August 31, 2026 • 17 mins
Lee County football head coach Dean Fabrizio breaks down the Trojans’ 23-20 victory over nationally ranked Miami Carol City, highlighted by a second-half defensive performance that held the Chiefs without a first down.
Coach Fabrizio also discusses the electric atmosphere in Leesburg, what the win means for Lee County and South Georgia football, and why the Trojans must quickly turn their attention to a challenging road matchup against Sequoyah.
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Coach Fabrizio also discusses the electric atmosphere in Leesburg, what the win means for Lee County and South Georgia football, and why the Trojans must quickly turn their attention to a challenging road matchup against Sequoyah.
Presented by Phoebe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine #sponsored
For more great coverage of high school sports in Georgia, Florida, and across the country, visit www.itgnext.com.
Follow us on socials!
Instagram: @itgnext.georgia
Facebook: @itgnext.georgia
TikTok: @itgnext
X (Twitter): @itgnext_georgia
YouTube: @itgnext
Are you a business that wants to work with ITG Next? Email us at info@itgnext.com or visit our website to learn more about advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, guys, welcome in to our weekly conversation with
the head coach of the Lee County Trojans. It's Dean Fabrizio.
Our weekly talk brought to you by Phoebe Orthopedics and
Sports Medicine. We'll be telling you a little bit more
about those guys here in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
But first things first, coach.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What an atmosphere. Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It was a huge win for you and the Lee
County football program.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
First of all, it's a nice, nice looking church you
got on there.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, yeah. I love it. Showing my colors this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Showing my support. It was a phenomenal atmosphere. I mean,
the fan base showed up big for us. It was
tremendous support. We had a lot of general football fans there.
Miami brought a great crowd all the way up. It
was everything it was built to be. They've got a
great football team at Miami-Carol City. Their coach has done
(00:50):
a good job. They've got tremendous, tremendous talent. They've not
been crossy. Probably several of those guys will be in
the NFL. I think all 11 starters on defense are
slated to play powerful football. It's a tremendous team. We
did a great effort and we're fortunate we're able to
come out on top.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Coach, obviously you guys got the win, but things were
a little uncertain. Let's talk about, recap the first half
and talk about how things went.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Obviously you guys go down into halftime.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You guys are down, but But tell the fans that
maybe missed the game, this is the first time they're
hearing about the recap from you. Explain to them kind
of how things went in that first half from the
opening whistle.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Even before, you know, when we came out an hour
and a half before warm-up, the stadium was packed. Wow.
Unbelievable crowd. Almost reminiscent of when we hosted the state
championship game in 2017. That kind of crowd, that kind
of atmosphere. It was a national game. We wanted to
represent not only county, but all of South Georgia, in
particular Southwest Georgia. We wanted to show that the best
(01:58):
football in the country was played right here. You've got
some super teams in other areas where all the players
cluster together, but I think the depth of talent in
the state of Georgia and the depth of really good
football teams is unmatched anywhere in the country, and we
wanted to show that. We wanted to represent Georgia, and
particularly South Georgia, really well, and hopefully we did. The
(02:18):
game started out, you know, we ended up falling behind
late in the first quarter, 7-0. Then we went to
the second quarter, we had an interception, K.J. Streeter returned
an interception for a touchdown, and they jumped offside on
the extra point, so we put the offense back in
and went for two. So we went up 8-7, and
we kind of went back and forth and gave up
a score there and went down, blocked the extra point.
(02:41):
So we went down 13-8, got it back, had a
little drive, stalled out, and then they got it down
and scored with about 10 seconds left in the half.
On the third haul, you know, we just thought that
their receiver, Nick Lanier, probably the top receiver in the country,
made a great play. He had two touchdowns in the
first half. So we go down, you know, with them,
(03:04):
they go in with all the momentum. We're down to
the eighth half, but we made some mistakes on both
drives we scored, and we just told our kids to
stay calm. stayed with the plan. We made a few adjustments.
Our coaching staff did a great job with that, but
really the thing was just correcting the things wrong was
the main thing. And a few assistants too. Staff came out,
we held them. We had to kick to them too.
(03:26):
We held them three and out. We got the ball
down inside the 10 and got held on downs. Uh,
so we almost had a score there and then we
got it right back and, uh, we're able to hit, uh,
Colin Boston, you know, hit, hit Destin Bell for a
big touchdown. Um, That was big. We went for two
to get to 60. So now it's 20-16. Then we
(03:48):
kind of go back and forth a little bit. Early
in the third, we're able to get a drive going.
Dominique Ball's touchdown run. We go up 23-20. Hold up
three not immediately and get the ball back inside their 40.
I thought we were going to ice the game then,
but we had a fake holding penalty. Kind of took
us out of the drive. That was bad. We held them,
(04:10):
got it back, and got two first downs and ran
out the clock. So just a great win across. Defense
held them to zero first downs in the second half.
So it was just a great performance. I think we
outgained them 230, 265 yards. Big statistic is we had
no turnovers. That was part of the game. And blocked
extra points. Those things were all huge plays in the game.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And like this, every play matters.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It does.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Great, great team effort, great win, and just an incredible atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And thank you for that recap. That's perfect. I really
appreciate that. I know the fans do, too, that weren't
able to make it there. So, Coach, they talk about you.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
We hear this saying all the time, a tale of
two halves. But, boy, this game epitomized that because it
really was. I mean, you guys had some difficulty a
little bit at times stopping them in the first half.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You talked about that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
But then the second half, whatever the adjustments you guys made,
your coaches made at half, it certainly worked. I mean,
I don't know that I've seen the contrast in two
halves like that. Anything that you could talk about or
touch on that really made that much of a difference?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Well, you know, I really like to say we're that
smart field of coaches, and we made all these great adjustments.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Right at it, buddy. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Our coaches did some good things. You know, Coach Clark,
our offensive coordinator, Coach Fulbar, their defensive coordinator, did a
phenomenal job with some adjustments. But really the biggest thing,
we just had to shore up some mistakes we were making.
The other thing was all that specialty. You know, they
really controlled field position in the first half. They blocked
a punt or deflected a punt. And they kind of
controlled all field position. We were able to flip that
(05:46):
around in the second half and really control field position.
I think that was a big part of it. They're
so dangerous in the return game. They've got a big-time
kicker and punter. So he kicked every ball, I believe,
in the end zone for a touchback. So they really
controlled that second half. We were able to control field position.
That was a big part of it as well. It
really was just our kids kept calm. They stayed with
the plan, made a few adjustments. But we shored up
(06:09):
some mistakes we made in the first half, and that
was probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
We're talking to Dave Barizio, head coach of the Lee
County Trojans. Lee County Coaches Show, again, brought to you
by our friends at Phoebe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
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Speaker 2 (06:56):
Coach, you're talking about the atmosphere.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I've got to give a public service announcement now.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You have to go to an orthopedic for a pickleball injury.
Your days of competitive athletics are over. You need to
move to checkers. You need to move to walking or
something like that. If you get injured playing pickleball that bad,
you've got an orthopedic, you need to hang up the
competitive vibe there. Everybody that knows.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Me, I have this little joke because I'm a tennis player.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Love to play tennis.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I will absolutely not resort to pickleball.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Not going to do it, man. You're not going to
do it. But you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Again, our friends at Phoebe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine will
take care of you no matter what injury it.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Is that you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Coach, you talked about the atmosphere, though. I mean, all
week long.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The buildup to this game and you know me, I mean,
this is what I do is what we do for
a living. And I've never seen the buildup like this
every day. Fans were going at it on social media,
you know, and, and I want to mention something too,
you know, you talked about this on our show Friday night,
you joined us on the scoreboard show and I appreciate
you doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You talked about really how the camaraderie of both teams,
you know, despite all the talking back and forth, you know,
and there were some concerns from people about that always
will be, but, You know, after the game, it was
nothing but top class from your guys and Miami Carroll City.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And talk a little bit about that for me.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know, before the game, there was a lot of
hype going in. I think they received a tremendous amount
of hype this year, Carroll City.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They've got a lot of great players on the football team.
You know, their head coach came over from Hollywood, Sean McNaughton,
who was offensive coordinator, and they had a tremendous run there.
You know, they had Jeremiah Smith, many great players there. And,
you know, there was– they've got, I think, a documentary going,
and you know how that is. They probably don't, they're
going to put the sound bites, the sound clips on
(08:49):
there that people want to watch. So, you know, it
probably was a little blown up, but, you know, also,
you know, that's footballed out. That's a huge deal, just
like it is here. And I think a lot of
people were on their bandwagon and still are, and they
should be. They've got a heck of a football team.
And it was kind of a far and far different
(09:11):
a South Florida or a South Georgia type thing. There's
a lot of pride in both places when it comes
to football. Our community here really showed up. Football meets
a lot here at Lee County. There's always a handful
of people that want to be there. If you were
at the game Friday night, you'd see how much the
ball meets here at Lee County. It was great for
(09:33):
us to represent that their coach was very humble. Of course,
there were some type of game it was. There was
some talking, and some guys would come up and go
back and forth. It was a hard-fought game, very little
extra curricular activity. Afterward, they all lined up, shook our hand,
wished each other luck. Their coach was very gracious. He
(09:54):
was actually going to be talking a few times. It's
the game. Lots of thanks. It's extremely gracious. So, you know,
I think sometimes while you get a social media approach
to somebody, you may get a wrong idea of them.
It was really, really good. was uh crowds and a
lot of great high school football fans super into the
game very few issues but you know eight thousand plus
people here at the game so wow it was it
(10:16):
was really really a good night of high school football
because we won so it made it better but it
was definitely a good night of high school football and
they they really conducted themselves well as did our kids
and uh i tried it i heard that i think
that's something so i played a of some of the
clips and things like that. I think that sometimes when
you say stuff to your team, it's not meant for
(10:37):
the general public and it gets out there. It could
be taken off by context.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So obviously a huge win. And, you know, what does
a win like this mean? Because let's, let's, let's, let's
remind everybody, you know, there was a lot of going,
jawing back and forth, a lot of anticipation. And a
lot of that had to do with Miami Carroll city
was the 11th ranked team in the United States of America.
So they weren't just a really good team coming in here.
(11:03):
They were a nationally, you know, pretty close to a
top 10 ranked team. So that really had to rise,
I guess, raise the bar in terms of the incentive
to play well and win this game.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
You know, the thing here in Lee County is, uh,
You know, to get better, you've got to challenge yourself.
And I think that's what we've done here. You know,
in fact, talking to our defensive coordinator, Bull Barge, he
was a senior. He was the great Coltwood team that
won state 2014. That was the smallest Coltwood Barge's class.
We're getting this thing going, come out with a 10-win season.
(11:34):
We ended up having a great year, but we got
beat by that pretty good, that overplayed him at 14.
But you have to go through things like that to
get to the other side. Challenge yourself, get your way.
The defense does a couple things. One, it uplifts your play. Two,
it forces you to evaluate things and say, okay, hey,
we've got to get better at this. We've got to
get better at that if we want to compete with
(11:56):
people like that. Overall, it's a program of different things.
So it definitely ups our game. And one thing about here,
most of the time, these kids here at Reed County,
they answer the bell. And two years ago, we ended
up with a schedule. We had to go to Moultrie.
It was coming off a 13-1 season, followed by back-to-back
games where it was TCC and Colby. both coming off
(12:17):
15 of those state championships. And everybody said we're crazy,
but our kids rose to the age of it. It
swept in the two 20-plus game winning streaks. It's 3-1
over a great team. So, you know, our kids here
rise to the occasion. Not that we've ever lost games.
When you play, it's tough to schedule. We play, and
people as good as we play, they're so well coached,
have such great support, great players. You're going to lose
(12:39):
now then. And we have lost games. Your fortune will
not fall off. But this type of game like this,
our kids rose to the occasion. And it was great.
It was a lot of fun. Now we've got to
get it refocused. Because if you want to play a
Sequoia team, you have to make the trip up there
for four hours. It's a long trip. Play them again.
(12:59):
Like I said, it's very unfortunate people in this area
play us. I think it would be great for the communities.
And break gates and things such as that. But we
have to take that trip up there. They're coming off
a 12-1 quarterfinal seed. their first two games in blowouts,
and they've got a really good football team, very well coached,
very talented. So we've got to get our heads back
on pretty quick, and everybody's been telling us to get
(13:20):
up right there all weekend, and they played great Friday,
and deservedly so. We better get our heads back on
and get ready this week, or else all this fun
and all this, everybody's telling us right there, it's going
to come to an end Friday night. Sequoias certainly beat
us if we don't go up there prepared and play well.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
We'll wrap up with this. A lot's been made of
the new PSR formula. I would say so far with
the schedule you've played, you know, a Miami Carroll City team.
And I think that playing the out-of-state teams doesn't really
hurt you at all. A very, very small percentage. In fact,
it's going to help you a lot. You know, they're
going to play good upon us. And then you've got
(13:58):
a team like Sequoia, like you said, that you guys
are going to play. So in that regard, you know,
you play in the tough schedule. It benefits you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In a lot of different ways, doesn't it, Coach?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, yes and no. Um, that, yeah. And I've been
a little critical of PSR system and I, and I
know there's no perfect way to do it. GHS has
an extremely tough job and the groups that come up
with these things. And I think they were trying to
do some good things here, but you know, I've been
a little critical of it because we play Carroll city,
one of the top teams in the nation and, you know,
out of state teams, you get credit for the wind,
(14:28):
but on its winds don't factor in. And my thing
is they don't factor at the level of TV blank,
you know, uh, uh, play a smaller school as they
get nine wins and you play a team like Carroll
City they get nine wins and it counts the exact
same and again I'm not no disrespect to a smaller
school but there's divisions for a reason so I think
(14:50):
those things there's flaws in the system so whereas all
win over Carroll City is not going to count as
much as a lot of people might think whereas it
probably should count a lot more so I think there's
flaws in it but you know we can't worry about
that I mean that that That formula is so complicated.
I don't know how. You can't really worry about it
until it comes out. We just got to play and
(15:10):
win and let things take care of themselves.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You mentioned Sequoia. That's a long trip you got to take.
They have really.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Come into their own– You know, over the last four
or five years, you know, they've had some really big wins.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And you talked about it a little bit earlier, but
we'll end with this.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Talk about where they are as a program and the
challenge that they're going to face specifically, you know, as
a team offensively, defensively, special teams.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Well, they do a good job now. They run their
wing tee team that is traditionally, a few years ago,
they were shotgun, but they have a lot of weak
tee concepts. They do a great job with misdirection, a
lot of things. which would stress situations. Defensively, they've got
a linebacker, a four-star player over there on defense. They
bring a lot of pressure with a lot of angles.
(15:56):
Very well coached, very talented. Coach Teeter and I are
the longest-tenured coaches in 6A in our 18th season in
our school. So, I mean, I guess the winner gets
a cane or something like that. I don't know what
we're playing. Coach Teeter coached a long time in Florida, too,
like myself.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
So.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You know, they struggled to find people to play, and
we ended up playing them. Next year they'll come down here.
This year we've got to go up there. And hopefully
if we have to do this in the playoffs, this
will be a good rehearsal for us.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Coach, we're going to wrap it up right there. A
lot of good news on this Monday. Boy, it sure
is a lot better coming in after a big win,
after a big game like that on a Monday morning,
isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yes, it certainly is. And I appreciate you and all
you do for high school football.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Thanks for that, Coach. And we look forward to talking
to you next week.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Appreciate you. Thank you. Bye.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Thank you, Coach.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Dean Fabrizio, head coach of the Lee County Trojans, checking
in with us. And again, a big thanks to Phoebe
Orthopedics and Sports Medicine for sponsoring our weekly talk with
Dean Fabrizio.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Wow, what a big win that was, 23-20.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
We'll come back next week and talk more about the
Lee County Sequoia game right here at ITG Next.
All right, guys, welcome in to our weekly conversation with
the head coach of the Lee County Trojans. It's Dean Fabrizio.
Our weekly talk brought to you by Phoebe Orthopedics and
Sports Medicine. We'll be telling you a little bit more
about those guys here in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
But first things first, coach.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What an atmosphere. Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It was a huge win for you and the Lee
County football program.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
First of all, it's a nice, nice looking church you
got on there.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, yeah. I love it. Showing my colors this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Showing my support. It was a phenomenal atmosphere. I mean,
the fan base showed up big for us. It was
tremendous support. We had a lot of general football fans there.
Miami brought a great crowd all the way up. It
was everything it was built to be. They've got a
great football team at Miami-Carol City. Their coach has done
(00:50):
a good job. They've got tremendous, tremendous talent. They've not
been crossy. Probably several of those guys will be in
the NFL. I think all 11 starters on defense are
slated to play powerful football. It's a tremendous team. We
did a great effort and we're fortunate we're able to
come out on top.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Coach, obviously you guys got the win, but things were
a little uncertain. Let's talk about, recap the first half
and talk about how things went.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Obviously you guys go down into halftime.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You guys are down, but But tell the fans that
maybe missed the game, this is the first time they're
hearing about the recap from you. Explain to them kind
of how things went in that first half from the
opening whistle.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Even before, you know, when we came out an hour
and a half before warm-up, the stadium was packed. Wow.
Unbelievable crowd. Almost reminiscent of when we hosted the state
championship game in 2017. That kind of crowd, that kind
of atmosphere. It was a national game. We wanted to
represent not only county, but all of South Georgia, in
particular Southwest Georgia. We wanted to show that the best
(01:58):
football in the country was played right here. You've got
some super teams in other areas where all the players
cluster together, but I think the depth of talent in
the state of Georgia and the depth of really good
football teams is unmatched anywhere in the country, and we
wanted to show that. We wanted to represent Georgia, and
particularly South Georgia, really well, and hopefully we did. The
(02:18):
game started out, you know, we ended up falling behind
late in the first quarter, 7-0. Then we went to
the second quarter, we had an interception, K.J. Streeter returned
an interception for a touchdown, and they jumped offside on
the extra point, so we put the offense back in
and went for two. So we went up 8-7, and
we kind of went back and forth and gave up
a score there and went down, blocked the extra point.
(02:41):
So we went down 13-8, got it back, had a
little drive, stalled out, and then they got it down
and scored with about 10 seconds left in the half.
On the third haul, you know, we just thought that
their receiver, Nick Lanier, probably the top receiver in the country,
made a great play. He had two touchdowns in the
first half. So we go down, you know, with them,
(03:04):
they go in with all the momentum. We're down to
the eighth half, but we made some mistakes on both
drives we scored, and we just told our kids to
stay calm. stayed with the plan. We made a few adjustments.
Our coaching staff did a great job with that, but
really the thing was just correcting the things wrong was
the main thing. And a few assistants too. Staff came out,
we held them. We had to kick to them too.
(03:26):
We held them three and out. We got the ball
down inside the 10 and got held on downs. Uh,
so we almost had a score there and then we
got it right back and, uh, we're able to hit, uh,
Colin Boston, you know, hit, hit Destin Bell for a
big touchdown. Um, That was big. We went for two
to get to 60. So now it's 20-16. Then we
(03:48):
kind of go back and forth a little bit. Early
in the third, we're able to get a drive going.
Dominique Ball's touchdown run. We go up 23-20. Hold up
three not immediately and get the ball back inside their 40.
I thought we were going to ice the game then,
but we had a fake holding penalty. Kind of took
us out of the drive. That was bad. We held them,
(04:10):
got it back, and got two first downs and ran
out the clock. So just a great win across. Defense
held them to zero first downs in the second half.
So it was just a great performance. I think we
outgained them 230, 265 yards. Big statistic is we had
no turnovers. That was part of the game. And blocked
extra points. Those things were all huge plays in the game.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And like this, every play matters.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It does.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Great, great team effort, great win, and just an incredible atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And thank you for that recap. That's perfect. I really
appreciate that. I know the fans do, too, that weren't
able to make it there. So, Coach, they talk about you.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
We hear this saying all the time, a tale of
two halves. But, boy, this game epitomized that because it
really was. I mean, you guys had some difficulty a
little bit at times stopping them in the first half.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You talked about that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
But then the second half, whatever the adjustments you guys made,
your coaches made at half, it certainly worked. I mean,
I don't know that I've seen the contrast in two
halves like that. Anything that you could talk about or
touch on that really made that much of a difference?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Well, you know, I really like to say we're that
smart field of coaches, and we made all these great adjustments.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Right at it, buddy. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Our coaches did some good things. You know, Coach Clark,
our offensive coordinator, Coach Fulbar, their defensive coordinator, did a
phenomenal job with some adjustments. But really the biggest thing,
we just had to shore up some mistakes we were making.
The other thing was all that specialty. You know, they
really controlled field position in the first half. They blocked
a punt or deflected a punt. And they kind of
controlled all field position. We were able to flip that
(05:46):
around in the second half and really control field position.
I think that was a big part of it. They're
so dangerous in the return game. They've got a big-time
kicker and punter. So he kicked every ball, I believe,
in the end zone for a touchback. So they really
controlled that second half. We were able to control field position.
That was a big part of it as well. It
really was just our kids kept calm. They stayed with
the plan, made a few adjustments. But we shored up
(06:09):
some mistakes we made in the first half, and that
was probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
We're talking to Dave Barizio, head coach of the Lee
County Trojans. Lee County Coaches Show, again, brought to you
by our friends at Phoebe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
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Surgery or treatment for that minor pickleball injury, the team
at Phoebe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine has got you covered.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
They have the largest orthopedics team in Southwest Georgia.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
They're experienced physicians, advanced practice providers, certified athletic trainers, and
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and getting you back out there on that pickleball court
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That's Phoebe, a better way to orthopedic care. We appreciate
them sponsoring our weekly talk with Dean Fabrizio.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Coach, you're talking about the atmosphere.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I've got to give a public service announcement now.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You have to go to an orthopedic for a pickleball injury.
Your days of competitive athletics are over. You need to
move to checkers. You need to move to walking or
something like that. If you get injured playing pickleball that bad,
you've got an orthopedic, you need to hang up the
competitive vibe there. Everybody that knows.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Me, I have this little joke because I'm a tennis player.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Love to play tennis.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I will absolutely not resort to pickleball.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Not going to do it, man. You're not going to
do it. But you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Again, our friends at Phoebe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine will
take care of you no matter what injury it.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Is that you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Coach, you talked about the atmosphere, though. I mean, all
week long.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The buildup to this game and you know me, I mean,
this is what I do is what we do for
a living. And I've never seen the buildup like this
every day. Fans were going at it on social media,
you know, and, and I want to mention something too,
you know, you talked about this on our show Friday night,
you joined us on the scoreboard show and I appreciate
you doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You talked about really how the camaraderie of both teams,
you know, despite all the talking back and forth, you know,
and there were some concerns from people about that always
will be, but, You know, after the game, it was
nothing but top class from your guys and Miami Carroll City.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And talk a little bit about that for me.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know, before the game, there was a lot of
hype going in. I think they received a tremendous amount
of hype this year, Carroll City.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They've got a lot of great players on the football team.
You know, their head coach came over from Hollywood, Sean McNaughton,
who was offensive coordinator, and they had a tremendous run there.
You know, they had Jeremiah Smith, many great players there. And,
you know, there was– they've got, I think, a documentary going,
and you know how that is. They probably don't, they're
going to put the sound bites, the sound clips on
(08:49):
there that people want to watch. So, you know, it
probably was a little blown up, but, you know, also,
you know, that's footballed out. That's a huge deal, just
like it is here. And I think a lot of
people were on their bandwagon and still are, and they
should be. They've got a heck of a football team.
And it was kind of a far and far different
(09:11):
a South Florida or a South Georgia type thing. There's
a lot of pride in both places when it comes
to football. Our community here really showed up. Football meets
a lot here at Lee County. There's always a handful
of people that want to be there. If you were
at the game Friday night, you'd see how much the
ball meets here at Lee County. It was great for
(09:33):
us to represent that their coach was very humble. Of course,
there were some type of game it was. There was
some talking, and some guys would come up and go
back and forth. It was a hard-fought game, very little
extra curricular activity. Afterward, they all lined up, shook our hand,
wished each other luck. Their coach was very gracious. He
(09:54):
was actually going to be talking a few times. It's
the game. Lots of thanks. It's extremely gracious. So, you know,
I think sometimes while you get a social media approach
to somebody, you may get a wrong idea of them.
It was really, really good. was uh crowds and a
lot of great high school football fans super into the
game very few issues but you know eight thousand plus
people here at the game so wow it was it
(10:16):
was really really a good night of high school football
because we won so it made it better but it
was definitely a good night of high school football and
they they really conducted themselves well as did our kids
and uh i tried it i heard that i think
that's something so i played a of some of the
clips and things like that. I think that sometimes when
you say stuff to your team, it's not meant for
(10:37):
the general public and it gets out there. It could
be taken off by context.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So obviously a huge win. And, you know, what does
a win like this mean? Because let's, let's, let's, let's
remind everybody, you know, there was a lot of going,
jawing back and forth, a lot of anticipation. And a
lot of that had to do with Miami Carroll city
was the 11th ranked team in the United States of America.
So they weren't just a really good team coming in here.
(11:03):
They were a nationally, you know, pretty close to a
top 10 ranked team. So that really had to rise,
I guess, raise the bar in terms of the incentive
to play well and win this game.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
You know, the thing here in Lee County is, uh,
You know, to get better, you've got to challenge yourself.
And I think that's what we've done here. You know,
in fact, talking to our defensive coordinator, Bull Barge, he
was a senior. He was the great Coltwood team that
won state 2014. That was the smallest Coltwood Barge's class.
We're getting this thing going, come out with a 10-win season.
(11:34):
We ended up having a great year, but we got
beat by that pretty good, that overplayed him at 14.
But you have to go through things like that to
get to the other side. Challenge yourself, get your way.
The defense does a couple things. One, it uplifts your play. Two,
it forces you to evaluate things and say, okay, hey,
we've got to get better at this. We've got to
get better at that if we want to compete with
(11:56):
people like that. Overall, it's a program of different things.
So it definitely ups our game. And one thing about here,
most of the time, these kids here at Reed County,
they answer the bell. And two years ago, we ended
up with a schedule. We had to go to Moultrie.
It was coming off a 13-1 season, followed by back-to-back
games where it was TCC and Colby. both coming off
(12:17):
15 of those state championships. And everybody said we're crazy,
but our kids rose to the age of it. It
swept in the two 20-plus game winning streaks. It's 3-1
over a great team. So, you know, our kids here
rise to the occasion. Not that we've ever lost games.
When you play, it's tough to schedule. We play, and
people as good as we play, they're so well coached,
have such great support, great players. You're going to lose
(12:39):
now then. And we have lost games. Your fortune will
not fall off. But this type of game like this,
our kids rose to the occasion. And it was great.
It was a lot of fun. Now we've got to
get it refocused. Because if you want to play a
Sequoia team, you have to make the trip up there
for four hours. It's a long trip. Play them again.
(12:59):
Like I said, it's very unfortunate people in this area
play us. I think it would be great for the communities.
And break gates and things such as that. But we
have to take that trip up there. They're coming off
a 12-1 quarterfinal seed. their first two games in blowouts,
and they've got a really good football team, very well coached,
very talented. So we've got to get our heads back
on pretty quick, and everybody's been telling us to get
(13:20):
up right there all weekend, and they played great Friday,
and deservedly so. We better get our heads back on
and get ready this week, or else all this fun
and all this, everybody's telling us right there, it's going
to come to an end Friday night. Sequoias certainly beat
us if we don't go up there prepared and play well.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
We'll wrap up with this. A lot's been made of
the new PSR formula. I would say so far with
the schedule you've played, you know, a Miami Carroll City team.
And I think that playing the out-of-state teams doesn't really
hurt you at all. A very, very small percentage. In fact,
it's going to help you a lot. You know, they're
going to play good upon us. And then you've got
(13:58):
a team like Sequoia, like you said, that you guys
are going to play. So in that regard, you know,
you play in the tough schedule. It benefits you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In a lot of different ways, doesn't it, Coach?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, yes and no. Um, that, yeah. And I've been
a little critical of PSR system and I, and I
know there's no perfect way to do it. GHS has
an extremely tough job and the groups that come up
with these things. And I think they were trying to
do some good things here, but you know, I've been
a little critical of it because we play Carroll city,
one of the top teams in the nation and, you know,
out of state teams, you get credit for the wind,
(14:28):
but on its winds don't factor in. And my thing
is they don't factor at the level of TV blank,
you know, uh, uh, play a smaller school as they
get nine wins and you play a team like Carroll
City they get nine wins and it counts the exact
same and again I'm not no disrespect to a smaller
school but there's divisions for a reason so I think
(14:50):
those things there's flaws in the system so whereas all
win over Carroll City is not going to count as
much as a lot of people might think whereas it
probably should count a lot more so I think there's
flaws in it but you know we can't worry about
that I mean that that That formula is so complicated.
I don't know how. You can't really worry about it
until it comes out. We just got to play and
(15:10):
win and let things take care of themselves.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You mentioned Sequoia. That's a long trip you got to take.
They have really.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Come into their own– You know, over the last four
or five years, you know, they've had some really big wins.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And you talked about it a little bit earlier, but
we'll end with this.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Talk about where they are as a program and the
challenge that they're going to face specifically, you know, as
a team offensively, defensively, special teams.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Well, they do a good job now. They run their
wing tee team that is traditionally, a few years ago,
they were shotgun, but they have a lot of weak
tee concepts. They do a great job with misdirection, a
lot of things. which would stress situations. Defensively, they've got
a linebacker, a four-star player over there on defense. They
bring a lot of pressure with a lot of angles.
(15:56):
Very well coached, very talented. Coach Teeter and I are
the longest-tenured coaches in 6A in our 18th season in
our school. So, I mean, I guess the winner gets
a cane or something like that. I don't know what
we're playing. Coach Teeter coached a long time in Florida, too,
like myself.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
So.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You know, they struggled to find people to play, and
we ended up playing them. Next year they'll come down here.
This year we've got to go up there. And hopefully
if we have to do this in the playoffs, this
will be a good rehearsal for us.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Coach, we're going to wrap it up right there. A
lot of good news on this Monday. Boy, it sure
is a lot better coming in after a big win,
after a big game like that on a Monday morning,
isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yes, it certainly is. And I appreciate you and all
you do for high school football.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Thanks for that, Coach. And we look forward to talking
to you next week.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Appreciate you. Thank you. Bye.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Thank you, Coach.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Dean Fabrizio, head coach of the Lee County Trojans, checking
in with us. And again, a big thanks to Phoebe
Orthopedics and Sports Medicine for sponsoring our weekly talk with
Dean Fabrizio.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Wow, what a big win that was, 23-20.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
We'll come back next week and talk more about the
Lee County Sequoia game right here at ITG Next.
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