Larry Jewell

2 run. We're talking with Snow Canyon Head football coach Bill Jacobson. And coach, this was your goal all year, is to get back to this game, wasn't it? Well, I think, you know, after last year was a goal to get the state championship game and we fell short in it. And I think the kids were motivated from that time on to get back here and hopefully showcase their talents once again and maybe this time come out victorious. You have all sorts of potential records with this. Going undefeated, becoming a matching Highland for the newest school to get a state championship. There are a lot of things. There's a lot of things there, you know, and those to me aren't the things that's real important. I just hope our kids go out, you know, and I told them in there in the pre game that, you know, cherish this moment because it's something special. And then go out and play hard. Obviously you want to win, but isn't there as much excitement just about getting here? Well, I think there's a lot of excitement about getting here. I think it's, you know, this is just a great day for St. George and Southern Utah football, for Snow Canyon High School, and I'm sure for Dixie High School also, especially the way their year has been kind of up and down. It's a great opportunity for them. Let's talk about this Snow Canyon Warrior team. You're missing your starting quarterback, but you were still able to get a good performance out of Matt Hickman. Well, Matt Hickman's a fine quarterback. Yeah, we miss Drew. We miss Drew. His leadership, his calmness, you know, out there, and his really understanding of everything we want to do offensively. But you have to, you know, championship teams believe have to answer the call of someone going down, someone being injured. And Matt stepped forward and did a good job for us last week, and we expect a better job out of him today. You ended up with quite a challenge from Lehigh last week. Lehigh's a fine football team and, you know, they're very talented. Their skill kids are good. They're very big up front. They're a very good football team. We feel fortunate that we have the opportunity to play again this week. Let's go back to that game. If there was one key play, it had to be the fourth down called Lance Warby, fourth down. And we hadn't run the trap play the whole third quarter and even into the fourth quarter. And yet it had been a good play for us early. We hadn't run it. We do run it very well. Lance is a very good Runner. We thought they might be thinking play action pass or something, you know, quick pass scheme, trying to pick up the eight yards. And we gave it to Lance and I think he got about 10 or 12 yards and we went on from there. A lot of people are saying Brooksby, Stafford versus Cole Carter, but those number two runners seem to be a pretty good duo, too. Lance Warby's an awfully good running back. You know, Cole and Brooksby are fine running backs. I think Brooksby's really proven himself over two years, a period of time and done a great job. But Lance was a kid in waiting a year ago and had some opportunities and we saw some great potential there. And we decided this year we'd put him in the backfield together. And it's been a real plus for us. He does some good things defensively, too. He does. He's a very good football player. He runs very well, has a strong desire to succeed, as all these kids do, and consequently, he's able to achieve the goals that he set for himself. As you compare from the Snow Canyon side, Snow Canyon strengths and weaknesses versus Dixie strengths and weaknesses, what do you see are the strengths for Snow Canyon, the weaknesses? Well, I think the one thing that we do is run very well on both sides of the football. I think for the most part, we stay within ourselves and try to execute and do the things that we know how to do. That's got us to this point the last couple years. And I believe those are our strengths. You know, Dixie, I believe their strength is in their running game and their deep passing game. And, you know, they're big and up front and, you know, and compared to our kids, they're really big. But our kids are quick and we've got to take advantage of our quickness. Strength versus quickness, I think. So as you go against Dixie, I know you've expressed your admiration for Jerry Dyer. This must be kind of an inter family fight almost, you know. You know, I've said a long time and Jerry tell you, you know, we're real good friends and he's one of the real good friends that I have in the coaching profession and really like Jerry and respect him and have wished well for Jerry, and so it's fun. You know, I've coached against a brother before, and that's not always fun. I mean, the challenge is there, but it's kind of bittersweet because one is happy and then one is sad. But, you know, I'm glad that Jerry's had a good year, that they've come around and played the way that he thought he could. And you know, I expect a good football game from Jerry and the Dixie Flyers today. What will be the key for the Warriors? Well, I think the key in the whole ball game is going to be which team makes the fewest mistakes. If you recall a year ago when we went up and played Delta, Delta played a mistake free football game and beat us by eight points. And I think and we had made a couple mistakes and I think today it's going to boil down to that very same thing. The team that plays near perfect football will win. The team that makes some mistakes I think is going to be on the short end of it. Last time you two teams met, you were almost even at the end of three quarters and then three big plays for Snow Canyon got you the victory. Well, you know, in football game, I think football games are based on who makes big plays. You very seldom do you see in football games 12 and 15 yard drives and people controlling the football consistently during a ball game. And we make those kind of drives. But we are very opportunistic team. And I think that's the mark of a good football team. When the opportunity is there, you seize that opportunity and take advantage of it. And we did last time. It was a close ball game. They were up by us by 3 points going in the fourth quarter. And we make some plays that we have to down the stretch. And that's a trademark of this football team in the Snow Canyon Warrior football program. And you did it against Lehigh last week? We did. Last week was a real fun football game. You know, it's really interesting. It's different playing against a team for the first time as compared to playing someone you know and you've played against before. And it was a real challenge for us because like I said, Lehigh's a fine football team, but the kids down the stretch never gave up. They believed they had an opportunity and we seized that moment and took advantage of it. I've got to ask you one final question. How different, if they are different, are your thoughts going into this one as opposed to last year's championship game? Well, I think they're a lot different. You know, last year we were just hoping to get there and I don't think anyone expected us to be there this year as coaches and I think as players expected us to be here. I don't think a lot of other people did. And then I look at things and the things that personally I've gone through the last year. This is a special moment. Bill Jacobson, congratulations. On a great year and the success so far. Best of luck today. Thanks, Larry. Thanks. Three, two, one. We're talking with Dixie High School head football coach Jerry Dyer. And, Coach, this had to been a goal for you at the beginning of the year to get to this game. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's why you start in the summertime and you work for it is to play in the state championship. It doesn't happen very often, and we're excited to be here. We're going to try to make the best of it. It's been kind of a strange road. You started off 02. Yeah, we played two good football teams early, though, you know, I still believe, you know, we're a better football team than the first game that we lost to. But Spanish Forks got a heck of a team. They taught us a lot about ourselves and we built like, you know, I said that second half, we took from the second half and made positive things out of it. And they've come back. It took an undefeated team to knock them out of the 4A title. Jake. Oh, I tell you what, those are two good football teams. And, you know, we're just, we're excited to be here. Let's talk about this matchup, Dixie versus Snow Canyon. You've been through this once before this year. Oh, yeah. You know, it was a great game the first time for three quarters and four minutes in the game. And we finish it off, you know, anything can happen. It was the story of big plays. Yes, it was. They had three big plays that got them 21 points there in the last quarter. And, you know, if we eliminate that, it would have been a different ball game. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Bill Jacobson. Let's. From the Dixie Flyers point of view, let's assess the Flyers strengths versus Snow Canyon, weaknesses versus Snow Canyon. Where are your strengths? Well, gosh, from what I hear, we don't have any. I think Snow Canyon has all the strength, but, you know, we believe in ourselves all year long and we feel good about every position. So we don't feel we're stronger one place or the other, and everybody contributes, and that's what's going to happen today. What about a weakness for Dixie? Where are you most vulnerable? Truthfully, I don't think anywhere. You know, I just. I feel good about the game, I feel good about the kids, and we're going in with a positive attitude. We don't feel we have weaknesses. We're going to try to build on what we do well and keep at It. I know you've had some injury problems coming down the wire. Dan Wright got back with you. How healthy are you this week? Everybody seems to be pretty good. Cole's still nursing a sore ankle. But Cole's a player. I mean, he's a gamer. And when it's time to play, he'll come out and play and he'll give it all. He seems to be getting stronger as the year goes. Oh, yes, he has. He's a great running back. You know, he works hard at everything he gets and he's got a pretty good line in front of him and, you know, we're going to just go out and give him the ball and he's the one that's helped get us here and we're going to keep on doing it. The statistic most people don't realize is he's your leading pass receiver. Yes, he is. Well, you know, I've told everybody he's a heck of a receiver, too, and I think he can play somewhere else after his high school days are over, probably at a receiver, even a db, because he's got good speed, but he's got great hands, he runs hard and, you know, we're going to try to utilize that and mix him up in the formations and try to get him the ball. What about your thoughts going into this game? Last week, last night, this morning? What are some of the thoughts of the coach? I'm enjoying the ride. I've been in it for 20 years. This is my first time to the state championship and I'm going to enjoy it as well as the kids. And we're not trying to put any pressure on them to do something outstanding that they're not capable of doing. We're just going to do what we do well and we're going to try to do our best and hope for the best. I know there's been a strong respect between you and Bill Jacobs, and this is almost like going brother against brother, isn't it? Yes, it is. You know, we're good friends, too, and he's been very helpful to me during the year and I've tried to be helpful to him. And we've got a good relationship. In fact, the schools have got a good relationship. So it's kind of a friendly battle. It'll be a battle, but it'll be a friendly battle. And, you know, we're happy for St. George and the whole community. I mean, either way, they're going to have a state championship and a second place trophy. So it's not too bad coming from this community. Some of these Snow Canyon kids began at Dixie. Oh, yes, they have. And, in fact, most of the parents at Snow Canyon are Dixie. I saw. And I'm sure they still got a little blue in their blood. There's a new tradition and the old tradition. Did you sense that Dixie tradition when you first got to St. George? Oh, yeah. The first year I came down was back in 81 and 82, when I worked with Coach Odette. And I can remember the first pep assembly. I mean, I thought the roof was going to come off of the auditorium there. And this whole week has been like that. It's just been great for our school, and it's great to see that school spirit come back alive. And, you know, everybody's just excited about this. The key for today, I think we have to play good defense and take Staffer and Warby out of the offense. I think that's our whole key. Hickman's going to add something new to him because he does throw the ball real well, and he's very mobile. And then for us, I think we got to control the ball and do what we do best, and that's let Cole do his thing. And if Doug. I'll tell you what, if Doug gets unloaded here, it could be a long day for them. You've had two different games out of Doug. One where he struggled, and last week, a little up and down, but mostly up. Yeah, but see, that's the thing about the team. You know, they rally around each other, and if something's not going well in one place, they know they can do it somewhere else. And, you know, it's like going back to the Wasatch game. Doug struggled a little bit, and we took two straight drives, running the football right down the field. So they're very capable of doing whatever they need to do to win. One final question I've got to ask you. Is this as fun as you thought it was going to be or as stressful as you thought it was going to be? Oh, I've had a great time. In fact, you know, I'm really quite relaxed. We're just excited to be here. Coach Jerry Dyer, thank you for being with us. Good luck today. Thank you. Well, you know, if it was a basketball ranking as last year, the. When Dixie beat Utah Valley and Utah Valley moved up seven spots after we beat him 30, you would think that Snow would have probably gone up to two and us dropped to three. What do you think, bro? So Glenn is number one, we're number two. Snow has dropped to number nine and Glendale was 12. Glendale was 12. That's validated. Yeah, I don't think there was any change. The only change in the top five that I noticed in against football was that North Dakota State. Yeah, North Dakota State moved in number three and Coffeyville is four. Now Garden City. Garden City is four and Coffeyville must have got beat by Garden City. They stopped the seven. So North Dakota State is number three. You know, it's been mentioned. I, you know, it's my own opinion, I'm not speaking, but we talked about this in like regular carrot. Get two. In my mind, the only way we're going to get one or two, if it remains the same, is somebody's going to have to buy for them. That's what I was thinking, you know, not getting the standard 10,000, maybe up the stakes, we're gonna have to do something. I'm not sure if you get it, Dan. They've still got a ways to go. Yeah, they got three. They've got, they've got. Actually they've got four football games left. They've got. I'm not sure who they play this week, but, you know, they finish with Northeast Oklahoma the last game of the season. Then they have a playoff game and then a final championship game for Texas. Interleague schedule. So, I mean, what's your alternative? What do you think they'll do? Just stay there and play some patsy and make more money that way or something? They'd assure themselves number one. Yeah, but there's still a ways to go. There's a lot of things that could happen. You know, we got to take care of business ourselves. We've got to get three games ourselves first and then play. About that. I'm glad I got enough stuff if you guys do. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate you guys taking the time out. We've had just a few faux pas in there. Before we, before you guys go, I want to, on behalf of the athletic department, thank you, Dean, Mike and Larry for. He had a little bit of an interest in the military and that was a place. We saw a tape on him in life and he had an interest in us. So, you know, we need all those kids. Coach, do you have a lot of the military academies that recruit out of your school? Do you end up with any of the kids getting placed at the Naval Academy or an army or an Air Force? Well, we have, we have somewhat of a working relationship with a lot of. With a really good athlete. They'd prefer that they attend their fresh school and, you know, play their TV Drills and play for us. But in some cases they recommended kids for us. And Tommy Lee, his linebacker, actually had attended Arne for a while. He was at Des Point and then he came back here. They felt like he wasn't strong enough back against him and needed another year or so to get his academics in order as well as to, you know, maybe get a little bigger and a little stronger. But we plan to do a little bit more of that since we have some pretty good contacts with Tech, play in the airport, their JVs and we'll also play their resorts. But you know, you'll find one or two that would prefer to come here and maybe look at it from the outside a little bit. We have quite a few students who, you know, do their prep this year if, you know, with the desire to go on to local major academy. Question on the game time. I know there's some dispute. Exactly. Is it still at 2 o'? Clock? No, it's 7 o' clock kickoff, so it's been moved to the evening now. Right now. That's the last I heard. I know Coach Zack Stein was, I don't know, talk to Dixie. People sent our meeting yesterday, but I know on one schedule, on our schedule it was printed it as a seven o' clock date and then it came out as a 2 o' clock day before. So hopefully we'll get that work out today. Anyway, Coach, final question for me. What do you think is the key if you're going to beat Dixie? What do you have to do? We got to play real good, not turn the ball over. And we got to figure out some way to get them slowed down and maybe let them make a few mistakes, which they make very few of them. You know, I don't know what their attitude is as far as this be their second, at least their second trip in a row. I know they went up and played in Red 3 last week. I don't know what had the week before that. And you know, we say maybe they'll help us a little bit. But you know, we're really, you know, to be perfectly honest, we're not, we're not quite as good as they are, but we're capable, you know, playing pretty hard. You know, you never know. I think when in this league, especially when, you know, junior college ball, sometimes guys get up, they play real hard, other times they have bad nights and they drop the ball and some want kick it around. We're hoping that we're the one playing real good and we hope Dixie makes some major mistakes. But you know, Otherwise, I think it'll be a pretty good matchup and you know, we look exciting game anyway. As long as people like to see the ball to run. I don't think Dixie's going to fill the air with football too much anyway. I mean, I know they both go downtown when they have to and they got some good receivers and we think they're tied in one of their better receivers in the Blazers year. And you know, the quarterback is good. I think he's a good, excellent quarterback and he does a lot of things real well. I don't think he's like a great passer or a great runner, but I think he's a very good catalyst to beat their offense and very unselfish. I've seen him, you know, get in trouble. He's not. He's going to take the sack. He's not going to throw it up. So to make. Don't make mistakes. We got to figure out another way to do it. Coach, this may sound like a silly question, but I noticed you have Brian Hubbard there from Noodle Dome, Texas. Where in the world is Middle Dome, Texas? I don't know. I had to look that one up, too. I've been around Texas a little bit, but that's one place luckily I missed. How's your weather been out there? Beautiful. 98 degrees. Beautiful. Good. It's been nice out here, too. It has been a little warm, so maybe we should play nasty. Coach, we really appreciate having you spend a few minutes with us and we look forward to coming down this Saturday. Well, we look forward to having you here. I know I've been fortunate enough to see some games in Dixie and around the St. George area and I like to play. They had a bowl game up at one time, didn't it? Yeah, we still do. The Dixie Rotary bowl is held the first weekend of December each year. That's right. That's right. Did they play that down at the Rodeo Ground? Long time ago. Our college used to play there, but we've never held the Rotary bowl there. No, I remember seeing some games there back when I was, you know, out there recruiting. We tried to recruit Larry Heater out of there 15 years ago, but he ended up being pretty good there. Yes, he did. Well, Coach, thank you very much. Good luck on Saturday. Thank you. Why don't you start out with sa. Okay. Why don't you come on up and introduce yourself a little bit and talk for a few minutes and these gentlemen will ask you some questions. Okay. What do you want to know? What brought you to college? What brought me here? Well, coaches that recruited me, it was probably one of my better choices. I had a chance to go to snow other colleges I had, but pretty much all in all I got overlooked. I had a B1, so had good choices between junior colleges, I guess. But I guess the better off it was over here, was it just. And I had a lot of family over here too, so I have a lot of cousins that played here recently. I was related to Wilson Kalata that was here before and I was good friends with Kaden Hall. We just had a lot of friends to play here for. And also a lot of people in Salt Lake told me to come here, so I can't turn that down. Are you guys making sure? Yeah. I'm very glad. Not too many people get that chance to come right out of high school and come close to winning a national championship the first year and then the second year come close again. So I feel I'm pretty fortunate to do that. I'm glad I'm not in New Mexico. Over. Hey, Satan, what's fun about this year's team? I keep telling everybody, a lot of them, that the one thing I like really much is I've never played a team before that has so much unity and we all think the same. I mean, like for instance, other teams that we. I'm used to coming from a winning team. I've never been on a losing team before. So usually when we're winning and we got a winning season going, usually our teammates will be like, you know, we got announced. They don't keep on. Like in the race game, we were still killing it, but our defense just held up. We didn't like when I was going to give up. We tried to shut them out, but I guess they came up with a few lucky ones. But that's one thing I like about me as a team compared to last year's team. Last year's team, there was a lot of. I mean, I don't know, coach might have noticed this, but there was a lot of I players last year. There was a lot of players that wanted everything to themselves and they weren't really the distribute, you know, to the team. They just. I don't know. I don't know. I mentioned any names, but there was just a few of them that wanted themselves to be on the newspaper all the time. And if they didn't, then they got mad. You know, they showed it in practice and they showed it in the games. It really didn't help us a lot this year. I'm glad we're not like that because that's what lovely council is helping us win. A lot of people everybody's contributing to. Did you find. Did you fell into a leadership role as a sophomore? A leadership role? I didn't accept it. I mean, I didn't expect to be one, but I guess I have to take that role because I don't know if no one else will. I'm not going to do that. I mean, I think that's one of my qualities I brought through high school too, is leadership. So. And then, like, ding me that I don't want to. I don't want to follow anybody. So that's what makes it losing teams. Everybody wants to follow someone. So I think everyone on this team that wants to be leaders, and we are leaders of the team. So it's not just. Just because we're captains, it doesn't mean we're leaders or anything. What about after Dixie? Have you had recruiting contact yet? You know, I've had a lot of letters, but, you know, I had lems in high school, too. So, I mean, I don't know if those are really true. You know, I've had to have a phone call or some other day because I probably don't have a phone as far. But other than that, I'm just hoping USC will look at me. I hope. I don't even think they know that I exist, though, so. Who's that? Gotta carry on the tradition of Jimmy Steel over there. Don't tell me he's a cousin. No, he's not a cousin. I wish he was. What about the victory against Briggs? What was the feeling going into that game? Did you guys feel confident right off the bat? Honestly, I think the way up there in the bus, I don't think any of us had any doubt that we all knew we were going to win. And it wasn't like a overconfident feeling, too. It's just we had this feeling all throughout. Ever since we beat Phoenix. I mean, I know Phoenix is an easy team to beat, but ever since we beat Phoenix, everybody on our team decided that we're like a getaway train. I mean, we can't do. There's no stopping us now because, I mean, we got. Every position is just. Everyone just fits that position where we're at right now. And I don't think anyone else can beat us if we just set our minds straight. So that victory wasn't a surprise for me. I don't know, for other people. I think all of us that was on that field had no Doubt winning. Win. They asked you about Glendale. That game, were you surprised by how badly you did? Oh, I was surprised about that. I thought that was going to be a good game because they gave Ricks a pretty good game, too. So I was. That game, I was surprised. I thought we was going to come out and go battle to battle like every other touchdown. But I don't know. Like I said, once we start scoring, once our defense is on, we can't stop. So I guess that's the thing that gets us moving, is once we score, once we make a big play, we ain't going to stop. We ain't going to stop with that one big play. We got to come up with more. Other than that. I wasn't surprised with the race game. I wasn't surprised with Ben, though. I was surprised that going out like that. Is there one game in your career so far that stands out that you don't feel while losing? No. This last week. That one last week I was one of the funnest games I'd better play just because it was funny, because Ricks. I think Ricks knew that we were going to beat him. Honestly, I think they knew we were going to beat him. And they all act depressed at the end, like we were going to lose or something. You know, I had that feeling like, why are you guys all depressed? You guys knew we were going to be. But that's what we said to each other in the bus. We were just jokingly saying, I know, on the bus, but this last game was a very memorable game. I don't think I forget this one. Thanks. See you. Okay, thanks. All the people. Al, son. Hey, al. All the people. It's right there in one of those trophies. L, I, f I p o e o a l. Now they say every syllable, so I guess that's. I just call it a l. Okay, well, there you go. S e, l, u. How did you find Sam? He was a West high school, actually played fullback. And Gordon went to West. He had. Coach Jolly had coached there one or two years after he got out of the NFL. And Coach Holtry quite well, and Coach Plaga. And of course Coach Plaga is gone, but Gordon goes to the west all the time. And he went there and said, hey, I found a kid. He's a heck of a player. I'm not sure where he'll play for us. He basically played fullback in high school. And when he came here, we're toying with the idea of fullback and linebacker and defensive back because he runs so well and. And during the scrimmages, we just. I just finally said, hey, we have to find a place for this kid to play. He makes too many things happen. And so last year, he actually played defensive end for us out there because we thought we had a pretty group of linebackers. So he played what we called a rush end, coming off from outside the tight end, and he made so many things happen, but it wasn't real. You know, it wasn't going to be real productive for him as far as recruitability. So during the season or during the recruiting, we had worked with him with that strong safety and linebacker. And during spring, I mean, during fall camp, we decided to play him with one outside backer and Chris Hungoffee at the other. And that enables us to do a lot of things along with those corners and coverage, because these two guys both run four or fives, and they'll put a pretty good hit on you when they get a chance and just enables you to do a lot of things. And I think that's a real key to the success of the defense, has been our ability to really run and get to the ball. We're not obviously very big. We've got a couple guys that weigh quite a bit in Mana and Fred Lee. That's really it. After that, we're lucky to be over £225, so. And what Mana and Fred make up for in weight, they give up in height because they're both about five, nine, so. But they run so well and recover and go around blocks and show up in places you don't expect them so darn fast, but. And Satan was a real part of that. Well, I think, you know, he's a different kind of player in that his speed is. There's no question that he's probably one of the quickest we've ever had. And the interesting thing is with he and Chris, we end up with two of those kind of guys on one team. And that really makes things nice because in our league, where you see one back, no back, and sometimes you see wing T, like, well, this week they're strong enough and they hit you hard enough that they can play like the bigger guys, but they can run certainly as well as any I've had. And I think that's more the trend of what football is going to now is the smaller, quicker. And obviously, everybody would like to have a 6:2 guy that weighs 230 that can run like that, but they're pretty hard to find. And so I think you see from the. 3, 2, 1, we're talking with Delta High School head football coach Dean Fowles and coach, I know at one time during the season you're probably feeling that you'd be lucky to be here, but this is a good ball club. Well, we did. No question about it. We usually start slow and try to finish strong, but we almost started so slow that we didn't get a chance to even get in here. So, you know, we feel real fortunate that we are kids came together and played a good ball game last week. I thought we beat a real good team last week. So our kids have started to gel together a little bit and started communicating a little bit, taking on their own shoulders last week. So we hope for more of the same today. Well, there's one thing Delta's experience being here. Well, you know, we are. I think tradition took us a long ways last week. I think that St. Pete was just a little nervous with us because of that. And I'm one of those that believes if you've been there before, you get a little bit of an advantage. You know, Dixie has great tradition also, and so it should be a good ball game. We hope we give them a good game. You have quite a number of kids who were on that national or on that state championship team last year. Well, actually we've only got two that started for us last year. Our quarterback this year, Mike Steele, started in our secondary and we had Jared Walker started in our secondary as well. So those are the only two kids that come back with any playing time at all. Adam Little, even though he ran for 145 yards in our state game last year, that was pretty much the first game that he had played for us. We had some injuries to our other tailbacks, so he hadn't played a whole lot all year long. And so, you know, our guys have been inexperienced. Everyone thought we were really going to be power to start the year. And I didn't see where that was coming from. You know, even though we had several people that were there, we just didn't have any varsity playing time behind them. And I think it's taken our kids quite a while to realize that last year's team isn't going to help them. And even though they watched it happen last year, you know, they've got to come out and do it themselves this year. And we saw a little bit of that last week. Let's talk about the matchup down here. You actually had back to back in a short week have to play Dixie and Snow Canyon down here. And that was a buzz saw. There's no question about it. And we knew that, you know, all during the season and they're great teams down here and that is, that's a tough schedule. You know, I kind of wish we were staying here in the future. Even though you got a good chance of getting beat, the competition's good and we like it down here. So, you know, these Dixie schools are tough, no question about it. Let's talk about this team. What do you like about this rabbit team this year? Well, our quarterback has come a long way this year. I think one thing that's really helped us, his leadership has taken over. He's a very good athlete. I think he's just starting now to think like me, to where our communication is a little bit better and so his footwork has improved. He does a lot of good things for us. And, you know, I just, I like the heart that they're bringing into this one right here because I think, you know, we're going to be overmatched size wise and speed wise today. But our kids played very hard last week and, you know, we just don't have anything, we don't have any stars on this team, and I think that's good. You know, they've just all kind of come together. So the fact that they're just a bunch of little bald headed, slow fellows is to our advantage. You mentioned the bald headed, slow kids. Some of them have gotten a short haircut, no question. I don't know, I just, I'm a little older generation, I guess, but that seems to be the way they work. And my kid follows suit and the football players do it. He does it too. So, you know, I guess that's, that's beside the point. What about the first matchup between Dixie down here? You're used to this field now. Well, I don't know if you can get used to this field. This is probably as bad a field as we've played on, you know, just as far as the field itself. But, you know, those are things that you can't do anything about. So we've tried all week long, even though this is Dixie's home field, put that out of her mind. You know, we didn't raise an issue about that during the week or anything and, and just wanted that not to become an issue at all. But we had a good ballgame down here last time. I think us turning the ball over to them last time was a difference in the ball game. I think at this time of year, I think that's going to be the biggest key. You know, I think Both teams are deserving to be here. You know, maybe we got a little bit lucky last week, but, you know, if we can not turn the ball over, we feel real good about our offensive system and that's hurt us all year in the ball games we've lost. You know, we turned it over eight times against Snow Canyon. I think five down here last time when we played, and you just can't do that against a good team. So that's going to be the biggest key for us. We got to keep hold of the football. Are you healthy? No, we're not. We're banged up like crazy. Adam Little is out for the year with a knee injury that he had at Cedar, and so we've had to use two different tailbacks since then. Our wide out defensive back, that was probably our best whiteout and defensive back broke his collarbone at Snow Canyon. He's not with us anymore. We've got some ankle injuries, we've got a concussion that we've been okay to play today, and how that will turn out, we don't know for sure. So, no, we're probably as banged up as we've ever been. The thing that I'm pleased with is that the kids that have come off the bench and started to play for us have done a good job for us. If we get somebody hurt in our secondary today or in our offensive backfield today, we're going to be in a mess. You haven't had a ton of depth all year, though, have you? No, we haven't. It's just kind of a funny year for us. You know, we've had some discipline problems and we've had to probably let our best linemen go early in the year. And so things like that have plagued us. But in the long run, you never know. It may make you stronger, may make the other kids realize that they've got to take a role and get after it. So that's one thing that I am pleased with, how these other kids have stepped up. Coach Dean Fowles, thank you for being with us. Good luck today. Thank you very much. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie High School head football coach Jerry Dyer. And coach, this is where he wanted to be on the second week of November, is here in the semifinals. Congratulations. Thank you. We're excited to be here. Let's talk about this Dixie squad this year. It's been a little bit up and down, but you're finishing on an upside right now. Right now we seem to have things going. Hopefully we can continue two more weeks with It. Let's talk about the matchup with Delta. What do you expect out of the Rabbit? The same thing that they've always done. They're aggressive defensively and they're going to run the ball in their wishbone offense and we got to take the fullback away and take the halfback out of it and we're going to try to make the quarterback beat us. They have injury problems, but injuries are null. They still have that system? Oh, yeah. I mean, they run it from little league football on up so they don't lose a beat, no matter who's in there. Let's talk about your injury situation. How healthy are you coming into this one Right now? This is about the best that we've probably felt since the beginning of the year. Cole seems to be pretty healthy right now and Dan Wright's back this week, so we're at full strength and just hopefully we go out and play well and see what happens. Cole's coming off one of the best games of his career. Well, he's had some great games all year long. Just last week he just really showed everybody what kind of back he's really made of. I mean, he's a workhorse. Let's talk about your squad. You've used the pass, you've used the run this year. You've had some stars step up on occasion and really reach out for you to get to you. Oh, yeah, we, you know, truthfully, we have a lot of talent on the team. It's just a matter of when they're going to come together and if they ever put four quarters both sides of the ball together. I feel sorry for somebody. We've talked about the home field advantage. You don't consider it that much of an advantage? No, you know, it's like we're here four times during the year on Friday nights and we don't practice here. We don't see the field any other time. So I don't really consider it lot a whole home field advantage. It'll be nice next year to have our own stadium and then maybe we can say that the stadium is coming right along. Right. It looks wonderful. It's got one of the prettiest views I've seen from any stadium around. They've done a great job and we're just very appreciative of the school district and the community letting us have it. Let's go back mid season. You play Delta down here and turns out to be a whale of a ball game, but you end up on top. Yeah, it was a barn burner. I mean, there's a lot of offense in that game. I. I would expect maybe a little more of a defensive battle tonight. You know, it's like we told the kids, defenses win state championships, and that's what we're counting on. Let's talk about your defense. You're healthy on the defensive side, having Dan right back. Now we're back to full strength defensively and, you know, we've improved a lot since the beginning of the year defensively. If they come out and play the way they're capable of playing, it'll be a good ball game. You've had some real heroes on that defensive squad. JD Carter for once. Oh, JD's had a great season playing with a broken hand. His cast is finally off and maybe he can catch a few more that he's missed. And he's still had a few interceptions this year. And Taz Deckard's played well. Ben Tafuga has played really well. And of course, Clint Rogers and John Peterson at defensive end have been one of the toughest two kids around. And then our two corners are real good. I mean, Cam Morby and Brady Fonzbeck. And then we got a sophomore playing safety. He still makes sophomore mistakes, but he reminds me a lot of Sheldon when he hits, it's just not quite as big. Let's go back to Taz Decker. Last week. In the first half, he has two of the biggest defensive plays that you've had. Again, he matches it in the second half almost back to back, he comes up with huge plays for you. Oh, yeah. He's been a standout all year. And you know, the papers have picked him as one of the top 10 recruits in the state of Utah. We feel that way. He's a big kid, he's got great feet, he's quick and he's smart. And the thing that impressed me more than anything last week is when we put our unbalanced line with him and Ben Tafuga at those two tackles and they literally took control of the line. And that was the difference last week. Let's look back last week. Passing game really struggled, but you went to the running game and Doug Jolly ran that one. Well, Doug's a leader. I mean, he'll do whatever it takes for us to win. And he's a team player and he's got so much potential that if, if he ever gets it clicked here and gets it going, he can light somebody up because he's got such a great arm and he's a smart kid and he knows what to do to win games, and that's what we're counting for him. And he had a great pass, interception. Oh, yes, he did. I mean, that shows his athletic ability to reach out and catch a screen like that and turn around and run at 60 yards for a touchdown. So he's a great athlete. And we're happy with how he's matured this year and how he's done. And I think he's got a lot of potential. In the future, somebody will come and give him a good look because he does have that big arm and he's a big kid. What's going to be the key for the Flyers today? I think Doug. I think Doug has to have a game today in the air, getting the ball to receivers, and we have to hang on to it. We've dropped a lot of passes this year that hurt us, too. And if he has a big game, it could be a big game for us. You would like to be back here again next week, wouldn't you? Oh, yeah. We've been in semis quite a few times the last 15 years. You know, it's about time we got on the dance floor. Coach Jerry Dyer, thank you for being with us. Good luck today. Thank you. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Snow Canyon assistant football coach Terry Hickman. And coach, you end up with a double whammy because you're not only a coach, you're a father. Watching Matt play. Yes, that's correct. This was probably one of my worst weeks as far as being nervous all week long. I didn't get much sleep. I've got to ask you, during the game, do you find yourself being father or mostly coach? I think coach, because I don't coach his position, quarterback or linebacker. When he's playing linebacker on defense, I work with the defensive line. So I really have been able to avoid worrying about his position. Now, that may change, you know, in today's game. I may keep an eye over there. A lot more to the offense. Let's talk about this Warrior Team. Three years in existence, this is the second time you've been to the semifinal game. Yes. I think there's a lot of pride that's developed over at that school, you know, in the couple years that I've been helping out and I know these kids for. Since they've been in second and first grade, a lot of them. And, you know, there is a real good chemistry and there's a lot of pride instilled in that group. And I've never been around a greater bunch of coaches. And during the whole year, they instill that positive attitude and pride for the school and develop programs for them to work in the off season. And so they're thinking warrior football, warrior sports, school pride the whole year. And so I think that really helps. I've never been around a school that's that intense about instilling that kind of pride and attitude. Out of the three other teams that are in this semifinal, Lehigh is the only team you haven't faced. That's correct. And you know, we haven't seen them, but primarily on film. And they're a big, physical team and they've got a lot of diversity. It scares you when they've got a quarterback that throws for 2000 yards and a running back that runs for over 1500 yards. So they're a very diverse team. And so it makes it difficult to practice for that because you've got to look for both the pass and the run equally. Prior to the season, some people thought Lehigh may be the favorite to win this 3A title. And they're still right there in the driver's seat, so, you know, they're not out of it. I think they played some tough teams during the year and they've done real well. So they're right there where they probably want to be. Let's talk about the Snow Canyon team. You're where you want to be right now, or are you surprised that this is an undefeated team at this point? Well, I don't know. The kids aren't and I don't think the coaches are. But we've still got a job to do. We feel that, you know, last year we were in the same position and you go undefeated all the way to the last game. And that one loss hurts worse than if you'd have lost probably twice early on. So where you lose the game is really important. And in a one game season right now, undefeated doesn't mean a lot. How healthy are the Warriors? Well, obviously, other than losing our starting quarterback, everything else is in real good shape. We're as healthy as we've been all year. Does Matt step into that position for this game? Yes. How long is Drew gone for the year then? Yes, he did come to our team last night and gave some great inspiration. He's bound and determined not to stay in the hospital and not miss team night last night or this game. And he's a very positive influence on the whole team and a source of inspiration for him. For Drew, this is a team that relies on the run. But he was kind of the unsung Hero of this Warrior team. Well, the positive thing about Drew is he didn't make a lot of mistakes. He was very methodical and he knew the offense and he performed it to perfection. And that really allows a coach to sleep at nights when you've got a quarterback that doesn't make a lot of mistakes. What about the rest of the team? Anybody else dinged? Not that I'm aware of. You know, we look good this week in practice in terms of our health, so I think we're in good shape there. Key for the warriors today? Well, the key for the warriors is to stop the run, stop the, the crazy stuff, because if the run starts opening up, then he can nail us on the passing game. So we probably want to stop the run first, but you can't ignore the pass. So we definitely have to be aware of both the run and the pass. And that's what's made it difficult to prepare for a team like this. Is it fun at this point or is it more nerve wracking? For me, it's both. It's fun, but it's also a nervous week where I'm not involved in the school as far as a teacher. I had a hard time concentrating on work all week, and I think all the other coaches had a hard time concentrating at school. But it's fun. This is where you want to be. You want to be playing in front of your hometown, in front of all your friends, you know, and you coach a lot of these kids in that seventh and eighth grade football. And here you see them out here and you develop a lot of friends along the way, people in the community, players, and it's fun to still be playing. And I think another positive thing is for those kids that want to go on to college ball, you know, the college coaches get to come out and start looking at you in November, and if you don't make the playoffs, it's pretty hard for them to come and talk to you and visit your game. So you really like to see your kids get to this stage so that they can be looked at if they're college material. Snow Canyon assistant coach Terry Hickman, thank you for being with us. Good luck today, and good luck as a father, too. Thanks, Larry. Appreciate it. My combat penalties, and one was just directed at the team during the play and the rest of them were just their altercations with the referees. And it resulted in the fact that I think they ejected the head coach and one of the players and they refused to leave the field. So they called the game, which I was A blessing because it might have gotten worse the last five minutes. Yeah, it's an unfortunate way to end. Yeah. And like I said, I think, you know, we felt comfortable in having control of our kids, you know, and just playing the game. But, you know, it's, you know, it's something that, you know, that program down there has a history of and, you know, we try to do what we can to avoid it, but they just kind of let things go. Yeah. Well, Keith, we look forward to seeing you Saturday afternoon. Thank you. Yep. Thank you for taking this call. Okay. I know what brought you to the Dixie. I had cousins playing here. Fred Lehr was playing down here when I was in high school, and I came down to watch a couple games, you know, just a good football atmosphere. So I just came down there. Had you had much recruiting back channel wise? Yeah, I had, but I just chose. It's fun to watch with your speed, even with the size keeping around that you feel you can keep up with about any feedback. Offense. Yeah. What about, what about your future? What. What do you hope to do after Dixie? Well, I'm hoping to go to the next level, D1. Everybody picks me up and play, you know, get a degree in something. How's your ank? Getting better all the time. Yeah, it's getting better. It's getting stronger. It's getting stronger every day. Have you had much recruiting action yet? A little bit. Not that. What about this team? How good is this team? This team is really good. I think it's going to be a pretty good game, but, you know, we're going to be practicing hard this week. Everybody's up for this game. I think our teams are up for big games. Our team's been waiting for this game, this and the Ricks game for the last. Since this football season started, we've been looking forward to this game. You know what, I ask the coach all the time about the rivalries, and maybe it means more to the townspeople because we've been here for 20, 30 years or whatever, but you guys must pick up on that, too, even though you're only here a year or two. Oh, yeah, we do. We really do. There's a lot of talk that goes, we got a lot of friends that play on that team, so you gotta beat them. Yeah, we gotta beat them. Compare your experience this year to last year. What's the differences between the two teams this year? It's like we're more onto the ball on deeds, you know, I think the attitude's different this year than last year. We had A good team last year. This year we have a better team than last year. Same thing in the other team. It's more of a feeling of togetherness. Yeah. This year everybody's together. Everybody's, you know, even off the field, you know, everybody's hanging out with each other. You know, last year it was like. It was like separating. Left the field? Yeah, left the field. You know, everybody did their own thing. This year, you know, everybody just sits around, you know, talks. We go out and do stuff together. The team's more together. Sure. Which is the toughest team you faced this year so far? Mesa? I think that was. To me, that was my toughest game. All right, that takes care of it. Oh, dear. Coach, what about the new Mexican military game? Is that it? Good to be over? You know, it was tough on several fronts. I think. One, the back to back travel, which were two quite long trips sandwiched in between Ricks and Snow, didn't make it any easier. You know, a big win at Rexburg and being a tough team, as I knew they would be, you know, didn't make things, like I say, any easier, so. But, you know, the guys got there and I think, you know, played hard. We made some mistakes, a few more than what I would like, but especially in drop passes and, you know, a few breaks on defense. But I thought, all in all, we played pretty, pretty hard. We gave up the one touchdown on a, you know, that I need to take credit for. On a misunderstanding of the rule. On a punt, we touched it down and thought it was dead, not realizing you have to hold it until the official comes and gets it or actually pick it up and throw it to an official. But I'm sure we won't make that mistake again. So in that regard, I'm glad it happened at that point in time because, you know, oftentimes you think you've got everything covered and occasionally there's some things that jump up that you, you know, you think kids know that they don't. I can remember years ago and Larry, you probably remember we had a. We were returning a kickoff against Eastern Arizona or somebody kicked in the end zone and our return guy just ran off the field and left the ball sitting in the end zone. High school, that's dead. College, that's live. And they run down and fell on it for a touchdown. And, you know, I'm thinking, Jesus, you know, so occasionally those things happen. And like I said, I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a, you know, a difference in the game, but it enabled the them to hang in there and keep it close. And then we gave up one on what should have, you know all probability should have been an interception and we kind of got confused between trying to hit the guy, intercept the ball or what to do. We ended up knocking the tar out of the corner and with our free safety and they caught it, waltzed in for a touchdown. So but you know, but the Military played hard, which I totally expected. I don't think you're going to see anything else and I thought we played hard. We had a few maybe mental breakdowns. I don't know if that's the trip, the let down what it was but I'm sure we'll hopefully get over that as we get ready for this game. Is Military a tougher team under Lefty? Well, they've always been a tough team and I think they are. I think they have some more of the caliber athletes you need to play in this caliber ball. I, I believe that was the worst. They'd been beaten score wise they've been within a touchdown to about everybody. Several close, close ball games and you know they're going to be a force to be reckoned with I think as they continue to get under Lefty's reign there and you know he's proven he knows what it takes and I don't know how things have changed since his last stint but I wouldn't imagine a great deal. He understands the kind of athlete you have to recruit in order to get them and I think that's very evident in the way they played and it seemed like on their roster they had quite a number of freshmen. So it's probably very similar to maybe what happened here 15 years ago. He's got a style and I'm sure he's going to stick with it and I'm sure they'll be pretty good at it. Snow College, what do you know about them? You had a chance to see film? Well, I had a little mix up on the film. I finally got it last night and that you know, put me a couple days behind. I usually try to look at it on Sunday and get game plans started but mix up in the Federal Express and got here Saturday and they delivered. Of course nobody was here Saturday and then they hold it on Monday which makes no sense to me but I got it run down last night and they're well coached, they play hard every I told our guys yesterday the thing that makes them different than a lot of teams we play is they'll play every play as hard as anybody. We've played now, military is probably a pretty good tune up for that. In that intensity wise, I think you'll see the same kind of thing from Snow. Whether that's kicking game, offense, defense, whatever it is, they play extremely hard every snap and they play extremely hard the whole ball game. So I think that's as much a key to their success as anything. In the last two years under Coach who were. And I guess it's been two, maybe this is the third, I don't know. But they've won a lot of close ball games. A lot of people said, well, they were lucky at first and then, you know, one or two games, you might say that. But in his tenure there, I'll Bet they've won 10 or 15 games within a touchdown. And, you know, you have to be very smart to figure out that's not luck anymore. That's, you know, that's hard work and playing under pressure and playing the entire game and all the things you want your kids to do. So they've obviously got that thing going and they're doing a nice job. I believe they've beaten Rick's now three times in a row and have only lost a couple in the last two years. So it's everything you could ask for at this time of year in a game you get home. The only bad part, I guess, is deer hunt, but hopefully they'll be back from that. You know, in state, rivals, same kids you recruit, you know, all the things that make a big game, whether it's, you know, we talk Florida, Miami, Florida, Florida State, any of those. I mean, this is the kind of deal that as players and coaches, you want to be involved in. And this is certainly no different. I mean, this is as big as it gets. And as near as I can tell, I think I played Rick's before, but it was early in the year, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe the fourth or fifth game under your belt. This is the latest, I think we've come into, with two teams undefeated, where they're a big rival like that. As Mona said, kids, relatives, cousins, guys we played with in high school, just all the makings of a great game. So I hope on both sides that's the way it turns out. I told our kids, I'm not going to do much time trying to get you ready to play. I mean, I'm a hell of getting ready to play. That in the wrong deal. I think the biggest thing is just to go out there and relax and play and believe in the things you do and enjoy it and see how it comes out. It's a big game as far as, you know, rankings and things, obviously, but, you know, it's no bigger than the first six we won. It's going to be no bigger than the last three that we play. So somebody unfortunately is going to have to come out a loser and somebody a winner and, you know, but both teams have to go on from there because there's still games left and hopefully bold bids out there for both teams and a lot of things. So, you know, I want to be careful not to put so much emphasis on it that if we aren't successful, the guys say, well, they're our season shot because that's a long way from true. And yet you want to put enough on it that they understand the importance and where it would take you if you're able to win it. Somewhere in there has got to be a happy mix. I think that's my biggest concern as a coach, to make sure they're ready to go but not feel like it's the end of the world if it didn't come out right. This Riley Jensen's having a great year. He probably. I didn't know him, you know. Yeah, he's a great player. That's not surprising. I mean, they, you know, that's their. Well, and that's. Yeah, that's their, you know, their mode. Like coach said, that's what they're going to do. You know, I don't expect to have a quarterback that throws like theirs, but I don't expect them to have a running back that runs like ours. So, you know, so you've got to somewhere in there figure out, you know, I tried very hard to recruit the Hannam youngster and was honest with him and said, hey, you know, if you want to throw 50 times, this isn't the place to come. But on the other hand, you know, I don't lose many running backs to him either. So you just have to. I don't know where he's from, but it's true. I didn't recruit him, I don't know, but he's doing a great job and I would venture to guess that he's probably a returned missionary guy that maybe was red shirt in the program. I don't know. He's a sophomore. I don't know what he was. So I bet he's been around there for a while. He was on their rotary boats. Yeah, see, that's the same. So it's, you know, I mean, that's. I have no idea. That's just a Guess. But, you know, that's pretty standard what they do. So the guy knows their program well and they line them up in order and down they come. You know, it's no different than, you know, I'm not going to get in a, you know, being contest over their quarterback against our running back. It's what you decide to do and how you decide to make it, and that's the way it works. Does Keith do a lot of things differently than Paul Tiglow, than up there as a single? Oh, I think a little bit different, but I don't think a lot. I think, you know, you go back, you know, I've said for years, I think the reason that Dixie and Snow in the position, position they're in is that again, not to be blowing anybody's horn, but, you know, Rick's and Dixie have kept with the same coaches and philosophies for 15 years. Snow has had a lot of changes, but I don't know that it really changes. They're all guys, I mean, from Dave Arslanian to the lawyer, whatever his name was, Kelly, who had worked with Dave, to Walt Kreiner who worked with in that staff, to Tidwell who worked on the staff, to cooperation who worked on the staff. I mean, I don't know how you get any more continuity in a program. I might look at it and they're doing a lot of the same things we did when I was there offensively with Dave, and defensively things have changed, but they're still pressured defense and trying to get after you. And they found a formula for success not only in the style of players, but in the people that they recruit and the kind of athletes and where their niche is. It may be a surprise to a lot of people. There's a heck of a lot of good football players around them. It.