Kirtland Central-Aztec Leftovers
I waited for KC coach Tom Adair outside the visitors' locker room for as long as I could, but by 10:04 p.m. I decided to sprint back across the football field, up the steps and into the gravel parking lot to retrieve my car and haul it back to the office in a fruitless attempt to make deadline.
I interviewed Adair on the phone while driving down Main Street and attempted to record it, which was difficult to do with the stop lights and a manual transmission. His cell phone sounded weak as well, so I wasn't able to get any direct quotes from KC for my gamer. I apologize.
I didn't have much time to inject my interviews into the story on deadline, so here's the transcript of my talk with Aztec QB Brycson King and linebacker Josh Folk.
Little nervous there at halftime?
King: Going into halftime I still felt pretty confident. I know we had our mistakes, but we don't ever quit, and I knew our defense was going to pick it up. That was one of the biggest things because our offense was struggling at the beginning so we needed the defense to pick us up and they did their job.
Do you feel like you need time to come back or are you already there (physically)?
King: I don't think I need time to come back. I feel confident. I feel good with my arm. I'll say it's not 100 percent. I'm still getting strength back. But other than that I felt fine. I'm just glad to be back. It makes it a lot easier if we can run the ball and I think we struggled with that a little bit, but I've also got to make plays. A couple of throws there at the beginning, I don't really think it was my arm. I just kind of took some off.
It seemed like you were underthrowing it at first. Is that accurate to say?
King: Definitely. I was trying to hit these guys on a spot. Underthrowing Jake, that shouldn't happen because he's got speed. Just throw it over the top and let him go get it, but I took a lot off and just made it easy to pick, and that one in the red zone, just, it wasn't a smart play at all. When I came back out I was like, 'Just throw the ball, let it fly.'
Does it help to have WRs that can make plays after the catch?
King: You've got speed with Jake (Espinoza), and then you've got Tylin Hirsch who's just making move after move. The size isn't there, but you can't tackle him, so I mean that helps. And we've got speed on the other side, and Ty Atencio is just a mammoth.
Did it take pressure off the offense when the defense played so well in the second half?
King: A lot actually. Whenever you have that, it brings a lot more confidence not just to me, but to the whole team. It slowed everything down. Whenever you're in a hurry, it just makes it much harder, you're just going out there winging it, but whenever they do that, you take a deep breath and it makes it a lot easier.
Feeling a little more comfortable than you did at halftime?
King: It feels great, but we're going to have to clean it up. That was definitely not our best performance. Turnover after turnover on offense and just really didn't play our best, but right now, we'll take a win. We played hard, our defense played hard and it feels much better than the first half.
How long are (linemen) Matt Hegarty and Zane Clampett going to be out?
King: I don't think they'll be out too long. They're actually feeling really good. It's the same thing with them, making sure they've got the strength.
Would it make it a little easier in those short-yardage situations to have those guys?
King: The linemen we have in right now are doing great, it's just, they had to get thrown in and learn some plays really quick when we have guys that were in there starting as sophomores just already knowing the system. It's much easier for them.
Happy to be back after your own injury?
King: I actually worked my butt off to get back. That's all I wanted to do. I knew I wasn't going to be 100 percent coming back, but I knew I could help out with what I had.
Josh Folk
You gave up some big plays in the first half but it seemed like you controlled the line of scrimmage in the second half. What did you talk about at halftime?
Folk: Nothing, we just made sure we didn't go too far upfield. We are a major second-half team. We just got our game faces on.
What did you see on your fumble recovery?
Folk: I just stayed outside I had outside contain. Saw him go for the pass, slapped the ball, picked up the ball and ran as fast as I could for the end zone.
What was the mood after you guys got down 20-7?
Folk: Everyone was depressed but we still kept our heads high. After the fumble recovery everyone got excited and turned the game over.
Did you feel like you had more confidence as a defense by the end?
Folk: Yeah. We started to get our confidence back up and just started making it happen.
You get a shutout in the second half. Does it feel good to know that you guys (on defense) can win a game too?
Folk: Yeah, that does actually help a lot. It's really nice.
What does it mean to get the first win?
Folk: We started off very rough. To win the first district game is very nice. We plan on keep winning them.
*****
Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher
I interviewed Adair on the phone while driving down Main Street and attempted to record it, which was difficult to do with the stop lights and a manual transmission. His cell phone sounded weak as well, so I wasn't able to get any direct quotes from KC for my gamer. I apologize.
I didn't have much time to inject my interviews into the story on deadline, so here's the transcript of my talk with Aztec QB Brycson King and linebacker Josh Folk.
Little nervous there at halftime?
King: Going into halftime I still felt pretty confident. I know we had our mistakes, but we don't ever quit, and I knew our defense was going to pick it up. That was one of the biggest things because our offense was struggling at the beginning so we needed the defense to pick us up and they did their job.
Do you feel like you need time to come back or are you already there (physically)?
King: I don't think I need time to come back. I feel confident. I feel good with my arm. I'll say it's not 100 percent. I'm still getting strength back. But other than that I felt fine. I'm just glad to be back. It makes it a lot easier if we can run the ball and I think we struggled with that a little bit, but I've also got to make plays. A couple of throws there at the beginning, I don't really think it was my arm. I just kind of took some off.
It seemed like you were underthrowing it at first. Is that accurate to say?
King: Definitely. I was trying to hit these guys on a spot. Underthrowing Jake, that shouldn't happen because he's got speed. Just throw it over the top and let him go get it, but I took a lot off and just made it easy to pick, and that one in the red zone, just, it wasn't a smart play at all. When I came back out I was like, 'Just throw the ball, let it fly.'
Does it help to have WRs that can make plays after the catch?
King: You've got speed with Jake (Espinoza), and then you've got Tylin Hirsch who's just making move after move. The size isn't there, but you can't tackle him, so I mean that helps. And we've got speed on the other side, and Ty Atencio is just a mammoth.
Did it take pressure off the offense when the defense played so well in the second half?
King: A lot actually. Whenever you have that, it brings a lot more confidence not just to me, but to the whole team. It slowed everything down. Whenever you're in a hurry, it just makes it much harder, you're just going out there winging it, but whenever they do that, you take a deep breath and it makes it a lot easier.
Feeling a little more comfortable than you did at halftime?
King: It feels great, but we're going to have to clean it up. That was definitely not our best performance. Turnover after turnover on offense and just really didn't play our best, but right now, we'll take a win. We played hard, our defense played hard and it feels much better than the first half.
How long are (linemen) Matt Hegarty and Zane Clampett going to be out?
King: I don't think they'll be out too long. They're actually feeling really good. It's the same thing with them, making sure they've got the strength.
Would it make it a little easier in those short-yardage situations to have those guys?
King: The linemen we have in right now are doing great, it's just, they had to get thrown in and learn some plays really quick when we have guys that were in there starting as sophomores just already knowing the system. It's much easier for them.
Happy to be back after your own injury?
King: I actually worked my butt off to get back. That's all I wanted to do. I knew I wasn't going to be 100 percent coming back, but I knew I could help out with what I had.
Josh Folk
You gave up some big plays in the first half but it seemed like you controlled the line of scrimmage in the second half. What did you talk about at halftime?
Folk: Nothing, we just made sure we didn't go too far upfield. We are a major second-half team. We just got our game faces on.
What did you see on your fumble recovery?
Folk: I just stayed outside I had outside contain. Saw him go for the pass, slapped the ball, picked up the ball and ran as fast as I could for the end zone.
What was the mood after you guys got down 20-7?
Folk: Everyone was depressed but we still kept our heads high. After the fumble recovery everyone got excited and turned the game over.
Did you feel like you had more confidence as a defense by the end?
Folk: Yeah. We started to get our confidence back up and just started making it happen.
You get a shutout in the second half. Does it feel good to know that you guys (on defense) can win a game too?
Folk: Yeah, that does actually help a lot. It's really nice.
What does it mean to get the first win?
Folk: We started off very rough. To win the first district game is very nice. We plan on keep winning them.
*****
Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher
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Thank God you didn't cover the FHS-PV game so we don't have to read how FHS won but only because PV was a victim of bad referees. We won't have to read that PV out played FHS but PV was unlucky and maybe if one of the players had caught that dropped pass or didn't miss that tackle then PV would have won. I am holding my breath but maybe just maybe we can read how FHS played a good game and DESERVED to win. We will see.