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November 28, 2023 • 13 mins
Lee County head football coach Dean Fabrizio talks about the Trojans’ loss to Douglas County in Round 3 of the GHSA state playoffs.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, guys, welcome into unfortunately what will be our
last Lee County coaching show of the season. Lee County
of course lost out this past weekend, as I'm sure
you probably have heard by now so, but we want
to thank coach Dean for Brizio for chatting with us
each and every week, bringing you guys up to speed

(00:21):
on the Lee County football team. We are definitely grateful
for a coach and giving us his time as he
has today. Let's bring him in now to talk about
this tough season ending loss to Douglas County Coach Dean Fabrizio. Coach,
thanks so much for doing this. I hope you had
a happy weekend and happy Thanksgiving, and of course I'm

(00:42):
sure some of that was stymied by the playoff loss,
but still a lot to be thankful for, coach, as
you look back on this season.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, you know, it was not obviously the way we
wanted to end, but you know, there are only one
team ends up. I guess the way they wanted to
end with the state champion chip, you know, but really
proud of our kids this year. We played a very,
very tough schedule to win ten games against the schedule
we played as a great accomplishment. Just some we showed
me the other day. The three teams we lost to

(01:12):
this year all in close games. The combined record of
them were thirty eight and one. Right now, so wow,
So like always, we usually we lose. We don't lose much,
but we do. It's usually to a heavy hitter, and
Douglas County certainly fits in that category. Is you know,
they're thirteen to zero in the season. They got a
heck of a football team. You know, we gave it
a good shot. Really proud of our kids, really proud

(01:36):
of our kids and players. You know, just just you know,
sometimes you need to catch a break or two, and
we just didn't catch it.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I got you, coach. Let's talk about of course, to
start with, there was a long the power outage, a delay.
What can you tell us about that? What caused that?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Really strange. We're out there warm ups and then all
of a sudden, boom, everything just just goes out, music, lights, everything,
pitch black everywhere all around. Apparently there was a bad
wreck on I twenty and a transformer got hit. So
you know, we went in and the thing about is
you just don't know how long the delay is going
to be And finally the power came back on. We

(02:13):
got started some time after eight thirty, but you know,
fortunately gave it was a long delay, but you know,
we got the game started and got underway. But that
was definitely an odd start to the evening happened. I've
never had been a part of anything like that with
a power just went completely out like that in warm ups.
Thank goodness. What it wasn't in the middle of a
play an hour later?

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, no, kid, I mean, you know, going completely dark
like that, and like you said, it could have been
a dangerous situation. But coach and listen, not because because
it affected both teams of course, but do you think
that had anything to do with your slow start?

Speaker 2 (02:49):
And now I can't blame it on mass you know
it was it was definitely with taking a long road
trip and then that happened in but you know, I
don't think that had anything to do with it, you
know what, And first off, what a great crowd there
was just a packed house on both sides. Our fan
base came out made the long trip to fully support us.
We had a great great support there from Lee County fans,

(03:10):
a lot of just general football fans in the area
and Douglass County. Of course, it is the best season
they've had in decades, maybe their best ever, so they
had a big crowd as well, so it's just an
electric atmosphere once again in Douglas County. We started the game,
you know, first series, we we had a deep had
a good matchup with his money out wide, had a
deep ball to him. We thought it was a pass interference,

(03:32):
but we didn't get the call, so we had to
punt and they were able to get us go down
and get a score and then big the next possession,
we threw an interception and they went down and scored,
and then we had a big penalty took us out
of a drive, and fam they scored again and before
we blanke. It's twenty one to nothing six minutes into
the game. But you know, our kids held their composure,
they fought back. It was thirty one twenty eight at

(03:54):
the half, and I really felt like we were about
to see the momentum of the game. Needed to get
a stop in the third quarter, and we just you know,
just just couldn't catch a break and get one. You know,
we dropped a couple of interceptions, we had them third
and long and they short passed. We tackled them, which
would have been fourth down. They fumbled and not only
did we not get on the fumble, but another one
of their players picked it up and runs it for
a first down. Oh no, just kind of one of

(04:15):
those things. And you know, it got to the fourth quarter,
I think midway through, about eight minutes left. It was
a three point game. But you know, they hit, they
drove down and got a score, and then you know
we needed to respond and drove down a little bit,
that had a fumble and they picked up the fumble
and ran it back for a touchdown, go up seventeen,
and that kind of that kind of sealed the game.
But you know, I'm really proud of our kids and
the way they fought. You know, I talked to their

(04:37):
coach after the game. He said, Cose, that's the best
game I've ever been a part of. You know, just
just two teams going at it like that, and you know,
didn't come out with the win, but you know, we
gave it a great effort and lost to a really
good team. And you know, you got to catch a
break or two sometimes, and we just weren't able to
catch one.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, I got you talking to Dean Farrizio, head coach
of the Leak Aunty Trojans our season finale of our
Leak County Coaches Show. Definitely do thank coach Rizzio for
visiting with us each and every week. So okay, yeah,
so obviously, like you said, you know, the slow start,
but you guys were able to bounce back from that

(05:13):
and make it a game at halftime. What do you
think the biggest thing was coach as far as them
coming out and what really you know, worked effectively against
you guys. Run game, passing game, combination of all that
kind of break it down for.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Us special team wise, you know, and I knew they
were so dangerous. They had a couple of big kickoff
returns to midfield to give them a great field position.
And you know, a big one was we got it
to twenty four to twenty one right there and half
at all the momentum. We kicked off after the two
pick returns, a short pooch kick and they caught the pooch,
made a guy miss and took it to the house

(05:48):
for a big return for a touchdown. So that was
a huge play. But we came right back and scored
before half. I thought we had all the momentum going
in at halftime even though we're down three. Know, just
you know, just we kind of traded scores all through
the third quarter and then they finally we finally had
that mishap and with the turnover and that they scooped

(06:10):
and ran in for a touchdown. You know, when you
give up you know, three big kickoff cards, one for
a touchdown and then you essentially have you know, they
intercepted a pass right there the second series the game
ran it back inside the ten and then had the
scoop and score and the fumble. You know, stuff to
overcome when you're playing a really good team like that.
But you know, our kids played really hard. We had
over five hundred yards total offense. Sousmani was outstanding again,

(06:31):
eighteen carries, one hundred and fifty five yards. West and
Bryant had you know, one hundred and fifty one yards
passing and also ran for two touchdowns at six seventy
yards rushing. Braxton honer phenomenal game in his last high
school game. Here seven receptions one hundred and nineteen yards.
The freshman j Nupshaw had a big touchdown catch right
before half on a pass from Devin Collier, and had

(06:56):
another big catch late that you know, we're trying to
get it back to within one score, but it got
called back on a penalty that would have put us
inside their ten. But just you know, those for a
freshmen just played a great game, and so we've you know,
our kids played just a great, great effort. Man, a
great effort just just came up a little short.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
I got you, so talk about coach again, another great season,
another ten win season, and I know you keep up
with these kind of things. How many ten win seasons?
First of all, this made what season for you? How
many seasons it was? This?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
This was your fifteen at lead count?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay? And how many does ten win seasons? Did you have?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Thought about five? I think this was our sixth, sixth,
sixth or seven, I think our seventh, seventh, maybe ten
win seasons, so so I know it was sixth in
the last seven years. Ten win seasons. So we won
ten or more six in the last seven years, and
we won. Someone showed me today eighty one games in
the last.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Seven years, so eighty one wins.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Eighty one wins in the last seven years. We talked
about earlier. We've been ranked in the top ten every week.
Great season since the start of the twenty sixteen season,
so well over over one hundred and five weeks in
counting in the top ten, which with the schedule we play,
is just a great accomplishment. And you know, you know,
like I said, we really wish we could win a
little further, but you know, we played a really tough

(08:18):
schedule and we're in some just just tremendous atmospheres this year.
I mean, some of the games we've got to play
in in the atmospheres are just great experience for these kids.
And you know, we came up a little short of
our ultimate goal, but you know, we still had a
good year. Douglas County, you've got to get your hats off.
They made just several great plays out there in the night.
They've got playmakers all over the field, They've got a

(08:40):
lot of size, and you know they obviously they're one
of the final four teams, and you know they've obviously
got a good shot to win it all of being here.
You know, the three teams are really good too. As
we talked about last week, you know, six A's just loaded.
This year with good teams, and Douglas County is certainly
right there with anyone else. But as you know, that's
why I got a thirteen er record, you know, and

(09:01):
uh and our right number two in the state. So
it's it's gonna be a uh, you know, it's gonna
be interesting to see how it plays out. But you know,
we we we had a great group of seniors this year. Uh,
and just you know, the big thing is never lost
their composure in this game. It just fought to the end,
you know. Uh, and uh, you know we're really gonna
miss those guys. You know when you look at the

(09:24):
guy's been watching most of these kids play since middle
school and just just a great group of players. And
you know, fortunately we've got a lot of good players
back and a lot of good young players coming up,
and you know, we expect have a really good team
again next year.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Speaking of that, coach, how many seniors do you have
coming back? Or I should say not just that, but
how many contributors, uh you have coming back?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
It was about thirty five seniors, which is right around
you know, it arries year to year, but uh, there's
that we've got. You know, obviously you start with his
money coming back. You know for a senior year, you're
talking about a guy who, uh, who has I think
it look the other day, over fifty two fifty three
undred yards rushing his first three years, and then this
year had over five hundred yards receiving and almost thirty

(10:06):
touchdowns total. Then West and Bryant, who really came on
and played excellent the second half of the year, is
going to be back for us. We got to the
excellent offensive lineman coming back, host of good young receivers. Defensively,
we lose some good ball players, you know, Devin Kyllier, Tamirez, Williams,
Leroy Jackson, Jag course, some really good players. But you

(10:26):
know we've got a lot of good, good players coming
back that side of the ball. And I said this,
I said this all the time, but a neat thing
about high school is the the development kids can make
it one year physically, confidence wise, the game just slowing
down for him, And we got a lot of young players.
We're anxious to see what they're going to do in
the future for us. So we lose a great group
of seniors. We hate to see him go, but but

(10:48):
you know, they won a lot of games for us
and and played in just some tremendously tough games and
we're we're going to miss them. Their leadership and everything.
They really helped carry on the legacy here at Lee County.
And it said great EXAs samples or work ethic for
the younger kids. And you know, and and hopefully these
younger guys will carry that on.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, coach, you've got some great players coming back, some
great contributors from you know, the last couple of years
coming back. You mentioned your quarterback Western, whose money's going
to be back? Uh, Devin Collier? Is he back?

Speaker 2 (11:18):
No, Devin Colliers committed to Georgia Southern. Okay, he'll be
playing in Statesborough next year. You know. Le Ra Jackson's
playing and committed to North Carolina. And we've got you know,
seven to ten other guys that we think are going
to have the opportunity to play college football. So we're
in the you know, with the recruiting process going that
are going to play somewhere and maybe maybe a little
more than that. So so as a senior group that

(11:40):
you know, a talented group, good group, you know, but
that's you know, come part. Of course, you've got a
good high school program. You're gonna lose good players every year,
and we're certainly gonna lose some, but you know we're
gonna have some good ones back as well. And the
thing I really like this group uh carried on the
legacy of their work ethic. They set a great example
for the younger kids and certainly helped He'll put another

(12:01):
bridge in what we built here.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Well, Coach, thank you so much again for taking time
to talk with us all season long. We do appreciate
your time. You do a great job and you have
since you got there at Lee County Coach, and we're
thankful to enjoy a great relationship with Lee County and
we hope to continue that as we move forward, and

(12:23):
we look forward to having you back talking with us
again next season.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Phil, thanks a lot. I appreciate you having me on
every week and thanks for all you do for high
school football. Thanks for all your listeners who tuned in
this year.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Thank you so much, coach, See you later, are you
as This's Dean Fabrizio, head coach of the Lee County Trojans.
As always class act and a fiery coach, passionate about
his team, his players, and it certainly does come through
each and every Friday night. What an impressive stat that is.
By the way, guys, as far as six of the

(12:58):
last seven seasons ten wins are more not too shabby.
We look forward to talking with coach Farrizio next year
about Lee County football. Right here on ITG next to
the Leek County Coaches Show. I'm your host, Phil Jones.
Thanks so much for listening, guys,
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