Larry Jewell

3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head football coach Greg Croshaw. And coach, if we were to talk about your players of the week again, this is a rerun. You've had two reruns this week and a couple of very outstanding players. Well, they are, Larry, and they've had a great year. And, you know, we try to give those and. And to those that are deserving of them. And I think sometimes we try to spread it around also. But when guys play as well as these two did, you just kind of have to go ahead and go with them. And of course, Archie Emerson has really been a key for us for the last two years and has really almost stepped it up a level the last few weeks, wall to wall, obviously, with his career best. And then to come back against Snow and have 163 yards was a great performance on his behalf. And, you know, he's a key guy for us, and I think that'll be the same type of situation we run into down at Yuma. He's going to have to have a big game. And, you know, I was very pleased with his effort. Not only obviously running the ball, physical effort, but I thought mental effort was really good. I know he got hurt there once we came in with Eloa, and he ran one play and got hurt and Archie went right back out there. So, you know, those are kind of things that make him a caliber player. He is. And then on the other side of the ball, Henry Bloomfield has really been our catalyst or our glue or whatever you want to say. Defensively, he's been a real leader. We've moved him inside and outside and around a little bit, but very solid player. Picked up right where he left off when he was a bowl MVP three years ago. And he's come back and really had a nice season and playing very, very solid for us. Back to Archie a little bit. He was really a let me get the ball, coach. Give it to me and I'll get some yards for you sort of guy. Against Snow. Well, he was, and I think, you know, it meant a great deal to him as it did to many of our other players. And I think, you know, Offa too. Offee, I thought, had an outstanding game, just short of 100 yards. And of course he transferred from Snow, so that didn't probably hurt his motivation much. And between he and Archie, they really were the reason for our success. Now I was pleased that we were able to throw the ball enough to keep Snow honest. And I thought Jaemin did a nice job. I believe he was 10 of 21. So right around the 50% mark. And that was enough to make a few big plays and also to to at least let them know we had the threat of the pass going. I know that they're coming with eight and nine man fronts most of the day and you know, you couldn't hang in the pocket too long because there wasn't much of one there with that many people coming. But our ability to throw it that much and then the interior offensive line's ability to open some holes and once you get by, then you've got quite a bit of room to run. And I think that happened with Offa time and, and Archie three or four times. And oftentimes to get those big runs you get, you know, get hit pretty hard pretty often on a few plays, but they kept hitting it in there hard and running hard and good things happen. And we were able to rush for close to 300 yards on the defensive side. You mentioned Henry Bloomfield as a leader. That was maybe one of their best defensive games of the year against Snow. Well, I don't think any question had to be right up there. We really only had, you know, a couple of breakdowns. One was obvious, one that went 97 yards and that was a bit of a frustration because we actually had the quarterback sacked for a safety there during that play. And Terry Lyman was busy pass rushing and putting on some moves and got by one player and all of a sudden ran into the quarterback and thought it was somebody coming to block him. It was that close. He had pushed the offensive lineman back into the quarter, quarterback actually, and made a move on the quarterback, a pass rush move, not knowing that he was the quarterback. And then of course he was able to release the ball to his credit, and then a nice play that enabled them to go the distance. But really that was when the game was pretty well in hand and at a point where I think to give some ideas how well our guys had played, half of Snow's passing yardage came on that one play, just under half. So it was really a solid job by not only Henry and the guys up front, which is a real key to playing a passing team is the ability to put pressure on that quarterback. And that enables your secondary guys the opportunity to cover them. We've been talking with Dixie College head football coach Greg Croshaw on today's Rebel Report on ksgi. Don't mind. Let's do one on Yuma if that's okay. I double checked. It is 2 o' clock in in New Mexico Military too. Well, I knew that one. Okay. 3, 2, 1. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head football coach Greg Croshaw on today's Rebel reporting. Coach, head to Yuma. That's been an interesting time for you. You've had some good games. You've had some poor games down there. Well, we have. And you know, it's through several different coaches, obviously through a lot of different players that have gone through the program. But for whatever reason we seem to styles have seemed to match up so that there have been some really good games and once in a while they've got out of hand and the out of hand ones. Occasionally we've been on the short end and occasionally they have. But you know, it's a bit of a scary game for me going into it because they have some talent. You know, I think our biggest job is to make sure our kids understand that this is not a bad football team by any means. Their record is not anywhere near indicative of the type of program that they've got going this year. They lost three one pointers and a two pointer and to their credit, hung in there and came back and really put the hurt on Mesa and Glendale in big ball games, lopsided scores. And then I think everybody felt like the week after we played Rick's that they had to go to Yuma and maybe that would be a close one. And lo and behold, Ricks wins 53 to nothing or something. But still that's a little deceiving because Arizona Western moved the ball extremely well, just came up with eight turnovers, which you know, is going to be deadly and in any set of circumstances. So. And then of course they went on and beat New Mexico Military. So they won three of the last four and have a club that's, you know, got some skill level to it and one that we need to show up there and be ready to play or it could be a long Saturday. Apparently part of the keys for going into a victory column instead of one point loss was the defensive effort by the team. Well, and I, you know, I haven't seen the films on, on the early games. I did see a little bit of the snow game, I guess, which was a 31, 30 or 30, 29, something like that. But I think that's probably true anytime. You know, Larry, I think a couple times they had decent leads and then gave them up in the fourth quarter and whatever happened. But. And they also were playing with a lot of freshmen on their club and you know, sometimes those problems magnify themselves A Mistake here and a mistake there and all of a sudden you lose a close one. But you're getting down to the point now where freshmen are pretty darn close to sophomores. This is either their last or next to last game. They've got seven, eight games under their belt, so they know what college ball's all about. And at this point in time, I don't really think you have those what you would classify as two freshmen because they've been through a pretty good campaign already to this point. What will be the key for Dixie going into Yuma? Well, I think a couple things. One, like I said, I think we need to be mentally into the game not feeling like the season's over after a great win against Snow, and we've certainly worked at practice to try to avoid that. And then the turnover ratio, and I think that comes down every week if you can win the turnover ratio and of course the field position goes along with that. And then just to execute and play like we did against Snow, which was probably other than Phoenix, the only two times where we really eliminated the biggest majority of the big plays. And that's something that has plagued us, I think, in looking at film. One of the things that Arizona Western does probably better than anybody I've seen, maybe not only this year, but maybe in a long time, is their kick returns, both punt and kickoff. They do a tremendous job with. They have some real skilled kids with speed, and you can tell they really spend a lot of time working at it. And, and every film you turn, I see them coming back with big kick returns. So we're spending a lot of time trying to work and concentrate on that. Also Doug lemons and Aaron MacArthur and company may be keys then. Yeah, and company, you know, and if Doug can kick and put them in the end zone so they get at the 20, then that's, you know, that makes that kicking coverage a lot easier. Of course, Aaron's job's a little tougher because you don't have that opportunity to put it in the end zone every time. But he's done an outstanding job job this year. And those guys, along with the other 10 guys who run down covering the kicks, will play a big, big part in the outcome, I think. We've been talking with Dixie College head football coach Greg Croshaw on today's Rebel Report on ksgi. 3, 2, 1. We're talking with Dixie College head football coach Greg Croshaw on. Coach, we go through this every time. This is the nostalgia game of the year for you. Well, it is you know, had a chance really. My first, I guess full time job was at Snow College or the first time I got paid for coaching, I guess or whatever and were awful good years, you know, that four years there with Dave Arcellane and all the intertwined stories there, of course that go along with that. And then being the in state rival and the tradition of the Snow Dixie for however long and it's been a long, long time, I think, you know, personally it becomes interesting to me because of those connections and then of course with the kids who play with or played against most of the kids on both teams know a little bit about each other and so and in state and all those things make it like I say, probably the, probably the most interesting intertwined and maybe the biggest rivalry of all the games we play now. You began really on the Dixie side of that rivalry, didn't you, before you went to the Snow zone? Well, I did, yeah, I did. I was a part time guy here. My first actual coaching job at Dixie, two years I worked in the fall and was the janitor of the gym and you know, a few different things. Thanks to Coach Allred, Tom Ramage who was the head football coach at that time and Hal Norton was the athletic director. And so I did have a chance to actually start at Dixie for two years and then Tom went to BYU and of course Lee Bunnell ended up the head coach here at Dixie and then I wandered up the road to BYU because of some influences with Coach Ramage and then to Snow and then on from there. Did you and Lee coach together here at Dixie? No, we didn't. Almost did at one point, point in time, but didn't. I was one of the fellows that got a chance to interview for that job and probably the best thing that happened for me in my career at that time was they gave it to Lee. I was not that old and not real experienced and thought I had a lot of answers, not many questions and probably would have been here and had some success, would have moved on probably pretty quickly. So for me I think it worked out know extremely well the way it did. Lee had a pretty good run there, had some great players and was doing a great job. I was at Snow and had a chance to go to Northern Arizona University and right at that same time, just a week or two after Lee had an opportunity to hire a full time assistant and had called and asked if I would be interested and if timing would have been different and maybe a week or two different, I very likely would have been here with Le Lee Because I had a tremendous amount of respect for him and his program, and I always felt like Dixie was a place I wanted to get back to, so just didn't work out because of timing. And again, you know, those things happen in coaching, but there's so many stories there, back and forth that, you know, it's hard to keep track of. But Lee did a great job, like I say, and I would have been really happy to have had a chance to work with Lee at that point in time. What's the difference on the Snow side? I. On the Dixie side of this rivalry? Oh, I don't know if there really is much difference. You know, had a chance to be involved, like I say, with Dave Arcellane, and I think the Ricks, Snow, Dixie, all were brought up into national prominence by each other. In other words, I think Dave kind of got a jump on. I think Dave Arslanian had snow and had a couple of good years, and then the other school said, hey, we're not going to, you know, put up with this, and started to elevate and recruiting and some scholarship help and different things. And then all of a sudden, I think that old ICAC rivalry kind of promoted everybody. And that's why you see right now in the national rankings and year in and year out, two or three of us having a chance to be nationally ranked. And. And, you know, I think it's been a, you know, healthy thing for everybody involved because everybody elevated their programs, I believe, and however that happened, I don't know, but it's nice to think that you had a part in that, both at Snow and here at Dixie, and things were on the, you know, on the move. And then you get stadiums like Hanson Stadium and Rix's Stadium, you know, and I thought Snow for years had as nice a facility as there was around when we were there. A little bit undersized now compared to Rick's and ours, but still an awfully nice facility. They, of course, were the first ones to build the convention center, kind of a nice basketball arena, weight room. And so everything really just kind of got snowballing there. And I think you see from that, the programs have elevated to the point where they're at. Of course, Snow is the only one of three that has had a national championship, and that was a tremendous job done by them. Rick's has been awfully close, and so has Dixie. And, you know, I think a little bit of luck goes with that, but I think really all the programs just kind of brought each other along to the point now that you're in the upper echelon and good coaching on all the schools and, you know, good solid kids, a lot of whom come out of Utah at all three schools. Each of us have our own way to recruit after that, after you go through the Utah kids, whether it's, you know, I use Vegas or, you know, Rick's uses the LDS kids, or Snow goes to Canada or wherever, you have some other ways to do it. But I think all in all, they're very similar and very competitive and I think we've all, like I say, helped elevate the programs to where they are today. Last few years, it's been a home field disadvantage, hasn't it? Well, that's really kind of an interesting deal, but it has, I believe the last three games have been won by the visitor, and we've been fortunate to be on the top end of two of those and had lost the last time we played, played here. But again, that when we say home field advantage or, you know, obviously the games are played here at Ephraim, but both times you find tremendous fan support on either field. And so, you know, I know we play at snow. That sideline over there is packed. And I know today snows will be packed and there will be a lot of crowd noise for both sides of the team. So other than the place you're playing, playing, I'm not sure fan support really is that much different. Again, a lot of those parents come and families come from in the Utah area, and that's what makes this so special, is the fact that late in the year and usually there's a little something riding on it and the good rivalry and the fan support and really what it's all about for Greg Croshaw. Is it fun to coach against Snow College? Well, it is. I enjoy coaching every week, whether that's. But this is something that's, like I say, a little special. And I look forward to it when this time comes. The kids, I think, look forward to it because of those things we've talked about. You don't have to very often worry about getting the kids ready to play. That's fairly easy. And so I think you find this, no matter where you're at, whether it's Dixie Pine View in high school or whether it's BYU Utah in Division 1 or Russ and Snow, there's certain games on everybody's schedule that are special. And I think all the coaches that have a chance to be involved in that really look forward to it. And that's really what really makes the season Kind of special is to have those kind of opportunities. As far as the Dixie squad is concerned. I know you have a couple of dented fenders and a few scratched paint, a little bit of scratch paint on this team. How the Knicks and the bruises are you healed well in some areas, yes, and some we've lost guys for the season. We, we just found out midweek we lost Lindsey Hassell for the season with a knee. You know, a young guy from Morgan that really had done an outstanding job and he got hurt at Rick's and then played last week, wasn't full speed, but found out he had an ACL tear. So we lose him. You know, backup tight end still out. Danny UTU and Lalo Atuaffe starting the probably is not going to go today. He got kicked in the shins above the ankle and just can't seem to shake it. And so, you know, but that's par for the course at this time of year. I think the running backs are getting closer to full speed and ready to go. So, you know, we just need to go about our business with who we've got. And you know, the guys, like I've said, the guys that get a chance to play, I'm sure will do a good job. Snow College. What is a particular challenge from the Badgers for Dixie? Well, they do some interesting things. They try to looks like no different than always. They blitz you most all the time on defense and try to come up with the big plays. They're a big play team and if they get on a roll, things can get out of hand pretty quick. They'll run the ball, but they'll go a lot of formations and throw it and, you know, they can hit you on some big plays and they can hit you on some big ones on the other side of the ball that I think helps ignite their offense. So if you can control the big plays and make them drive the ball, which is, you know, key to, I think, every ball game, then you have a, you know, pretty good chance to win the ball game. If they get rolling and get hot with their big plays, you know, I think you can see from their scores that they have a tendency to get going pretty quick. If it's, you know, 17 to 20 or whatever against Scottsdale, halftime, then all of a sudden it ends up 52 to 17, that's a pretty good indication. But the teams that conform and made them work have had some good success, whether that be Walla Walla or Arizona Western. A one point win. And of course, Ricks, who had Beat him and Glendale, which was 14, 14. Those teams did not allow them to get off many of those big plays. And then, you know, that helps control the ball game. And then on the other side, if you hit them on a run or a pass with all the man coverage or you break the line of scrimmage, all of a sudden there's no, nobody there. So you do have the capability or the potential to come up with some big offensive plays yourself also. Is that going to be the key to big plays and who gets them? Well, it seems to have been the key all this year and you know, that has been some of my frustration and you know, you always think that your big plays were well designed, well coached plays and the other guys were luck. So. But we have, you know, given up quite a number of big plays on different aspects of, of the game and that's probably been our biggest frustration as it comes in the punting game or the kicking game or the offense or the defense and not in one particular place. So I really think probably that will be. And our ability to control those big plays every play of the ballgame, along with turnovers, will play probably the most important role of this ball game. You mentioned Lindsey, for example, who will be substituting in those starting positions today? Well, you know, we got a couple of guys. Alfred Tukuafu, who has been hurt, who worked extremely hard and he's starting to come back, played some. Terry Lyman will probably bounce around and play some. I would think with the pass rush that we're going to have to come up with today. You'll probably see all the defensive linemen that we have, whether that be Santiago, Gale along, you know, and those guys did a good job last week and so we're going to try to keep them as fresh as possible and rotate them in there. So we'll probably start out with Alfred at Lindsey's spot and then just rotate them morale from there. Offensive line, I know you had a couple of dings last week. Are they healed with Wade and Troy? Well, they're, you know, they'll be out there and how long they last, you never know. But Wade has an ankle that's pretty tender and the Troy knee and they've done a great job and if there's any way for them to be there, they'll be there. I don't think there's any question about that. How long they last. I really, you know, I really don't have any idea. But they'll start out there and hopefully they'll make it through the, the game. Coach, one final question. I know the bowl game has to be part of the horizon. Is that still on your mind, or is there a way of trying to keep that off your mind? Well, that's a tough deal. I've told people, you know, since the inception of that thing that, you know, you just try to play them one at a time. But I think realistically, you have to understand that, you know, that pressure is always there, and, you know, obviously you'd like to be playing in the thing, but that's something you can't control. We have no control over that, and we just have to go about our business and try to win games one at a time. And even though you say, well, it doesn't matter, but that is always lingering there, so you have to just go out and try to make sure the guys are ready to play and not have the players worry too much about it. I don't want them worrying about it. I'd rather have them playing the game and trying to execute and do the things they need to do to be successful. Coach Craig Croshaw, thank you for being with us. Good luck today. Thanks, Larry. We'll see you after the game.