakota we had Giles has

(51:26):
just always been a good schoolfor kickers when I went we had
um we had uh Carson um we had uhsorry Cody Jr who went on the
Virginia tech and kicked he wasan amazing kicker he um he was
part of that blacksburg gamewhere they went into a billion
overtimes um and uh I rememberthat and his brother Carson he

(51:52):
didn't play varsity but he thatwould have been his senior year
for some reason he just didn'tplay we won't get into that but
he was an outstanding kicker aswell he kicked for us in JV
football and if if Brett wouldhave had either Carson or Stuart
Myers kicking he could have gota little breath and both of them

(52:14):
both of them could have playedand they were great kickers.
I'm not fussing on them.
They they got I mean they weregreat athletes and did what they
wanted to.
I'm just saying our schoolproduced a lot of good kickers.

SPEAKER_04 (52:26):
Yeah they didn't I mean you didn't even mention
like the likes of Zach Keaton uhGarrett Lee before that I mean
both of them went to playcollege football I think they
wound up a concord togetherGarrett would punt and uh Zach
was a kicker.

SPEAKER_01 (52:39):
Yeah and I remember Garrett had one of the longest
punts I ever saw in my life in ain a football practice.
It was like si 60 or 70 yardsand that sounds unreal but the
wind was so heavy it just blewthe ball forever and I was like
my gosh Yeah he had a leg on himman.
But yeah Zach Keaton um and allthen they were we had some great

(53:02):
kickers and uh but um Brett wasjust in a situation where um he
just had the he had to run theball he had to kick it so um
he's pretty good at both ofthem.
Yeah um then we had um Richlandsand I remember everyone was
getting pretty scared to playRichlands because um their

(53:24):
former coach played on our 1980state championship team and um
Bance was a a a great footballcoach he still coaches football
he coaches in South Carolina nowand uh but they knew our plays
but our team was just so fastthey couldn't stop it.
Um I remember um John Teatswould say the defense would call

(53:47):
our plays before we called themand we would run the plays and
it would go 40 yards you know itwas a tough game you know Coach
Mance is a heck of a coach.

SPEAKER_04 (53:58):
And like you said coach in South Carolina now
still got his team in theplayoffs.
But the big thing was at thetime you know him and Jeff were
connected family wise.
So we played that game on aFriday and Coach Williams and
Coach Mance are sharing theThanksgiving table the day
before.

SPEAKER_01 (54:15):
Yeah yeah and um so and the funny thing from that
for me up on a personal noteI've become really good friends
with uh of a man uh with a guyhe used to be involved in
politics he's a pastor now hisname's Caleb Crewe he graduated
uh in twenty fourteen one yearbefore us and his dad was a

(54:38):
school bus driver and I I'm I'mgood friends with uh good
friends with them and heactually used to drive the
football team so his dad drovethe football team to Giles yeah
I know it was it's pretty coolwe had a we had a good
conversation he said you know wehad a good team that year but uh
you know we just couldn't doanything with jaws they were

(55:00):
y'all were too fast and I woundup being I believe we we scored
on the very first play fromscrimmage.
Yeah.
Yeah but we you know I think Ican't remember if it was Brian
or um play that we got that wehad the ball.

SPEAKER_04 (55:18):
We scored twice very early in drive open that game
up.

SPEAKER_01 (55:21):
Yeah and Richland's was not it's not that they were
a slouch.
We were just that we had greatpersonnel on the offensive line
and they were so fast.
And uh you know um the next weekwe played Riverheads and I
didn't I realized that they werea good football team.
I did they run the wing T theyran a s a a very hard nose

(55:43):
running offense I thought.
I thought they ran the ring wingT, but maybe not.
Maybe it was Yeah.
Yeah.
And we go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 (55:57):
No I was just gonna say you know that's the fastest
football game I think I've everplayed in in my life 'cause you
know I think there was twopasses thrown the whole game and
both of them were by us.

SPEAKER_01 (56:05):
Yeah.
And uh so No, so so someone gotsome was it you that got a a
weird some there was some kindof weird flag or weird call or
something.
Hey you're breaking up with mecode.
Can you hear me now?
Yeah.
Did you hear the question?

(56:27):
We got some kind of weird flagis like def I don't know
defensive chop block orsomething is that you Yeah that
was on me.
I thought it was Yeah How didyou get called with a defensive
chop block?

SPEAKER_04 (56:41):
Because I was just taking them dude's legs out man
I mean that the guard that theyhad went to pit to play and I
was just yeah I was like I'm notlet everybody can lay on me and
we'll make a tackle.

SPEAKER_01 (56:53):
And so one year after we graduated Riverheads
won the state championship andthey won eight in a row I think.

SPEAKER_04 (57:02):
They won quite a few they were Coach Casto just it
seemed like he lived at SalemStadium.

SPEAKER_01 (57:07):
Yeah he just dominated so it just shows to me
that they are very well coachedprogrammed.

SPEAKER_04 (57:12):
They were knocking on the door of greatness and
they eventually got there a fewyears later and uh they did and
they they they went on a run ofhim them and Galax just about
every year.

SPEAKER_01 (57:23):
Yeah and I I thought they won like eight or seven in
a row.
I mean it was it was yeah I wasI I can't remember the specific
I don't know if they won eightor seven in a row or it went to
how many but I mean it's stillthey went to a lot of state
championships them and they umthey they've dropped now the one

(57:44):
A.

SPEAKER_04 (57:44):
Yep.
They did they actually droppedto single A after our senior
year.

SPEAKER_01 (57:49):
Oh okay.

SPEAKER_04 (57:50):
So they've been single A long now they're yeah
now they're kind of fluctuatingback and forth.
They'll go to two A for twoyears and it'll be back down
because they have the every twoyears it's reclass.

SPEAKER_01 (57:59):
They're kind of on the border of one and two but um
and we won twenty eight to sevenI remember my dad said man we we
whipped them pretty good I waslike maybe the scoreboard said
that but that was a physicalgame man.
That was Oh yeah but uh you knowand that it I remember that we

(58:20):
had the the man this is the wehad the whole Spartan head on
the on the heel there.
GHS was um on the handicap rampand we had um the end zones were
beautiful.
They were our blue our colorblue and it just said Giles on
the um on it and man it it wasabsolutely beautiful.

(58:42):
The community came together andkind of kept the field nice and
but we put tarps and tires onthe field and we removed them
and I just you know football inGiles County whether it's in
Parisburg or Nairs really bringspeople together.
Brings a community and uh I meanI know that was heck of an

(59:03):
atmosphere to play in.

SPEAKER_04 (59:04):
I mean there were so many people at that game and
both teams are red.
So it was just a sea of red atStephen C.
Ragsdale field I mean it's agreat atmosphere to play in.

SPEAKER_01 (59:13):
Oh I know it is I loved it I you know had a ball
but um so after that we um thegame m we've been talking to and
referring to and um reason whywe're talking about twenty
thirteen instead of fourteen ortwelve be the state championship
game at Brunswick.
Well so we're undefeated fourand oh and I think Brunswick is

(59:37):
twelve and two and uh they'refrom the eastern part of
Virginia.
Not quite at the tidewater butthey're in the eastern part and
we're we're you can't get asmore west than Giles so um and
uh we um we met up they werethey were a very very the uh

(59:59):
fast school this is the fastestteam I think we played I don't
disagree with that man you weretalking earlier about just
athletes golly they hadathletes.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:11):
I mean they there's a ton of them and it's their
linemen were studs.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:16):
Who was their number eight?
I know he was exact Xavier Woodor something.
He was a great ball player heplay played defensive MT Yes
good gosh he I went up againsthim he hurtled me twice but he
didn't block a field goal so Iknow you like

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:35):
I mean, they were just they were just stubborn,
man.
They had just phenomenalathletes all around that team.
And it's actually funny notcoach track now.
And I was at the state meet acouple years ago.
And you know, they track the 1Aand the 2A state track meet are
held at the same place at thesame time.
And Brunswick is now single-A.

(01:00:56):
And I was walking behind theirtrack coach.
And we kind of locked up.
And I'm like, I know you, youknow me, and I was like, hang
on.
So their quarterback, BearMellons, is their track coach.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:08):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:08):
He's great, but him and I now like we see each other
once a year and we always talk.
I mean, very friendlyconversation with him and I.
But it's it's just funny how theworld comes full circle in the
sense of, you know, both of uscoach tracked now.
We saw each other.
It's like, shoot, kind of likecrazy that ten years ago we
played against each other.
I I tell him every time I'mlike, dude, you are you are a

(01:01:31):
phenomenal guy.
You're just gonna tackle theguy.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:34):
He was big, man.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:36):
He was big, he was shifty, he was fast.
I mean, he he was a heck of adaggone quarterback.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:41):
Yeah.
Well, and well, you know, it's Imean, you get to see it a little
bit more than I did since you'rea coach now.
But it um even when I rememberTwitter when we were on high
school is not like Twittertoday.
Mostly everyone is off Twittertoday that I went to school with
except me, because it's mostlypolitics, and I just I'm in that

(01:02:01):
world too, so I stayed onTwitter.
But um but Twitter when we werein high school were just student
athletes all following eachother, and we had a blast
keeping up with each other fromdifferent schools.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:16):
Yep, and I actually, you know, you had mentioned
earlier I'm fortunate enough toplay in the All-Star game my
senior year, played with two ofthe guys that were actually on
my team because that's when theythey still played at East and
West, but you didn't necessarilyjust have to be from the East or
be from the West.
They kind of drafted.
So two of my teammates were fromBrunswick.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:34):
Oh, okay.
I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:38):
Yeah, Jacole Williams, he played uh I was I
got to play receiver that game,and I was the split on one side
and he was the split receiver onthe other.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:46):
And there's a weird thing that some people outside
of sports don't realize.
But even though that you areopponents, there is a common
respect there, and you might behitting each other every single
play on uh uh you know inpractice.
Um just I I mean I mean I hadone heck of amount of respect
for people like Brett Sarovskyand stuff like that, that where

(01:03:09):
we would just go to war witheach other and we were best
friends afterward because weknow we were in a common grant
grind even if we were playingagainst someone else.
Now I wasn't a starter, so youyou saw that more on the other
side of the field.
And um but there was there'sjust a common respect there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:29):
Yeah, you respect, I mean competition.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:32):
That's I think that's what it comes like.
You respect and I you understandthe work that goes into the game
of football and the physicalitythat goes into the game of
football, and you just have,like you said, a common respect
with with the person across fromyou, the person beside you, the
person behind you, just becauseagain, you you know the work
that it takes to be where you'reat and the work that it takes
just to play the game offootball, and you respect that

(01:03:54):
from the other person.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:55):
Not to get political, I don't I won't give
you a heart attack.
But sometimes and when I look atthe world and how divided we are
politically, it just makes methink, man, maybe it would have
been better if everyone justplayed football or basketball or

(01:05:31):
something and they could havehad a common respect there, you
know.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:35):
But yeah, because uh fo football definitely makes it
uh you know like you and Ihaven't talked as often the past
couple years, but can pick upthe phone and I mean pick up
right where we left off.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:49):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:49):
That's just that's football definitely makes
friendships that last alifetime.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:53):
Yeah, and I I remember so uh Josh Fleener, um,
you know, super one heck of aguy, super nice guy, you know.

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:03):
Yeah.
And I another guy I actually raninto him down at the uh I went
down and watched Vivinia Tech inSouth Carolina play in Atlanta
and ran into him at the game andkind of talked to him a little
bit during halftime to catch upwith him.
So just again, just things likethat where you don't talk to him
every day, but you pass him inWalmart or run into him in
Christiansburg somewhere and youpick up right where you left

(01:06:24):
off.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:25):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I was so I actually went up thissummer.
I I go I'm in Giles about once amonth at least.
I went back to back weeks thistime because of Thanksgiving.
But I'm at I'm in Giles quite abit.
And I went with my niece, I havea six-year-old niece now, and uh
we took her to a park inChristiansburg, very nice park,

(01:06:47):
and uh someone saw my hat.
He's like, You did you go Giles?
And you we just start talkingabout we football, he was um you
know, he's from Christensburg, Iwas from Giles, and common
respect there, common rivalry,and and just you know, reliving
moments, you know, and I've I'vedone that with several people in
the you know New River area, soright, and that's again just the

(01:07:10):
common respect that that youshare as a competitor, uh
athlete.
Yeah, yeah, and uh but that sothat Brunswick game, um you
can't just pick one moment, man.
There are so many moments.
I just watched it.
One thing that stands out to methat Chantry uh Pennington are
starting nine man, uh, rightnext to the center.
Um he um he goes down prettyearly, he's hurting the game.

(01:07:35):
And Brad Limes, um, we we puthim in there.
And Brad, he he was votedcaptain, he was a great athlete.
But Brad had had uh a prettytough senior year and junior
year with injuries.
He played b baseball too.
And he would I remember him, Imean, he just got beat up so

(01:07:58):
bad.
He didn't play much of thatyear.
But in the moment we needed him,you know, um we stuck him back
in at nine, and he did a a goodjob blocking for us.

SPEAKER_04 (01:08:12):
Did a phenomenal job stepping at this again, he was
he was voted captain for areason.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:17):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:08:18):
Uh like you said, it got dinged up earlier in the
year, Chantry kind of slid inand held down the nine-man spot
for the remainder of the year,but goes into a state title
game, starter, like you said,gets hurt, and Brad steps in
just like a senior would, andwas prepared, laid his absolute
tail off at that position.

unknown (01:08:37):
Oh, yeah.
It was a huge moment in the ballgame.

SPEAKER_04 (01:08:40):
I mean, you was a you was your nine man, you was
any starter in the single wing,you're in trouble.
But I mean, he stepped in anddid not miss a beat.
And again, he talked battledinjuries, but you know, he was a
practice every day, busting histail when he could.
So, I mean, it it paid off andgreat moment for him.
And again, just this a testamentto his work ethic and ever

(01:09:02):
everything that he had done inthe year just to be able to step
in and and play as well as hedid.
And I mean, huge huge moment forus.
I mean, big, big moment of thegame when Chantery goes down,
but just Brad stepping in andnot missing a deal.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:14):
And uh and another another thing is so Brett
Sarovsky didn't start our firstgame uh against Blacksburg, even
though he was a phenomenallineman, uh a phenomenal center.
Um um shoot uh um Jonathan Jr.
Yeah, Jonathan.
And Jonathan broke his hand.
And we ended up moving him toeight.

(01:09:36):
And uh so that was just howtalented we were.
People don't realize we were weif one guy went down that wasn't
gonna break us.
We just were gonna substitutesomeone else that was working
and practicing just as hard forthe team.
And um Coach Wilson Will Wilsonand J V, and he was uh he's
still super even though he's a JV coach, he's the athletic

(01:09:59):
director, st super involved withthe varsity program.
I think Coach Wilson has I mean,I know he's never been the head
coach, but he's I mean, he to mehe is the um person um he is he
is Spartan football in my mind,if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:17):
But you're talking about death.
I mean, I didn't play like Irotated plays in offensively,
but I did not play defense forthe first five games of the
season.
Um Zach had that freak accidentin the machine shot.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:30):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:30):
That pretty much wound up taking him out from all
but the state game after whowere we playing.
That was east spot that was thefirst thing.
You know, Zach gets hurt.
Zach here cuts his finger off ona Wednesday.
Coach got me prepared to be ableto step in there and kind of
hold down Zach's spot until hewas able to come back and then

(01:10:51):
he he came back, played a littlebit in the Riverheads game, and
then you know, it was really abig moment there because you
know Cody was a powerhouse.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:59):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:00):
But the speed of Brunswick was causing us some
fit.
So with Zach back, we were ableto put me on one side, Zach on
the other, and run a little morespeed than what Cody had at the
time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:09):
That really was a big factor in playing
defensively against so really inthe long run, and you know, hate
hate what happened to Zach, butthose injuries uh kind of helped
us in the long run because wewere able to get Brett Sarovsky
at center, and then JohnJonathan Janelle at eight man,
and then we was able to put youin more um defensively.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:35):
That's it, I they say everything happens for a
reason.
I mean, and it did.
Because you look at that, youknow, obviously you don't want
Zach to go down.

unknown (01:11:42):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:43):
Zach Zach gets hurt, and I mean, you know, he coached
me the whole entire year.
Like if I had a question likeZach would help me the whole
entire year until he was able tocome back and again.
Another big moment of that stategame was the ability to put the
two of us, and I'm not sayingit's like sound like I'm talking
about myself, but to put alittle more speed out there
where Cody was getting beat bythe quarterback because he was
able to run a little bit faster.

(01:12:03):
Being able to go with two speedends helped us out again having
Zach back there.
And just that's a testament toZach of just how engaged he
stayed throughout the whole yearand just when his name was
called, he was prepared.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:14):
Well, he did he it would have been very easy for
Zach to say, I did my part, I'mnever gonna play football again.
But he, I mean, he put back inthere and uh he became a captain
uh later in that year.
And with they he had one of thebiggest cast and foam fitting
I've ever seen.

(01:12:35):
I had to play one one time in JVbecause I hurt my arm, but his
was huge.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:40):
And he just I mean he had a massive surgery 'cause
I mean he almost cut his fingeroff.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:47):
Right.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:49):
And yeah, he he did.
He played with a big old clubon.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:53):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and I remember that thatwas that was awful, and I'm glad
they could save his hand.
And I I just remember thestories and hearing hearing
about all the blood and the atthe shop and you know.

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:05):
Yeah.
He was very fortunate, butagain, just a testament to him
that they locked into that yearand you know, he was caught on
big time in that statechampionship game, and he
stepped up and did his part.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:15):
Yeah, and um so you know, um, that state game.
At one time there was one playthat scared me.
Uh they had kicked it, putpinned us back real deep at the
one, and we punt it we got theball out a little bit, we had to
punt, and they ran the punt backfor a touchdown, and that uh at

(01:13:35):
that point in the game I waslike, that does this isn't
looking good now.
But thankfully there was a alittle bit of laundry on the
field.

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:45):
Yeah, that they say to I mean to win a state title,
you gotta have a little bit ofluck, and yeah, we had some luck
there.
I mean, obviously I know thecalls happened, but that was a
big one because that that wouldhave put them up pretty good and
it almost seemed like momentumhad shifted in their favor.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, and uh um and really, you know, our
offense did great all year, butreally, I'll be honest with you,
our defense won that statechampionship.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:10):
Um yeah, we we I mean defense stepped up big
time.
Because I mean both offenseswere pretty much stagnant in the
second half.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:17):
Right, yeah, nobody scored a touchdown in the third
quarter.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:21):
And I believe we had six turnovers just to be able to
win the ball, it just tells youhow well the defense played.
Because I mean six turnovers isnot good at all.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:29):
So we turned over the ball six times.
I knew we turned it over a lot,I didn't count.
Because we had we had what, freeinterceptions, a couple fumbles,
so yeah, I guess that was.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:40):
Yeah, we we had turned it over quite a bit, and
I mean loss turnovers.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:44):
But you got now you got pulled from the game a
little bit.
You got hurt.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:48):
I yeah, I got dinged up here a little bit in the
third quarter.
It's that danger, man.
I got my friendly fire, CodyRhodes ran into me.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:56):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:57):
I guess it casts a nerve or something in my neck,
man.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:59):
I I never want Cody Rhodes running into you.
That was a big boy.
And um man, I I hate it.
Scout I always volunteer forScout.
I did my best to try to make usa better team.
And I I really believe CoachWilson when he would say to all
the backups, he said, you neverknow, you could be starting one
day, but if you're not, you makeyour team better by practicing

(01:15:22):
hard.
And man, I think our I really dothink our backups helped us by
practicing so hard.

SPEAKER_04 (01:15:30):
Again, just how competitive we were.
We just did not want the otherperson to win.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:35):
Yeah, it's true.
And we were um, you know, um,there were some games that I
think were easier for you guysthan our practices were.

SPEAKER_04 (01:15:46):
I I don't disagree with that one bit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:49):
But um and um so I on six-hole when Hunter Epperly
was um on the offensive linebefore we before he became a
right-in or senior year, andCody Rhodes that would double
team me on that play.
That was an awful experience,man.
That was that was an awfulexperience.

(01:16:09):
I was lining up against twocollege caliber, and they both
played college ball.
Uh Cody played a little bit fortech, and Hunter played a little
bit for Concord.
I was going against two collegecaliber football players there,
and that was not fun, man.

SPEAKER_03 (01:16:24):
Yeah, I'd say you had a pretty tough job.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16:27):
Yeah, it was it was rough.
I I eventually got Hunter, I waslike, man, you just please tell
me when y'all run six holes so Ican sling.
This is killing me, man.
And he would, he would, heblock.
So but um but um yeah, so thatlast drive, um we were running

(01:16:47):
low, and uh you actually caughttwo two passes, and no one this
is the only time I'm gonna fusson you the whole time.
No one ever brings up yourfumble.
The dusty fumble.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:59):
Nobody ever brings up the fumble, and that's that's
a huge play on that drive.
You know, I we ran and I'vecaught the ball, turned around,
and the guy from Brunson getsyou from behind, and I fumble it
straight forward and thankfullyright there to jump on it.
Oh, your heart sunk.
You should have been me.

SPEAKER_00 (01:17:16):
Oh, I'm sure, man.
I'm sure, man.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:18):
I was cleaning out my drawer for the next three
plays.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:22):
Yeah, but you redeemed yourself, you I mean,
Dusty, Dusty, and Dusty was oneheck of a ball player too.
He was just a tough farm boy,man.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:30):
Stud, hard nose farm boy, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:32):
Him and Jensen Dolphin in the Grayson game had
like one of the most beautifulblocks on a kickoff return that
happened like simultaneously.
You remember that block you knowthe block I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_03 (01:17:47):
I do.
On that block, yes sir, I do.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:49):
That was those they were beautiful.
They happened at the exact sameplace and time.
And um and uh, you know, and andback then we would alternate our
wing backs.
Well, so John would go intoplay, then Dusty would go into
play, and that w they would runinto play.
Um so which is probably betterfor you, but um because I

(01:18:11):
remember Coach Williams when hewould run into play with you,
um, that he would grab you bythe back of your horse collar,
and he would change his mind twoor three times, and we had got
two or three delayed gamepenalties, and Coach Williams
would fuss on Tyler Martin.
Why aren't you snapping the ballquick enough, but he kept
changing the play.

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:33):
We didn't change the play five hundred times, just
run forty-four.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18:38):
You're just gonna end up where you started out,
Coach.
Let's just go.

SPEAKER_03 (01:18:42):
Just stay with stay with forty-four and let's go.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18:44):
Yeah.
That's great, man.
And um, but um, so we run 38during a four about a fourth and
eight.
And Brent gets it.
We spike the ball.
We go into trips, and um TylerMartin, I mean, oh shoot,
forgive me.
Um Tyler Perdue.

(01:19:06):
We snapped the ball to him.
Um the uh I've seen the play abillion times.
I don't know, you've probablywatched it once or twice.
And uh um our blocking back, uhTyler Martin, kinda got a little
bit of him, but kinda missed theblock.
So he's under a little bit of prpressure and uh throws it up to

(01:19:27):
you.
You were in single coverage, andthen the other guy pulls off to
try to cover you a little bit.
You jump up and make probablythe best uh catch I've ever seen
in high school sports.
Definitely is, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:19:40):
That's yeah, that everything happened on that
play, you know.
Nobody talks about the thefourth and eight play that we
run 38 and you know that's ohyeah, I remember that.
It takes some some guts to torun the ball of fourth and
eight, and you know, we didn'thave any timeouts at the time.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19:57):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (01:19:58):
We had ran it.
We wouldn't have a time becauseI think we don't want the
numbers to send them the pointof the ball game because we send

(01:20:23):
it up as twins.
Again, that was because the timeokay, yeah.
Well, I guess you rememberbetter than I do, because I know
we spanked the ball a couple oftimes, and I think I think we
didn't we had read the playbefore, but because we pretty
incomplete.

(01:20:44):
Right.
I mean, I mean, again, kind ofsomething so that Tamar could
have tamper.
I mean, Tamar Flood is likeabsolute beautiful, because I

(01:21:06):
mean you know, he wasn't sittingin the back and he was a
treatment.
At least backflip.
I mean, you could you could picksome walmart that could catch a
ball.
That was that pretty pretty.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:18):
So that was not a hard catch for you to make.
It was right in your hands,right?

SPEAKER_04 (01:21:23):
I mean, shoot, Tyler put it where only I could catch
it.
Right.
I mean, actually anybody couldhave made that catch.
I mean, Tyler made an absoluteheck of a throw.
I mean, like I said, all uh alleleven people did what they were
supposed to do on that playright there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:33):
Absolutely, yeah.
I wasn't trying to pick on ouruh noble blocking back there,
but I was just trying todescribe the play because he he
did a lot better than I couldhave done.
And um but uh he uh but yeah,Tyler Purdue definitely put the
ball right where it needed tobe.
And I'm not taking anything awayfrom you.
You you ran your route well andyou you caught the ball and uh

(01:21:56):
and then then you had to get upand hold the extra point after
but you ran like a fives ofmiles before you went uh you
know you I I just wanted to makesure I gave Brett plenty of time
to think about the kick.
Yeah.
Well, and I I talked to Br I'vetalked to Brett several times
about the kick just because Ithink people aggravate him too

(01:22:18):
much, and I told him that.
And he's just told me, I knowwho's told you, he was just so
nervous.
Imagine being in his shoes, man.

SPEAKER_04 (01:22:27):
Oh yeah.
I mean you've duped out fourquarters of a ball game and I
mean with I mean, obviouslythat's a guy that we call on in
big times to make plays andthat's just a tough moment, but
just to skip that, you know,we're fortunate enough to over
time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:22:43):
I was I was just so filled with relief and joy.
I remember you caught the balland in my in my mind is like my
my friend just caught the statechampionship.
I was so happy for you.
And then I run onto the fieldand I get w and uh I know he's a
coach now, so any of hisstudents or football players

(01:23:04):
watching, um don't think I'mbeing mean to him.
I love Brent Sarovsky.
I'm such good friends withBrett.
Brett is trash talking Brunswickthe whole time.
I'm like, Brett, shut up.
I mean, I remember he's like,How's it feel to lose?

SPEAKER_00 (01:23:20):
And then we missed.

SPEAKER_01 (01:23:24):
Oh yeah, then he he's like, uh he's like, Man,
that was dumb.

SPEAKER_04 (01:23:30):
And I you know, just skip forward, you know, there's
still a couple seconds left.
We had to kick off because I'mable to stop him on kick-off.
We go into overtime.
And I think another crucialmoment, again, I was talking
earlier about you need a littlebit of luck to win.
I think us getting the ballfirst in overtime was because we
had the momentum.

(01:23:51):
I don't know that we would havescored if we didn't, because we
we weren't gonna stop having theball first.
I mean, we went on a prettymethodical I think it took us
three plays to get in there andkicked the extra point there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:24:07):
And Whitlow had a pretty good point.
Whitlow had a pretty good run toset us up.

SPEAKER_04 (01:24:12):
Yeah, and that's you know, and you you don't talk
about like, you know, Brianscored all of our touchdowns in
that game.
Right.
Yeah, but you know, Bretthead,when you think of crucial runs
during that game, Brett hadquite a few of them set us up
and Brian winds up sticking in44 and Well Brian, you Brian and
you scored all the touchdowns inthat game.

SPEAKER_01 (01:24:32):
Um Brian had a phenomenal game.
Oh, absolutely.
Brian was a great great ballplayer and uh and you know, so
they line up uh the kick theextra point.
There's uh we make it, butthere's a fl well, they so they
no, we don't make it.
There's a flag on the field andthey jumped off sides, according

(01:24:54):
to the referees.
I wasn't I wasn't gonnavolunteer in for any information
if if I might have uh uh sneezeda little bit before the play,
but um uh we uh um we kicked theextra point.
Um we make it.
Uh we held them to about a freeuh I think uh on third down they

(01:25:15):
had a long touchdown play.
Uh they kick their extra pointand make it, and there's a
little laundry on the field, weback it up, and then he just
misses it and we win 20 to 19.

SPEAKER_04 (01:25:27):
Yeah, and uh I mean I just remember the call after
going back and watching thegame.
Just party time in Parisburg.
That is it'll always be one ofthe greatest calls in my playing
career.
But just an awesome moment,again, just a testament to the
the work that we had put in as ateam and the the brotherhood
that we had 'cause I mean Idon't think people understand.

(01:25:48):
They talk about how teams areclose, teams are this, teams are
that like we were a very closeteam.

SPEAKER_01 (01:25:53):
Yeah, I'm I I know a lot of stuff hanging out and I
know I don't talk to you as muchas I used to and uh or all the
guys, but I think about y'allquite quite often, all of y'all.
And um so um, you know, um Ithink about you, Hunter Epperly,
Brett Sarovsky, I think um theones I was real close with, and

(01:26:14):
then I think about some of thepeople I wasn't as close with
but still care about and and uhsometimes I wish we could all
get together, you know, havesome kind of reunion or do
something.
And um I know we had our classreunion, but I'd I'd love if we
could all have some kind of umyou know, celebration or
something.
I was hoping we could dosomething our tenth year

(01:26:35):
anniversary.
Um maybe we do something at thefifteenth, we don't have to wait
all the way to twenty years, butyeah, just maybe get together
just to just see everybody.
Well you're the you're the greatorganizer of the group, so I
wouldn't go that far.
Yeah, so uh yeah, that'd begreat.
Um but um but you know, we hadone more year and we had a great

(01:26:57):
my our senior year was a greatyear too.
We won we won our group wontwenty seven games in a row and
we you know, we ended up losingto Glen Ver in the game.
I wish we we we I wish we couldhave had a best two out of
three, but that's not howfootball works and um you know
we had a great year both years.
Do you feel when you think aboutthe twenty fourteen year, do you

(01:27:20):
just um do you focus more on thethe good times or is it just
hard to overlook the Glenverloss?

SPEAKER_04 (01:27:28):
I think I mean I think the Glenver loss
overshadows things, but you knowagain we're we were fortunate
enough to I mean we won a lot ofball games.
We lost five games, our ourclass lost five games in four
years.
And I think I think you justgotta focus on what an
opportunity and that we had.
I mean what a great opportunity.
Lose five games in in fouryears, win a state championship.

(01:27:51):
I mean, it you just gotta focuson the good stuff.
Oh, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:27:55):
Yeah, and and this is my thing.
And and that Glenver loss hadstuck with it stuck with me for
s more several years, I stillthink about, but I mean really
hurt me for several years.
And um, but it's it probablydidn't hurt you as bad.

SPEAKER_04 (01:28:11):
But but uh it stung, I mean it it stays.
I don't like to lose, andespecially with them.
But you know.
But this is the thing I think aslife goes on.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28:25):
Well, this is the way I think about it though.
We won twenty-seven games in arow, and I don't know if any
other Spartan team's gonna beable to do that.

SPEAKER_04 (01:28:33):
Um Yeah, that's I mean, that's tough for any team.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:28:37):
Again, I I think we were very fortunate to um to
have the opportunity that thatwe had as a collective unit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28:43):
Yeah, yeah, we had a great ball team and uh um you
know, great captains, greatcoaches.
Um and uh so after after that,after 2014, you go on the
Bridgewater and uh become a verysuccessful college football
player.

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:02):
Again, I just very fortunate.
I was very fortunate to be ableto play um notes.
Goes back to high schoolcoaching, I mean Coach Williams,
Coach Wilson, those guys.
I'm Coach Wright now, the headcoach of Jiles.
I mean, he just some they reallyhelped me out.

SPEAKER_01 (01:29:19):
Yeah, and we were his first group.
We were Coach Wright's firstgroup as a coach.

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:23):
Yeah, and that's yeah, I just felt like I was
well coached and again it justblessed with a great opportunity
to go and coach you probablydon't know this, Dakota.

SPEAKER_01 (01:29:33):
But so my mom's side of family's from Bland County,
you probably know that.
But my aunt actually babyset atCoach Wright when he was a baby.

SPEAKER_03 (01:29:42):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 (01:29:43):
Yeah, yeah, um it it and that that ended up coming
out and I was like, well, smallworld, you know.
Um so my my mom, my uh my twoaunts, they they knew they knew
the rights halfway decent andshe babyset them when he was a
baby and that's pretty neat.
Um you know, well bland andblend and Giles is you know, um

(01:30:08):
they're not that far from eachother.
So when you drive past theprison, the prison's in the
blend, but ha uh part of theland's in Giles.
So uh I uh you know, I've neverbeen in the prison.
Hope hope not to, but um Yeah,but I I I've took a I've looked

(01:30:29):
at it a lot of times going backto um Hungry Holler.
Uh so um but uh and now you'rethe offensive coordinator of
Nair's.
You uh you coached one year forGiles, I think, and then got a
job at NARES High School andyou're doing like I said, y'all
are doing phenomenal.
Yeah, I think y'all have beat usuh at least twice, maybe three

(01:30:53):
times since you've been coachingat Nairs and Giles beat Nairs
for forty years in a row.
Um sorry, not forty, not thatlong, but uh around thirty years
in a row.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:03):
So that's yeah, that's coach Coach Low does a
great job, man.
And he's he's put in a lot oftime.
Yeah, I think.
I was I was actually coaching atGiles when Nairs won the first
time that they had won since2002, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 (01:31:19):
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:20):
Yeah, coach Coach Lowe does a phenomenal job.
I mean he he cares about thekids, he gets them prepared, and
again, just I'm just thankful tohave the opportunity to coach.

SPEAKER_01 (01:31:29):
Nair Nares and Giles football is extremely
interconnected, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:35):
Um yeah, it's and very, very, very competitive.
It's and it's always a goodatmosphere.
The county class is always agreat great atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 (01:31:43):
It's a great rivalry.
Everyone knows someone on bothsides of the river, and uh both
are f they're all family andfriends, and uh it's a good
rivalry, and uh you know I knowum I know you know the crew at
WNRV.
I don't know them personally,but I love how they do the game
that you have one Gilesannouncer and one Nayers

(01:32:03):
announcer when they're callingthe game.

SPEAKER_04 (01:32:05):
And uh it's always a good and uh theory does a good
job of the radio.
Yeah.
Again, like you said, switchingoff and on having they switch
both people through how to callthe game.
It just gives you a good littlenod.

SPEAKER_01 (01:32:17):
Right, right.
And uh it makes me think too,uh, you know, um, so Coach
Ragsdale's uh Coach Stephen C.
Ragsdale's dad coached it atNairs, and uh there's two fields
in the county, and one's namedRagsdale Field, one's Stephen C.
Ragsdale Field.
And uh Coach Ragsdale went toNairs High School.

(01:32:37):
Um so I always heard from peoplein Nairs um that the reason
Spartan football is so good isbecause of Nairs and and every
great Spartan was once a GreenWave.
I remember hearing that so manytimes.
It got on my last nerves.
But now uh when y'all got whenyou eventually become head coach

(01:32:59):
and hopefully win a statechampionship, I will be able to
say that um um every great uhgreen wave was once a Spartan.
Well I hope that winds up beingthe case, I h I hey man, I was

(01:33:19):
hoping so hard that we would getwe would finally get the um the
county playoff game because uhfor years Giles was 2A and Arous
was one A.
But we lined up together and butGeorge Wiff beat both of us and
and that happens, that'sfootball, but I think one one
year I think it'll eventuallyhappen.

(01:33:40):
And that's gonna happen.
And it'll it'll be it'll be acrazy experience for sure.

SPEAKER_03 (01:33:46):
Um it'll it'll be a must.

SPEAKER_01 (01:33:49):
Must see.
Must see TV.
Must see TV.
Yeah, hey, uh you know howamazing it is that where I live
I live an hour and half away.
But I can watch Giles footballon my TV.
That is how amazing uhtechnology is now that I would
never imagine that to have tohave a a small high school

(01:34:10):
football.
I mean, we're not talking aboutOscar Smith or something like
that.
We're talking about Giles andthere.
And I keep up with y'all guystoo.
If we're not if we're at a ifwe're at halftime or something,
I go over and I'll try to listento y'all guys.
So um, but it's um you know it'sI love football um so much and

(01:34:34):
it's a fun game.
I I just like being a fan of thegame now.
I'm so proud of you and HunterEpperly and Brett Sarowski all
coaching and being verysuccessful, and I knew y'all
would always have a successfullife and career after high
school, and you've done it, anduh I'm very proud of you, and
um, you know, I also I you know,uh your mom and dad were great

(01:34:58):
people, Kirsten, great people.
Um I s you know, we used to seeeach other all the time at
school, at church, and uh andyou know, I hope this is okay I
bring this up.
I know it's sad, but I used tothink the world of your grandma
too.
I really did.

SPEAKER_03 (01:35:14):
Oh yeah.
And that's uh she she loved uhlike loved coming to our
ballgames.

SPEAKER_01 (01:35:20):
Oh I know it.
And I I was in deep fear for theofficiating crew because of your
mom and your grandma.
And uh and man, I remember I umespecially when y'all play
basketball games, they would getso mad.
It's not Giles County, it's justGiles.

(01:35:40):
And uh, you know, they um Ithought I fought the world of
y'all guys, I still do.
Um but um if there's anythingelse you want to add about any
anything in life, and uh youjust got married to Morgan uh a
few months ago, socongratulations.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:57):
And appreciate that.
I'm gonna get up here and we'llgo down help her clean, I guess
for a little lunch of I guess alittle lunch technically, I
guess.
But thank you again for havingme on a visually dumb to the
union, like you said earlier.
It's been a little bit, I knowwe just seen each other recently
at the reunion, but it's been alittle bit sense and we'll just
be able to pick up another likewe miss a minute.

SPEAKER_01 (01:36:26):
No, I love I've loved it.
It's a great sport.
Um and uh I I'm glad I got toplay ball for you and uh
everyone else.
Uh we had a special crew and Idon't r I don't regret a down of
it.
Um you and me both.
But uh, you know, uh I d I willsay before we leave, I think
it's awesome.

(01:36:47):
Uh I just popped in my mind.
We both, you know, Ri RichieMiller were both our old youth
pastor, and uh I just grew uparound Kirsten and Eden.
And now I'm I'm sorry, Christianand Eden.
And now you are coachingChristian.
And I think that is awesome.
And Christian Christian is, youknow, he's young.

(01:37:08):
He's just he's a freshman, Ithink, and he he looks like he's
gonna be a pretty good athlete.

SPEAKER_04 (01:37:13):
So he is a pretty good athlete, and again, it's
just crazy how it doesn't seemlike we're that old, but uh I gr
you know, I remember Christianbeing real, real time, and now
us having the opportunity tocoach him and you know, still
have a relationship with PastorRichie.
It's it's a pretty neatexperience.

SPEAKER_01 (01:37:28):
Yeah, and uh um and now uh Richie's uh head pastor
of First Nayers.
I actually went uh last timewhen we were at the reunion, I
spent the night and uh went toRichie's church, had a great
time, great beautiful service,and uh saw Richie and uh uh
another guy you know prettypretty familiar in the ciles

(01:37:49):
county car shop and uh but uhthe car world.
But um but uh yeah, it was itwas a great time and uh well man
um if there's anything is thereanything you want to let go and
then we'll I will head out ofhere.
I I probably need to read thenames of the team just so no one
gets left out just because I'lldo that after we hang up, but

(01:38:10):
it's uh just I don't want anyoneto feel left out, so I have to
pull up an old roster orsomething.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:16):
No, like I said, just I appreciate you having me
on.
I've I've enjoyed talking toyou, and I guess the last thing
uh I'll say before I tell yougoodbye is uh go hookies.

SPEAKER_01 (01:38:26):
Alright, well go who's and everyone, that has
been Dakota Schrader.
Alright, guys.
I just wanted to uh do I want todo this podcast for a little bit
now.
Um I really think about thisteam a lot.
It means a lot to me still.
I know you get older, you gottamove on some, but I just want to

(01:38:47):
read you guys the names of allthe players.
Some of these guys are JVplayers that moved up, but
they're still part of the team.
And uh, you know, it was fun.
Um, you know, it means a lot tome still today.
And I'm so glad Dakota Schradercame on.
But I'm gonna read you guys someum gonna read y'all guys the uh

(01:39:13):
names of the players.
Hunter Smith, Tyler Marshall,Tammy Tom Tom oh sorry, Tammy
Tony, uh Zach Sizemore, AustinShrewsbury, Trent Pennington,
John Laws, Zach Williams, BenPratt, Matthew Midkiff, Brandon
Harris, Harless, ChantryPennetton, Austin Cunningham,

(01:39:37):
Dylan Graham, Christian Kemp,Anthony Metis, um Hunter
Collins, Brian Mann, BrodyDumford, Bride Lyps, Press
Roski, Brett Whitlow, JohnTeats, Zach Simmons, Tyler
Perdue, Dusty Bogus, TannerMartin, Jared Cook, Zane Martin,
Jensen Dolphin, Josh Scott,Logan Merrick, Jonathan Jernell,

(01:40:04):
Hunter Epperly, Cameron Perkins,Caleb O'Neill, Buddy Bracken,
Jacob Kirk, Anthony Jones,Hunter Wright, David Edes, Cody
Rhodes, Andrew Searles, ShaneClark, Gobin Chavla, Matthew

(01:40:24):
Gillespie, Dakota Schrader,coaching staff coach, head coach
Jeff Williams, assistant coachBrian Strader, Jackie Evans,
Dusty Stump, Anthony Ratcliffe,Steve Wilson, Sam Wright, Tim
Muncie, and Brian Hurley.
And uh, man, I know this is along episode, but uh, I just had

(01:40:47):
a ball.
Um just had a ball.
This is uh it will it will behard for us to ever do a 15-0
season again.
There's a reason why we hadn'twon state in a long time.
So um hopefully we will comeback and win a state
championship again.

(01:41:09):
But um sometimes I like towonder if we would have beat the
05 team.
I wish I would have asked Codeof that before I let him go.
But um, I was talking to CoachEllison one day.
He never coached me, but he'sbeen a he was a big staple in
the Spartan coaching world.
And uh it would have been Iwould have absolutely loved it

(01:41:31):
if we could had uh if we couldhad uh played the O five team.
Um if you did a tournament ofall the the four state
championship teams 80, 93, 05,and 13.
Had a had an interestingtournament due to a round robin
or something.

(01:41:52):
But um God bless you guys.
I hope you all had a fun timewith this episode of
overopinionated.
Uh God bless y'all and have agreat day.

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Dakoda Shrader interview. #100

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