WEBVTT

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Schwiker, Ginnison, Krizek Rundio proudly
sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike

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we are ready to take on the insurance

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dollars for our clients. Visit GA
nassi n dot com. What's up everyone,

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00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:28.879
Welcome back to the Friday Night Drive
Podcast. Officially the first offseason podcast

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following the twenty twenty two season.
It breaks my heart to say that,

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SEUs, but here we are after
fourteen weeks of football the twenty twenty two

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season. It's officially in the books. We were down in Champagne for all

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eight games. The Friday Night Drive
crew a ton of us down. There

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was a lot of fun over the
weekend. We're gonna get in game by

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game, of course, but let's
let's talk first off, just the experience.

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It was the first time we'd been
back down to Champagne because of the

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pandemic since twenty eighteen, and it
was a fun experience and it was great

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being back there. Yeah, it
felt even longer when I was sitting while

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going through the process. I mean
it it felt like it had been a

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really really long time since i'd seen
state finals um in Champagne. You know,

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I mean, I know that was
you know, obviously I know the

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reasons for that, but it just
like when you say it was twenty eighteen,

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I'm like, man, it just
feels like it was so much longer

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than that. Um, you know, And that's I mean in particular,

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I mean, I've been going to
state finals for I'm just gonna say quite

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a long time now. Um,
that's the one where that's the that's the

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place where I feel most comfortable.
For various reasons, Um, you know

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in Champagne, it's it's maybe it's
not the perfect venue, and maybe they're

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they're obviously negatives about it, but
of the places that I've gone for state

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finals, that's the one where I'm
most comfortable. So it just kind of

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felt like I was back in my
you know, not that I now that

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I don't feel like it's my element
it's of state finals because I really do,

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but that Champagne and me that I
have a long relationship with that place,

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and it just it feels right.
Yeah. I have a column up

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right now at Friday Night Drive dot
Com kind of going behind the scenes.

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On the weekend we taught I hit
on it potentially being our last state final

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in Champagne I talk about of course
once again the private public debate got reignited

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with six out of eight winners coming
from there. Those are topics that we're

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gonna hit on in podcasts over the
coming week. One of our goals here

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over the off season. And it's
not gonna be a weekly thing, definitely

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not a twice a week thing like
we do during the regular season. But

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it will be weekly here the next
couple of weeks. But after that we'll

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try and at least a couple of
times a month twice a month, hit

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come back, go through some topic. We're gonna hit both of those topics

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in the coming week. But yeah, Champagne man. It was you know,

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Michael Jack. Duel Jack was down
there with us as part of the

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crew Friday Night Drive crew. He's
a u of I grad and it's you

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know, he's younger than I am. I don't I'm not quite sure which

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year he graduated from. You I
didn't ask him, but he talked about

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how much it's changed, campus has
changed and all the new high rise apartments

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and stuff. And it was funny
because I drove back from Champagne Saturday evening

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to where I grew up, which
is moments for anyone listening that down in

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Kankakee County near the Indiana state line
by Bradley and bourbon At because they want

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to drive all the way back from
to carry a much longer drive. Was

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only about an hour to get back
to where I grew up. But we

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were staying. My wife and I
were down there for Thanksgiving anyway, staying

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with some friends. And my friend's
wife is also a u OF. I

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grad a couple of years younger than
I am. I think she graduated about

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twenty and ten, and we got
talking about it and she said, I

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think it was her senior year.
They had just built the first high rise

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apartment building down there. SEUs and
Michael had talked about even since he graduated.

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I think it's probably been about four
or five years. How many more

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have gone up down there, So
like, yeah, not being back there

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ourselves in twenty eighteen, I was
I was shocked to see the growth in

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right around campus there. Well,
I mean, like I said, my

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history was Champagne goes back a little
bit farther. I think my first trip

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to Champagne for any purpose, I
believe it was in nineteen eighty nine for

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the state basketball finals. I don't
count the nineteen seventy three state finals which

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my home high school went to the
state finals. I was in my mother's

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womb while she was watching the game
of Assembly Hall. I don't count that

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one. But I think my first
state finals boys basketball experience was nineteen eighty

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nine. And my remembrances of the
town from then till now it's it's absolutely

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not the same thing that it's it's
it's changed quite a bit. And you

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know, the other thing with this
weekend that I found a feeling that I

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had. I guess I can't really
quantify it. There was nothing that that

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stood out specifically, but we were
another year removed from the weirdness of the

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pandemic, and we were so we
were coming back last year and we got

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through the regular season. If you
remember, like we were dealing with during

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the twenty twenty one regular season games
getting canceled and we made it through that

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postseason thankfully unscathed. But it's like
last year, we got to dical,

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but we got through State championship,
and it was almost like it was more

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of a relief, if you know
what I mean, than like the culmination

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of a season. Yeah, and
I think that's fair. I mean,

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in the back of my mind and
the previous postseason was are we gonna make

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it? Yeah? I mean,
and I knew, I knew in my

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mind's eye that yeah, we probably
were gonna make it. But I could

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not completely released that thought from my
mind. And so we were actually at

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the coal making it happen, playing
in games. There just was that little

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fear in my mind that something might
happen that we wouldn't get there. It

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wasn't a large percentage, but it
existed, you know. And I didn't

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have that this year, and that
was just like, you know, I

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get all, I get built up. I'm used to my routines. I'm

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a very regimented person in nature,
so it's like to have just even that

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little bit of instability just made me
uncomfortable. And I, you know,

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I guess I didn't I didn't take
enough appreciation for the years and years and

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years of that regular regiment and routine
always kind of coming to that culmination that,

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uh, that I didn't have a
full appreciate it for it now now

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I do. Now. I always
take that moment in that blink and remind

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myself, hey, guess we're fortunate
to have what we have and try to

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try to, you know, think
to the positive in all those situations.

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Yeah, it was. It was
a great time down there. We appreciate

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everyone who followed along, um getting
in the weeds, just seeing the numbers.

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For everyone that that that that you
know, read the content, visited

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the website to Friday Night Drive over
the weekend. It was. It was

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great to see um. Thank you
once again everyone who's joined us over the

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course of the season at Friday Night
Drive dot Com. And we'll plug one

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more time. It's still going.
We're recording this on Monday afternoon. I'm

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probably not gonna be able to record
drop this, get this, edit,

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and drop this until Tuesday morning.
We'll see if it's still up or not.

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I'm gonna feel bad though, if
I say this wrong and it's not

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there. But right now, as
a Monday afternoon, our Black Friday sale

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still running. Right now, you
get nineteen ninety nine for an entire year.

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I'm not just Friday Night Drive dot
Com. They get you all,

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00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:35.519
but I get you access to all
of shaw Local dot com. They get

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you all of our high school coverage
across northern Illinois, all your local news

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all over Chicago Bears coverage. You
get that deal right now twenty dollars.

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It's the best price we've ever offered
that. I'll take you all the way

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through the entire season next year for
the twenty twenty three season, and all

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of the off season preview are all
of the off season content we plan to

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have on you or with you at
Friday Night Drive dot com. So with

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that, one more thing to get
through, and that's the rest of the

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00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:03.240
properts here. If you don't follow
us on Twitter, please do so at

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00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:07.079
F and Drive. You can find
us on Facebook and Instagram as well by

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00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.680
searching for Friday Night Drive. You
can find SEUs on Twitter at the SEUs.

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00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.480
You can find myself on Twitter at
Kyle Neighbors and now SEUs. We're

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gonna go into the more usual format
here that we were using during the regularity

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or during the season, with one
AH through eight A and work our way

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up through the state title games and
of course starting with Class one A here

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where not surprisingly SUS, I think
we were pretty pretty confident both of us

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coming into this game. Leno Winslow
becoming the first team I believe in it,

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first team in any class. Do
I have that correct to have three

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straight championships? No, that was
Icy Catholic, So yeah, it's yeah,

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it's it's not it's actually the second
time it's happened. Even in one

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A Carthage has done this. That's
that what I was gonna say previously it

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was the second time or the first
time since Carthage in one A. I

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couldn't remember if it was just one
or if it was overall done. Then

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the second I center I went Icy
Catholic twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen. Yeah,

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yeah, yeah, so that's yeah, it has happened before, but

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it's not something where we're seeing constantly. Uh. And it's kind of a

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testament to them and what they were
able to do. Um. You know,

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it makes you wonder had we played
in the postseason UM with you know,

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with the COVID year and based on
the fact that Lena Winzel obviously had

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a pretty good program, then that
if they would have had a shot at

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four UM in that scenario. But
still, you know, showing their medals

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showing their strength. It's what they
do, especially this time of year.

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You get to the point now where
the thought process in my mind that I

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always have with Lena is, um, they don't have They're they're not subjected

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to the success formula, UM,
so they don't have to go up.

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But I keep wondering to myself,
how high could they go and still be

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in the mix to, you know, pretend actually win a state championship.

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I'm not gonna say, oh,
I think they'd win two A or I

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think they'd win three. Aw how
high can they go up the ladder before

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they would where the numbers difference and
the size difference would become too much for

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them. I don't know the answer
to that, but it's always a fascinating

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question that I kind of play out
in my mind. Yeah. I mean

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this game, Lena winslow here just
to get a little more granular, a

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thirty to eight winner. In the
contest, they took a sixteen zero lead

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into halftime. It was thirty to
zero. You know it just they're just

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so efficient at every turn. When
you talk about one a football Susan and

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this is nothing to get camp points
Central, But it really didn't take long

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into this game to confirm what we
both felt was probably going to take place.

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Yeah, it didn't take that long. I mean I was wondering about

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a few things early on, and
I thought camp Point Central through a few

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early punches that led me to believe
maybe we might have something here. But

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Lena is just so good at making
adjustments to things. I mean, you

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might get them once on something,
but you're not going to be able to

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go to the well over and over
again on certain things against them. It

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just isn't going to happen. And
they make so few mistakes they seem to

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do, They seem to be so
prepped for everything that the opponent is going

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to be throwing at them. It's
just a really, really impressive program to

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watch on a year and year out
basis. This is typically the only time

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that I get to see them,
but I've always come away impressed with how

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they manage, manage everything that they
do inside of their program, and I'm

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always intrigued to look to see how
many underclassmen they have slotted into the lineup

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and how much they have to overturn, because it seems like almost every year

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they leave themselves in good situation that
they're never graduating everything. They've got a

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few kids that are coming back and
key positions that will provide the foundation for

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the following season. I don't know
if that's intentional. It wouldn't surprise me

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if it is. But it just
always seems like you never look at their

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roster at the end of the year
and go, oh, they're losing.

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They're losing eighteen seniors. This is
gonna be this is it's gonna be hard

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for them to maintain their standard.
I just never seems to be the case.

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Yeah, they just continue to reload. All right. Let's go ahead

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though and move on to two A. And before I do, this is

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gonna sound weird when people listen to
the podcast, but they probably they might

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be able to. Can you hear
my dog whining right now? Sus a

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little bit? Yes? Yeah,
So it's we're recording this, like I

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said, later than we normally do. It's four thirty, which is his

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dinner time, and I forgot to
give it to him before we started,

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so he's he's sitting right here,
swiping out the chair and whining at me

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to go give it to him,
sus. So we're gonna take a quick

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break here for everyone that's listening.
You'll just your a quick transition. But

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sus, I'm gonna run upstairs give
him his bowl of food so he doesn't

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bother us the entire time, all
right, Now, okay, now that

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the dog is accounting for you getting
his food, glad that um I could?

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Uh yeah, Usually your dogs are
the one that chime in during the

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podcast. Glad mine could take part
this week. My dog perked up right

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there for a second when he heard
your dogs, so I was actually surprised

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that mine didn't burst out. But
he went right back to laying here taking

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his nap, So he doesn't seem
to care that much. All right.

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00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:18.559
So yeah, let's let's dive into
to a sus Saint Teresa getting that elusive

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state title with a twenty nine twenty
two win over Try Valley. This was

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a game that was competitive. You
were really big into Try Valley coming into

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this, Um, I believe you. Did you end up picking Try Valley?

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Right? It was the only game
I missed all weekend. Yeah,

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and you know what, early on
I was I was ready to start bowing

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to uh, bowing to Sus once
again. But Saint Teresa able to right

204
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the ship and and get going there, um and and and end up winning

205
00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:54.039
that game, which was a really
good game. Try Valley took the lead

206
00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:58.039
twenty three twenty two early in the
fourth quarter before Saint Teresa got the game

207
00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.840
winning score with six minutes left.
I was able to get a stop at

208
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the end of the game. The
quality two way football game series, Yeah,

209
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it was. And looking at that
game on paper, it kind of

210
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.679
almost played out other than the end
outcome, it almost kind of played out

211
00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.759
exactly the way that I thought it
would. Uh. Saint Teresa got some

212
00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:22.840
big plays that kind of kind of
sprung them a little bit. Try Valley

213
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:28.440
had, you know, a much
more lunch bucket approach to things for about

214
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:33.480
twenty hours. I think it was
Blake Renigold held the state record for carries

215
00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:37.000
in a game. You know,
they just kept hammering the ball in there

216
00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.600
with him, and he was up
to the task. Did a really really

217
00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.320
nice job for Try Valley. But
like I said, this was one of

218
00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:48.200
those games where I felt like on
paper it was really evenly matched. It

219
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.960
turned out to be that way,
kind of a contrast in styles, but

220
00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.360
Saint Teresa was able to make one
one or two more big plays along the

221
00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:01.919
line, Try Valley ran out of
answers to those, Saint Teresa comes home

222
00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:07.759
with their first state championships since nineteen
seventy nine. This so to give a

223
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little more context for talking about explosive
plays and contrasting styles Try Valley, let's

224
00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.519
start with first down. Try Valley
had twenty seven first down, Saint Teresa

225
00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:24.600
had eleven time of possession. Try
Valley at thirty three minutes and two seconds,

226
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:30.399
Saint Teresa fourteen minutes and fifty eight
seconds. And at the end of

227
00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:35.120
the day, Try Valley ran eighty
one plays for four hundred and four yards,

228
00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:39.000
Saint Teresa thirty three plays, but
for three hundred and thirty four yards.

229
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.720
They had touchdowns of eighty seven and
seventy six yards the two big ones

230
00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:48.519
there. They also had a twenty
two yard touchdown. But some big plays,

231
00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.120
very explosive, and it's it's just
that's that's kind of wild to see.

232
00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.480
You don't see disparities like that very
often, and the team that's on

233
00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.600
the lower side of those in terms
of you know, they had eleven first

234
00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.519
down compared to twenty seven and they
won the game. Yeah, it was

235
00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:07.919
one of those things where after the
game I'm a big obviously, I'm a

236
00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.240
huge numbers guy, but it was
one of those things where the numbers were

237
00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:15.360
lying about a lot of things after
that game that you would usually look to

238
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.759
as benchmarks to decide who control the
football game. It was that they were

239
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.960
just wildly askew as the ones that
you just you went through there, and

240
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.120
there were other ones too, Like
if you look through that that full game

241
00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:30.480
statute, you'd look at that and
go, boy, if if I would

242
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:36.000
have had the stats lines that try
Valley was able to produce in that game,

243
00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:37.799
I would have bet ninety nine out
of one hundred times that would have

244
00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:41.960
ended up in a victory for them. Yeah, it's it's definitely one of

245
00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:48.440
the more unique box scores that I've
come across anything else. Suits in two

246
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.639
way that stood out for me in
that game that I didn't hit on I

247
00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:53.120
don't think so. And like I
said, it was a very good,

248
00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:56.919
you know, competitive game. It
was the it's what you kind of hope

249
00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:02.519
to get to out of a state
five know, the situation where I think

250
00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:04.680
we might have actually gotten the two
best teams in the class playing each other,

251
00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:11.559
and we always are constantly you know, griping about that. You know

252
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.480
in the post, you know with
the one to sixteen classes that we're not

253
00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:17.880
getting the best possible state championship games. I think we might have got it

254
00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:22.720
here. Yeah, it was.
It was a quality game, one of

255
00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:26.960
the best of the weekend. But
okay, let's go ahead and head over

256
00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:33.240
to Class three A, where Ice
Catholic was a forty eight to seventeen winner

257
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:41.680
over Williams Sorry Williamsville. And this
game played out and really kind of weird

258
00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:48.119
fashion. You were sitting there at
the end of the first quarter and Williamsville

259
00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.200
had a three zero lead, opened
it up to ten zero within the first

260
00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.759
couple of minutes of the second quarter. And I think pretty much anyone you

261
00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:03.720
talked to went into that con test
thinking Icy Catholic was a considerable favorite,

262
00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:07.920
right, And all of a sudden
they're down ten zero and Williamsville is controlling

263
00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:14.880
the clock. They're playing really good
football, and then kJ Parker ripped off

264
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:21.680
a sixty five yard touchdown reception from
Dennis Mandela, and boom, it was

265
00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:25.519
off to the races. They score
another time before half to take a thirteen

266
00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:30.319
ten lead. They end up getting
another touchdown before halftime. I believe there.

267
00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.759
No, actually it was it was
No. It was thirteen ten at

268
00:18:33.799 --> 00:18:37.640
half time, wasn't it. Yeahah, it was thirteen ten at half time.

269
00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:41.160
Yeah, thirteen ten at halftime.
Sorry, trying to so many games

270
00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:44.160
over the weekend, honestly, I
just like you, trying to get my

271
00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:48.400
bearings still straight from that long week
and so, but yeah, thirteen ten

272
00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:52.519
aut a half time. But they
end up making it forty eight straight points.

273
00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.480
Really, once they got going,
man, it was kind of what

274
00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:00.720
you expected. It just took a
while. Yeah, I meaney when they

275
00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:03.039
dropped the hammer on somebody, they
dropped the hammer they I mean, they

276
00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:10.319
are not fooling around. And it
just felt like through that first half you

277
00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.759
started to wonder, is the other
shoe gonna drop here? I mean,

278
00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:17.680
he expected that it was going to
happen, but it just it didn't seem

279
00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:22.240
like there there were a lot of
indicators or signs that was going to For

280
00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.279
me when I looked at this game. You know, Denzel Gibson, you

281
00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.519
know, has not carried the ball
a lot the last couple of weeks.

282
00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:33.079
I'm not really sure what the genesis
or reason for that was. They had

283
00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:37.240
switched some things around in the backfield
and got some really great production out of

284
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.559
Joe Igliata. But Denzel Gibson when
he was put back there and was able

285
00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.759
to go and just kind of cut
it loose, He's a special talent,

286
00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.599
and it was one of those things
where I think heading into that game,

287
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:56.920
Williamsville was probably just as confused as
I was about what Denzel Gibson's role was

288
00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.759
going to be. So it had
to be difficult to plan for or the

289
00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.000
potential that he would be there and
not be there or not maybe play in

290
00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:07.559
that position. So that had to
have been tricky because I mean, let's

291
00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:12.559
be honest, you can't you can't
properly scout that regardless, but to not

292
00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:17.519
know at all adds another layer and
dimension to what you're trying to do.

293
00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:22.240
So um, for me, that
was the difference in this game with him

294
00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:26.839
and his ability to do things,
and then that giving that kind of one

295
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.000
two punch with Dennis Mandala going out
there and using the great talents that kJ

296
00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:36.519
Parker has and his other wide receivers. I mean, the whole the whole

297
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:41.400
gamut of things available to this IC
Catholic offense when it's right, is a

298
00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:44.960
pretty hard task for a three A
defense to try to stop. I mean,

299
00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:48.400
so yeah, with the way that
that game ends up going downhill suits,

300
00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.799
I don't really feel like there's a
ton left hare to talk about honestly,

301
00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:57.279
Um, you know there there's a
conversation to be had that we're going

302
00:20:57.319 --> 00:21:00.400
to have in a couple of weeks. And this is where we really start

303
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:06.200
diving into that private, you know
versus private versus public talk about ice.

304
00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.359
Catholic would have been a two A
school by enrollment, chose to play up

305
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:11.799
to three A. This is kind
of a tease that conversation we'll have though.

306
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:17.240
This is where it felt like around
the stadium where people really started to

307
00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:18.839
talk about it more. When you
started having a program like I see Catholic

308
00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.559
dipping down into three A where they
had had success at the four A level

309
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:27.440
back in twenty eighteen winning that title. That's those are the type of games

310
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.960
that are going to make that conversation
crop back up. Yeah, And I

311
00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:36.920
was telling somebody who was asking me
about this at one point, you know

312
00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.920
that didn't realize that I see Catholic, for one, was not multiplied.

313
00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:47.960
That's a whole discussion for another time. They voluntarily elected to play up to

314
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:52.559
three A. They're non multiplied.
Enrollment kept them dangerously close to actually the

315
00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:56.240
one A line. There were really
I didn't realize that. There were times

316
00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:00.279
when I was running the running the
mock, and when I do that,

317
00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:03.920
I don't move the playing up play
teams until after I run it because I

318
00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:08.000
stored it by enrollment. There were
times when I see Catholic was popping up

319
00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:12.400
as thirty two, thirty three,
thirty four on the enrollment list of teams

320
00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.160
that I thought were going to make
the playoffs. Thirty two would have got

321
00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:18.640
you in one A. So if
they had not elected a playoff, there

322
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.279
was there was a possibility that they
could have been in the one A playoff.

323
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:26.759
My twisted mind is thinking to myself, boy, i'd like to see

324
00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:30.359
that I see Catholic Leana winslow game, but it wouldn't be a final because

325
00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:33.599
they've both been in the North bracket. So but you know, that's a

326
00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:38.200
whole other nonsensical conversation. But that's
the thing that I look at when I'm

327
00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:41.519
to that. It's like when you
start talking about you know, multipliers and

328
00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:47.200
success formulas and all these other things. You know, the way the current

329
00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:51.759
system is designed if I see Catholic
is going to go up in the future,

330
00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:55.759
it's going to have to be by
their own hand. The multiplier system

331
00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:00.839
probably is not going to move them
as high up the chain as a lot

332
00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:06.680
of people think that they the program
success really indicates that they should do so,

333
00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:10.799
because I mean, once again,
it's another it's a pedantic argument at

334
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.680
this point because they're they're the highest
that they're going to go next year unless

335
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:19.319
they choose to voluntarily is once again
three A. Because now they're going to

336
00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:23.839
be officially multiplied up to three that
you not qualify for the success formula,

337
00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:29.960
and even if they did, you
cannot jump to classes. So so that

338
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.599
would be the situation where, um, you know, if they were going

339
00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:36.319
to go up to four A,
they'd have to do it themselves. Yeah,

340
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.599
So, as we were talking about
our teas in there, that is

341
00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:41.720
a podcast we plan to kind of
dive into here in a couple of weeks

342
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.240
and look at that because there you
know that that discussion needs to take place.

343
00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:52.400
Um, and there's a lot of
wrinkles that go into that. It's

344
00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.240
not nearly as clear cut I kind
of get into it. If you do,

345
00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.920
go and check out the hut the
column that's right now at Friday Night

346
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.880
Drive dot com. But sus let's
let's get one more class in here before

347
00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.880
we take a quick commercial break and
look at class for a Sacred Heart Griffin

348
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:15.119
winning the game over Providence Catholic forty
four to twenty. Ken Leonard going out

349
00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:21.279
in his five hundred game, retiring
at the end there picking up one more

350
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:30.559
state championship, and you know,
for all of the fireworks and all of

351
00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:37.799
the surprise of Providence continuing to play
so well, it just kind of the

352
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:42.319
team finally ran out for the Celtics
in this game against a team that we

353
00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:48.279
both felt was superior on paper.
Yeah, I think in a lot of

354
00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:55.720
ways, the pressure and the things
that were on the shoulders of the Sacred

355
00:24:55.720 --> 00:25:00.039
Heart Griffin team was kind of released
after the Rochester win and in the way

356
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.559
that they did it, and I
felt that kind of allowed them to come

357
00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:11.200
into this game with maybe not necessarily, you know, completely relaxed, but

358
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:15.240
in the sense of, Okay,
we got here, we survived that game

359
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:18.599
that did not look very good for
us. Let's just go out roll it

360
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.319
out there for coach Leonard in our
last outing and play a good game.

361
00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:26.200
Of football and that's what they did. So it just it didn't seem like

362
00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:32.160
and I had talked to several people
around the Sacred Heart Griffin program heading into

363
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:36.920
that game, it just felt like
they they were okay, now, they

364
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:41.200
were good. They just they there
seemed to be an ease about them heading

365
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:44.799
into this game. And I knew
heading into this, and I set it

366
00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:49.720
multiple times to a lot of different
people, including here, that Providence had

367
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:55.720
been playing the entire string of this
postseason so well as a unit, making

368
00:25:55.799 --> 00:26:02.319
so few mistakes and exercising every edge
that they could find, and on Friday

369
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.279
night, they frankly, they just
couldn't find any edges. They couldn't find

370
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:11.359
anything to take advantage of. Sacred
Heart just wasn't allowing it, wasn't letting

371
00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:14.480
it happen. And then when you
combine that with the amount of talent that

372
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:18.240
that team has, which is pretty
high for a Class four A squad.

373
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:23.359
To be completely honest with you,
those two factors it just made it way

374
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:27.640
too tall of a mountain for Providence
to climb. All of that being said,

375
00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:33.920
fantastic season for Providence. If you
would have told me at the beginning

376
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:37.079
of the season that I'll be honest. If you had told me the beginning

377
00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.880
of season Providence was a quarter final
team, I would have told you you

378
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.279
were crazy, like out of your
mind, Like that's where I felt like

379
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:49.640
that team was at in terms of
its youth, it's inexperience, it's transitioning

380
00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:53.480
to a new coach. I would
have thought, best case scenario, maybe

381
00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:57.160
this team sneaks into the playoffs.
That would have been like that would have

382
00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:03.160
been enough for me to say complete
and total success for Providence. Now I've

383
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.640
changed that evaluation completely and started to
think about, oh my, if Tyler

384
00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:15.559
Plants can do what he just did
basically in a year, Providence might have

385
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:18.559
a juggernaut on their hands if he
can sustain this kind of momentum, And

386
00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:23.559
they're back in the conversation as a
as a potential powerhouse type of program.

387
00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:29.079
And we haven't talked about Providence like
that in a while, so I Tyler

388
00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:33.079
being a new coach. I've actually
never had a chance to talk with Tyler

389
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:37.000
Plants yet didn't have a chance to
over the weekend. You obviously have gotten

390
00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:41.279
to know him a bit this year, even not talking to them, just

391
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:45.559
the way watching him on the sideline
and I mean you could say this about

392
00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:52.400
many coaches, right, but clearly
a very very competitive guy. And when

393
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.839
you combine that with the fact that
he found a way to get this team

394
00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.240
to the not just into the playoffs, but then to the state final.

395
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:06.519
I'm looking forward to see what a
setback like that well kind of the fire

396
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:11.160
that lights under Tyler Plants and his
coaching staff in that program, because I

397
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:15.319
guarantee you he's already going to thinking
to himself, not that I'm not letting

398
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.680
that happen again. Yeah, it
was. It was one of those things

399
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:22.160
where like as these things developed and
they kept doing things that I was like,

400
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:26.440
this is a surprise, this is
a surprise. And I could never

401
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:32.240
get Tyler Plants to say that anything
that they were doing was a surprise.

402
00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:36.279
He would not say it. Like
I could frame the question anyway that I

403
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:38.759
wanted to. He was never going
to say that. Like I mean,

404
00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:42.720
I could have said, hey,
coach, you're you're playing the Kansas City

405
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:48.279
Chiefs next week and you don't have
a chance to win that football game,

406
00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:51.680
and I don't think he would have
backed down to that. He would have

407
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:55.039
been like, no, We're gonna
go play like you know, we'll see

408
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:59.000
like that's I mean, and some
people call that hubrists, I mean,

409
00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:02.920
some people call that against I don't
think it's either of those things. I

410
00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:07.279
just think that he's just he thoroughly
believes in what he what they can do,

411
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.319
and what his players can do because
of their commitments to him. It's

412
00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:15.960
it's been interesting to watch and I'm
real interested to see what the next the

413
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.519
next few steps. And this was
and I found it interesting in the postgame

414
00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:26.000
press conference that coach Ken Leonard had
said that he made sure that he had

415
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:33.559
a conversation with coach Plant's pregame that
he do his best to enjoy the experience

416
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:38.920
with whatever happened that night, because
this is not easy to do. What

417
00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:45.839
you've done is incredibly hard, and
you should take some stock in that and

418
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:48.240
appreciate it. No matter what happens
tonight, win, loser, draw,

419
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:52.680
whatever whatever ends up, please appreciate
it for what it is, because this

420
00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:56.400
is not difficult. I mean,
this is very very difficult. And I

421
00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:00.839
thought that was that was pretty nice
for coach Leonard to point out that situation

422
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.480
and a conversation to uh, you
know, I'm not saying he's passing the

423
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:08.000
torch to Tyler Plants, but hoping, you know, passing words of wisdom

424
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.319
along to a young coach. Hey, you know, soaked this in because

425
00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:15.640
it doesn't happen every year. Yeah, and I'm you know, bringing up

426
00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:22.759
a coach Leonard again, Ken Leonard. I would have preferred a more competitive

427
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:26.519
game. But the the upshoot of
that was that it was kind of nice

428
00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:30.799
really as that game ticked down to
kind of be able to sit back and

429
00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:36.359
enjoy that for for coach Ken Leonard
in his final game, seeing him and

430
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:41.279
it was cool. Uh, you
know the game broadcast obviously, I think

431
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.640
most people know, but Derek is
his son coaching over at Rochester. It's

432
00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:47.119
always been a lot of fun those
two playing each other in the Leonard Bowl.

433
00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.160
Um, but you know, they
were They had the photos of Derek

434
00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:52.839
when he was younger and as now
as an adult, and the grant Ken's

435
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:56.799
grandkids and all that, and just
being able to know that game was in

436
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:03.279
hand and knowing that Ken was able
to hopefully on the sideline enjoy that a

437
00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.720
little bit. It was a nice
moment. Yeah, And considering what they

438
00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:11.200
had gone through in a couple of
previous weeks in the playoffs to be able

439
00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:14.599
to kind of like soak that in
and the last quarter, I think from

440
00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:17.519
what he had said, he was
able to do that a little bit was

441
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:22.839
just kind of taken the moment rather
than being you know, intensely grabbed towards

442
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.200
you know, a third down conversion
or something that might have been the situation

443
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.880
had the game been closer. So
yeah, it was, you know,

444
00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.160
ideally the competitor in him, Yeah, probably would have you know, wanted

445
00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:37.799
to, you know, have to
fight tooth and nail. But looking back

446
00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:41.200
at it, I'm sure it didn't
really matter all that to him, you

447
00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:45.480
know, as it closed down.
But a wonderful coaching career for coach Leonard

448
00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:48.880
that comes to an end. It
will be very very strange next year with

449
00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:56.119
him not around in that capacity anymore, because I don't remember a football season

450
00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.440
where he was not the coach of
that program. I'm old, so that's

451
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:06.000
saying something because it's I mean,
I literally I've been I've been somewhat following

452
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.880
high school football since I was ten
years old, so and I don't remember

453
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:14.799
ever not having his name connected to
that program. So it will be a

454
00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:17.519
very very strange adjustment for a lot
of people next year. I wonder,

455
00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:21.839
and I haven't had this conversation.
I wonder if you had yet. I

456
00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:25.960
wonder what his plans are after this
season, um, you know, retiring.

457
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:29.400
I don't know if I assume he
probably planned to stay in the area

458
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.799
with the Derek coaching and the grand
kids around. So if that's the case,

459
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.440
next fall would be interesting to see
on Friday nights if he's overwatching the

460
00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:39.960
Sun coach or if the pull of
Sacred Heart Griffin might get him over there

461
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:45.079
at least a couple of times.
I would kind of imagine that Rochester might

462
00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:49.359
have a special advisor on staff next
year. I haven't had this specific conversation,

463
00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:55.440
but yeah, it will be interesting
to see what what the we can't

464
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:59.920
call at the Leonard Bowl anymore,
but what the Rochester Sacred Heart Griffin game.

465
00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:04.640
What he'll do in that scenario next
year, because I can't imagine he's

466
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.960
going to just go cold turkey here. I'm sure there still be there'll still

467
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:14.920
be somewhere around a program somewhere,
you know, but he's turning the program

468
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:19.119
over to a long time assistant there. I'm sure his phone line will be

469
00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:23.440
open for consultation with not only his
son but what John Allison as well.

470
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:28.200
All Right, we're gonna take a
quick commercial break stick with us. We're

471
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:30.559
gonna come back and break down the
Class five A through eight A state championship

472
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:37.839
games. Schweiker Gannison Krizak Rundio proudly
sponsors the Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike

473
00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:39.960
Krizak. If you've been injured,
we are ready to take on the insurance

474
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:44.200
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475
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dollars for our clients. Visit GA
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476
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:52.960
Okay, well, thank you once
again to sgk R for sponsoring the

477
00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:57.640
Friday Night Drive podcast and everything we
do at Friday Night Drive and sues.

478
00:33:57.640 --> 00:34:00.960
We're gonna jump into five A here
my every game of the weekend. I'm

479
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:05.119
share a lot of people's favorite game
of the weekend. High scoring close came

480
00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:12.800
down to the end Nazareth with a
forty five forty four win, but had

481
00:34:12.840 --> 00:34:17.800
to hold it off Peoria scoring with
uh with five fifteen last left out of

482
00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:24.440
Malachi Washington touchdown. Malchai Washington an
incredible performance in this game, six touchdowns.

483
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.360
Trying to find the rushing total here
as I go through stats. Uh.

484
00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:34.639
There it did two hundred and eighty
seven rushing yards on forty seven carries.

485
00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:38.440
Suits UM. Like I said,
it was my favorite game, how

486
00:34:38.440 --> 00:34:42.440
about you? Yeah, it was
for me too. I mean there were

487
00:34:42.440 --> 00:34:45.360
a lot of layered reasons to it. And I said this multiple times over

488
00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:51.159
the course of the weekend the people
that had asked, UM, I have

489
00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:57.039
no background in uh scouting for the
next level. UM, but I find

490
00:34:57.079 --> 00:35:01.079
it absolutely ludicrous that Malachai Washington has
no offers at this point in time.

491
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:06.599
If there has to be a program
at some level that can use that kid,

492
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.599
and if there if that, if
it's truly honestly that no one can

493
00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:15.719
I know even less about football than
I think I do. Um, that's

494
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:22.360
a truly remarkable performance by him.
A human battering ram ran through tackles all

495
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:27.559
day long. He's just so hard
to bring down, asking for more work.

496
00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:30.400
If there has to be somebody out
there that can use that, I

497
00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:36.719
can't. I can't. I find
it impossible to believe that that there's not

498
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:40.599
a college program that could use somewhat
a performer like him. Incredible. That's

499
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:45.679
That's really all that I can say
about what he did. Uh. I

500
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:49.960
I feel bad that that's the only
time I've ever seen him live. I

501
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:53.719
wish I would have sought it out
before. Then that's really a gifted player,

502
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:58.320
and that's that's on the losing team
in that situation. And then the

503
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:01.960
other the other thing that struck me
so much about that, the Nazareth side

504
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:07.239
of things, was how incredibly young
that football team is. Yep, that's

505
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:12.159
where I was going. It's way
too early to talk about this stuff right

506
00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.199
now, but I feel like I
want to use the meme that I see

507
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:21.199
all the time and at the sign
in front of my table reading says Nazareth

508
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:23.239
is the number one team heading into
twenty twenty three. Change in my mind

509
00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:30.280
because there's so much talent coming back
on that team next year. Yeah.

510
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:34.159
Absolutely, I'm trying to go through
here and make sure I don't say anything

511
00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.159
dumb. Let's see. Yeah,
I mean like they're gonna lose justin Taylor

512
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:44.480
Wisconsin commit. But outside that a
lot coming back obviously, Logan Malichuck,

513
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:50.159
the quarterback had a good game on
Saturday. Coming back only a sophomore.

514
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:54.360
You look well, I mean,
who like Gabe Kaminski, a defensive defensive

515
00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:59.679
player on the defensive line there for
Naz had a big game there, ten

516
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:04.159
tackles, several tackles for loss.
I believe he's only a sophomore as well.

517
00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:07.559
I mean there's just you're right,
there's talent up and down the board,

518
00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:10.559
and they were making plays on Saturday
in a state title game. Yeah,

519
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:14.840
I mean you got, you know, five sophomore starters on the offensive

520
00:37:14.840 --> 00:37:16.320
side of the ball. On the
other side of the ball, you've got

521
00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:22.679
four more sophomore starters, a freshman, you know, two juniors. I

522
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.800
mean it's like, yeah, they're
losing some key people to graduation that were

523
00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:29.719
like justin Taylor, like you mentioned, Zach Hayes brings a lot to the

524
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:35.199
table for that team. But there's
just so much there and so young and

525
00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:40.440
really very few indications of that youth
on the field. Usually with a team

526
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:44.880
that young, you'll see sometimes you'll
see some explosive plays, but you'll see

527
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:47.320
a lot of mistakes that, you
know, kind of counteract some of that

528
00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:52.000
explosiveness. Man, that just really
wasn't the case here, That just that

529
00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:58.760
did not happen. There were times
I looked down there and the freshman was

530
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:05.519
involved. Then almost everything, I
mean, less Roy Tittle just just makes

531
00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:10.280
plays, and he's a freshman.
You just don't have that happen very often.

532
00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:15.880
And compounded on top of that,
I mean, he was constantly locking

533
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:19.639
horns with offensive lineman that we're still
on the other side, that we're you

534
00:38:19.639 --> 00:38:22.760
know, three hundred and fifty pounds, and he just kept making plays.

535
00:38:23.239 --> 00:38:27.400
So, I mean, it's just
it was remarkable to me to see how

536
00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:31.760
good that team is right now and
how good it could potentially be as long

537
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:36.159
as it all stays together in the
form that it is. So they will

538
00:38:36.519 --> 00:38:40.159
do they go up to six A
for this, right they they will get

539
00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:44.599
h successful RelA. It will not
get the success formula because the only way

540
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:50.000
to get the success formulas if you
trophy. And there's nazar things last year.

541
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:53.880
So again, that's the kind of
the conversation we'll be talking about in

542
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:58.320
a couple of weeks, um,
So I wanted to double check on that.

543
00:38:58.760 --> 00:39:01.920
All right, SEUs, Let's go
on to Class six A here where

544
00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:09.280
East Saint Louis fifty seven to seven
winner over Prairie Ridge. I guess the

545
00:39:09.400 --> 00:39:15.599
place you have to start is let's
I guess you go to the beginning.

546
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:20.000
John Howe, who uh, let
me see if I can, I don't

547
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.119
want to get it wrong. The
website that he helps run he's based out

548
00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:29.440
of the Saint Louis area, covers
both Missouri high school football and Illinois high

549
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:35.039
school football in the Saint Louis area
GSV Saint Louis Gateway Sports Venue. So

550
00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:38.679
John was at midfield for the coin
toss between East Saint Louis and Prairie Ridge

551
00:39:38.679 --> 00:39:43.760
and got an incredible shot showing the
size difference between the two sides. I

552
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:50.239
retweeted it and like his tweet went
completely viral, but just me retweeting it

553
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:53.639
with a comment it was an incredible
scene and go find that on either john

554
00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:58.719
Twitter account or fine mine u and
look at it because it is. It's

555
00:39:58.840 --> 00:40:00.280
hilarious. I mean, that's only
thing, the only way to put it.

556
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:06.920
It's like you see East Saint Louis, Miles McVeigh, Corey or Patterson

557
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:13.480
um uh, and then like the
the just the line down and then East

558
00:40:13.480 --> 00:40:15.840
our Prayer Ridge on the other side, and Chris Stramp kind of at the

559
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:20.599
end, coach Chris Stramp looking on
and it's just it's it's comical how big

560
00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:24.280
they are. Well, for me, it was about East Saint Louis playing

561
00:40:25.400 --> 00:40:30.400
up to its potential on Saturday.
And if they did that and played relatively

562
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:35.000
clean, um, I don't know
if anybody can match up with them.

563
00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:39.440
And it was, uh, you
know, a situation that quickly escalated and

564
00:40:39.559 --> 00:40:45.079
got to the point where I think
it may have been heading towards anyway.

565
00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:49.599
Uh deceived us a little bit.
Prayer Ridge put together a really nice drive

566
00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.519
to start the game. We might
have just a back and forth battle on

567
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:59.639
our hands again. But uh,
that was that was very fleeting. It

568
00:40:59.639 --> 00:41:05.559
didn't happen much for Prairie Ridge after
that that one initial drive, and H

569
00:41:05.719 --> 00:41:09.000
E. St. Louis showed exactly
what they're capable of when the full playbook

570
00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:14.079
is available to them. They struggled
a little bit in a semifinal game.

571
00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:19.320
While they don't pass a ton,
they pass effectively when they do, and

572
00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:22.880
they couldn't really pass in that semifinal
game. Granted Lamont couldn't do it either,

573
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:28.679
but E. Saint Louis becomes an
absolute enigma to try to defend when

574
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:32.159
you have to deal with both elements
of that game. It's just if you

575
00:41:32.239 --> 00:41:37.480
can't you know, stack up in
the box to try to deal with that

576
00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:42.119
offensive line in some capacity to stop
the running game. You just got to

577
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:44.840
take that. Man for man,
you're gonna be in trouble. And if

578
00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:49.239
you if you don't provide some extra
help to some of those outside wide receivers,

579
00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:52.639
that's a problem too. So just
a real, you know, a

580
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:59.960
real situation where whatever choice you make
is going to have some potential negative consequence.

581
00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:05.079
And it really showed itself over the
course, especially late first half early

582
00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:08.679
second half when they really kind of
put the hammer down. They showed why

583
00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:15.760
that team feels pretty comfortable playing in
nationally ranked opponents because they know that they

584
00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:21.199
have the ability to match up with
those teams. It's a couple of things

585
00:42:21.239 --> 00:42:22.599
there, or several. Thing I
want to make sure I hit on first

586
00:42:22.679 --> 00:42:27.719
is I appreciate the fact that as
I went to say Paris Patterson, I

587
00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:30.480
said Corey Patterson, because my brain
is melted at this point, and you

588
00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:35.719
didn't immediately make fun of me,
because I've almost started laughing when I realized

589
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:38.599
it. I don't know why Corey
Patterson of all people, popped into my

590
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:43.320
head there, but they did.
My brain is a strange place. But

591
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:46.239
he also had a great game on
Saturday too. By the way, he

592
00:42:46.360 --> 00:42:51.400
was leading that he was leading the
charge sometimes on some of those polling plays.

593
00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:53.360
And to be honest with you,
if I was a Prayer Ridge defender,

594
00:42:53.719 --> 00:42:57.199
I probably would have just said,
nope, I'm out. Yeah,

595
00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:00.719
I mean, that's probably I mean, he played very well, I thought,

596
00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:02.960
but that, like I said,
they were they were in really,

597
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:07.239
really good East Saint Louis Forum.
It's one of the reasons why I'm so

598
00:43:07.639 --> 00:43:12.159
connected to that program in regards to
talking about the best teams in the state

599
00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:15.039
every year, because that's the kind
of thing that I think they're capable at

600
00:43:15.079 --> 00:43:19.079
the top of their game. And
on the other side, it was obviously

601
00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:23.000
a tough day for Prairie Ridge.
But you know, I we've mentioned it

602
00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:27.639
before on the podcast. I think
we did on the preview podcast. Prairie

603
00:43:27.679 --> 00:43:30.760
Ridge or Kerry Grove have now represented
the Fox Valley Conference. And these are

604
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:36.159
two schools and within the same school
district even have now represented the FVC in

605
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:40.840
every state championship since going back to
twenty sixteen. And there have been several

606
00:43:40.920 --> 00:43:45.559
times where they've come into that game
as pretty much a juggernaut, both of

607
00:43:45.559 --> 00:43:49.800
those programs. That was not the
case this year, and and listen,

608
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:53.559
this was a really good Prairie Ridge
team. You know, I all along

609
00:43:54.480 --> 00:43:59.440
going back to the beginning of the
season. Joe Stevenson, I Joe Stevenson,

610
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:01.960
the long time reporter here that covered
McHenry County for Friday night driving the

611
00:44:01.960 --> 00:44:08.599
Northwest Herald. You know, we
assumed pr was going to be the team

612
00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:12.599
this year, but you know,
talk with the way things developed, and

613
00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:17.480
even if Chris Remp admitted, you
know, coach Chris Remp talking about not

614
00:44:17.679 --> 00:44:22.400
knowing if this was a team that
could get that far, the amount of

615
00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:29.480
progress you saw from them late into
the season and into the postseason really impressive.

616
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:35.360
Tyler Vacy, after having back to
back years where he struggled through injuries,

617
00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:38.280
coming back playing quarterback this year,
setting the all time state record for

618
00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:45.039
Russian yards really really an impressive season
for the Wolves, despite what happened on

619
00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:49.599
Saturday. Yeah, I mean,
you really can't say enough about about what

620
00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:52.079
they were able to do over the
course of the year, especially in the

621
00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:55.000
playoffs. It was just one of
those things where you know, really kind

622
00:44:55.039 --> 00:44:59.719
of caught a way of a momentum
and maximized what they had to offer their

623
00:45:00.360 --> 00:45:01.639
I mean, we had talked about
it a little bit over the course of

624
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:05.920
the year. I mean, defensively, they've had some issues at times,

625
00:45:06.519 --> 00:45:09.440
and that's not a great recipe to
go up up against the Saint Louis with.

626
00:45:10.199 --> 00:45:13.519
Um, But you know, even
early on in that game, you

627
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:16.280
kind of still kind of got a
little bit of a feeling that maybe maybe

628
00:45:16.280 --> 00:45:19.960
they might be able to, you
know, pull some rabbits out of their

629
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:22.280
hats. But it was East Saint
Louis's day, and I think pretty much

630
00:45:22.280 --> 00:45:25.840
everybody involved in that game, you
know, at the end you just kind

631
00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:28.880
of tip your cap and say,
well, you know, what do you

632
00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:32.199
I mean, Coach Trump even in
the postgame post conference, was kind of

633
00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:36.320
like, you know, what were
we supposed to do? I mean,

634
00:45:36.400 --> 00:45:40.400
you know, I mean when you
have that and I mean where where you're

635
00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:45.000
looking at that on the other side
of the field. Um, unless they

636
00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:49.239
unless they make a lot of a
lot of things to help you out,

637
00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:52.760
and they in East Saint Louis did
not do that. Um, it's gonna

638
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:55.440
be it could potentially be a long
day, and it was. But you

639
00:45:55.519 --> 00:46:00.320
really, this is a really classic
example of being able to, after a

640
00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:06.639
little bit of time has lapsed,
separate what happened on Saturday, from all

641
00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:09.440
of the other things that you accomplished
over the course of the regular season in

642
00:46:09.519 --> 00:46:15.320
getting there, because that list is
lengthy and it's impressive. So hopefully,

643
00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:21.440
you know, the members of that
Prairie squad and the coaching staff don't look

644
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:24.320
at the end result as much as
they look at the journey that got them

645
00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:30.440
there, because they did a lot
of really impressive things. Absolutely, all

646
00:46:30.519 --> 00:46:35.280
right, let's go over to class
to a where Mount Carmel was a forty

647
00:46:35.360 --> 00:46:40.880
four twenty winner over Batavia. You
know, you came into this, you

648
00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:46.119
knew it was going to take a
fair amount for Batavia to win this game.

649
00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:51.719
We both really really liked this Mount
Carmel squad all season long. It

650
00:46:51.800 --> 00:46:55.360
was really once they won the game
against Loyola. You know, when you

651
00:46:55.360 --> 00:47:00.280
look at our power rank in that
Friday night drive and our conversations, we

652
00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:04.119
were pretty confident in East Saint Louis
and Mount Carmel being those top two teams.

653
00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:08.679
But with that being said, I
don't think any of us expected to

654
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:13.639
see that game be twenty eight to
zero early in the second quarter with the

655
00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:16.599
caravan up on Batavia. You know, I think heading into the game and

656
00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:21.559
maybe a little bit prior to that, and we'd actually taken a little flat

657
00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:27.960
from it about not talking about Mount
Carmel that much. And I think some

658
00:47:28.039 --> 00:47:31.039
of that is because I kind of
took their quality for granted a little bit.

659
00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:35.440
You know, I'm like, well, what else can you say?

660
00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:38.559
They're really really good. We know
they're really good, and they're performing at

661
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:43.239
that level. And I mean,
but the one thing that really kind of

662
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:45.800
stood out to me about that game
is how they came right out of the

663
00:47:45.840 --> 00:47:51.519
gate and absolutely just threw down the
accelerator and said this is what we can

664
00:47:51.559 --> 00:47:54.840
do. Watch. I mean,
because they really put it on Batavia early

665
00:47:54.880 --> 00:48:00.320
in that game, they put it
out of reach quickly and said not tonight,

666
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:04.039
boys, this isn't gonna happen.
And we had we had I don't

667
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:07.599
even remember if we did it in
the podcast or when we were talking about

668
00:48:07.599 --> 00:48:12.119
it individually later on off the podcast. We both kind of felt like maybe

669
00:48:12.159 --> 00:48:16.719
that was going to happen because there
was a little undercurrent conversation about the previous

670
00:48:16.760 --> 00:48:22.440
matchup and and you know, I
think, you know, while both teams

671
00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:25.000
didn't really want to talk about it
heading into this game, I think Mount

672
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:30.480
Carmel. The undercurrent of what was
going on there was, you know,

673
00:48:30.639 --> 00:48:34.079
yeah we won the game, and
people say we maybe didn't earn it.

674
00:48:34.280 --> 00:48:37.880
We're going to show you what we're
about here, and they did that and

675
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:43.079
really impressive fashion. Blaney Dowing just
came out and just started swinging the ball

676
00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:47.079
all over the place and it was
I mean, that game was I think

677
00:48:47.119 --> 00:48:51.000
of all the games over the weekend, that was the one that I felt

678
00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:53.920
like was over the quickest. Yea, yeah that It was just like,

679
00:48:55.360 --> 00:49:00.119
this one's over. We can you
know, the final score might say,

680
00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:02.920
you know, it's a little bit
closer than this, but but they they

681
00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:07.679
flexed the muscle really quickly and said, you know, don't forget about us,

682
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:12.280
guys, We're a darn good football
team. You bring up Blaney Dowling.

683
00:49:12.440 --> 00:49:15.119
I had not seen him in person
this year. I had gone back

684
00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:17.159
and watched some tape on him because
I had heard really good things about how

685
00:49:17.239 --> 00:49:22.599
much he had progressed. I was
really really impressed with him though, like

686
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:27.800
beyond what I had seen on tape, a really good game from him,

687
00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:30.519
particularly in that first half once I
got the lead, he was kind of

688
00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:32.159
able to take the foot off the
accelerator, but he was slinging the ball.

689
00:49:32.199 --> 00:49:37.519
He made a couple of throws down
into the end zone that we were

690
00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:40.400
impressive throws. Yeah, they were, and it was funny. In the

691
00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:45.719
post game press conference, let's just
say it was Blaney Dowling unplugged. He

692
00:49:45.880 --> 00:49:50.920
was. He was kind of all
over the place. And finally Jordan Lynch

693
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:53.239
jokingly stepped in and said, okay, guys, no more questions for Blaney

694
00:49:53.320 --> 00:49:59.199
because he was he was kind of
all over the place. But exuberant Kiddon

695
00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:00.960
plays that way. I mean,
that's really what it comes down to.

696
00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:04.920
He he puts it out there and
says, hey, let's go. And

697
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:07.719
it was fun to watch. It
was definitely one of the performances over the

698
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:12.719
course of the weekend that I enjoy
the lot. All right, one class

699
00:50:12.880 --> 00:50:15.119
left to go here, and there
are two teams. Um you know,

700
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:19.079
we talked about the best teams at
the end of the year and at our

701
00:50:19.119 --> 00:50:24.079
top of our rankings with East Saint
Louis and and UM Mount Carmel. The

702
00:50:24.079 --> 00:50:27.800
other two that we always were talking
about, it felt like, was Lincoln

703
00:50:27.800 --> 00:50:35.079
Way East and Loyola. And this
game really really played to type thirteen three

704
00:50:35.159 --> 00:50:39.719
final for Loyola. They got the
lead, and you know it, it

705
00:50:39.760 --> 00:50:45.599
was pretty I felt pretty confident pretty
quickly by the really at the end of

706
00:50:45.599 --> 00:50:49.599
the first quarter that that game was
going to just kind of play out in

707
00:50:49.639 --> 00:50:53.320
that fashion. Yeah, it was. It was definitely one of those games

708
00:50:53.360 --> 00:50:58.920
where, even after it started in
really kind of a strange, unexpected fashion,

709
00:50:59.559 --> 00:51:02.519
just still kind of felt like it
was just gonna be this this boxing

710
00:51:02.559 --> 00:51:07.840
match where each guy was just trying
to drop these haymakers, you know,

711
00:51:07.079 --> 00:51:12.960
maybe not like in the consequential status. Well, they ran for eighty yards.

712
00:51:12.960 --> 00:51:15.599
They I'm talking about, like you
need to get in there and fight

713
00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:19.760
for three yard games. That's just
what I kind of felt like this game

714
00:51:19.840 --> 00:51:23.920
was going to be. And then
Loyola absolutely floors me. First play of

715
00:51:23.960 --> 00:51:29.079
the game, they run a flea
flicker. Yeah, eighty yard touchdown.

716
00:51:29.559 --> 00:51:34.119
I didn't I asked the question in
the postgame press conference because I really was

717
00:51:34.239 --> 00:51:38.880
kind of more amused than anything else. But I asked coach Holisek how long

718
00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:44.239
it had been since they'd actually run
that play, and he didn't. He

719
00:51:44.280 --> 00:51:50.199
didn't specifically answer that part of my
question, but you know, it was

720
00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:53.280
so out of character for what you
expect from Loyola in that situation, and

721
00:51:53.360 --> 00:51:57.519
even Jack, you know, Jake
Starney backed that up and said, you

722
00:51:57.559 --> 00:52:00.480
know, when we go into that
formation, people have an expectation of what

723
00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:04.960
we're going to do in that situation, which is, you know, run

724
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:07.960
the ball and you know, in
a north south variety and then they go

725
00:52:07.960 --> 00:52:12.840
and run flee flicker. And it
was just it was completely out of the

726
00:52:12.880 --> 00:52:16.920
box from Loyola. But I also
think in a roundabout way, it was

727
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:23.320
kind of the ultimate compliment to Lincoln
Way East saying, hey, we we

728
00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:28.239
don't know if what we usually do
is going to work here, like,

729
00:52:28.960 --> 00:52:31.760
so we gotta I took it.
I sorry, I took it as a

730
00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:36.119
we know points you're gonna be hard
to score. We need to get the

731
00:52:36.239 --> 00:52:38.360
lead because whoever gets the lead is
going to dictate the flow of this game.

732
00:52:38.719 --> 00:52:42.239
Yeah. I think that's fair.
But like for me, it was

733
00:52:42.280 --> 00:52:45.639
just kind of like, you know, they no doubt about it. They

734
00:52:45.760 --> 00:52:50.519
went pretty deep back into playbook for
that. Yeah, that's just not Loyola.

735
00:52:50.760 --> 00:52:52.800
That's not what you from Loyola.
Like, you know, I fully

736
00:52:52.800 --> 00:52:57.239
expected them to just you know,
try to you know, power it down

737
00:52:57.239 --> 00:53:00.400
the field, short passes, Sterning
is so good at making the right decision

738
00:53:00.440 --> 00:53:05.280
at the right time, you know, just a patented Loyola drive where they

739
00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:08.360
put together, you know, you
know, fourteen plays and figure out a

740
00:53:08.360 --> 00:53:12.440
way to get it into the end
zone. But nope, they went and

741
00:53:12.519 --> 00:53:16.480
dropped that and it was just and
then it turned out to be kind of

742
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:19.840
like what you said, points are
going to be hard to come by,

743
00:53:20.320 --> 00:53:22.840
but the way that they got them
was very interesting to me, and for

744
00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:28.480
me that the second biggest sequence in
the game was, you know, Lincoln

745
00:53:28.480 --> 00:53:31.559
Way East puts together this monster drive
and goes the length of the field and

746
00:53:31.719 --> 00:53:36.639
just is chunking it down the field. It took them forever. I think

747
00:53:36.639 --> 00:53:42.039
it ultimately ended up being a nine
minute drive and ends up getting inside the

748
00:53:42.079 --> 00:53:45.480
Loyola ten yard line and take a
sack and end up having to settle for

749
00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:50.519
a field goal, which allowed Loyola
going the halftime break with a seven to

750
00:53:50.599 --> 00:53:53.039
three lead. And you're like,
well, that's not that big of a

751
00:53:53.079 --> 00:53:55.920
deal, But in a game like
this, it was the fact that Lincoln

752
00:53:55.920 --> 00:54:00.480
Way East wasn't able to finish that
drive with a touchdown going to the break

753
00:54:00.519 --> 00:54:04.760
with a tie score, I felt
like that was that was. That was

754
00:54:04.760 --> 00:54:08.559
a huge, huge momentum thing in
a game that ultimately ended up being kind

755
00:54:08.559 --> 00:54:13.079
of exactly what we thought it was
going to be, an extremely low scoring

756
00:54:13.119 --> 00:54:17.800
football game with very few plays that
would make the difference in it. You

757
00:54:17.840 --> 00:54:25.320
know, ultimately, Lincoln Waist couldn't
get the kind of I guess offensive work

758
00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:29.880
done that they usually do. I
think a lot of that had to do

759
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.920
with the front seven of Loyola had
a hard time blocking them, and link

760
00:54:34.920 --> 00:54:37.039
Away East has not had a lot
of experiences this year where they've had a

761
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:44.119
hard time blocking the opposing teams front. So I thought both teams played pretty

762
00:54:44.159 --> 00:54:45.559
well in this football game. I
didn't think there were a lot of times

763
00:54:45.559 --> 00:54:49.440
where I were like, oh that
was a mistake or I just didn't have

764
00:54:49.480 --> 00:54:53.519
a lot of those moments. You
know. Link Away East obviously was hoping

765
00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:57.920
for a much different result than they
got, but they did not make a

766
00:54:57.920 --> 00:55:00.920
bad accounting for themselves. They did
not get if they did not give loyala

767
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:06.239
this football game in any stretch of
the imagination. The stats that really kind

768
00:55:06.280 --> 00:55:08.800
of tell the story of this game
and how it played out. Obviously,

769
00:55:08.840 --> 00:55:15.559
the two long touched are the two
touchdowns for Loyola the one start and then

770
00:55:15.599 --> 00:55:17.519
and then the second one there to
kind of put it out of reaching the

771
00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:22.960
third quarter. But you know,
when you know the identities of these two

772
00:55:22.960 --> 00:55:27.400
teams wanting to be rushing offenses first, right, and you look and you

773
00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:30.599
got Lincoln Way East with thirty six
carries for one hundred and fifteen yards,

774
00:55:30.599 --> 00:55:37.360
Loyola twenty five carries for forty four
yards. Just even with that thirty six

775
00:55:37.360 --> 00:55:39.880
for one fifteen, that's not a
high average. You know, it was

776
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:45.639
just both teams struggling to go with
their bread and butter. Loyola was able

777
00:55:45.639 --> 00:55:49.800
to just get a little bit more
through the age, Jake Stearney going for

778
00:55:49.800 --> 00:55:54.400
fourteen for I believe fourteen and nineteen
through the air, both touchdown passes.

779
00:55:54.440 --> 00:55:58.280
But at the end of the day, Loyola with two hundred and eighteen yards

780
00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:01.599
the total offense Lincoln Way Lincoln Way
East with one hundred and ninety six yards

781
00:56:01.599 --> 00:56:07.320
of offense in a state title game
defensive battle. It really, like I

782
00:56:07.360 --> 00:56:09.880
said, played out how I expected. Though. Yeah, it's now the

783
00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:15.360
fourth time these guys have played in
basically, you know, five seasons in

784
00:56:15.400 --> 00:56:21.519
the postseason semifinal games, quarterfinal games, championship games. Now they're dead even

785
00:56:21.559 --> 00:56:24.159
in championship game wins. You know, with Lincoln Way, he's beating Loyal

786
00:56:24.199 --> 00:56:29.719
and their previous meeting in a title
game. You know, it kind of

787
00:56:29.760 --> 00:56:34.119
played out exactly the way that I
thought it would. I didn't necessarily think

788
00:56:34.119 --> 00:56:37.800
that Loyal would win, you know, by eleven points per se, thought

789
00:56:37.800 --> 00:56:39.760
it might be a little bit tighter
to like a one score game, But

790
00:56:39.920 --> 00:56:43.960
ultimately it was just kind of what
I thought it was. It was like,

791
00:56:44.920 --> 00:56:47.320
I really thought, coming into this
might be one play that this makes

792
00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:52.960
the difference in this game, and
I've oddly it turned out to be the

793
00:56:52.039 --> 00:56:55.519
first play Loyal I ran from scrimmage
in my mind with the police flicker that

794
00:56:55.559 --> 00:57:00.280
went for a touchdown because Lincoln Way
East was put in position for the rest

795
00:57:00.320 --> 00:57:05.239
of the game. It's a position
they have been in very infrequently this season.

796
00:57:05.639 --> 00:57:07.960
And then when you combine that with
a loyala defense that has time and

797
00:57:07.960 --> 00:57:13.000
time again proved that you know,
it takes offense at giving up yardage,

798
00:57:13.760 --> 00:57:17.920
it's it's it's was really kind of
a recipe for some real problems for Lincoln

799
00:57:17.920 --> 00:57:22.599
Way East. You know, in
a perfect world, if Lincoln waaste gets

800
00:57:22.599 --> 00:57:25.880
points on the board first, maybe
the whole thing is flipped around in different

801
00:57:27.320 --> 00:57:30.119
you know, maybe if they break
up that flee flicker, I mean,

802
00:57:30.159 --> 00:57:32.320
we might still be playing. I
mean, that's I mean, that's really

803
00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:36.679
what it came down to for me, that there wasn't a lot of difference,

804
00:57:36.719 --> 00:57:39.079
but the eleven point gap makes you
think that there might be a why

805
00:57:39.320 --> 00:57:43.400
between these two teams. That is
not the case. I mean, these

806
00:57:43.440 --> 00:57:49.199
are two very very closely intertwined football
teams in terms of the margin of the

807
00:57:49.239 --> 00:57:52.719
difference of their rosters. And I
think if you watch that game, you

808
00:57:52.760 --> 00:57:55.360
saw that. All right. See, so let's go ahead and wrap this

809
00:57:55.440 --> 00:57:58.880
up and get out of here for
this edition of the Friday Night Drive Podcast.

810
00:57:58.880 --> 00:58:02.280
You got any final thoughts on the
championship weekend? You know, it

811
00:58:02.320 --> 00:58:05.840
was a good weekend and whole.
I mean, the one thing that I

812
00:58:05.880 --> 00:58:08.280
always worry about is that, you
know, we might have some matchups that

813
00:58:08.519 --> 00:58:13.199
turn a little bit lopsided. But
I thought we had We had one game

814
00:58:13.239 --> 00:58:15.280
that went to running clock, but
but the other ones, for the most

815
00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:20.920
part at least had stretches where they
were competitive football games. And that's what

816
00:58:21.000 --> 00:58:23.079
I'm really hoping for. Ultimately in
this week. I mean, we've we've

817
00:58:23.119 --> 00:58:28.039
had some bad ones in years past
where there were some lopsided games. You

818
00:58:28.079 --> 00:58:30.280
never want that. But we had
some real doozies. We had some good

819
00:58:30.320 --> 00:58:34.960
games, we had some great plays, we had some great players, you

820
00:58:34.960 --> 00:58:37.840
know. And then obviously when it's
over, I go into a pocket of

821
00:58:37.880 --> 00:58:43.280
deep sadness that I probably won't recover
from for at least a very few a

822
00:58:43.320 --> 00:58:47.440
few couple of weeks after this.
But my mental status aside, you know,

823
00:58:47.519 --> 00:58:52.400
it was a very good state championship
weekend in my opinion. Yeah,

824
00:58:52.400 --> 00:58:55.400
it was a wonderful weekend. And
just because the seasons over, just because

825
00:58:55.440 --> 00:59:00.400
our weekly recaps are over, does
not mean Friday Night Drives going anywhere.

826
00:59:00.400 --> 00:59:02.280
We got a lot of postseason stuff
to get into. I've already previewed a

827
00:59:02.280 --> 00:59:06.239
couple of the podcasts. We plan
on doing a lot of stuff to dive

828
00:59:06.280 --> 00:59:08.039
into. So stick with us at
Friday Night Drive dot Com. We're gonna

829
00:59:08.039 --> 00:59:10.280
get out of here for now.
Though. For Steve Susie, I am

830
00:59:10.360 --> 00:59:15.440
Kyle Neighbors. Everyone. Hope you
enjoyed the weekend. It was great being

831
00:59:15.480 --> 00:59:17.440
down in Champaigne. Thank you everyone
who came up to us, said,

832
00:59:17.519 --> 00:59:22.639
Hi talked about listening in the podcast. It's great to have the feedback and

833
00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:25.599
know that we're just not sitting here
together. Susan I just kind of prattling

834
00:59:25.639 --> 00:59:29.039
on to ourselves, so we appreciate
it. But for now, thank you

835
00:59:29.079 --> 00:59:31.159
again for Steve Susy. I am
Kyle Neighbors. We'll talk to you down

836
00:59:31.199 --> 00:59:37.599
the road. Schweiker, Gannison Krizak
Rundio proudly sponsors to Friday Night Drive.

837
00:59:37.760 --> 00:59:39.599
I'm Mike Krazak. If you've been
injured, we are ready to take on

838
00:59:39.679 --> 00:59:44.079
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