Rockies Recap with head coach Adam Handley
Week 9 vs Concord
Q — Where do you go with last night? That is a very good team (Concord) that played very well.
A — If you talk to Craig (Koehler, Concord head coach) he says they are struggling. But they have some big linemen and some very talented skill players and I think that their record just shows how tough our conference is.
If you go back and watch the game, at the end of the first quarter it’s 14-0. We went for about a 10-minute span where it was 7-0.
Our defense made some stops but your defense can only be on the field so long until they get worn down. It’s a testament to them that they put up a fight and eventually (Concord’s) big guys up front wear you down and they get some big plays on you.
Q — It was said to me by another coach who was having a tough year that he just wished that everybody could see how far that team had come since the first day of practice and I get the feeling you would second that about your guys.
A — I can’t fault anybody’s effort. Those guys show up every day ready to get better and ready to take on a new opponent. Getting beat the way we have on Friday night, as a young high school kid I’m sure that’s tough. But these guys show up every Monday morning ready to learn what we are going to do on offense, what are we going to do on defense, what are we going to do to give ourselves an opportunity to compete.
I can’t be happier than I am with the effort they’ve given. If you came to a practice you’d have no idea of our record and that’s a testament to these kids.
We’ve talked to our seniors all year about the fact they may not see the benefits of the groundwork they are laying this year but they can come back in three or four years when hopefully things are where they should be and say that they are a part of that because of what they did this year to get young players ready.
Q — You bring up young kids, and young kids can be, well, honestly, cruel. You know they are hearing all that outside noise on social media, in the hall at school, just some trash talk, and even if it’s good-humored it’s tough to take.
A — It’s easy to stand in the hallway or wherever and talk bad about the program but until you are out there practicing and trying to make a difference you really shouldn’t be talking. Come and be involved. Until you’ve been to workouts and practice and team meetings, there really shouldn’t be any of that.
The fans, the kids, people in the stands, don’t see what we are doing to get better, they aren’t at practice to see how hard all of us work to get better. They see on Friday night that we run a play wrong, and everybody says “Why would you run that play?” But they don’t see in practice when we run it great all week so we put it in the plan. It’s not like we run something bad in practice all week and then put it in any way just hoping that it works. Sometimes that guy across from you is just better and he makes a play to blow it up. We don’t put things in that aren’t working in practice.
Our job as a high school staff is to get the kids in the right position to win games but we are also trying to teach these guys life skills and how to be good men.
We wear wristbands that have the words compete, positive attitude, work ethic, and sacrifice on them, four skills that they can carry on with them in their lives.