Free for All Sideline Edition: Nick Mayle, Philip Barbour

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sports fans, it's time for the Friday Free for All.
Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the
latest from across the region in high school and college sports.
Now Here are your hosts, Chris Johnson and Alex Wiederspiel.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning, my friends, Good morning, welcome in another edition
of the Friday Free for All is here. Glad to
have you with us wherever it is you may be
joining us from a reminder as always that our show
is also available in podcast forms. So while we're thrilled
that you're here with us live on a fantastic Friday

(00:45):
morning and what has been just a fantastic weather week,
though I guess there is going to be some potential
for rainforling in today. But if you're here with us live,
we always appreciate that. We appreciate you traditionalists who stick
to the seven oh six start time, but in podcast
form at the Spreaker app at your preferred podcasting platform
wherever it is you find podcasts, Go find the Friday

(01:06):
for You for All. Like follow Subscribe, you'll get push
notifications to your phone or device letting you know when
new episodes drop wish typically, of course, as long as
they're not a bonus episode typically is going to be
Friday morning after the actual show ends. We've got a
good show line up for you today, folks, got a
lot of great guests coming on today. This is probably
going to be one of our final shows that is

(01:26):
not one hundred percent football or fall sports in some capacity,
and that's because we've got a special guest. Got a
first timer coming on the show today, Luke Blaine of
West Virginia Sports Now and one of my former students
who actually has been on my other show before The
Morning Shield. He'll be joining us to talk a little TBT,

(01:47):
which I had been hoping to get to for a
while and just kind of felt like a unique time
to do it. We don't typically focus on college sports
a ton on this show, but it's alumni, it's you know,
former mountaineers. I mean, you know, once a mountaineer, always
a mountaineer in a lot of ways. So I'd just
said it to be fun. We're gonna We're gonna bring
Luke on, Chris Johnson's gonna join us in the second

(02:07):
half of the show today. We're also going to have
a couple of of I'm sorry one segment and it'll
be it'll be good. I think it'll be really good.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Nick Maylee from Philip Barber head coach, gonna join us
on the show today and we are going to kick
things off with Chris George coming up in the next
segment with what's going on with the state Legion Baseball tournament.
As always, Uh, winners and losers decided. So losers bracket,
winners bracket. That gets started today and you can check

(02:41):
out all the results, which we are gonna go over
in detail coming up in just a few minutes with
Chris at wvmetronews dot com. And of course Clarksburg and
Morgantown posts both in the tournament this year. So Bridgeport
did not make it this year, Clarksburg did and and
again kudos to them for getting there. The ultimate winner

(03:03):
of this tournament then competes in the mid Atlantic mid
Atlantic Tournament next month and we'll see how that all
goes down. I believe that's gonna be in Maryland.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'll talk.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
We'll double check that with Chris George when he jumps on.
Of course, Chris very very active in the Legion Baseball community.
He is of course runs the whole darn darn show
at this point.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
All right.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
With that said, though, we should go ahead and get
to our first break. That way we can get to Chris.
He's next here on the Friday Free for All, brought
to you by Dan Cavato to you a GMC and
one day at a time, one inch at a time,
one yard at a time, getting closer and closer to
full football season. Who's ready, I'm ready, You're ready. We're
back after this to talk a little baseball.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Though, time for more high school sports talk on the
Dan Cavatoyo w a GMC Friday Free.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
For All Friday, Free for All leadoff hitter today and
continues to be our lead off hitter during the tail
end of the Legion baseball season. Chris, George, you had
a very very busy day on Thursday as the Allegian
statewide tournament opened up. Eight teams, four games, two locals,
Clarksburg and Morgantown both in it. Clarksburg loses theirs, they're

(04:17):
going to the losers bracket. Morgantown with an exciting, exciting win,
they're headed to the winner circle. And of course everybody's
still alive for a second day of games. But now
we know who is playing who on today actually when
the games begin. So Chris, welcome in, good morning, and
what's going on.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
Well, I mean, I've been at the ballpark since a
thirty this morning and here we are. Just got back
late late late on Thursday night. And we knew going
in that this is going to be a tournament where
there wasn't a favorite. There's a lot of good teams.
I wouldn't call one a team that was the odds

(04:59):
soul favorite like we've seen in the past, and it
showed out on the first day of the tournament. A
good good games, a couple of games that went to
extra innings. In fact, game of the night, Morgantown in
nine innings walked off Pasburg by the final score of
five to four on a Keen Williams RBI base hit

(05:19):
to left center field to score the winning run from
basis Parker Jeffrey scored to give Morgantown a five to
four win over Parkersburg, and then it just kind of
went from there. An extra innings, extra innings was the
key today and I think good games is all kind
of started off the morning with Beckley bash in the

(05:40):
post sixty Nights from the North Berkeley part of the
handle and it was Post sixty the night's winning twelve
to eight game that was back and forth. A Post
sixty jumped out to an early three to ninth lead.
They they led a four to one before Beckley came
storming back the fourth. Then they scored three more later
in a game to take a seven to four lead,
or Post sixty bridle back to tight at seven on

(06:02):
them and went on to win the game twelve eight.
In Game two saw Berkeley Post fourteen out of the
panhandle losing a tight one to Charleston Post sixty five.
It was Charleston victorious eight to five. A game could
either way. It was back and forth. Charleston was able
to pull it out in the end to get to victory.

(06:23):
And then game three, one of our local teams Clarksburg
had a great year, played tough dominic bomba deer pitched
the heck of a game. They fell short to Wheeling
final eight to one, as Post one kind of thunder
muscles there today late in the games, adding four runs
across the final coup of winnings to win that game

(06:44):
eight to one. And of course the nightcap was more
Down victoriousover Parkersburg five to four, So a good first
day of baseball, great weather, good turn out for the game,
especially in the night session. We had good turnout there,
and hope for the same tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I know you guys really did have fantastic weather today
and hopefully or excuse to be fantastic weather on Thursday.
Hopefully you're gonna have fantastic weather today as well. I
know they're starting to they're starting to be the possibility
of rain potentially creeping in, but we're gonna hope for
the best on that front. And if it does, it
looks like it might be kind of your scattered thunderstorm,

(07:23):
take a break, get guys off the field, get them
back on the field type of thing. But regardless, what's
the schedule looking like for today, and then take us
through some of your some of your big storylines. Who
the big favorites are.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Okay, our fur game this morning we'll be a loser's
bracket game, elimination game between the Beckley Bash and Charleston
har excuse me to Beckley Bash Herksburgh Post thirteen. That's
at ten am here later this morning, too far from now,
and then at one o'clock we'll have a good matchup

(07:56):
between Berkeley Post fourteen and Parkersburg Post fifty other elimination
game at one o'clock later today, and then their winners
bracket games for contests. The Post sixty nights from North
Berkeley in the Panhandle take them on Wheeling Posts one.
It's winning the defending champions from a year ago. And

(08:17):
the night cap Charles Post sixty five will take on
Morgantown Post two. So schedule games today. We're gonna send
two teams homes after after Friday. On Saturday we will
have three sets. For Friday, we send in two teams
sown via the elimination here today, So it's gonna be
a it's gonna be a tough matchup. I've seen Thames

(08:40):
lose that first day and buy their way back and
put them sells inttentions. So everyone's still alive here. I
saw some emotional a lot of emotion yesterday last night
and yesterday afternoon in the morning, and it's just you know,
this is it. This is Winter Gun Survive in advance.
And I look for those teams at sub stepbacks on

(09:01):
day one abouts back day two.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I mean you had mentioned that that teams are
capable of doing that, you've seen it in the past.
How hard I mean, obviously knowing that you're facing win
or die is hard, But what are the challenges that
that kind of come with that.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
Well, you got to have pitching, Number one. You gotta
have starting pitching, and you got to have kids that
have good resolve. They got to be able to battle back.
And a lot of these teams have played ruling schedules
throughout the year to put them in this position, whether
it's other tournaments they played during the regular caason, it
just you know, big busy weeks. They have the pitching,
and everyone I think in this tournament has the pitching

(09:37):
to be able to make run once in the loser's bracket,
and I expect that today. But also take offense. You know,
everyone talks about pitching and defense, and that's very important.
The team who has the best offense in these tournaments
also creates a damage, if not more so than the pitching.

Speaker 5 (09:53):
And we saw some.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
Offense yesterday, not a tons hit and miss here and there.
Expect that to pick up here today as we get
into some of these pitching staffs. Of course, we're monitoring
the pitch counts, you know, throughout this tournament Air Conlegion Baseball.
You're allowed to hunt you all to throw one hundred pitches,
but then if you do, you got four days rest.

(10:15):
So it's similar to the whole pitch count rules. And
if you pitch thirty you can come back and pitch
some However, you can make two appearances in any three days,
so that's something to keep in mind here. And you
know everybody was healthy yesterday, that's the thing. No injuries.
I think that's wonderful. And it should set up for
an day number two. And you got state tournament schooling

(10:35):
across all parks to including Puerto Rico. It's pretty much
a fifty states plus Puerto Rico event. Some got underway today,
like West Virginia. Most of them get underway their Saturday,
and all love. It has to be done by the
thirty first of July.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
All right, And remind folks who are interested in watching
or listening, actually you can do either or depending on
what's more convenient for you. How they can access the
coverage for today's games, which are all available should you
want to consume them.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, right on our Metro News television app. You can
go on there, and they got the game preload on
the app which ones you want to check, and it'll
say live of the game's current plying and go to
the Metro News TV app. Also go to w BET
news dot com. You'll have the audio version available for
all these games well, so if you're busy and you're
not able to watch them, you can always go to

(11:28):
them on our street. We've got some you know, pretty
good broadcasters. You know, a lot of talent from WVRC
Media is here. Of course, Kyle Wiggs, I was supposed
to do a game last night. I just had too much,
you know, stuff to do with the tournament. Since being
the state chairman, I would love to broadcast in these
games because that's one of my jobs, right But Kyle,

(11:48):
Kyle Wigs was able to come back late last night
and do the seven to fifty pm game Morgantown and Parkersburg.
So I want to thank Kyle for that and his
son Luke. Luke will be coming up you know, this week,
along with Daniel Woods and some others. An attendant's great,
great job at Video Productions also helping out with that up.

(12:10):
It's like a five or six camera setup. It's unbelievable.
I know some people have watched the streams have really
complimented on how well it is produced. And these guys
are doing one heck of a job doing it, and
we want to thank them for that.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, is real labor of love all around, and kudos
to you guys for for putting this thing on. Any
final thoughts on Legion Ball before we just jump to
a couple of other quick baseball topics.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
That's about it. We just hope the weather continues to
stay good. One good thing Dell Miller Field at MYLA
Park in Morgantown. That's an all field turf surface. Once
it stops, Randy, you can get right back on earlier.
The only thing that might pull things up a bit lightning,
and you know how it is during the summer months.
You just never when you'll see it. But are you
kind of standing umpiring crew here led by Jada Santis

(12:55):
who's on the national committee. We have two umpires our
state tournament, Mark Mail and Jadas Santus, who are umpire
at the America Legia World Series a Shelby, North Carolina.
Mark for four years, Jame's done it for more than that,
and they'll both be going down the shell once again
this year. So we told the teams and our meeting
Wednesday night with everyone of the field that you're going

(13:18):
to have some of the best umpires not only in
the state of West Virginia or the region, but in
the entire nation. And I think those saw that today
because everything went smooth, not a single argument at all.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
What sort of.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Fantastic h Let's uh, let's jump over to a couple
of other things. Obviously still been kind of following what's
been going on in the pro game a little bit,
and would would be remiss. I feel like we're mentioning this,
honestly every time we talk baseball, and I get the
feeling we're going to be talking about this into the fall,
because this is going to be a storyline that's gonna

(13:54):
that's gonna persist. But uh jj weatherhold with another multi
home run game in triple A and he is he
is banging down the door. You have to feel like
he's banging down the door of a potential trip to
Saint Louis later this season. Now, I mean I originally
asked a buddy of mine who had him on my
other show, when he kind of thought it might happen,

(14:17):
and he was thinking it could happen in August, in
early August that Weatherhold is just playing that well. And
it's the question I guess at this point is he
is he just on a hot streak or is he
proving he's too good for the minor leagues at age
twenty two.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Well, I don't know if he's too good in our legs,
but it is a hot streak and he's showing that
he's knocking on the door to Saints. I think it's
wonderful what you're seeing him do. And his age comes
up to where he should be as a top prospect.
You know, let's keep in mind, Jjil's a college player.
You know, he's a twenty two to twenty three range
where you know a top prospect should be right now,

(14:52):
and he's at Triple L. But ever since he got
the call up the Memphis, he has been just dominating
with them. That's unbelievable. It's a big jump from Double
A to Triple A. It's even a bigger jump from
Triple A to the big leagues. So it's gonna be interesting.
I think they're going to give him a good run
here of at least of one hundred hats. I believe
in Triple A. Before they even decide to call him up,

(15:14):
they give him a cup of coffee towards the end
of the season. He's kind of blocked right now because Saint
Louis really has some good midwin field prospects that are
starting right now for the big club, you know, But
a guy like JJ weatherhol cannot be down much longer.
He's a guy that we know that can come up
at a time. I think I expect him to be up,
possibly in September, maybe sooner if he continues to hit,

(15:37):
continues his towards stretch. It made his break up in
two or three weeks from now. Who knows. It's something
to watch And for all Mountain fans out there, it's
just another mountaineer. It's got a chance to play in
the big leagues and see and more and more of
those by the year.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
More more excuses for the for the Whigs to root
for the Saint I know they're they're big Cardinals fans,
uh that they're probably thrilled about this right now. Oh
and let's wrap with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who actually played
pretty well recently, coming off a sweep over the Detroit Tigers.
They open up a new series with Arizona, and after
just a nightmare start to the second half of the season,

(16:12):
they came out immediately got swept to open up post
All Star Break play and came out and then came
back with a sweep. So I guess it's been a
weird year for the Pirates. I feel like they've stabilized
a little bit from the worst moments of the season.
There have still been some pretty low moments, and of
course that that sweep right out of the gate out
of the All Star Break wasn't great, and following it

(16:34):
up with a sweep is fine. But they really can't
make up any ground this way, and at this point
does kind of feel like they're just they're treading water
in a not great spot because you're not sure if
they're gonna wind up getting a I don't think they're
gonna be bad enough to get a top pick, the
very top pick, but they're certainly not competing nineteen games
under five hundred at this point.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah, I mean, this is kind of what they are.
You know, we saw him earlier this year have good
series wins against the Mets, the Phillies, and also the
Cardinals where they swept the Cardinals at home, and now
take care of the Detroit Tigers. And of course I
don't want to put any water on but Detroit is
losers of nither the last ten. That does mean something.
Right now, the Tigers are reeling, but you said, it's

(17:19):
baseball a long season. Even the best the teams go
through streaks like this, and even the worst as like Pittsburgh,
find a way to win games. I think Pittsburgh's biggest
going forward is you're going into the trade deadline. You
gotta decision make do you feel like you have the
pieces in place to be able to make minor moves
to help boost your offense, because they have to find

(17:40):
some to improve this offense going forward in the next year.
And if it's the case, and keeping guys like Mitch
Keller around and some of these other be a wise decision.
Because starting pitching, especially proven starting pitchers like Keller coming
to Premium, I know there's a ton of trade value there.
They got Bubba Chandler also has trade value, one of
the prospects in baseball in triple as. You might make

(18:03):
a move to maybe deal him and maybe keep a Keller.
We'll see what they decide to do ultimately Team of
the Day any of a ton of more offense in Pittsburgh.
I think that's the plan. I just don't know if
they're going to be able to do it all to
the deadline. They may have to wait till the offseason.
But in the meantime, the current team needs to show improved.
Spencer Horowitz had a huge week against the Tigers. We've
been waiting for that all year long. That's the guy

(18:25):
they traded for in the offseason from Toronto or from Cleveland,
and the Louis Ortiz deal that continues. You need to
see more consistent play from Brian Reynolds had a terrible season.
Is war is one of the worst on the team.
That's above replacements is what that stat is. And O'Neill Cruz.
We have to see what O'Neil Cruz is going to

(18:45):
do for it. I know he's got sixteen home runs,
I know he had thirty stolen bases, but the batting
average at two eighteen is not what that guy can do.
We know there's more there. He has to start showing it.
So there's guys in house I think they're going to
retain going forward to have to show improved to be
able to get to that level next year where they
can get to where they were the last year, fighting

(19:06):
for a chance to be five hundred and maybe an
outside seaw the wild card. This year has been a
disaster from start to finish. No matter how it is up,
it's not been a good year. They could go on
a towards streak here and make this look like a
great at the end, and I think if they do
something like that, that gives you momentum the next year.
It's huge for this team going forward. But until July
thirty first, these next few days in this trade deadline,

(19:28):
I think is going to tell a lot of what
direction is Pirates team's going forward in the future. I
do not think it's a complete fire sale. I think
there's going to be a couple pieces moved. I think
in the off season a lot of things could happen,
including the front office mix up. We'll wait and see
if Ben Charrington is back next year, or maybe he's
back and there's no way at all Don Kelly will

(19:48):
he be the manager going forward? All this is going
to be decided in the next couple months into the
off season. She fun But when Pittsburgh plays well and
they get good start pitched, and you find a way
to gets some hits. And you saw against the Tigers
they did. They hit the ball to all fields. They're
all up their selling out for power, trying to hit
home runs. They hit the ball to all fields and

(20:10):
make contact. And that's the type it can be going forward.
And you saw that and good wins series wins again Philadelphia,
the Mets, Saint Louis, and the Tigers. But they have
not been anywhere consistent of a baseball team, especially away
from home. They've only won thirteen games on the road
this year. And they hit the road coming up next
week as they head out west, and you know when

(20:33):
hit the road, it's it's scary. So they got to
find a way. But hey, he steps right, yeahee.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
What happens?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Five games over five hundred at home, and I'm pretty
sure they're you said thirteenth, they are twenty four games
under five hundred on the road. I think something crazy
like that. Anyway, Chris, I know you've got a lot
of stuff to do today and this weekend, so enjoy
the tournament and get some rest when it's over. Look
forward to talking to you about the end of it

(21:02):
and the conclusion next week.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, this time next week we talk of a state
champion crowd on Monday as to plan and Tuesday's rain
day if needed, and we'll be able to talk who
the state champion is and who'll be representing the state
of West Virginia in the Midtlantic Regional on Hanover, Maryland
starting on August six.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Very good, All right, Chris, much appreciated. We're gonna talk
a little Best Virginia basketball coming up next. We got
football though, coming up a little bit later here on
the Friday Free for All back in a moment.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
cavatoryo w A. GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan Cavataota Buick GMC. And admittedly we are closing
in on football season and we'll be spending a large
chunk of pretty much every show for the next four
or five months talking about football. Wanted to take one
last opportunity though, to talk about something other than football,
and it gave me a good excuse to get a
former You know, I'm gonna use the word colleague, but

(22:00):
he's also a former student of mine, and he's in
his first sort of big job covering Mountaineer basketball, among
other things, for wv sportsnow dot com. He is Luke Blaine,
West Virginia born and raised, and Luke, I am thrilled
to have you on the show.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
Thanks for doing this, man, absolutely, thanks for having me.
I was really excited when I got your text today.
And you know, I've been itching to talk to somebody
about this Best Virginia team, So I'm glad I have
the opportunity to do it.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
To do it here, there is always perfect. There's always
a radio show waiting for this type of conversation, so
that's perfect. I'm gonna, honestly, I'm gonna turn the floor
over to you because I have only watched bits and
pieces and I've been kind of following the team, and
I actually it's funny. I had lunch on Thursday with
a colleague of mine who's a regular guest on this show.
He's been following the the you know, every game, He's

(22:48):
watched every minute of the of WVU or excuse me,
Best Virginia's performances in this tournament, and it seems like
there's been an element of up and down to their play.
But when they've when it's really mattered, they've been able
to put it together. So talk a little bit about
this Jared West coach Best Virginia team who has now
matched their best performance in the tournament ever and has

(23:10):
a chance to exceed that next week.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
I think looking at the start of this TVT run,
it definitely left me with some questions that first game
whenever they were up big on the du Boys Dream
and then let it really slip away heading into the
E La Mender, which is, by the way, such a
fantastic way to do this turn and I'm such a
such a huge fan of it. I'm not sure to

(23:38):
the point where I'd say I wish like that would
become standard in basketball, but if through stuff like this,
it's I'm a big fan of it. So WU or
Best Virginia. I keep wanting to call them w but
same thing. Right, they kind of let it slip away,
but then they got kind of saved in the final
minutes with some free throws, some good shots, so they

(23:58):
got some transition bucket. But I think one of their
big sparks this season has been JD. Weatherspoon and I'm
not sure if you followed this story a lot, but
he didn't play in that first game. JD. Weatherspoon is
in a twenty fifteen alumni of Toledo, played his first
two seasons at Ohio State. He had a connection with

(24:19):
Kevin Jones and that's how he got involved with the
team this year, just because nobody reached out to him.
He reached out to Kevin Jones and was like, I'm
looking to play, so coacha. Jared West didn't really know
much about him coming into this season, and he ended
up not playing in that first game. He detailed this
in the postgame press conference after the heard that win,

(24:41):
because I want to say it was fourteen rebounds and
ten points that Weatherspoon had in that one, and he
West said he reached out to him, you know, professionally,
and was just like, if you need me, I can play.
And I mean he's been such a physical four, the
worst down low for this Best Virginia team. That was

(25:03):
so needed because I kind of expected Eduardo Andre to
fill that, but he really hasn't been getting minutes. But
you can see now Weatherspoon has really stepped up into that.
Trey Mitchell's been great down low. But he's not definitely
not as physical as Weatherspoon is. Wesley Harris has been
good down low, and that's where I was kind of
I mean, this most recent team that they played, it

(25:26):
was they had the Elite Nation, They had multiple guys
who played professionally, so I was kind of suspicious about
that one. And Best Virginia went down double digits multiple times,
came back, hit some big shots, and Weatherspoon was a
huge part of that, and so is James Reese. The
fifth and a lum of South Carolina played under Ross

(25:49):
Hodge at North Texas actually, so he has a little
bit of a West Virginia connection there, but he got
involved with the team and Jared West saw him play again,
who he calls Little Jared, his son at whenever he
was at North Texas and Little Jared was at Marshall,
so he kind of had some idea of how he

(26:10):
would play. But two non mountaineers are really making waves
for this Best Virginia squad. James Reese, yesterday, before the
rest of the third round games were completed, was the
tournament's leading score and even right now he's third with
sixty five points, so very big showing from him. Very

(26:31):
big showing from Weatherspoon, and you would never know by
watching Weatherspoon play that he was thirty two years old
out there. I mean a lot of gas slipped in
the tank for him, big spark coming in on. They
play him off the bench. So just a lot of
good stuff from this Best Virginia team. And you know,
after they beat the one seed in their region, now

(26:51):
it's like, shoot, why not win every game? I mean,
I'm not when you get into the tvt all the
teams are so new and so mixed match that you
don't really know what to expect. So I don't know.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
I mean there's I.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
Know the rd three team has got a lot of attention,
but I mean Best Virginia. I mean they're alite, They're
in the Elite eight, They're very much in this.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah. Oh, I want to get into that concept of
it as well. Our own Joe Bricado at WV metronews
dot com wrote a pretty interesting story and I loved
his turn of phrase about the economy of practices and
how few, of course there really are, And I want
to dive into that in a second with you. But
first before we do that, give us a little thought
on this shell Shocked team, and of course this round

(27:34):
of eight game, because as you mentioned, they've made it
this far, they're very much in it, and even with
kind of an up and down performance, it feels like
they're stabilizing as this tournament is going on. How do
you like them matching up with shell Shocked?

Speaker 6 (27:50):
Right well, this is going to be just the second
true alumni team that Best Virginia has played so far.
I'm trying to track them down the standings or the
bracket right here. I need to refresh my memory. I
haven't watched a whole lot outside of the West Virginia Regional,
but you know, this is, like I said, this is
the type of tournament where it's truly anybody's game any

(28:13):
given day, and I think wu's win over the Elite
Nation proved that. So I still have yet to do
my full deep dive into shell Shock, but I'm trying
to see any names I recognize. I mean, that's the

(28:35):
thing about this tournament too, is that it really comes
down to you know, a lot of the bigger best
names who have come out in recent years are obviously
probably playing professional ball somewhere else. So that's the difficult
part about getting read on any team, And I mean,
like you said, with the economy of practices, they didn't
really know that much about their own team coming into

(28:56):
this season, so it was It's definitely That's what's fun
about the tournament is you don't really know what teams
have until those second or third round games.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
So that's Yeah, that's the big thing I want to
ask you about, Like, are you at all surprised? I
guess that they have been as good as they've been
in the moments that have mattered, Like to a certain extent,
the late lead blown in the Round one opener does
actually kind of kind of jive. It makes sense when

(29:27):
you consider how few practices they've had. But their ability,
their resilience, is that something that we can pinpoint as
DNA of the roster. Is that something that we can
pinpoint as Jared West really has a good feel for
these guys. Is that's something we can pinpoint elsewhere? I
am curious about that, because again, they just haven't had
a lot of practices, and there are moments where you
can kind of see that, you can kind of see

(29:49):
that take hold.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
Yeah, I think from the perspective of an outsider looking in,
you can definitely see how it's a lot of unselfish basketball.
There's really no need ball there. And I think that's
why this Best Virginia lineup works so well, especially with
so many new players. I mean, Keatie Johnson, Trey Mitchell,
edwardo Andre Tobyocnnie are all in the mix. Those are
all first time Best Virginia players, So they're coming in

(30:15):
to this team. And you know, even at that James Reese, JD. Wetherspoon,
I mean, Kevin Jones isn't playing this year, and John
Flowers really he hasn't played any minutes. So it largely
is a brand new cast of characters here for Best Virginia.
But they talk a lot about how unselfish the team
is and how I think that's probably what has helped

(30:38):
this team mesh together is that Jared West has said
it he can just kind of stand on the sidelines
and he'll just kind of help help them try to
fill and call out defensive matchups and fill gaps and
things of that nature. But it seems like they're just skilled.
Everybody's skill levels are so complimentary. I mean, Wesley Harris

(30:59):
can get it done an inside to start, Keaty The
combo of Keaty Johnson and James Reese has just been tremendous.
James Reese talked about that they fed off of each
other so well, and that's what they've continued to do
the whole tournament. So now looking at moving forward, you
have this extra week where they're probably gonna I mean,

(31:19):
they keep calling it like they've had one practice, but
it wasn't really a practice. It was you know, how
much can you nail down in terms of an offensive
mindset and an offensive drill and defensive schemes and things
of that nature. I mean, Jared West mentioned that Tobacannie
drew up a play in the huddle and they went
up there and they executed it and it worked. And

(31:41):
I think that's that's what it takes for tournament like
this is it takes every member of the roster to
buy in, to know their role and to be ready
when their name's called up, like the case in Weatherspoon,
because you know, Weatherspoon saw them get I don't remember
the rebound stats, but I wouldn't be surprised that they
got out rebounded against the boys dream and almost let
it slip. And then Weatherspoon's there. And that's the thing

(32:05):
is that he is probably the player that Jared West
knew the least about heading into this tournament, and only
having one practice doesn't exactly get you that good of
a read. So you just kind of to throw it
at the wall mid game and see what sticks. And
it's just panning out pretty well for this best Virginia squad.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
A great, great insight there. Your knowledge of the game
is always stands out. So here's what we're gonna do.
Let's do a little rapid fire here because there are
actually a couple of topics I know we wanted to
talk a few seconds about. There's a big, pretty big
recruit out of Kansas WVU women's basketball. He's going after
Let's start there. We're gonna do a little rapid fire here.

(32:47):
All basketball, but let's start there. What can you tell
us about her?

Speaker 6 (32:52):
Yeah, I mean, she's gotten better every year. Her name
is Asia Lee. She is a four star recruit out
of Olaith North High School, know Leith, Kansas and one
of the top one hundred and fifty guards in the
nation according to or top one hundred and fifty players
in the twenty twenty six class according to a Lot
of different recruiting sites looking at her last season totals,

(33:19):
I get that pulled up. Shoot, some of these websites
are so weird. But let me just pull up my article.
Actually I know I included.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
It, and when when in doubt, look at what you
wrote exactly.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
So you know, thinking about Mark Kellogg in his strategy,
very big on quick guards, defensive guards, athletic guards, and
she seems to check those boxes. Standing at around five
foot ten, I want to say it was. Yes, it
has loaded. So W is in the top four with

(33:55):
Florida State, Houston, and Georgia Tech. And by the way,
out of these four schools, WU in the past two
seasons under catalog has blown their performances out of the water.
So I mean, if she's looking at a place where
she wants to go in and compete, especially in a
conference like the Big Twelve, I would definitely think that

(34:16):
W would be an ideal position. So she finished last
season with nineteen point two earth excuse me. She finished
her sophomore season nineteen point two points per game, and
last season she had twenty three point nine points per game,
three point eight rebounds, two steals, andero point nine assists
per game. So somebody who knows how to space the floor.

(34:40):
Standing about five foot ten, probably a little bit undersized,
but we're sure that Mark Kellogg is probably going to
try to get some more depth there and some more height.
I mean, see how see how often in the Big
twelve they just get out played solely because other teams
are bigger and taller. So I think that this would
be a really good recruit. And I mean, I think
this goes to show that players are noticing the success

(35:02):
that WU has had. They saw two years ago whenever
they went and took Iowa down to the wire. They
saw this year when JJ Quinnerley got drafted, and she's
making noise in the WNBA now, And I think this is,
you know, it's an exciting time to be a fan
of w women's basketball because the way that this team
has progressed year after year is it's not an average

(35:28):
flow of a team.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
I would say that's a good segue because I was
going to ask you if you'd been watching, and I
suspect that you have been JJ Quinnerley with Dallas since
she got into the starting lineup. I don't have the
numbers in front of me anymore, but there was a
stretch there where she had played like I think it
was five or six consecutive games at least twenty four minutes,
had double digit points in every single game. There were
more than a few games where she had sort of

(35:50):
a signature quinterly line where it'd be, you know, thirteen
fourteen to fifteen points and then she'd had five steals,
four assists, and three rebounds, but then only a single turnover.
So really really just like a net positive anytime she's
out on the floor. It's a Dallas team that's really struggled,
but since adding the former Mountaineer into the lineup, they've
certainly they've gotten I think absolutely everything you could ask

(36:13):
for from a non first round draft pick.

Speaker 6 (36:16):
Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean she beat out somebody
on the team who was picked ahead of her for
a roster spot. I think she she just symbolizes being
a hard worker, hard nosed defensive player. And this is
I mean, going to a team like the Dallas Wings
is such an ideal situation for a player like her,
where there's you know, there's the Dallas Wings are just

(36:41):
bad this season, Like there's no other way to put it.
Like they're just having they are having a bad season.
There there's some players who they who fans have expected
to show up who just haven't. And I think that
that's a perfect place to try to make a name
for yourself, especially coming in as an undersized guard and
you know, primarily coming off the bench, made some starts

(37:02):
with due to injuries on the team. And you know,
in her last game just two days ago, nine points,
but there's those seven rebounds, this four assists, there's a
seal in there. And before that she had won two, three, four, five,
six straight games scoring in double digit points. And I mean,
she is just one of those do it all players.
I did have the TV on when she played against

(37:24):
Caitlyn Clark and the Indiana Fever. They did come up
short in that game, but I mean I always said,
you know, my pick for her to go to was
the my ideal situation for her whenever she was going
through the draft process was the Golden State Balkyruz, because
you know, who better than somebody like who better than

(37:49):
just the team who's flout out bad than an expansion
team who doesn't have a star player, who needs somebody
to step in and be a name that players can
players and fans can count on. But it seems like
she's doing that just fine right now for the Dallas Swings.
And you know, it's been a while since the Mountaineers
have had a consistent contributor in the WNBA on the

(38:10):
women's side, So this is gonna This is really exciting,
and this is really what I was hoping for moving
on from WU.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, no, it's it really is exciting to see this
because again, we saw this in here in north central
West Virginia, here in the Mountain state. We saw this
for years with Quinnerley, and it was always going to
be a question of translating, and it really it seems
to have translated nicely. Let's rap real quol with some
WVU men's basketball just because. And I brought this up

(38:38):
the other day to somebody, and I basically said, I
was actually pleasantly surprised at the roster that WVU had assembled.
And I'm not saying that it was necessarily a perfect roster,
but it felt like there was an opportunity for this
group to be maybe a little deeper, even maybe not
have necessarily the high highs of last year's team, but

(39:00):
maybe be a little more even keel assuming they stay
healthy than last year's team had. I'm curious your first
impressions as we get closer and closer and we're still
not quite there yet, as we get closer to basketball season.
You were at ross Hodge's presser the other day. What
are you sort of your impressions on this mountain, your
men's basketball team in the in the in the last
dying months of summer before we get into the fall.

Speaker 6 (39:24):
Right, Well, they do have one roster spot remaining that
ross Hodge said they have been working on daily to
try and fill. When asked about the position, he just said,
kind of looking for the best available player right now.
You know, he was kind of funny. He made the
point that, you know, people forget that everybody wants size,
but there's usually only one really big guy out there

(39:46):
on the court at a time. And you know that's
a fair point, especially in the system as defensive minded
as ross Hodge is going to run. And I will
say I was I kind of shared this sentiment with
a lot of other WU fans where it was kind
of okay, a defensive minded coach, how far can that
take you? But he's not going out there and just
recruiting defensive minded players. I mean, he brought in the

(40:08):
guy who led the nation and made three pointers last
season in honor huff Trace and Eagles staff was I think,
like an eighteen or nineteen point per game scorer last season.
There is offense on this team, and I think, you know,
Ross Hodge knows what he's looking for. He sounded very
confident when he talked about that today. You know, he

(40:30):
talks about the quality of character and having good people
on his team, and I think that if he has
the guys with the attitudes that he wants, then I
anticipate a decently high ceiling for this WU team this year.
I mean I wasn't as high on last year's team
until we got to the Battle for Atlantis and then

(40:50):
it was like, oh, this team can make some noise,
and you know, there it looks like they're scheduling a
little bit more difficult in the non con especially bringing
in that wake Forest series. I think that's interesting. I
do like that move. I do like getting some harder
competition earlier in the season, because you know, a win
over wake Forest at the end of the year looks
better than a win over like Monmouth. So I think

(41:13):
Ross Hodge is definitely trying to put his team in
possibly some uncomfortable situations. He did mention, you know, he
is trying to get some you know, the learning part
is still coming along. They are still learning what he
wants to do defensively, offensively, still getting there. But he said,
you know, they want to they want to get it.

(41:36):
And he was like, you know, the players who want
to get it get it, and I think that's a
positive sign. But this team overall, height wise bigger than
last year. He talked about, you can have some bigger lineups.
Harlan Obio as a seventh footer. They did not have
that last season. And you know, Jackson Fields, who can
also play the five, is a good six foot eight forward,

(41:56):
can also stretch the floor as a three point shooter.
I mean, every every single transfer signing, even freshman signing
with Amir Jenkins coming out of high school year early
to come up, I can't argue with it.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
There.

Speaker 6 (42:10):
There hasn't been a single player that he's brought in
that I've kind of, you know, raised an eyebrow at
all of these signings makes sense, and I'm you know,
you have to think that there's a good chance it'll
at least come together on the floor by the time
Big twelve play comes around.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Well said, I will just I was not expecting my my, my,
my friends over in West Long Branch, New Jersey to
catch some shade there over at Mammoth Mammoth University. All good,
all good, No, that was great. That was great. That
was that was That's fantastic. Hey, uh, that's that's that.
That's all I got for you real quick. Tell the

(42:47):
folks where they can find your work, because you are,
of course churning out quite a bit of basketball related
content right now.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (42:56):
Over at WV sportsnow dot com. A lot of great
things happening over there, you know, a lot of doing
a little bit of women's little whole lot of men
and you know, just whatever else wherever I fit in.
And I've been having a great having a great time.
Excited to keep it going. Some podcast episodes on their
YouTube channel under the same name WV sports Now, and

(43:19):
you can find me on Twitter or x at Luke D.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
Blaine B L A I N.

Speaker 6 (43:24):
But yeah, thank you, thank you so much for having
me Alex. This has been great.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, look forward to having you back at some point.
Luke will go ahead and take another break, and we're
back after this to talk about football.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Now back to the Dan cavatoyotaw at GMC Friday Free
for All on one O three three.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
W KMZ Friday Free for All, Rolling on here and
now I have in the studio with me for the
second half of the show today, and it's gonna be
a good second half of the show. Chris Johnson is
here with me, My usual co host and partner in
crime is here. Uh, what's up man?

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Not much? Man? Well man? Enjoying this this heat?

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Or how about how about a few days with that
rain that was that was something that was that was crazy.
I didn't even know that was allowed.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yeah, I know, I don't know. I did. We talk
about that on air last week about how it feels
like it's either been one hundred and fifty degrees yeah,
or a thunderstorm.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
So on my on my other show on Thursday, on
on yes so yesterday, that's it feels like a lifetime ago.
On my my other show, Jason Young from the Robinson
Grand Performing Arts Center was on and he he kind
of alluded to that, and we were because we were
marveling at how we got like two days this week
that actually felt like what summer felt like. What I

(44:38):
remember summer feeling like as a kid. You know, Tuesday, Yeah, Tuesday, right,
oh Manesday? Yeah, and you could because like, am I nuts?
Or is it? Like is it do we not hear
grasshoppers anymore because they're so hot and tired they don't
even come out. It could be am I nuts? Like
I feel like I feel like I actually heard them.
I heard the summer bugs on on Tuesday night because
they were like, oh hey, sixty five degrees and not humid,

(45:00):
this is great.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Yeah. Yeah, actually I got a little bit of weed
eating done on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
My law, I'm so far.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
I mean, it's like, get caught up. But it was like,
I mean it's just like I'm not trying to be
a baby about it, but I mean it's so freaking hot.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Oh no, you gotta be careful. You gotta be careful.
Like listen, I you know, I know, I get it.
Some people are gonna say, tough it out. Tough it out, man, Listen,
here's the deal weather like that. You gotta be hydrated,
you got to be well rested, and you can't go
overboard because it's just it's too easy to get yourself hurt.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
It's I mean, in bottom mind, this is not worth it.
You know, it's not worth you know, potentially getting the
heat stroke. You know, just you get some weeks cut,
even though they need to be cut, they do far behind.
But well, she was even like uh, Wednesday night, I
mean I got home from Warwick and we ate. I

(45:50):
mean it was miserable. I thought it was miserable. Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Yeah, it was not great.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
But even like ten o'clock, I think about ten o'clock
was the last time I took Allie out. And it's
still felt like it was one hundred degrees outside. Usually
by the time it's dark, it's a little manageable.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yeah, not on Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
It was hot.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
It was hot. It was hot Thursday too, Yeah, it was.
It was it was a short lived. It's like we
have summer and then we have super summer. We got
summer for two days in the middle of July, and
then it's been super summer the entirety of summer. Yeah,
raining are one hundred and fifty degrees.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Let's me say, hopefully we get through these unbearably humid
days before you did. Not that mean you're gonna be
out there and you know, practicing with the football.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
I was going to say, I'm really grateful that I
don't have to run two days.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Or anything when it's that humid. That is a concern
for teams because you've got a short period of time
to get ready for the season. You all to take
advantage of it. But at the same time, you don't
want something happened.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yeah, well, but that's the other challenge, right, is that
So you're dealing with the when when the weather is
it's one thing when it's really hot, right, and you
get okay, maybe we have to break up the order
in which we're going to do practice. That's one thing
when it's just not when it won't stop raining either,
or when you're gonna get a thunderstorm every thirty five
minutes to an hour, right, and it's just like these

(47:17):
scattered showers. I don't even know how you plan for
installs and that kind of stuff, Like you just got
to do it, and you got to hope that you
have some kind of indoor facility where you can do
that at that point, or you gotta say, guys, we're
gonna we're gonna replace this with the weight room. I
don't know. Definitely a bit more challenging than it's been.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
To take more frequent water breaks.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Yeah, so we can ask, we can ask coach about that.
We're gonna have Nick Meleon. I hadn't really thought about that.
How the uh if the weather persists like this into August,
how will it be for camps and when they're actually
doing legit installs on packages and systems that kind of stuff.
How will that impact him? I'd be curious to know.

(47:58):
He's a coach, so he's probably gonna tell us. He's
probably gonna tell us. Yeah, Yeah, they're they're usually really
well prepared for But that's why we ask ask the questions,
and that's that's what we'll do. So here, here's what
I want to do over the next couple of minutes. Here, Chris,
I'm gonna go we haven't done this really yet all season,
and we are now sorry, our final show of July.

(48:21):
This is our final show of the month of July.
When we're back here next Friday, it will be August first,
It'll be it'll be time to really dig in on football,
even in a way that we haven't. You know, I've
said this a couple of times, like we're really gearing
up for football now. But but it's a different story
when it's actually the dog Days of August, which, by

(48:44):
the way, unrelated. But I learned I didn't know the
reference there. I didn't know the the origin of dog Days.
Apparently it's it's something to do with astronomy, has something
to do with with a with a star. I had
no idea that that's what dog Days was was was
in reference to I learned that this week, if we
have time, at the end of the show, I'll go
into the full the full story, all right, So I'm

(49:04):
gonna go that's what we do.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
We we inform people so many fashions.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
That's right, and these are the important topics that people
need to know about. I want to go down team
by team, just go We're gonna go real quick thought.
We're gonna go rapid fire over all the teams that
we typically cover in this region. So I'm gonna start,
of course, in Harrison County, and to start us out
with Lincoln, uh, and we'll we'll close with Bridgeport in

(49:30):
in Harrison. Honey, let's start with Lincoln. Just give me
one thought that you've got on your mind percolating about
Lincoln going into this season.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
I first, you know, having Craig on the show last week,
you know, he brought up Aiden, Rice's little brother. I'm
curious to see how how much of an impact he has.
It kind of feels like there's the potential there that
like that surname of Rice is becoming the new you
know uh where they had like this series of Wars
that just yeah yo, yeah, you know you right into

(50:00):
another one and they both had outstanding careers. See you know,
maybe if the that last name Rice is you know,
next up for that.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
So I will be curious, did the young players at
the end of last season who really started to see
playing time towards the end, how much of a step
just winning two out of three, including one over Philip Barber,
how much? Does how much did that mean? Or was
that just kind of a late season fluke. I want
to know how much that actually meant. Let's move on

(50:30):
to r CB. Thoughts on the Flying Eagles of RCB
will be I'm sure we'll be talking with I'm sure
we'll be talking with Bill in very short order. But
where where are you at on the Eagles?

Speaker 3 (50:46):
What can Junior Smith do if he could find a
way to stay healthy for an entire season. It's such
a dynamic athlete, but has been bitten by in injury bug,
you know, throughout his career. I'd like to see him
be able to put together a full season, uh not

(51:06):
just to see what type of numbers he can put up,
a what sort of consistency that would help with the
Robert sebart offense. And I mean in Junior is a
great defensive player too. I just I mean, I would
just like to see a fully healthy season for megam
I think, and I'm sure probably no one would like
to see that more than him than himself.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Yes, And here's what I'll say about Austin Scott's squad
last year there was they showed a lot of flashes
of promise. And what I want to see is, do
you have the ability to take We've seen teams do
this before, and we've seen teams not do this before.
Do you the ability to take the promise of beating
Elkins in a goal line stand of keeping it? Really?

(51:50):
They people forget they were right there with a really
good Philip Barber team that ultimately won a playoff game,
and and RCB was right there with him, and it's again,
when you have that many injuries, it's kind of week
to week, what team are you going to get? We
remember like they had, you know, they they took care
of business against Kayser and Liberty Harrison the way good
teams are supposed to. They didn't squeak by those teams.

(52:12):
They took care of business. And then they go out
and lose to Preston County in a game that just
kind of snowballed in the in the second quarter the
very next week. And so the question I have is,
did you what did you what did you learn from
everything that went down last season? It was kind of
a roller coaster, topsy turvy year that ended with an
improbable playoff appearance. Did you did you actually learn how

(52:34):
to take that next step? Because the pieces are there,
I just I'm curious to see if they learned how
to take that next step. There were real serious flashes
of a really good football team. I just don't I'm
not one hundred percent sure if they can put it
all together now this year. That's what we got to
find out, and I'm sure we will. Uh Bridgeport, Let's

(52:56):
let's do them next.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
There's two young men I've mentioned a lot, uh you know,
throughout the off season, and probably from here on out
through however longbrid sports seasons last all probably will probably
be talking about them a lot. Gavin Williams and Gay Barton.
I think those two young men have the potential to
be one of the school's all time iconic duos. I
mean we're talking like Bonamico Tonkery. Uh, you can go

(53:21):
back last year or to give Alex Moses Josh Love.
I think Gay Martin Gavin Williams is going to be
that next iconic duo. I'm just so excited to see
what both of them do. Is kind of like you know,
you know, you know, the two future guys on that
offense this year. I mean because they they were both

(53:41):
such strong contributors to last year's state title team. Uh,
They're both just gonna have expanding roles this year. And
I'm you know, Coach Ferris you know, hinted at it
last week about how hard those two young men have
worked in weight room and you know how much bigger
and stronger they are. I you know, and forrid Sport

(54:03):
as always has a really good players, but those two
in particular, I think are going to take the state
by storm.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
It's it's almost cliche to say it at this point,
Like I just they were so good last year. I
expect them to be right there again and have a
real shot, if not be the favorite to not just win,
but maybe be like the clear favorite in all of
Class Triple A by not just like a little bit

(54:31):
by a lot. And so what I what I guess
I'm I'm the one thought that I have right now
on the on the Indians is will there ever be
a point where it becomes an issue how little football
they're playing? Because they're so good? I mean, this is

(54:51):
kind of an oxymoronic, but they have been so good
that last year every game ended in a running clock.
Does that have any impact whatsoever, even if it's just
on the very very margins, on younger players who would
theoretically get in and play in those moments where games
are well out of hand. And that's my only question,

(55:13):
because otherwise I don't I mean, how can you have
any legitimate questions about bridgepaty right now?

Speaker 3 (55:17):
And that's the thing, and I think that question does
become a little bit bigger if this program didn't take practice.
So I mean Bridgepole Football practices are no jokes, right,
you know, you know, anyone ever doubts that or wants
to see it for themselves to just stop by, you know,

(55:39):
three point thirty, you know, and Wayne Jamison field throughout
the week, and I mean this, this team puts in work. Yeah,
you know in a lot of ways. You know, I
mean Fridays, that's the easy, that's the fun part of
the week, you know, getting you go out there and action,
you know, to play a game. So if they didn't
have that mindset about taking practice, so seriously, I think

(56:00):
that would be an even bigger question. But you're right,
it is. It is a question.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Yeah, it may not be and again it wasn't an
issue last year. It may not be something that we
even worry about until the championship game. Like that's that's
the type of thing that like we're talking so on
the margins, it may not matter until the last game
of the season, and it may not matter at all
at that point. So South Harrison final Harrison County team,

(56:25):
which is weird to say, but South Harrison quick thought
on the Hawks.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
You know who's going to be that next man up?
You know, I think we think it could be Paul
could be Harlow might be a combination of both of them.
But you know, again, Jane Hadfield no longer there. You know,
it is what it is. He's playing for another school
in another classification. You know, South Harrison's got a find

(56:52):
and I'm pretty confident that they will. And I'm sure
you are. You what a little bit you've gotten to
talk to coach Hathaway, you know, since this is all transpire,
but you know, we probably aren't going to dwell on it,
you know, very long, but it is I mean we're
talking one of the best football players in the state

(57:15):
was at your school now is not. Yeah, and like
you said, you know, it's an opportunity for someone to
step up.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I for South Harrison. The thing that's on my mind
is they they there's a real push among the leadership,
among the brass there. They want to try to build
the in as close as they can, as much as
they can, the same type of infrastructure that Bridgeport has, right,

(57:44):
and that's gonna be tough to replicate.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
It makes sense because most of that coaching staff, either
from you know you even assistant coach Roberts Shields. I
mean he's best known for being you know, a Bridgeport
he as a baseball coach, right, you know, forever. But
you know, you know, Brett Hathway was one of the
best players in school history at bridge Sport. You know
his dad long time, you know coach at Bridgeport. You know.

(58:09):
So they both know what makes Bridgeport successful because they've
lived it.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Yeah so yeah, And I think the reason that there
is such an interest in trying to replicate that is
because Bridgeport just spent I think South Harrison looks at
it this way. Bridgeport just spent the better part of
what four years being one of the smallest teams and
if not the smallest team enrollment wise in Claster bl A. Yeah,

(58:38):
and did not miss a beat, did not win a title.
But there is I mean, there is nothing you can
say about the when it comes to enrollment size. They
created a process and a system over a period of
years that's so perfectly translated that at day's end, the
only thing holding them back is when you get to

(58:58):
the very end of the season and maybe a team
is just slightly deeper because they just have more more kids. Yeah,
and that's what South Harriston wants to do. Is one
of the smallest in Double A.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
Yeah, A large part of that factor is it's not
necessarily on a you know, you isolate one game and
look at it. It's when you get when you got
into the playoffs. So you're in Bridgeports and that situation,
it's like, Okay, you got cowboll Mell in one week
and you've got Parkersburg. You know, it's like that's a
lot to ask the smallest school to go up against

(59:29):
four consecutive you know, schools that have you know, a
population size of two thousand. You know, it's like that's
going to catch up with you at some point. Now,
isolate one game, Yeah, Bridgeport can get together a game
plan and take on anyone and be successful in that situation.

(59:51):
But when you look at the playoff format where you've
got multiple opponents, you know, that's when you're battling numbers,
battling roster size, it's going to become an issue.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Let's talk about Grafton coming off a three win year
with some some pretty wild wins. I might add, including
a sixty four to fifty seven win over a playoff
team in clay Kent. That's right, I said that score, right,
sixty four fifty seven. Thoughts on the Grafton Bearcats.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Year two under coach Foley. Correct, last year was his
first year or is a no?

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
I think I think I think it's a year's third year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
Maybe Wow, I want to say four? What could be?

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
Anyway, the first few years I remember were tough.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Yeah, Well, his son, even though Grafton maybe didn't have
any success that they would like you an amount of wins. Uh.
You know, his son, a quarterback, actually put together a
really good high school career.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
So you're My immediate question is you know who's going
to beat that leader on offense? You know who's going
to fill in and beat that field general.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
That's going to be a big deal because of the
team that really struggled defensively last season. They allowed more
than thirty points in seven games last season, and they
lost to all but two of those. Again, they were

(01:01:19):
able to score. They were really able to score. Last year.
They went and won games against Clay County and Buchanan
up shree evening games where they gave up thirty plus.
But what can they do to on the margins improve
a little bit defensively?

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
I mean, in that schedule is going to be tougher
this year, just with the addition to Bridgeport.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Yeah, do you want to talk a little bit about Elkins.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Yeah, you know, jayde Hatfield's there, and they've been the
beneficsh area of some other transfers. But what I like
about Elkins right now is just the preseason buzz and
not necessarily just because of the players they have added.

(01:02:00):
You know, coach Chad Ware I just saw a post
maybe last night or this morning talking about like all
the festivities they have playing just for the first day
of they're going to do you know, a midnight Madness
type practice, but you know they're going to have you know,
food vendors and cheer leaders gonna be there. They're gonna
be face painting for you for the youngsters in the area. Uh,

(01:02:21):
they're turning football into a community event. And my gosh,
you know, it wasn't that long ago. It's like we
spent very little. I mean, Elkins was was really really down. Yeah,
and you know, now they've got this new energy. You know,
they're coming off a you know, a playoff appearance. They've

(01:02:41):
got your if I got a brand new field you
know they're playing on. There's a lot to be excited
about with Elkins. I mean, and you know, you know,
hats off to you know, you know, coach Chadware and
his staff because they have really, in a short amount
of time have changed the culture. And uh it's gonna
be you know now they gotten Now if they don't

(01:03:02):
show up and deliver on the field, that might be
short lived, you know that that excitement. But man, what
they got coming back, what they've added, I think Elkins
is definitely going to be a team to keep an
eye on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Can they feed everybody? That's gonna be my my big question.
Bucannon Upscher, Actually you alluded to this a little bit
last week, but general thoughts, I think we might be
in agreement on this one that it is not an
easy situation for that program being in quadruple A. But
like Lake, where they're at with the coach.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Yeah, I Sloan based and former All State quarterback defensive
back at Buckane and Upsher. I know he's committed to
getting things turned around at his alma manor, and I
think he's eventually going to get there. But some of
Buckane and Upser's issues really isn't any more than geograph

(01:04:00):
feet And this actually applies to other sports even more
so than football. It's just like they're just such on
an island now with being like the only you know,
I mean to some extent, I guess you know, Preston's
in the in the same camp. But I saw one
of the like the like the cross country breakdown for

(01:04:21):
Quad A, they for the sports that are four classes
for Quad A, they're completely changed in the postseason format.
They're basically going to a North region and a South
region because there's so few teams. But like cross country,
like Buckhannan has to travel south, they're going to be

(01:04:44):
in the same region of like Huntington and Capital Midland
and then like you know, just on the surface, that
seems absurd, doesn't it, But that's the real It's like,
you know, one way or the other, they're either going
to have to go south or they're going out to
go north. And begin with, you know, they're lumping Morgantown

(01:05:06):
University William Parking with all the Eastern Painhandle schools. So
I mean, it's just it's tough for bucking An up
sure to get any traction in any sport right now,
just from a scheduling aspect because of dispariting classes.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
So Dodgridge County let's move over there really quickly. And
the Bulldogs are. They're a contender every year, They're always
just a little short.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
I'm curious to see what the mindset is going to
be where I think they're going into a season knowing
where they're going to be, uh as far as classic,
because it seemed like last year is like, well, they're
going to be Class A. No, they're gonna be Double A. No,
we're gonna be Class A. No, they're double DORF right now.
They are formerly a Class double A school. So you
got that part out of the equation. So let's see

(01:05:54):
what they can do when they know who they're going
to be playing and potentially uh facing in the postseason,
and you know, go from there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I am looking forward to seeing how they do against
this schedule. There are a couple of really interesting opponents
on it, but for the most part, unless Tyler consolidated
has taken a really big step forward from last year,
I think their schedule looks a little more favorable than
it did a year ago and has in the past,
and I think they're gonna be uh. There's a chance

(01:06:25):
they could wind up heading into the season a little
or into the second season the postseason a little healthier
than normal as a result.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
So do you feel like Dodgers County though like has
emerged as type of program is like playoff?

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
Yes, it's it's It would be very hard for me
to pick against them until I see otherwise. Yeah, like,
they're gonna be there. I'm not sure I'm gonna pick
them to go to the title game, but they're gonna
be there real quick. We're low on time. Let's let's
rally through the three Marion County schools. Fairmont Senior, East Fairmont,
North Marion. Always a lot of intrigue from those three,

(01:07:01):
and of course Fairmont Senior. Most years they are a
title contender.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Yeah, I mean, and would anybody be shocked if you
keep hearing how numbers are going to be down? But
you know, it seems like we've heard that a couple
of times. You know, throughout the years. You do have
a new head coach. He's someone who's been with the
program for years, so I think the transition is going
to be relatively smooth.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
I think you would still be as surprise if they
weren't back.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
Oh yeah, I agree, North Marion. I remember when we
talked to coach Hayes and the preseason last year he
talked about how young they were and a lot of things.
I'm here now is like, you know, they've got a
lot of experience, especially up front, and coach Hayes has
even said to I mean this might be one of

(01:07:50):
the better offensive line and you know, and then by
proxy defensive line groups he's had. So you know, football
must Virginia. That's always you know, the best the best
place to start is having uh, you know, solid play
up front. They lost like that's gonna be Marion's forte Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
And they lost a lot of talent from the team
that was a play away from winning the state title
game and still wound up winning a playoff game last year.
So uh worth remembering East Fairmont even in what I
think Shane Eckle would describe as a down year playoff
team a year ago and hard, they've become kind of
like Doddridge County where it almost feels like they're always
going to be in the mix. It's gonna be a

(01:08:31):
sliding scale question of are they this good or are
they this good?

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
Yeah? No, No, that's a great point because I mean
it wasn't that long ago. I mean, you would look
at East Fairmont's schedule and be like, you know, where
is this team going to pick up a win or
two at? Uh? And now we're talking, I just like,
right now, it's like, yeah, I think e'st Fairmont is
gonna be a playoff team and a lot of that
I think, you know, it goes to Shane. You know,

(01:08:57):
the job he's done as a head coach since he's
taken up over there, and he's really not only brought
excitement or brought stability to that program. And uh, I
mean we've seen it year in year out since he's
been there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
And finally, Philip Barber and this is a good one here,
this is a good one. Why is this a good one?
Christopher Philip Barbara to be our last but not least.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Because we will soon be talking to coach Nick Manley correct, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Yeah, So maybe why don't we just do that? Unless
you have a quick thought you want to share, we
could just go to breaking we can bring him on
right now.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
No, I I mean just like, and I think we
alluded to this here last week as well. It's like
I I want to I feel like Philip Barber is
right there where they have I mean, they've had, you know,
some postseason appearances, they've won some playoff games. Have they
emerged to the type of program that's not like, you know,

(01:09:50):
oh wow, we made the playoffs to like, no, we
expect to make the playoffs and we want to do
some some damage when we get into the playoffs. You know,
can they take that next step and not just saying
they were just happy to be there last year, but
they they've cleared that hurdle. They've cleared that hurdle of
actually winning in the postseason. So what's next? See if

(01:10:12):
we can spring together a couple of wing wins in
the playoff team and be a continuer to be last
team standard.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
That's a good segue. We'll talk with Nick Melee in
just a moment. This is the Friday Free for All,
brought to you by Dan cavitziet to be a GMC.
He's Chris Johnson, I'm Alex Wheederspiel. We're back in just
a moment, back to the WTMZ locker room for more
high school sports on the Dan Cavatoyota w at GMC
Friday Free for All. Friday Free for All is rolling
on now and we continue our segment talking with coaches

(01:10:39):
from around north central West Virginia. Chris Johnson is here,
Alex Wheederspield, that's me, I'm here too, and now the
head coach of Philip Barbara, a team that has won
playoff games in back to back years, something that they
could not say just three years ago. Nick Maylee is
here on the line with us. Coach, Good morning, morning,
don't good and thrilled to have you back with us

(01:11:00):
because I remember we talked with you last year, feel
like we learned a lot. We've talked to you a
couple of years in a row and feel like we
learn a lot from you and the way this program
is kind of managed every year, and I'm kind of
fascinated by it because again, when my first year taking
over the show, Philip Barber was right there. You could
tell how close they were on talent. It was kind

(01:11:23):
of like the details of the game that weren't fully there,
and you guys had a lot of real close games
that were swing games that had they gone one or
two plays the other direction, you might have been a
playoff team. And then that step forward happens the next year,
and another step forward after that, and I guess what
I'm kind of curious about is sort of the opening
to frame this interview here, opening question to frame this

(01:11:45):
interview When you're building like that, what how do you
frame it to the students coming in? Did they know
that they're that they're in the process of building something
by just them being there and them performing and them
being in the waight, Like, do they know that they
have taken this program to kind of a next step
or is that not on their mind?

Speaker 5 (01:12:06):
Well? I think you know the guys that are in it,
that you're building with, you know, so like our seniors
this year, you know, they were part of that team
that you're talking about. Their freshman year. We were three
and seven, but we lost four games by a combined
total ten points, so you like you said, we were
right there. So those seniors, you know, they kind of
have an understanding like where we've came from. But every

(01:12:29):
year that standard raises, so then the new guys coming in,
you know, they're just realizing like, well, this is the standard.
You know, this is where we have to be at.
So you know, that's just where it's at, you know,
every year now, So you know, it's a lot I've
talked to people, and it's it's harder, I think, to
sustain that success and hold that standard than it is

(01:12:50):
to build up to it. So that you know, the
younger kids that are coming in and we have a
this year, a freshman class that's you know, they've worked
the tailoff, you know, like I like their mindset and
where they're at, and I think it's just because of
what the expectation is now and what the standard is
that we want them to achieve.

Speaker 3 (01:13:09):
Yeah, and coach, I mean there's always like you know,
big issues with with with that as far as getting
kids to buy into the weight room, getting kids to realize, hey,
we can make the playoffs, we can win a postseason game.
But to me, it's even like little things is I've
noticed one thing you guys have done. You have like

(01:13:30):
the I know different schools that do it, call it,
you know, something a little different. But you have like
a day we're like the almost like a signing day
for the middle skids, middle school kids coming up to
the program. To me, little things like that, like you know,
some people might like see the pictures on Facebook or whatever,
like oh that's nice, that's cute. Whatever, But in the community,

(01:13:55):
like Philippi and Belington. You know, you're in elementary school
and you're a middle school I mean, I'll shoot, I'll
even use you myself as an example, you like, like
I mean, Steve, Steve Redd might as well have been
you know, Superman, you know, to us in middle school
and to have a situation where you get to come
meet him and take a picture with them, and you're
gonna treat me like I'm already part of the program.

(01:14:17):
That's huge for for some kids coming up to high school.

Speaker 5 (01:14:21):
Yeah, I mean, we've we started things like that, uh
you know, and now you see you know, other programs
around the area kind of doing what we did when
we first started out. And you know what's interesting about
this year is the first year that I did that,
uh that eighth grade signing. The guys that are seniors
this year will be graduating. So the whole plan when

(01:14:43):
we started that was when they leave the program, we're
gonna put their letter of intent that they signed to
be part of the Colts, you know, the Colts football program,
beside their letter of intent to play at the next level.
So hopefully, you know, we get some guys that have
that opportunity. You know, we got like Malachi Cross just
got offered by Morehead State last week. So I still

(01:15:03):
have his paper that he signed as an incoming freshman
after his eighth grade season, So you know what that
standard that we wanted him to achieve and what it's now,
what's the results of that? So you know, it's kind
of kind of a neat thing. We've been in long
enough and that we have that going on. You know,
we have our future Colts Football campus Friday. Now we

(01:15:23):
have our guys that are freshmen were actually participants in that,
you know when we started it four years ago. So
now it's it's like everything's kind of coming full circle.
And you know, I got guys that are in college
now that have a couple of years left and you
know they're talking about coming back to coaching. So you know,
one in the year five, we've made a lot of
progress with those little things that you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
Yeah, do you want to I want to let me rephrase,
I want to go back a year. And I know
coaches are never big. You guys are like sharks. You
guys want to you guys want to swimming forward. Not
always big on on looking back, but I do want
to look back at last year for just a second,
because I got I thought there were a couple of
really interesting moments in your season last year where maybe
not necessarily the consistency, you guys also had some injury issues.

(01:16:09):
I know you were dealing with for a good chunk
of the season last year, but you know, the rivalry
loss to Elkins, and I think that's losing a rivalry game.
Those are swing games, whether are tough. Elkins was definitely
improved last year, but I thought the game that was
really interesting was the late season loss to Lincoln and
the way you guys bounced back from that. Can you
talk a little bit about the DNA of this team,

(01:16:31):
because I think for a lot of programs, an upset
loss like that, upsets are not common in high school football,
and when upsets happened, that was obviously a tough year
for Lincoln. They were a little bit down. They've certainly
been good in the past, but when stuff like that happens,
that can have a big impact in the room. But
it seems like you guys actually rallied in the wake
of that.

Speaker 5 (01:16:51):
Yeah, I mean we were definitely upset, but you know,
those like I said before, like sustaining that success is
harder than building it. So you know, when you're winning
and you come up against a team where the media
is saying, oh, they're not you know, their record isn't
really showing that they're very good. So then you think

(01:17:11):
that you're good. You come into a game and just
your mindset's off because you think you're just going to
come in and win, and that isn't how it is.
Like every team, they're just like we were four years ago.
When we're losing close games, you know, they're trying to
knock you off. So you know, every game you got
to have that hunger to win. So, you know, I
think going into going into Elkins, we lost our fastest

(01:17:36):
running back, We had a guard that was suspended for
the game. You know, we're down a couple of guys.
We go into Lincoln and I think the the mindset
was just off. We dropped touchdown passes, we had turnovers,
and you know, Lincoln's a good program. They've been good
for a long time, so they're going to take advantage
of anything that they see in their offensive coordinator and

(01:17:58):
their quarterbacks really good. So they just you know took
those things that they could get and you know, won
the game. So after that, you know, you're you're going
to play Lewis County.

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:18:10):
You know, coach Kober does a great job, and we
know what kind of football they play. They upset North
Marion earlier in the year, so we knew what was coming,
you know. And it's like, well, where do you guys
want to go, Like, are we going to go down
a path of you know, lose out the rest of
the season where we're going to try to turn it
and you know, do something that's ever been done before
and try to host a playoff game. So I think,

(01:18:33):
you know, our guys responded really well, and the coaching staff,
you know, when coaches do a great job, and and
we break everything down and all right, this is where
we made the mistake. Let's fix it. And and it's
usually small things that you know, just mentally you weren't
focused on doing because your mindset was off. So we
take take it as teachable moments and you know, get
the train back on the track and keep going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
And so that brings me to my kind of my
follow up question is, so then when when stuff like
that occurs, and for those who are not familiar with
last year and I probably should have set this up better,
Philip Arber. Then after losing that game, comes back beats
a pretty decent Preston County team that was definitely better
than the record indicated, and then goes and wins a
playoff game in back to back weeks. And that's what
I meant when I said you guys had had kind

(01:19:17):
of rallied in the in the wake of what could
have been a really tough late season loss. So now
when you're in this season, do you see bits and
pieces of that DNA in the guys when whatever it is,
whether it be in the weight room, on the practice field,
watching film, like, do you see bits and pieces of
that of that resiliency that you were talking about now

(01:19:38):
a year later, Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:19:40):
I see it coming from our our older guys in
the form of you know, like you for example, this
past week, we have a freshman that's never played before, really,
you know, trying to get through the workout. We're out
on the field pushing sleds and he's just trying any
way possible to quit, and you see the older guys

(01:20:01):
around him pushing through them, and like, you know, we're
all here to make you better, Like it's not anything
critical or it's just motivational, like we want you here,
we want you to be better. When it gets hard,
that's when we got to push harder. So that's you know,
that resiliency. I think that's built, you know over the
last tough you know, four years where you know, I

(01:20:21):
remember our first year, you know, as a head coach,
and I think us, me and the staff, like you
had to deal with kids that if anything one thing
went wrong, then everything was going to go wrong. So
that was like year one and then year two it
was still remnants of that, which is why we lost
those close games, and then you know, kind of got
rid of it going forward. So I think it's just

(01:20:43):
getting woven into the DNA of the program and the kids,
so you know, hopefully it sticks.

Speaker 3 (01:20:48):
Coach you mentioned, you know, coach Koeger from from Lewis County.
You had the opportunity need to spend a little bit
of time with him this summer at the North South game.
I'm just carryous. So what your experiences during that game
and being around you know, you know, you know, some
of the best athletes in the state was and I

(01:21:10):
because I know I always got to kick out talking
to uh players who who would maybe show up for
camp and how quickly they became friends with someone who
was maybe a rival, you know, you know, eight nine
months ago. I just always thought that was kind of,
you know, a cool part of that. But uh, yeah,

(01:21:33):
I mean just your thoughts on being involved with that game.
I mean, because I think as far as like the
All Star games in the state, I think it's second
to none.

Speaker 5 (01:21:41):
Yeah, I think, uh, you know, it's a great opportunity
to be able to do that, and I was. I
was honored to be a part of it. And you know,
getting to coach, you know, with Dustin and you know,
his assistant, Hunter mccorter. And then we had Terry Ray
from Mount Washington High School you know us for you know,
and I can call him. I just actually seen Terry
yesterday over at Sheppard University. Went over there for a

(01:22:04):
prospect camp, hung out the whole time and talked him.
We can talk football or talk about what's going on
with our kids or whatever, and it's it was pretty
awesome to see. And then you know, getting to meet
kids that are in our conference that we play all
the time, and the kids that we've maybe not played
or seen in the playoffs or whatever, you know, just
getting to be a part of that was pretty cool. Like,

(01:22:25):
you know, like Havin Well, one of Dustin's guys, Maddox Gillespie,
you know, first check in, He's like, I don't think
that Philip Barbara coach is gonna like me. Well, we
didn't like him when we played him because we had
a game plan around him because he was so good, right,
But then, as you know, I love the kid, you know,
and he got Defensive Player of the North squad and

(01:22:48):
he did a great job. And I think for those
kids to see you know, you know Cam Foley from
graft and playing against him for the last three years,
and for those kids to see like were more than
just the opposing coach, and for us to see them
as more than just an opposing player or a number
on film, it was pretty awesome experience. And yeah, we

(01:23:10):
had a great time.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
Let's talk a little bit about this season now and
kind of moving on, and I'll of course do that,
and I'll frame it by using some recent history, you guys, obviously,
and I mentioned this at the top of the show.
Back to back seasons with a playoff win, first time
in program history, that's happened, got a playoff home game
and won that home game for the first time. So

(01:23:32):
that is huge and so obviously big steps forward for
the program. And then season has come to an end
back to back years in the second round of the playoffs.
Short of being able to just magically, you know, if
you could clone ten players and just all of a
sudden have fifty sixty guys on the roster. Outside of that,
what would you say is the biggest thing that the

(01:23:53):
program needs to do to take that next step into
getting into maybe a semi final or even getting the
state title game.

Speaker 5 (01:24:00):
You know, I think just the consistency. Uh, you know
from game to game when you get into the playoffs,
like uh, you know it's winner go home, and you
know that first round, you know, any it could go anyway. Uh,
there's upsets that happen all the time, so you can't
take anything for granted. And once you win one, you know,
the season's not over. You know, he had to go

(01:24:21):
play the next one. And you know, I think that
became apparent. You know last year would be Clay County,
which actually, you know, we weren't doing too well and
then then second half turned the game around and then
you know, down to independence. You know, played with them
for about a quarter and and then the train kind
of came off the tracks and then never really recovered.

(01:24:43):
And so we we have the ability to play you know,
anybody if everybody's doing their job and staying consistent. So
I think the next progression is just you know, focusing
on doing your job instead of you know, what the
moment is or what it was lead to. You know,
it's just a it's another football game, and if we

(01:25:03):
do what we need to do, we win. We do
what we need to do, and they're better than they
win and we go home. So, uh, you know, just
keep keep pushing that consistent effort.

Speaker 3 (01:25:14):
You know, Alex, you you do a lot better job of, like,
you know, putting out the links to a show on
social media, and I'm trying to get better. I see
last week.

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
Hey you did, I did. I noticed that.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
I noticed that we retweeted it, and saw I mentioned
that we talked about, uh, brisket as well as football,
and one of the first people to respond was our
guest right now, So he said that was two of
his favorite things, brisket and football.

Speaker 2 (01:25:40):
That's a pretty good it's a pretty good combo. Pretty
good combo.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
So we we know your coach mainly is paid attention
a little bit to what we do.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
And so so you know what, so let's do this then,
because uh, coach, I do you know what else is
a great combo? It goes with brisket and football. It's
talking about offensive linemen. So I'm gonna I feel like
I should do this more often. Give me one offensive
lineman on your team right now who you feel like,
uh deserves because offensive leman never they never get what

(01:26:09):
like outside of guys like us, but they from the fans,
they don't ever get the credit. But one offensive lineman
right now, and I gut you may not want it
to go to his head, but one offensive liveman right
now who you're you're thinking, he's he's ready to have
a great season. This guy looks ready to go.

Speaker 5 (01:26:22):
Malacott Cross is gonna be the anchor on our O line.
I mean, he he was a great you know, he's
a great force. Last year he was our top you know,
we grade our lineman out and he graded out the
highest as a junior, you know. And he's six ft
four two and eighty five pounds and has worked his
butt off and you know, super strong, and and he's
a student of the game. He's always trying to learn

(01:26:44):
better ways to do things and how to get it done.
And I think he's gonna be the you know, the
anchor of the line, like I said, But we have
some other guys that didn't play a whole lot of
line reps last year, but are athletic, and you know,
we're kind of thin at line, and they're gonna step
in and be able to do, uh, you know what
we need to do. So we're gonna bring back you know,

(01:27:04):
we're gonna have three starters coming back, Malachi Dayton Morrison
and and Remi Can malinech which is just a sophomore
that h came in and played center for the for
the that run that you were talking about after Lincoln
and he had to play because we had injuries and whatnot,
and did a great job as a freshman. He's going
to come back. And and then we got two guys

(01:27:25):
that were our linebackers that hey, I'll play line, so
Aiden Phillips and and Owen Johnson are going to play
some guard for us and and uh do a great job.
And we got another junior Caleb quarter that could play
any of those positions. So we're probably uh, you know,
we're probably seven eight deep on the on the line,
and you know, everything goes through them, so you know,

(01:27:47):
they gotta we got to be able to throw the ball,
but they got to be able to protect you know,
the quarterback getting time and and then running the ball.
That's what helps you when you get into those late
cold weather games. So yeah, we expect a lot out
of our our guard alignment for sure. I was going
to say brisket too.

Speaker 2 (01:28:04):
That's that's the reward at the end of the year
for a job well done, right Yeah, right, Uh, you're
got to feed the hog mollies, as they say. But
I am I am kind of I am kind of
curious though. What was the mood like in the in
the coat in the among the coaches. You guys are
grading the offensive lineman. Was it game by game or
were you grading them out for the whole year in
one session? How did you how did that? What was
that process?

Speaker 3 (01:28:23):
Like?

Speaker 5 (01:28:24):
Well, coach pulling my you know, he's the offensive coordinator,
he's also the out line coach. As part of his
film breakdown that he does game by game. So then
at the end of the year, we average that out,
like what your percentage was, And I'm pretty sure Malachi
was at if it wasn't one hundred percent, it was
like ninety eight percent. So he's just grading. You know,

(01:28:44):
did they block the you know, their assignment block correctly?
And then yeah, did they finish the assignment? So by finishing,
did they take him to the ground, did they block
through the whistle, you know, all that stuff, and then
any mistakes get taken away to jump off side holding
or whatever. So he does that weekly and then so

(01:29:05):
then we have like, you know, every week we do
a pancake champ award, so they're counting pancakes and then
at the end of the year bank with and then we
give the Lineman of the Year based upon that grade.

Speaker 2 (01:29:19):
So the mood was pretty good when grading Malachi.

Speaker 5 (01:29:21):
Then oh yeah, if you're doing what you need to do,
then everybody's in a good mood.

Speaker 3 (01:29:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:29:27):
I was gonna say, ninety eight percent is I would
have taken a few of those. If I had gotten
more ninety eight percents in school, I probably wouldn't be doing.

Speaker 3 (01:29:33):
This, right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:37):
Coach, Hey, very excited for you guys this season. It's
gonna be a lot of fun and best of luck,
and we we just we look forward to talking to
you again a little bit later once camps get started,
and yeah, we'll chat with you then.

Speaker 5 (01:29:52):
All right, it's here, We're ready to go.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
I know, that's it's really wild to think about. I
feel like July has been moving like molasses. But uh,
you guys, yeah, exactly, exactly exactly. Oh yes, so wait,
so here we go. We teased this whole idea, wait
coach for I let you go. We teased this whole
idea we're gonna ask you about because the weather has
been has been completely garbage, so we're kind of curious.
How do how do you guys as coaches when you're

(01:30:14):
kind of battling back and forth between is it gonna
be one hundred and humid today or is it going
to be you know, is it going to be storming
every twenty five minutes? How are you guys handling it
from a practice perspective?

Speaker 5 (01:30:26):
You just got to accept it. You can play in
the picnic, but you can't plan the weather. So you
just got to show up, you know, and you got
to I mean, obviously modifications you have to do for
heat and all that stuff. And you know, if it's
pouring down the rain but it's not thundering and lightning,
we're just gonna get wet that day. So it is
what it is. I mean, you're gonna have to play

(01:30:48):
in it, so you're gonna have to practice in it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
Well, I was I was curious if it's if it's
like if it's thunder and lightning, you just all right, guys,
we're going into the gym and we're gonna we're gonna
finish practice in the gym.

Speaker 5 (01:30:58):
If it's gonna be extended time with that, yeah you
got to relocate. But you know, we take our go
into locker room and get out of it for the
required time and then come back out. So yeah, the weather,
that's I think. That's uh. You know, the the wild
card when it comes to any outdoor sport is you're
relying upon what's going on outside to be able to

(01:31:18):
do your thing. So some sports more than others. But
you know, I like it. I might might come from
a family of construction workers and stuff, so I mean,
you gotta work through the weather and to get paid.
So we'll just keep on going.

Speaker 2 (01:31:33):
My my optimistic self is saying that because July was
this wild kind of back and forth between heat and rain.
Somehow August is going to be is going to be
dry and maybe it'll be hot, but it'll be it'll
be pleasant enough for for Like, I think, I've got
to think the football gods are listening and they know
it's time. So coach much appreciate again. Well we'll talk

(01:31:55):
with you soon.

Speaker 5 (01:31:55):
All right, all right, thank you?

Speaker 3 (01:31:57):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:31:57):
That is coach mainly from Philip Barbara to reach across
to cut that off real quick, man. Uh, Philip Barber's
come a long way. We talked like I feel like
I'm like a broken record. I said, there's ever year
Phil Barber has come along with it. Because they have,
it's gonna have become a really long way.

Speaker 3 (01:32:15):
The job that Nick has done as a head coach
for the program. I mean, it's just it's just unbelievable.
You know. I most people know I'm from Barbara County.
I grew I mean, I played, I played football in
Barbara County. I grown up there, my daughter went there.
I know what the culture was like, and to be

(01:32:37):
honest and transparent, I kind of had that mindset, you know,
when I played we just one thing went wrong. We
just threw in the season. It's not like that anymore.
And it's really across the board in all sports. Yeah,
the culture has changed when it comes to Philip Barbara
athletics and it comes to football. Nick Malei is responsible for.

Speaker 2 (01:33:03):
That winning and winning is contagious. Yes, absolutely, winning is contagious.
So all right, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna
we're gonna uh put a put a bow on this segment.
We're gonna take a break, we're gonna come back, and
we're gonna wrap the show, little pop culture and some rips. Unfortunately,
at the rough the rule of three has come true
once again. And what's I almost feel. I know I'm

(01:33:25):
not responsible for it, but Jason Young and I were
talking about this about about on Thursday morning before the
news about the latest celebrity death came out, and we
were saying, who's it going to be next? Because it
always happens in threes, And sure enough, not long after
we got off the air, the news broke. All Right,
we'll take a little break. We're back after this. On

(01:33:46):
the Friday Free for All, brought to you by Dan
kavatzhou To Buick GMC.

Speaker 1 (01:33:51):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
CAVATORYO to Wick GMC Friday, Free.

Speaker 2 (01:33:56):
For all, Friday, Free for all. Here to wrap up,
Alex readerspil Chris Johnson with you and Chris. Good stuff today, man,
lots of good football. It's finally here. I think one
of my goals this this August, I'm going to try
and get out to some camps if I can, and
and kind of see in person, because you know, it's
the one thing that with work, I feel like I

(01:34:18):
never have the opportunity to do. But if I think
it might be fun to get out and see a
couple of a couple of training camps this year, maybe
I should probably turn your mic on. By the way,
My bad, my bad.

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
Once they start playing some scrimmages, you know, maybe make
it out to the scrummage or something.

Speaker 2 (01:34:32):
You know, it's true South Harrison and Elkins usually scrimmage.
Maybe I'll make it out to that. Get a chance
to see a chance to see all those running backs
in action.

Speaker 3 (01:34:40):
Yeah. No, I mean, it's it's a good time to
you know. I'm always uh, I always try to time
it to make sure I show up towards the end.
I was like, I don't want to be like a
like a burdens. Like the last thing I want is,
you know, a coach to feel like he needs to
stop practice come talk to me. Then, So I always

(01:35:05):
try to show up towards the end and that way,
you know, if if I want to talk to you know,
a couple of kids or something, you know they're done
and not interfering with practice. But yeah, I mean, once
school starts and the season is rolling me, it's just
because I mean everything is on such you know, a
tighter regiment. Yeah yeah, uh yeah. He's first couple of
weeks in August. It's a good time to get out
and visit. Oh yeah, see what's going on? All right?

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
So enough football talk for today. Uh so sad news
during the week, we like to we like to delve
into our pop culture from time to time. Uh the
rule of celebrity deaths, the rule of three came true
once again. Malcolm Jamal Warner, who most folks would know
as THEO from The Cosby Show.

Speaker 4 (01:35:47):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
He was also had a like a guest starring spot
on Community in the late two thousands. He was actually
a C. Cowlings and the O. J. Simpson crime drama
on FX a couple of years ago. Uh, he's had
had a nice little carew for himself.

Speaker 3 (01:36:01):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:36:01):
And and died at the age of fifty four tragically
in a in a drought drowning accident. Yeah, and Costa
Rica so way too young. And then of course Ozzy
Osbourne at seventy six and whul Colcon at seventy one,
all in a span of just a couple of days.
So I know, lots of lots of folks out there,
and there's a huge cross section and there's a cross

(01:36:23):
section on this show between football and wrestling. Uh football
and and and Black Sabbath and and I get it.
I totally get it. So I know it's a tough
week for a lot of folks. And and you know, Chris,
you're you're a Black Sabbath guy, I know, right.

Speaker 3 (01:36:38):
Yeah. I actually got a funny story about when I
first started getting into music, you know, hard rock metal,
I quickly like consumed as because I'm like, like it
opened up a whole new world to me. Is like
I wanted, like I wanted to listen to everything I
wanted to you know. Uh So my first exposure to

(01:36:59):
oz was as a solo artist, and one of the
first albums I really got into was an album He's
got called Tribute, which is basically a live show with
his former guitar player Randy Rhodes, who tragically died in
a airplane crash, And that's what really got me hooked

(01:37:20):
on on Ozzy. Now, Black Sabbath was active at the
time with a different singer. I think it was their
third or fourth singer at this point, so I was
aware of them, but I'm like, like, you know of them,
It's like, I like Ozzy. And then I saw like
a Black Sebath set list and my first reaction is,
why are they playing Ozzy?

Speaker 2 (01:37:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
I'm just like, well, I need to research this a
little bit. Then then I was like, oh, Ozzy was
the original lead singer of Black Sabbath. They're covering Black
Sabbath songs. Like, okay, I get it now. So I
kind of got into Black Sabbath the the the backward way.
But you know, I've heard a couple of people mentioned

(01:38:05):
this about Ozzie and hal Cogan in some extent, it's
just those are two icons from her childhood that you
just assume we're going to live forever, right and and
obviously we all know that's not the case. We know,
you know Ozzie.

Speaker 2 (01:38:19):
Has been Yeah, he's been in gradelling.

Speaker 3 (01:38:22):
Yeah he's serious. Uh, you know, battles with Parkinson and uh,
but just a couple of weeks ago, they had the
you know, the Black Sabbath, you know, farewell concert that
I mean, and I can't think this can't be stated enough.
All those musicians got together say goodbye to the Black Sabbath,
really say goodbye to Ozzie. They raised one hundred and

(01:38:44):
eighty million dollars for Parkinson's research for Children's hospital. Wow.
Every cent made from that concert went to those two calls.

Speaker 2 (01:38:52):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:38:53):
That's you know, that's awesome. But yeah, man, what what
a legacy. But you and and not to short change you,
Malcolm Jamal Warner, I mean, because you know, it's weird
because other circumstances we won't get into. Is like the
Cosby Show. It's like we forget how popular yeah show
was because it was.

Speaker 2 (01:39:10):
One of the most influential shows ever.

Speaker 3 (01:39:13):
Never going to see it in syndication.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
Yeah, you know, but and I will say so it's
so funny I'm like, I'm like you with Ozzie. I
didn't know him from the Cosby Show. I knew him
from from other other stuff, yeah, community and yeah, and
he's been been in a lot of movies and and
like that was what I knew. And like, I just
never seen the Cosby Show. It's one of those things
where it was just a little before my time, not much,
not much, but I were like a couple of years older,

(01:39:38):
I probably would have been. It was perfect demo for that.

Speaker 3 (01:39:40):
It was a Thursday night staple. Yeah, along with you
Cheers and then later Seinfeld and Friends, right, and you
know the Cosby Show was maybe the original Thursday Night
like let's.

Speaker 2 (01:39:50):
See right, right, Yeah, So it's kind of kind of wild, yeah,
kind of wild.

Speaker 3 (01:39:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:39:57):
And again I was never a big wrestling guy. I've
seen one in person wrestling, but I know you and
like Chris George as well, Like I know you guys
are the are the the big wrestling dudes. And obviously I've.

Speaker 3 (01:40:09):
Actually have you know, tweeted or exit or whatever however
we call it nowadays. I love that Haul Cogan never
my favorite wrestler. Uh, He's done some things the past
ten years that not really a fan of sure, but
you cannot deny the impact he had on bringing professional

(01:40:32):
wrestling to the mainstream. Yeah, and he was he was
a super Think about this one you just mentioned, You're
not like I could tell you right now who I
think are like the best active wrestlers in the world,
whether it's Will Aspry, seth Rawlins, Kenny Omega. You have
no idea who I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:40:48):
I know, I know seth Rollins, but like again, like
I don't even know if I could pick him out
of a lineup like hul Colgan, Like that's how famous
he was, Like he was mainstream.

Speaker 3 (01:40:57):
You could pick yeah, easily, my mom could pick.

Speaker 2 (01:41:01):
Probably by his voice too. That's the other thing.

Speaker 3 (01:41:04):
You can't deny how iconic he was to the business
and professional.

Speaker 2 (01:41:09):
No, absolutely no percent agree on on on on that
is that is extremely clear because he he was just
he was like he was borderline, if not actually outright
a household name as a professional wrestler.

Speaker 3 (01:41:23):
So and you mentioned like not knowing like you know,
I always go to I mean Ossie's like as a musician,
you know, and Black Sabbath, largely credited with inventing heavy metal.
Ozzie One of the most important front men and metal
hard rock. There's people out there had no idea he

(01:41:44):
even played music.

Speaker 2 (01:41:45):
I Reality, right, And I'm gonna be honest with you,
that was me for like, I don't know, like a
couple of years. I was a kid when the when
that reality show was on, like when it first started.
And there here's another like because I don't want to
it's funny. I don't know that I want to give
them too much credit for this, but I did read
this as a take and I thought, well, this is
kind of funny. But I mean, you know, he was

(01:42:08):
just so impactful the Osbourne's. That show had a huge
impact on reality TV as well.

Speaker 3 (01:42:13):
As that was a.

Speaker 2 (01:42:14):
Massive, massive there was a period of time where again
they were basically household names, all of them because of
that show. And it's kind of it is kind of
wild because Ozzie is obviously for for certain folks. I mean,
that is just not what he's he's famous for now.
Of course, when I started getting into music, and I'm
not a huge Black Sabbath guy, but when I started

(01:42:34):
getting into music, I of course, you know, you want
to kind of learn your history of music. And I
then learned about Ozzi learned about Black Sabbath and learned
about the obviously the movement and certainly bringing heavy metal
and bringing hard rock I think into the mainstream, which
it really was obviously was not for a while there. Yeah,
it's a it's a fascinating it's a fascinating story, but

(01:42:56):
it is. It is kind of crazy when you think
about his his cultural impact. That's another one where I
think you would say Ozzy Osbourne was again another like
household name for one reason or another.

Speaker 3 (01:43:06):
So my mom couldn't name one song off the Ultimate
Sin album, but if she sees she's like, oh, that's all.

Speaker 2 (01:43:13):
Right, right, that's yeah, it's it's definitely it's a level
of fame and iconic status that's hard to.

Speaker 3 (01:43:20):
And again I'm I don't know if Malcolm Jamal Warner
quite got through that iconic status. I mean huge, incredibly
gifted actor, a big part of our but I mean
Ozzie Osborne, Haul Cogan or like the definition of icons. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
Well, it's also it's got to be really hard being
the thing you're most famous for being when you're that young.
So anyway, I'll tell you what we got to get
out of here, we can talk about this way longer.

Speaker 3 (01:43:49):
Yes, a small part of all our childhoods.

Speaker 2 (01:43:52):
Of big, big, big respect to any any like, there's
no amount of pop culture I won't talk about on
this show honestly, Like it's because it is, you know,
it's I have buddies to Chris who are like saying,
like one of my friends actually said to me, and
he's in, you know, you're obviously I know you're a
little older than me, but he's he's he's about my age,

(01:44:14):
maybe a two three years older, but he said something
very similar to what you said. But he's just like,
I just feel like I lost like a huge part
of my childhood. And I think that's that's noteworthy. And
you know, for anyone out there who I get it,
celebrity deaths are like not the most important thing, but
also at the same time, like they had an impact
on people. So I always, I always think it's worth
worth mentioning.

Speaker 3 (01:44:35):
So yeah, no, I agree, man, I arrest in peace
to to to all three of them.

Speaker 2 (01:44:40):
Yeah, and I Jason Young and I preemptively apologize folks
that are are debating, uh, whether or not the rule
of three was legit. I feel like we brought this on.

Speaker 3 (01:44:50):
Isn't it kind of eerie?

Speaker 2 (01:44:51):
How often it's crazy in in threes. It's just like,
this is one of those urban legends that you just
can't mess with anymore. It's it's it's legit.

Speaker 3 (01:45:02):
All right, I do have a I'll talk to you
off air about it. Okay, this will be like a
little little tease for next week. I saw something unrelated
to a celebrity death. I thought was interesting. It's a
pop culture related I'll talk to you about it off
the air and maybe we can get into it next all.

Speaker 2 (01:45:17):
Right, all right, there we go. All right, folks, that'll
do it for the Friday free for all. We will
have a morning spiel coming up in just a little
bit here, but gotta go. And August is next week.
If if you're, if you're yeah, if you're if you're
taking a second to realize that now August is next week.
We're gonna dive even deeper into our coaches conversations. Five

(01:45:38):
months lest in the year, Yes we are, we are.
Twenty twenty five is in its twilight.

Speaker 3 (01:45:43):
Folks.

Speaker 2 (01:45:44):
Get the Christmas career and I'm gonna have to start
rolling the George Carlin Football versus baseball skit this time.
I might do that next week actually, because this is it.
Uh football is played when everything is dying. Classic Carlin.
All right, folks, on that note, we'll go. We'll see
you next time. This is the Friday preefer All, brought
to you by Dan cavatot of you have GMC. We'll

(01:46:05):
see you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:46:14):
You've been listening to the Dan cavatoyot of you at
GMC Friday Free for All. Be sure to tune in
every Friday as we review and preview local high school sports.
This has been a special presentation of WVRC Media and
one O three three WKMZ

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