Speaker 1: I hold the bracket in my hand, completed with the
Speaker 1: you and the circle around it right here in the middle. Actually,
Speaker 1: since I'm left handed, let me do this. Because it
Speaker 1: is circled and BT is circled and the center of
Speaker 1: the bracket, that means that you won, coming all the
Speaker 1: way from the Region six championship. How difficult is it
Speaker 1: to be the top ranked team in a lot of
Speaker 1: polls to make it from here in the upper right
Speaker 1: hand part of the bracket. You mentioned how challenging a
Speaker 1: year it was, But how tough is it to be
Speaker 1: number one? Stay number one? Deal with the pressure, block
Speaker 1: it out and get all the way from here, all
Speaker 1: the way to here where I get to circle you
Speaker 1: in the middle of a brackets page.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of weird being number one all year.
Speaker 3: We were nowhere near that last year, and so we'd
Speaker 3: really never felt like we were necessarily number one, necessarily
Speaker 3: always the favorite. Even going into you know, powerhouse, like
Speaker 3: playing a powerhouse like Marists, it almost felt a little
Speaker 3: bit like we're the underdog. They've been there the last
Speaker 3: two years, had a lot of experience in state championship games,
Speaker 3: and you know, so you know, even though we were
Speaker 3: ranked number one. I'm not really sure if that really
Speaker 3: sunk in either that we really felt like we were
Speaker 3: necessarily the.
Speaker 1: Favorites when you're in a title game against a team
Speaker 1: that is as talented as yours, going up against a
Speaker 1: team that is as talented as Maris.
Speaker 4: Walk me through that eighty minutes and what it was
Speaker 4: like for you.
Speaker 3: Well, we thought we had a pretty solid game plan
Speaker 3: in terms of tactics, and we really thought we prepared
Speaker 3: the girls very well in terms of psychology. We did
Speaker 3: know that Maris had been there the last two years,
Speaker 3: so they're going to have a little more experience, maybe
Speaker 3: a little bit more you know, composure. At the start
Speaker 3: State Championship games can kind of get a little crazy,
Speaker 3: and we knew that just with the nerves, and we
Speaker 3: were pretty nervous though probably for at least the first
Speaker 3: thirty minutes of the game. We expected some things to
Speaker 3: go up and down in sideways, but we didn't expect
Speaker 3: to be, you know, just a basket of nerves.
Speaker 2: For the first thirty minutes.
Speaker 3: We were on our heels quite a bit, you know,
Speaker 3: just trying to really prevent Maris from getting many quality
Speaker 3: chances we didn't have. It didn't see a whole lot
Speaker 3: of the ball. Probably about the last ten minutes of
Speaker 3: the half, we started seeing a handful of decent sequences
Speaker 3: and really seeing the patterns that we had practiced and
Speaker 3: in practice to get prepared for Maris.
Speaker 2: Finding the gaps where we thought we could expose them.
Speaker 3: We started seeing those show up a little bit, and
Speaker 3: so God had a little bit of confidence going into
Speaker 3: the second half, and I felt like we we definitely
Speaker 3: competed a little bit better those last ten minutes the
Speaker 3: first half in the second half and made the game
Speaker 3: pretty interesting and then really just finally made a play
Speaker 3: and defended brilliantly and I ended up on top.
Speaker 1: So what were the conversations like with you, the staff
Speaker 1: and the girls about Okay, you know it's another I
Speaker 1: know that I know that you're telling them that it's
Speaker 1: just another game and it's just another opponent, trying to
Speaker 1: blot out the fact that there's a title on the line.
Speaker 1: Where you were kind of on your heels, how do
Speaker 1: you reorient their thought process to have them focus on
Speaker 1: the match and not have them focus on a match
Speaker 1: that determines a title, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we just kind of talked about a lot of
Speaker 3: the same things we talked about throughout the season. You know,
Speaker 3: we had a really really great year, made a lot
Speaker 3: of great plays, you know, each individual player, we went
Speaker 3: through and highlighted all the you know, a lot of
Speaker 3: the great things they've done all year, just so we
Speaker 3: could really fuel their self confidence or self belief, their
Speaker 3: trust in one another. You know, like you said, it's
Speaker 3: it's you tell them it's just another game. But it's
Speaker 3: really hard, you know, even for us as coaches, it's
Speaker 3: really hard to get that into our minds as well.
Speaker 3: But you know, like I said, we really felt like
Speaker 3: we had a good game plan. We just went through
Speaker 3: the x's and o's like we usually do, and pointed
Speaker 3: out the spaces that would work and the patterns that
Speaker 3: would probably work against Maris's formation and and their their
Speaker 3: style of play.
Speaker 2: But went a little haywire, But we fought really really.
Speaker 4: Hard win a little haywire.
Speaker 2: It did.
Speaker 3: Like I said, the first thirty minutes, you know, we
Speaker 3: just we felt like we were completely on our heels
Speaker 3: and they were all over us. But finally, like I said,
Speaker 3: kind of last ten minutes of the first half and
Speaker 3: throughout the second half.
Speaker 2: Got a little bit better. Control of the game and
Speaker 2: competed a little bit better.
Speaker 1: So wrapped up the season at nineteen and one nationally,
Speaker 1: ranked as high as seven in some polls, ranked number
Speaker 1: five in the state of Georgia in some polls. Win
Speaker 1: I mentioned this roster and specifically the seniors are that
Speaker 1: are leaving. What sticks with you in your mind from
Speaker 1: this group of seniors that's graduating.
Speaker 3: So we only have four seniors graduating, but this is
Speaker 3: probably the best senior leadership we've ever had. Very young team,
Speaker 3: eight freshmen, two sophomores that play a ton of minutes
Speaker 3: and anywhere. I think during the state championship game at
Speaker 3: one point we had six freshmen the field, so you.
Speaker 2: Know, a lot of young players.
Speaker 3: And uh, this this group of four seniors, really it
Speaker 3: didn't really seem like those kids were sophomores and freshmen,
Speaker 3: And it was really a lot of the senior leadership
Speaker 3: and making them feel included and feel confident and you know,
Speaker 3: just feel part of the team.
Speaker 1: So nothing like having half a dozen freshmen out there
Speaker 1: performing and I mean two of them with the last
Speaker 1: name of Melish, I mean, what what what was it
Speaker 1: like to to see them? How do you tell them
Speaker 1: apart by the.
Speaker 3: Way uh they're they're not they're not identical. So and
Speaker 3: one's a forward and one's a defender. Uh so, definitely
Speaker 3: easy to tell them apart. And and they're actually not
Speaker 3: identical looking and they act completely to Okay, Julie is
Speaker 3: outgoing and bold and uh you know, excitable and and
Speaker 3: and funny and and Anna's you know, just pretty reserved,
Speaker 3: uh but but confident and calm and uh.
Speaker 2: So very different.
Speaker 3: And the way they look and the way they act
Speaker 3: and the positions they play everything.
Speaker 1: Three double digit goal scorers. But once again, you've got
Speaker 1: a you had a lot of different contributors this season
Speaker 1: speaking to the balance A that's there, the experience that's
Speaker 1: there even if you are an underclassman. So it seems
Speaker 1: like that the rhythm was there from early on. When
Speaker 1: did you realize that this might be a very special group.
Speaker 1: Was there a particular moment this season where that might
Speaker 1: have triggered.
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure.
Speaker 3: You know, we actually lost our opening scrimmage to Milton
Speaker 3: and and and didn't look very good. But a couple
Speaker 3: of early season games we started getting some rhythm, and
Speaker 3: we really work a lot on on actually staying in
Speaker 3: rhythm and on passing patterns and just playing and that's
Speaker 3: actually when we looked our best.
Speaker 2: I think probably one of.
Speaker 3: The best games we had all year was the first
Speaker 3: half of our second game against Westminster.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: We came out and we were just playing, you know,
Speaker 3: in just such great rhythm, such great confidence, and created
Speaker 3: a bunch of chances early. I think we ended up
Speaker 3: winning that game three to nothing. Only scored one goal
Speaker 3: in the first half, but we were just playing so
Speaker 3: so well, and we were like, we thought to ourselves
Speaker 3: as coaches, if we can play.
Speaker 2: Like that, we definitely definitely have a chance to win
Speaker 2: a state championship.
Speaker 4: It's it's crazy to think about.
Speaker 1: And I want to talk about your defense here for
Speaker 1: a second, but I was trying to figure out math
Speaker 1: and for me, that's never my strong suit. But you
Speaker 1: only gave up one goal in the last basically what
Speaker 1: six weeks of the season.
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is insane to think about. You only gave
Speaker 1: up seven goals all season long. But the but you
Speaker 1: gave up the one goal, or you gave up the
Speaker 1: goal of Saint Pius back on May the fifth. Before that,
Speaker 1: the last time you gave up a goal was the
Speaker 1: matchup that you won at Westminster back on March twenty. First,
Speaker 1: that to me is crazy defense. The fact that you
Speaker 1: only give up one goal in your last three, six, nine,
Speaker 1: ten matches, that's insane to me to think about.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We actually we actually said that too.
Speaker 3: If we if we don't give up any goals, it's
Speaker 3: going to be hard for us to lose.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, but what's it like to see
Speaker 1: that defense works so well where you come up with
Speaker 1: that insane a statistic that you only give up one
Speaker 1: goal in your last ten matches.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's really amazing.
Speaker 3: I think we've always been a pretty solid defensive team,
Speaker 3: even last year. I mean, I think our goal differential
Speaker 3: was right around even even though we only won four
Speaker 3: games throughout the course of the year. And but we've
Speaker 3: always focused pretty hard on being a good defensive team.
Speaker 3: We like to keep the ball a lot, but at
Speaker 3: the same time, if we're in trouble, we know that
Speaker 3: there are moments in the game where we just have
Speaker 3: to be safe and be smart and not let the
Speaker 3: just destroy the act and not let the opponent get
Speaker 3: a chance. So we had a couple, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: our defenders did a really really good job of that
Speaker 3: this year, of knowing when they could keep it and
Speaker 3: knowing when they.
Speaker 2: Had to just be a little bit safer.
Speaker 1: Another couple of minutes there with Johnny Jackson, the girls
Speaker 1: head coach, it Blessed Trinity, your Quad eight champs and
Speaker 1: the GHSA.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: How much time did you actually give yourself to celebrate
Speaker 1: once you you won back on the fifteenth, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's been this is the fifth day later. How
Speaker 1: much time did you actually give yourself to celebrate and
Speaker 1: catch your breath?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like I'm still celebrating a little bit.
Speaker 3: So I've had a smile on my face, I think
Speaker 3: since Thursday, getting still a lot of congratulations in the
Speaker 3: school hallway, you know.
Speaker 2: And so again I've.
Speaker 3: Posting some pictures here and there on social media, still
Speaker 3: the same, the same theme, you know, uh, celebrating my
Speaker 3: players and stuff like that. So I guess I guess
Speaker 3: that it's been really really exciting and really really really
Speaker 3: really enjoyable.
Speaker 1: What was the craziest reach out that you've got, either
Speaker 1: on your phone owner on social media? What was like
Speaker 1: the furthest the way someone reached out of the most
Speaker 1: random reach out that you've got to sell it to
Speaker 1: congratulate the club.
Speaker 2: Shoot, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, no one reached out from like Eastern Europe
Speaker 1: or anything like that.
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 3: So I'm actually, aside from being a soccer coach, I'm
Speaker 3: actually a referee and a referee assigner, so you know,
Speaker 3: referees from all over that I work with, you know,
Speaker 3: who work high school games and things like that. Texting me, yeah,
Speaker 3: I can't really think of anything. You know, too crazy.
Speaker 1: Well, you said you'd already kind of started thinking about
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth season. Have you talked to the schedule maker?
Speaker 1: Is your schedule all squared away?
Speaker 4: Do you know what's going on?
Speaker 2: It's almost done.
Speaker 3: I think we have room for one game at the
Speaker 3: very end of the year, right before playoffs, and maybe
Speaker 3: one in between two of our rough, tough region opponents,
Speaker 3: Cambridge and Westminster. I'm trying to decide if I even
Speaker 3: want to put a game there. Might be better to
Speaker 3: have a week of practice. It'll have to be the
Speaker 3: right game if we decided to put one there.
Speaker 1: Well, as always, my friend, it's great to see you. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: Thanks for putting up with all of our requests for
Speaker 1: coming on morning shows and things like that. As we say,
Speaker 1: once again, you grab the bracket and you're circled right there.
Speaker 1: That means you're a state champ right there, right there,
Speaker 1: right there. So congratulations blessed Trinity Class Quade Girls champs
Speaker 1: here in twenty twenty five. Coach, once again, thanks for
Speaker 1: everything you have been putting up with us all season long.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you soon, my friend, don't be
Speaker 1: a stranger.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, John greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 1: There we go, Johnny Jackson, head coach at BT, and
Speaker 1: so this is where we do the hot tag, and
Speaker 1: so as we roll things through, it's time to catch
Speaker 1: up with he had another champ and the first time
Speaker 1: that Declan Abernathy gets to show up here on the
Speaker 1: morning show. And so, so, how does it feel, sir,
Speaker 1: to have Drew Charter as a champion.
Speaker 7: It's incredible, you know, first time for our school winning
Speaker 7: a soccer championship and second time in the finals after
Speaker 7: twenty twenty two and the response, the reaction from the
Speaker 7: team and the community on Friday was something else. Honestly,
Speaker 7: it felt like something out of a movie or a
Speaker 7: TV show, just you know, the crowd, the administrators from
Speaker 7: basically K through twelve being out there and.
Speaker 6: Making it was it was, it was. It was quite
Speaker 6: a feeling.
Speaker 1: So, as I mentioned with Coach Jackson at BT, so
Speaker 1: I have here in my hands, I have here a
Speaker 1: rather thick piece of paper, and I have to deal
Speaker 1: with cardstock this time of year because I write things
Speaker 1: down a lot class double a boys state soccer championship.
Speaker 1: Since you're right here, right here in the middle, and
Speaker 1: you ended up getting the wins, so that means that
Speaker 1: the season ended the way that you were looking at
Speaker 1: ranked number six, came out as team number three, and
Speaker 1: you only you only gave up the one goal heading
Speaker 1: into the championship game against Shaw. What was that run
Speaker 1: like as team three out of the upper right hand
Speaker 1: side of the brackets as we all followed along in pen.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, it was an incredible run.
Speaker 7: And we had nine seniors on our squad this year,
Speaker 7: and you know I tried to.
Speaker 6: Give them as much responsibility as possible.
Speaker 7: Right, So when it came to the playoffs, whether it
Speaker 7: was the organization of getting themselves ready for pregame, right,
Speaker 7: they knew what I expected of them, But I I
Speaker 7: refer to them I gave them the responsibility, you know,
Speaker 7: on the field for organizing the back line. You know,
Speaker 7: all three of our three center backs, our goalkeeper are
Speaker 7: starting right wing back for seniors. And I told him
Speaker 7: right like, we want to be compact when we're out
Speaker 7: of possession, and we have a style of football where
Speaker 7: we want to play with the ball.
Speaker 6: We we had a box midfield.
Speaker 7: We'll want to keep the ball, but when we lose it,
Speaker 7: we want to defend as a team, and we're going
Speaker 7: to win as a team, and we're going to get
Speaker 7: players behind the ball, and if they're going to beat us,
Speaker 7: they're going to have to do it by you know,
Speaker 7: taking us on the dribble one, two, three, four or
Speaker 7: five people and you're not going to get an easy
Speaker 7: goal against us. You might score, but it's going to
Speaker 7: be very difficult and you're going to have to push yourself.
Speaker 4: How hard is it to win eighteen in a row
Speaker 4: to finish the season?
Speaker 6: Oh man? Yeah?
Speaker 7: You know, for most of the season, I wasn't even
Speaker 7: really paying attention to the to the wins as it
Speaker 7: you know, the wind streak as it came right, just
Speaker 7: one game at a time.
Speaker 6: As as so many coaches will.
Speaker 4: Say, in the jar when you know that.
Speaker 7: You know, I think we had a few significant tests.
Speaker 7: We played Tri Cities down at their home field. We
Speaker 7: played Walker at their home field. I think that Walker game,
Speaker 7: which we won on penalties. It was our last regular
Speaker 7: season game of the season. It was a big test
Speaker 7: for us, but we just we you know, the momentum
Speaker 7: started building.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 7: Our first and only loss was against Paideia, which was
Speaker 7: a you know, always a great team, very organized team.
Speaker 7: And I told the boys, you know, from the beginning,
Speaker 7: we didn't have to be ready to win a state
Speaker 7: championship in February, but as the season went on, we
Speaker 7: had to continue to grow as a team, to learn
Speaker 7: the expectations and what it took. And honestly, for them,
Speaker 7: it was about, you know, some of these tight games,
Speaker 7: I need takers on the field, but nobody's going to
Speaker 7: give you a state championship. It's not going to be easy.
Speaker 7: And some of these games, particularly out of our regions schedule,
Speaker 7: really pushed us.
Speaker 1: You wrap up eighteen and one coming out of Class
Speaker 1: Double A, boys, but you had to kind of do
Speaker 1: bits and pieces of it on the road. Once you
Speaker 1: got out of the the the Glen Hills game in
Speaker 1: the three point thirty, then Appling County comes to Drew Charter,
Speaker 1: Murray County comes to Drew Charter. Then you had to
Speaker 1: go to Reidsville to take on Tattnall County before you
Speaker 1: end up having to go and playing for the title
Speaker 1: at Mercer Mak And what was that road trip like
Speaker 1: for the guys, knowing that everything else had been close
Speaker 1: to home. Everything this entire season had been close to home.
Speaker 1: But then you're having to pack a lunch at dinner,
Speaker 1: a midnight snack and maybe a pillow and a tent
Speaker 1: to go down to play in a in a tough
Speaker 1: environment down there, and reads will in a growing soccer
Speaker 1: environment down there at Tatnall County.
Speaker 7: The environment you mentioned, you nailed it is incredible down there.
Speaker 6: And actually last.
Speaker 7: Year in the playoffs we went on the road to
Speaker 7: Toombs County and lost, so it was sort of a
Speaker 7: similar area.
Speaker 6: And for us.
Speaker 7: You know, before the final, of course, we saw this
Speaker 7: as easily the biggest challenge of the playoffs. Right Tatnle
Speaker 7: County was well ranked. They want to state championship in
Speaker 7: the past couple of years, and it's not close, as
Speaker 7: you mentioned, So for us you know, part of the
Speaker 7: thing that we've been focusing on, but this year, last
Speaker 7: year is that mental focus, right, you know, getting on
Speaker 7: the bus, you know what is the task require of us?
Speaker 7: So you know, we have our meals planned out. You know,
Speaker 7: the behavior on the bus is absolute focus. When we
Speaker 7: get there, of course the challenge gets harder. You probably
Speaker 7: don't know this, but the game was wea they're delayed, right,
Speaker 7: had a two hour delay there, couldn't get on the field.
Speaker 6: One of the biggest challenges when we first got there
Speaker 6: was the flies. The new seams down there were getting
Speaker 6: us in the locker room with no AC and it
Speaker 6: just kind of felt like there was a lot of
Speaker 6: things working against us. And we really wanted to play
Speaker 6: that game. Didn't want to make that drive twice.
Speaker 7: And we use it as motivation, right, Like you know,
Speaker 7: there are all these things that we got to overcome
Speaker 7: and if we want to be state champions, nobody's gonna
Speaker 7: give us anything. I think, honestly, the crowd and they
Speaker 7: have a really small field down there, small grass field,
Speaker 7: and for us, like I mentioned, we want to play
Speaker 7: with the ball. Small field makes it hard to deal
Speaker 7: with their press and they're using the intensity and the
Speaker 7: energy from the crowd, and we had to win that
Speaker 7: game really ugly. We got one pretty decent goal of
Speaker 7: the off a corner, but then we scored off our
Speaker 7: own goal on a long throw, and one of my
Speaker 7: six is scored basically from half field over their goalkeeper.
Speaker 7: And it wasn't maybe the most pretty game that we
Speaker 7: had played, but it was a game that required us
Speaker 7: to sort of come together and find different solutions to
Speaker 7: the problem. And I think, you know, once we were
Speaker 7: able to climb that hill, I was feeling really confident
Speaker 7: about the championship game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the first time that we've had a no Siam's
Speaker 1: reference on the show this season, the high school season.
Speaker 1: But that's what it takes, going into these environments and
Speaker 1: then you advance from there to Mercer making the take
Speaker 1: on Shaw, another building program in another market in the
Speaker 1: Western Frontier there in Columbus. When you put five on
Speaker 1: the board, was that a surprise from what you were
Speaker 1: able to ady going up against Shaw in the final.
Speaker 6: I don't know if it was a surprise. I mean
Speaker 6: five absolutely right.
Speaker 7: You know, we've I think we've proved over the season
Speaker 7: that we can score goals. We can score goals in
Speaker 7: different ways from different players, and that was one of
Speaker 7: the big things for us is you know, we're not
Speaker 7: relying on one player to find the answer to the problem.
Speaker 7: And on film, they look to have some great attacking talent,
Speaker 7: right number seven and number nine I don't know their names,
Speaker 7: and number I think twenty on the ball. All three
Speaker 7: of those guys were big threats. So we knew that
Speaker 7: we needed to slow them down and once again work
Speaker 7: as a unit to stop them.
Speaker 6: From scoring goals. But going the other way, it.
Speaker 7: Looked like it had less experience on their back line,
Speaker 7: so that was something that we wanted to really test
Speaker 7: and get at them in different ways and use some
Speaker 7: of our size and the attacking third to be able
Speaker 7: to create those goal scoring chances. But I mean, five
Speaker 7: goals for high schoolers and this and this kind of
Speaker 7: moment is just incredible, and you know, I felt very
Speaker 7: American in the moment. Sometimes as a soccer coach, the
Speaker 7: moment gets so big you're like, wow, I really wish
Speaker 7: I could use a time out, you know, But once
Speaker 7: a players on the field, besides your substitutions, they have
Speaker 7: to take ownership and ultimately execute. And I was just
Speaker 7: incredibly proud of them for I mean five goals, but
Speaker 7: also just only allowing one.
Speaker 6: On the other side of things.
Speaker 1: Two goal scorers north of thirty this season. When I
Speaker 1: mentioned Austin and will what sticks in your mind from
Speaker 1: them this season?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Wow, I'll start with will causey right, so he's going
Speaker 7: to play soccer at Watford. You know, this is my
Speaker 7: third year around the program and I've seen William develop.
Speaker 7: I would say he was always a great soccer player
Speaker 7: him and as he had an older brother that played
Speaker 7: at Drew. But for him it was about the mental
Speaker 7: side of the game. And so often with very talented
Speaker 7: players and programs like this, it can feel like they
Speaker 7: have to do everything and the other players look to
Speaker 7: them to do everything. And this year particularly, I was
Speaker 7: proud of him for maybe lowering the pressure on himself
Speaker 7: and doing what he needed to do.
Speaker 6: We moved him further forward from the six to the.
Speaker 7: Ten and just you know, letting a great soccer player
Speaker 7: do some amazing things. And you know, pair that with
Speaker 7: Austin Smith, who's a junior who is always mad when
Speaker 7: he doesn't score a goal. He is the most frustrated
Speaker 7: striker out there and he wants to score every chance
Speaker 7: that he that he has And for Austin, I think
Speaker 7: it was about, you know, he's a great straight line
Speaker 7: vertical striker, can he do a little bit more of
Speaker 7: the work to get us close to the goal sort
Speaker 7: of the build up play, but also just kind of
Speaker 7: being a nuisance in the press.
Speaker 6: And I think the.
Speaker 7: Two of them, right, like, you know, two goal scorers
Speaker 7: over thirty, both of them scoring in different ways, both
Speaker 7: of them with high assist tallies as well, so very unselfish,
Speaker 7: just made it so that if you wanted to stop us,
Speaker 7: you were going to have to stop all sorts of
Speaker 7: different kinds of attack.
Speaker 6: And we're going to keep coming, right.
Speaker 7: You know, we didn't score until twenty five minutes into
Speaker 7: the game, and we know that we're going to create
Speaker 7: chances and those guys are going to step up in
Speaker 7: those moments and create them.
Speaker 1: Eight seniors, I think for you this year, when I
Speaker 1: mentioned that group on the whole, what sticks in your mind?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 6: Man, that's a special group.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's a group that, as I mentioned, I've
Speaker 7: seen grow from being basically you know, fifteen fourteen year
Speaker 7: old kids into adults. And you know, Drew's maybe a
Speaker 7: unique place with the k through twelve charter system and
Speaker 7: they're what we most of those those eight are what
Speaker 7: we call Drew babies, so they were at Drew since
Speaker 7: they were kindergarteners, and our soccer director at kil Rashid basically,
Speaker 7: you know, built a program for those guys, right, you know,
Speaker 7: whether it was playing we didn't even have a soccer
Speaker 7: field when they were little kids, and watching them grow
Speaker 7: as soccer players as you know, great players in the
Speaker 7: club and high school environment. But also I think what
Speaker 7: was the most unique part of it to me was
Speaker 7: on Friday before we went down to making we had
Speaker 7: a little sort of like sending off parade where you
Speaker 7: had the kids from five through five years old through
Speaker 7: eighteen lining up giving us their best wishes.
Speaker 6: And it it showed me.
Speaker 7: And I think those seniors that they were part of
Speaker 7: building a program over time. I think we had graduated
Speaker 7: some other seniors before, but this group was really the
Speaker 7: first one that played together since they were little kids,
Speaker 7: that were in two not one, but two state finals.
Speaker 7: And to cap their senior career with this this you know,
Speaker 7: incredible win is something I'm so happy for them, and
Speaker 7: you know, I think their legacy is going to to
Speaker 7: really loom over this program for a long time.
Speaker 1: Declan Abernathy had the boys head coached Double A champs
Speaker 1: Drew Charter hanging out with us for another couple of
Speaker 1: minutes here on the morning show. So if if I
Speaker 1: ask you what you learned about yourself as a coach
Speaker 1: chasing after a championship, what did you think you learned
Speaker 1: about yourself?
Speaker 7: Oh, Man, John, that's a good question. You know, like
Speaker 7: I said, there's only so much you can do as
Speaker 7: a coach once the game starts. And I think last
Speaker 7: year when we went out in the Alliteate to Toombs,
Speaker 7: maybe I was a little naive and what it took
Speaker 7: to win a state championship, particularly on the road. And
Speaker 7: what I wanted to emphasize for the players and for
Speaker 7: myself was, you know, we need to have different answers
Speaker 7: to different problems. We can't always play beautiful, possession based football.
Speaker 7: And I think also the key thing that I learned
Speaker 7: this year, talking from the players, talking from other coaching
Speaker 7: mentors is kids hate change, and in the playoffs it's
Speaker 7: easy to maybe over complicate things in pursuit of those answers.
Speaker 7: So trying to keep the changes in the tactical shifts
Speaker 7: as simple as possible, keep the routine as simple as possible.
Speaker 7: I had one of my captains complaining still last week
Speaker 7: that I had them stretched differently before that Tumbs game
Speaker 7: last year. So I knew, right, like, you know, the
Speaker 7: routine that we set in February for pregame is going
Speaker 7: to be the routine that we carry through the playoffs
Speaker 7: and really just trying to let them and take ownership
Speaker 7: of winning rather than saying, like, you know.
Speaker 6: I have all the solutions for you.
Speaker 7: I mean, I don't kick a ball right at the
Speaker 7: end of the day, It's up to them, and putting
Speaker 7: them in a place to succeed is, you know, my
Speaker 7: job as a coach, I think, I think just really
Speaker 7: keeping things the same, maybe not being so naive in
Speaker 7: the ways that we need to win, and ultimately deferring
Speaker 7: a lot of that winning responsibility that mindset to your
Speaker 7: captains and your key leaders.
Speaker 1: So when you have a question yourself, who's on your
Speaker 1: speed dial that you know will pick up the phone
Speaker 1: and go, you know, it's like, okay, dec one, want's
Speaker 1: on your mind? So how deep is your speed dial
Speaker 1: and who's on it?
Speaker 6: Oh man?
Speaker 7: You know it's maybe it's not the biggest rollodex. This
Speaker 7: is my third year of coaching for a whole year.
Speaker 7: The first one always is coach Carlos baldey On. He
Speaker 7: was the coach for Drew and they made the final
Speaker 7: twenty twenty two. We coached together at Inter Atlanta and
Speaker 7: now he's in the academy up at Racing Louisville. So
Speaker 7: you know, he's got a lot of a lot of insights,
Speaker 7: a lot of experiences there and I'm very fortunate that
Speaker 7: he's the one that brought me into the program. I
Speaker 7: also turned to my one of my assistant coaches and friends,
Speaker 7: Eric McDonald. He's another coach at Inter Atlanta, but he
Speaker 7: played in college a lot of top level playing experience.
Speaker 7: And finally maybe less frequently, but someone that I have
Speaker 7: learned so much from was doctor Colin Barnes through the
Speaker 7: US Soccer Federation. He's a coach also at UNC Greensborough.
Speaker 7: I believe he was my instructor for my SA license
Speaker 7: last year and a lot of the sort of maybe
Speaker 7: performance environment mindset, and I also have been in graduate
Speaker 7: school me about how we can mix our educational backgrounds
Speaker 7: with our coaching backgrounds and really try and create the
Speaker 7: best sort of like learning environments for players on a
Speaker 7: day to day basis.
Speaker 1: Last question for you, and this is something that I've
Speaker 1: co opted from my time at GPB during the other
Speaker 1: football season in the fall, Hannah Good and Matt Stewart
Speaker 1: and I have this thing that we call make that
Speaker 1: Kid Offer and it is where there are student athletes
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, and you can put a dollar in
Speaker 1: the jar for each one to this to that you know,
Speaker 1: not enough this, not enough of that, they're not getting
Speaker 1: the looks you think they deserve, or they're not getting
Speaker 1: looks period. Who do you think fits into your make
Speaker 1: that kid and Offer category through Charter.
Speaker 6: Any kid, regardless of class.
Speaker 4: Regardless of class, hit me, oh.
Speaker 6: Man, I would have to say.
Speaker 7: In my junior class, one of the people I was
Speaker 7: most impressed with was Ryland O'Neill.
Speaker 6: And he's a junior.
Speaker 7: He used to play basketball as well on the Drew team.
Speaker 7: Used to playing the ten for his club, and I
Speaker 7: asked him to play the six, and he's just an
Speaker 7: absolute dog. Maybe he's not the biggest guy, you know,
Speaker 7: he's not gonna score a lot of goals from the six,
Speaker 7: but he played eighty minutes weekend week out. He was
Speaker 7: ready to take on some of the state's top attacking players.
Speaker 7: And you know, whether it's in the tackle, keeping possession,
Speaker 7: sort of a quiet leader, showing up day in and
Speaker 7: day out. He's the kind of kid that I think
Speaker 7: any program would benefit from having.
Speaker 6: And also he's just a pleasure to be around.
Speaker 1: Congratulations because once again, as I lift my bracket Class
Speaker 1: double A boys circled in the middle, that means you're
Speaker 1: a chance. So once again, Deklan, Congratulations Drew Charter Champs,
Speaker 1: Class double A boys. Thanks for dropping by the morning
Speaker 1: show and to continued success with your studies.
Speaker 6: Eh yeah, thank you, John. To take care all right, be.
Speaker 1: Good, Beklan Abernathy. So we go hot tag once again,
Speaker 1: Drew Charter out roswell in we go and catch up
Speaker 1: with coach Mary Dezey. Coach, how's it going. I know
Speaker 1: that you're juggling graduation and I know that we kind
Speaker 1: of have you on the hop this morning.
Speaker 4: Oh I can't hear you. Still can't hear you, Coach.
Speaker 1: Check your microphone settings there, let's see if we can
Speaker 1: in troubleshoot here find out what's going on with coach
Speaker 1: Mary Diesing's microphone here this morning. So I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: and grab my bracket. And it is five A girls
Speaker 1: champ for Roswell, and so I think she's logging logging
Speaker 1: out to log back in. And so Roswell over Northgate
Speaker 1: in the final in a class five A girls once again.
Speaker 1: As we sit here and we lift our brackets and
Speaker 1: we sit here. When you go bracket, you look in
Speaker 1: the middle. Somebody circled their champ. Coach, you got your
Speaker 1: ears on. Oh still can't hear you. Uh check your
Speaker 1: settings real quick and uh with your with your microphone.
Speaker 1: So uh, oh, I don't okay, and I don't have
Speaker 1: a I don't have audio registering on any of my outputs.
Speaker 1: So uh, I was gonna say check and see if
Speaker 1: you're uh microphone is up and running on whichever device
Speaker 1: you have, So use your phone. Uh, you can use
Speaker 1: your phone just as effectively because uh coach Jackson at
Speaker 1: BT did the same thing. He used his phone because
Speaker 1: he was having firewall issues and things like that across
Speaker 1: the street. So as an alternative, go ahead and use
Speaker 1: your phone. If the computer is still uh misbehaving, so
Speaker 1: let me so we'll see if we can We'll see
Speaker 1: if we can get round three in here, but once
Speaker 1: again Rosal over Northgate in the final. Maddie and Jason
Speaker 1: got to that one up at Duluth High School four
Speaker 1: days ago and ah, there we go.
Speaker 4: Yes, there it is. How you're doing? Yeah? There?
Speaker 5: Are you sorry about that?
Speaker 4: Oh? It's so good.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 1: I know, like I said, I know you we got
Speaker 1: You've got graduation stuff and I know we got you
Speaker 1: on the hops, so house, graduation, graduation stuff going there
Speaker 1: on campus.
Speaker 5: It's good. We're ready to go.
Speaker 8: We had graduation practice yesterday, then we had our banquet
Speaker 8: last night. It's just been a whirldwin. We haven't had
Speaker 8: a second to breathe.
Speaker 1: Uh so let's talk about not being able to breathe.
Speaker 1: And obviously, as you follow along here in your brackets,
Speaker 1: how difficult is it to go pillar to post number one?
Speaker 8: You know, the girls and I talk about it all
Speaker 8: the time. Like our side of the bracket was tough,
Speaker 8: like Pry team we played was a top ten team.
Speaker 8: I think our only easier game for us was Lake
Speaker 8: Side to cab And we actually prepared for it to
Speaker 8: be very hard because of you never really know going
Speaker 8: into those games and the rankings that everyone has and
Speaker 8: the results that they've been performing.
Speaker 5: So every game for us was a battle.
Speaker 1: And as the lake Side to cab Alum on this
Speaker 1: particular show, I saw Lakeside to cab pop up in
Speaker 1: the bracket going up against the top ranked team nationally,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh boy, well, and the thing is
Speaker 1: to your point for those that don't follow along, and
Speaker 1: what I've been doing is I've been flashing brackets as
Speaker 1: we go. So once again, five a girls roswell comes
Speaker 1: from the low right hand section of the bracket. And
Speaker 1: so because when you make it to the middle and
Speaker 1: I circle you, that means that you did something good.
Speaker 1: But you had the number five ranked team, the number
Speaker 1: ten ranked team in Riverwood, who you played in the
Speaker 1: opening round. You and have central all low right, So
Speaker 1: you had for the top ten teams in the state
Speaker 1: of Georgia all low right. You knock off ten, you
Speaker 1: knock off number five, you knock off number eight, then
Speaker 1: you play number two Pope and you actually give up
Speaker 1: gave up a goal. I imagine there were some actual
Speaker 1: sprints at Remainis over that one and then number six Northgate.
Speaker 1: So literally it's like you're trading haymakers with top ranked teams.
Speaker 1: That are right there with you this entire run. How
Speaker 1: do you keep that from turning into too much pressure
Speaker 1: and just focusing on the task at hand.
Speaker 8: You know, this season was different for us as a
Speaker 8: team also as our coaching staff. This year we went
Speaker 8: in undefeated, which we've never done before. You know, I've
Speaker 8: never done it in my coaching career.
Speaker 4: So like.
Speaker 8: It was, it was that conversation with the girls that like,
Speaker 8: you don't really have a choice anymore, Like if you
Speaker 8: want your only loss of the season and your season,
Speaker 8: then that's your only option is to win.
Speaker 1: I mean, so how, you know, how do you impress
Speaker 1: upon them the task at hand without turning it into
Speaker 1: pressure and having that pressure kind of envelop the entire situation.
Speaker 1: How do you sit there and do the one match
Speaker 1: of the time thing and understand that they want to
Speaker 1: accomplish the same thing that you do by the end
Speaker 1: of the schedule, but not have the pressure sit there
Speaker 1: and be too much.
Speaker 5: I mean, the pressure was there all season unfortunately for us.
Speaker 8: You know, when we won back in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 8: we were the surprise team. We were able to come
Speaker 8: from behind. This year, that target was on our back
Speaker 8: all season long. We were ranked number one in five
Speaker 8: A I think all season, which is a cool stat
Speaker 8: to have, but also that pressure does build on high
Speaker 8: school girls, and you know, you have to just remind
Speaker 8: them that it's a game and continue to play what
Speaker 8: you love. And they set this goal back in January
Speaker 8: that they wanted to win region, they wanted at least
Speaker 8: twelve shutouts, they wanted state championship, and so you know,
Speaker 8: at the end of the season they accomplished all.
Speaker 5: Three of them.
Speaker 1: Twelve they wanted twelve shutouts. Wow, I mean, that's how
Speaker 1: do you come up with that kind of a number.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I understand that you want to
Speaker 1: have that kind of a thing. That's like twelve the
Speaker 1: magic number. You know, it's how do you come up
Speaker 1: with that as a goal?
Speaker 8: That would be a question for those young ladies. It
Speaker 8: was they didn't want it to be half. They wanted
Speaker 8: it to be something that they had to actually aspire, like,
Speaker 8: they had to work towards. But they ultimately, Okay, it
Speaker 8: was them. I don't make those goals, that's not that's
Speaker 8: not my job. I just been there to help them
Speaker 8: reach them.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and it's and it's one more than half. And
Speaker 1: so I get that completely. You only gave up seven
Speaker 1: goals the entire season. How mind blowing was that?
Speaker 8: Uh? You know, you look back and you look at
Speaker 8: our stats, and I think we ended the season and
Speaker 8: with like, if I'm not mistaken, one hundred and nine
Speaker 8: scored and seven against, Like, that's an incredible stat. It's
Speaker 8: in a testament to my back line. It's a testament
Speaker 8: to my goalkeeping. It's honestly in a test it's a
Speaker 8: testament to the entire team because they all work together.
Speaker 8: You know, it's a group of girls that if they
Speaker 8: made a mistake, they wanted to get back and get
Speaker 8: better and help their teammates out. And it was no
Speaker 8: one person that was gonna achieve those goals.
Speaker 1: What did you learn about yourself chasing after a champ
Speaker 1: to this time where you couldn't hide and everybody's running
Speaker 1: for you the entire season.
Speaker 8: I am very thankful for the coaching staff that I have.
Speaker 8: I have two amazing assistant coaches, and between the three
Speaker 8: of us, we fit together like I always laugh and
Speaker 8: make fun of ourselves because we're like a tripod. One
Speaker 8: couldn't last without the other, and the three of us
Speaker 8: have had many many heart to hearts about figuring out
Speaker 8: how to keep these girls going and motivated and honestly
Speaker 8: like accountable for themselves, because when you don't lose, it's
Speaker 8: hard to be like, see, you're not that great and
Speaker 8: kind of put them in their place a little bit.
Speaker 5: In a good way.
Speaker 8: But I'm very thankful for my coaching staff. I've learned that,
Speaker 8: you know, you have to constantly be willing to continue
Speaker 8: to push yourself too with these girls.
Speaker 1: Well, and to your point, I've come across coaches these
Speaker 1: days who in times of challenge, they discuss what went well.
Speaker 1: If there was like a loss or a bit of
Speaker 1: a rough patch, you focus on what went well in
Speaker 1: that situation. And if there's a win, you you know,
Speaker 1: you compliment them for the win, but still sit there
Speaker 1: and remind them that there are things that they need
Speaker 1: to work on. So there's always that constant yin and
Speaker 1: yang of the work and the positives and the negatives
Speaker 1: going through a season. Was that kind of what you
Speaker 1: were addressing with the girls this entire way?
Speaker 8: Absolutely, we had to talk to them a lot about yes,
Speaker 8: you won this game, and that's great, but it was
Speaker 8: not our best performance. There were games and there were
Speaker 8: wins that. Sure, we won and we were happy we won,
Speaker 8: but it wasn't at the level that our team's expectations
Speaker 8: were at. So we had to have those conversations at
Speaker 8: the end. I said during playoffs, I think some people
Speaker 8: were confused that, you know, we're winning games and yet
Speaker 8: we're still having a little come to Jesus with some
Speaker 8: of our girls about performances and what needs to be
Speaker 8: better if they want to win the next if they
Speaker 8: want to win state. And it's you know, you can
Speaker 8: laugh about it now, but there were some games at
Speaker 8: the end where our conversations were not very pretty and
Speaker 8: we won.
Speaker 5: So parents, probably fans are like, why are they not happy?
Speaker 8: But our expectations were high because we knew what this
Speaker 8: group could achieve at their highest.
Speaker 1: So when you think about this group of seniors that's
Speaker 1: leaving to head to the next what sticks in your
Speaker 1: mind about that group.
Speaker 8: We will greatly miss this group of seniors. They are
Speaker 8: a fantastic group. I had seven seniors. Four of them
Speaker 8: are going to play college soccer. They were role players
Speaker 8: for sure, and a lot of them will be greatly missed.
Speaker 8: You know, we got Natalie Brooks this year, and she
Speaker 8: was an absolute game changer for us. Clearly, if anyone
Speaker 8: watched the final, she definitely made her mark on our
Speaker 8: game by scoring the game winning goal. You know, Rachel
Speaker 8: Pfeiffer was with us as a sophomore when we wanted
Speaker 8: to twenty twenty three, and she came back and played
Speaker 8: huge for US this season. Ryan Churchill was one of
Speaker 8: our defenders. Lily Sworez. You know, we had Cammy Maynor
Speaker 8: who was huge for us and then ended up suffering
Speaker 8: an injury, which in the end had to make some
Speaker 8: of our other girls step up. So you never want
Speaker 8: that to happen, but I am proud of the girls
Speaker 8: that stepped up and filled that role, Sophie.
Speaker 5: Brady, Evan Erickson.
Speaker 8: You know, it's a good group of girls that will
Speaker 8: be missed, and it's an opportunity for some of those
Speaker 8: younger girls to come in and.
Speaker 5: Hopefully fill their shoes. But there's some big shoes to fill.
Speaker 4: So who is going to the next level to play soccer.
Speaker 8: Natalie Brooks is going to Clemson, Kimmy Maynor is going
Speaker 8: to UNC, Rachel Pfeiffer's going to Eastern Kentucky, and Lily
Speaker 8: Swarez is going to West Georgia.
Speaker 1: So of the group, who else who has not been
Speaker 1: getting the looks you feel they deserve that they need
Speaker 1: to get, or who hasn't been getting any looks from
Speaker 1: that roster of yours right now that you want to
Speaker 1: sit there and point and go, look, look, look, look, look.
Speaker 1: These these are really student athletes that you need to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on.
Speaker 8: We like, clearly almost everyone that's playing on our field
Speaker 8: should probably be looked at if we're doing what we're doing.
Speaker 5: You know, the seniors are going there in their direction.
Speaker 8: But my junior class, my holding center, defensive mid Jessica Ritter,
Speaker 8: she's fantastic. You know, she filled into the role as
Speaker 8: the six for us this year that was new to her.
Speaker 5: She's great.
Speaker 8: Maya Masala just stands out in year after years. She's
Speaker 8: definitely one who if she wants to play, she should
Speaker 8: be able to play wherever she wants. You know, it's
Speaker 8: we've got young talent. We've got sophomores. That are my
Speaker 8: two center backs in the state championship game are both sophomores,
Speaker 8: you know, Nia John.
Speaker 5: Baptiste, Carson Taylor.
Speaker 8: Those are two that I expect to see playing at
Speaker 8: the next level because of their commitment and their desire
Speaker 8: and their drive.
Speaker 1: So how difficult is it for you to fill out
Speaker 1: your twenty six skin knowing what folks will be running
Speaker 1: into against you next year.
Speaker 8: It's hard to schedule sometimes because people are like, well,
Speaker 8: you're undefeated, you're this, we don't want to play you,
Speaker 8: And I'm like, I am graduating talent.
Speaker 5: We're gonna have to rebuild a little bit.
Speaker 8: We're gonna have to, you know, fill in some holes
Speaker 8: that we're missing. But again, like I said earlier, this
Speaker 8: is the chance for some of these younger girls to
Speaker 8: step up and fill their role, find their roles, you know,
Speaker 8: make their mark on this program's history.
Speaker 4: How long are you giving yourself to celebrate?
Speaker 5: You know, it's I haven't really had a chance yet.
Speaker 5: It happened.
Speaker 8: Then, we had our banquet last night, We've got graduation today.
Speaker 8: It's kind of been a whirlwind since it happened. I
Speaker 8: feel like I'm gonna school's gonna end on students, and
Speaker 8: on Thursday, teachers, and on Friday, I think i might
Speaker 8: just crash for forty eight hour straight.
Speaker 1: Well, uh, Mary, after this season, you've definitely earned it
Speaker 1: to to shut your phone off or at least put
Speaker 1: it on vibrate and just monitor things. People are sit
Speaker 1: there like, well, hey coach, well about you. No, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put the phone over here. I'm going what I'm
Speaker 1: going to do is not work out for a day.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go to the Public's right
Speaker 1: around the corner. I'm gonna get some junk food. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to Jimmy like because or go to the
Speaker 1: go to the the Rby's right around the corner, right
Speaker 1: there off the campus is Uh. You've definitely deserved it,
Speaker 1: running a pillar to post top rank the entire season.
Speaker 1: Thanks for everything that you've done with us this year.
Speaker 1: Great to catch up with you. Go celebrate and enjoy
Speaker 1: graduation and you know we'll be knocking on your door
Speaker 1: soon once again. Thanks for dropping by the morning show
Speaker 1: as graduation looms.
Speaker 8: And because yes, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: All Right, there you go, it's uh, it's Mary Deze,
Speaker 1: the head coach at Roswell. So a five A girl
Speaker 1: once again. Right here in the middle, So Roswell in
Speaker 1: the middle of the bracket circled. That means that they
Speaker 1: wont and so Roswell hop rank nationally and obviously top
Speaker 1: rank here in the state of Georgia. But the insanity
Speaker 1: of the fact that they had twelve clean sheets only
Speaker 1: gave up seven goals all season long?
Speaker 4: Are you kidding me with that?
Speaker 1: So that's our number one where we went in in session,
Speaker 1: brought to this by our friends at Kaiser Permanente. We
Speaker 1: will have a coda in the noon hour where we
Speaker 1: catch up with the coach Zamora at Johnson Gainsel and
Speaker 1: coach Kerns at Love It And so that'll be the
Speaker 1: tail end of our coverage here when it comes to
Speaker 1: the high school game here in twenty twenty five, which
Speaker 1: means of course that we've got to get started on
Speaker 1: the coverage in twenty twenty six, and we do have
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff planned here at the network.
Speaker 4: So very very cool.
Speaker 1: Once again, thanks to and I'll say this again in
Speaker 1: the noon show for the coda, but once again thanks
Speaker 1: to all the coaches, all the programs, finding time in
Speaker 1: their lunch hours, finding time in in between classes, wandering
Speaker 1: into classrooms that are empty, doing these interviews while they're
Speaker 1: in class, and the classes off camp watching the entire time,
Speaker 1: and for us it's always a great education to come
Speaker 1: into these environments and sit there and see what's going
Speaker 1: on and how nationally ranked teams survive going twenty two
Speaker 1: and zero like Mary Deezing and Roswell did this season,
Speaker 1: winning one nil over Northgate in the championship in five
Speaker 1: eight girls and once again Maddie and Jason called out,
Speaker 1: And you can go back on the NFHAS Network and
Speaker 1: watch the call