the following podcast is produced a sponsored by community member the content views and opinions expressed are those of the participants and do not reflect those of d m c or the town of belmont b and c welcome your comments call us at six one seven four eight four two four four three or email us at access at belmont media dot org shot which personally i'd like to hear on the simon cast because it means i don't really have to directly switch cameras but if you are watching and listening to us well the season is almost over so your chances to participate through through the the queues for q talk and again it's here we are for the final game of the two thousand and sixteen belmont high school varsity football season the ninety fifth edition of belmont and watertown there's je he was breaking down the fourth wall talk about on our informal little time cast here but as i said we're a little crowded studio b this time around you're on the dell not media podcast network and simulcast a good view of the channels eight nine twenty eight and twenty nine so with  really brief recap of the win that you guys are coming off of against burlington and then we'll go watertown nonstop yeah i mean i think that you know we had a lot of work to do to kind of stop the skid that we were in obviously we lost three tough ones in a row we lost a tough one to le on who won the middlesex liberty title and then we had to go on the road to draycott about an hour up and play in the slop up there and as you guys know we dropped that one and then you know we dropped a really close hard fought game the wall fan that i'm sure kind of sticks in the craw of the the guys who were sitting here so you know it was a real testament to our team and to our coaching staff and to our players that we went out there and got it out a win against another middlesex opponent a middlesex freedom opponent an opponent to belmont used to play pretty regularly up until i think two thousand and nine or somewhere around there so you know it was a great game we thought we did some things really well off fans of lee and at times didn't you know we found some aspects of our passing game that were great it was great to get jonesy back also that always kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off of our often so you know you saw us rely really heavily on cal against wall family through for over three hundred yards and two scores and we were able to kind of relax a little bit of that a little bit of that load off his shoulders  and he did a great job on the ball against burlington too and i thought defensively you know we we stepped off the throttle a little bit you know in the end of the third quarter going in the fourth quarter and really gave them an opportunity to come back in the game but for three quarters i thought we played some of our most physical and aggressive defen of the season you know we were really down hill we were tackling really well we pressured the quarterback out a couple of sacks and so you know i think it put us in a good place to a decent watching you know to go in a watertown week where we go a little bit extra practice and give some good things to build off of well this callus here i've got to ask him of course now cal you know you're going to do whatever coach tells you to do as far as being part of the team and everything but you had to like in that waltham game a chance to open it up a little bit exhibit more of the of the passing attack more passing opportunities in that game  long passes i mean is that that's just something i guess the repetition in practice all season you get so so late in the year and you guys have got the timing down right i'm deathly i mean they make it easy for me i just have to throw it up there and the come down that you know well as well the jake's a good receiver to mean it's great that you have a lot of different options in the passing game but you can go to i mean you've got you know there's at least you got six seven different receivers who caught at least six balls this year so i mean you know everyone seems to be actively involved in the passing game as well as obviously the running and we've been blessed i mean we've been really blessed at that position and i think we're actually blessed that all of our positions to be perfectly honest you know there are definitely some positions where i think we wish that we had a little bit more depth you know i'm sure ryan could talk a little bit about that on the o chance a line you know we were not as deep as we'd like to be there but it at wide receiver and at running back those are definitely two positions where we have a lot of great depth and there are a lot of guys who kind of step up and shine and give cal good targets and hopefully give whoever wins a spot next year good targets as well yeah and of course well here we go i mean let's let's look ahead here thanksgiving day this is what it's all about you know i was looking back at the pre season goals and i i know you know that you wanted to have the winning record and you wanted to make the playoffs and came up just a little bit short of both those things but the final goal which is still on the table still out there for the pick as sure of you know beating watertown on thanksgiving day the ninety fifth edition belmont watertown a they've won the last four games so as a as a senior class i mean you guys have never beaten them which i guess must make it even more you're even hungrier th thanksgiving day and just talk about what the what it's really all about yeah i mean i think the belmont watertown is one of those rivalries that you don't really know all about until you're in it you know some some way shape or form years a player or coach or even just as a fan from for me their town you  know and i've been blessed to be part of a couple of really great thanksgiving day rivalries in my coaching career you know i played prep football so we didn't we didn't have a thanksgiving day rivalry which is something that i was always really jealous of when i was looking down at the m i a mass and and stuff and seeing these guys get in play on turkey day it's a really special rivalry in part because the council close you know and these guys have so many connections in their families they have so many connections with guys that they played with and used sports that you know run throughout both of the teams and you know it creates a great atmosphere of you know fair competition but you know people would also think they like you don't you want to be your buddy more than you want to be somebody that you don't know that's for sure you know you want you want those bragging rights to get to be in the last two games and see the  crowds and how many people come out to watch this game and how many people are into this game and last year which was such a close game all the way down the wire just you know us here in the people there a line in the the end zone and sitting up in the stands is it's it's really something that's truly special there's i'm a man of a lot of words and there are a couple of things that are really difficult for me to describe and you know what it feels like to get to stand on the sideline with these great young men and coach a game that means so much to to communities and to these guys and to us as coaches i mean it's humbling i guess is probably the best word that's out there it's a really humbling thing to be part of something that's ninety five years old and to get to say you know for how overlong i get to do this that that i i played a part in that and my team played a part in that my coaches played a part in that is it's really cool it's really cool to get to be a part of something like that yeah i know when one of the things of course i was asking all you guys and again we're i think will this will be the opportunity we're going to cycle everybody in you know a lot of players on the watertown team and it didn't dawn on me you brought up cal you brought up watertown pop warner it was actually watertown belmont at one time so yeah you probably were teammates with a lot of these guys when you guys were really little and so yeah you know you now you're playing against them as  maybe favorite memories of thanksgiving i know you guys have beaten watertown mean you're in your four years but i mean you must have some kind of special memories or things that you really appreciated about about the thanksgiving day rivalry and just just playing on thanksgiving had to go out in the morning to come in early seven thirty and shovel off the field and i was one of the bus members just seeing that because i was you know the seniors out there like max wasn't wearing long sleeves and every time we come to the sideline he had these like dig wells from just the cold checks for exhausted just having good lanes really putting it all out on the ball because i don't have to worry about going back on often because i know those other receivers have me even though they're younger than me because i trust them that they can do the job as well as i can i can really focus on  year and through his career and like tackles and picks and knock downs and all that stuff but i think we're really flies under the radar is is how much work kevin does with coach b and making sure that he knows to check structures that are in there in the formation of the just minutes and you know he's the field general out there i mean he's a guy standing up over the top of the defense and making sure the guys are aligned in the right way and that they're communicating their coverages and that they're communicating their blitzes you know and you know we say that we're really blessed that the at the wide receiver position you know we cal got out here before we can really talk about you know we're really blessed in all three of these guys to have three tremendously intelligent football players you know who are really capable of commanding their sides of the ball in their units and cavs done that for us all year and we wouldn't be the defense that we were without him doing that and so i you know get him here  in this interview is a great opportunity to really say that and probably not something that we say enough throughout the course of the season because it's just his job so we just expect him to do it it's at the end of the year when we get on the style chicken retrospective that we get to say some of the stuff so he's done a great job of that yeah well you know kevin i mean us as a safety to leave a lot of ways you're the last line of defense i mean i mean do you is it sometimes an exciting feeling when you know you're watching the other team in that and they're throwing something down deep in you that you've got your quarterback in coverage and then you're just going to kind of migrate of it just comes down to or play you just comes back to instincts and how were you trained those instincts because like when you're reading a lot and when you're reading plays it's like what you think is going to happen and you're just going out there and was not thinking because you have to make a decision like that or you can be out of position and they're going to make  end you know the other an advantage is you know you're kind of almost as opposed to the receiver on the quarterback who have to keep looking back over their shoulder for the ball you're almost kind of like a punter kickoff returner where everything's in front of you your it's  coming at you so you have a chance to kind of you know reacts you know he gives you that much of evan edge research acting and not have an electron your head back for defensive coordinator calls me with center field it's because i'm out there and i'm just looking towards the quarterback and i really go all the way is on the sideline and it's a really tough position like it's very tough to play free safety on a team in the one high because quarterbacks are they'll look you off and they'll like send you one way and then throw the other and you got to turn his back around and try to get there and i mean ginn john corti you know these are all skilled receivers i had a chance to catch him one week doing a little trying to do a little dance scouting for the for the game and yeah i mean these a these are some good receivers oh yeah you're going to have your hands full i'm sure you've already looked at some of the films some of these guys got some talented athletes and they've got some height and they've got some speed and they've got some strength and they've got a kid a quarterback who can try to make things happen you know went out at any moment in time in the game you know and so are our focus you know defensively is like kevin work to stop and we've got to work to score on them and we're telling our guys the same thing we're going to do work to stop them they've got great skill we're going to have to do work to score and i didn't i'll come full circle again kevin kind of wrap up this segment by ask you so how many players are going to be getting the yeah well you mean you know we talked a little bit about this early on in the season when you were talking about all the captains coach you know the lead in to behind naming ryan as one of the cap disaster jr yeah i mean i think you know we like to have captaincy span the levels of our of our team you know so obviously we've got you know cal as as a captain and then as a captain quarterback running back combination kind of handles the office of skill and we knew that you know kev was going to be a stalwart on the defense and our defensive skill so you know that gave us of another unit covered and we were looking at our line and you know we graduated a bunch of seniors and including asker and kitschy only who were both senior captains and you know we we we needed those we needed a hog you know we needed a lineman captain and when we started looking at it from that perspective it was community college you know and ryan's definitely one of those kids you know you'd be hard pressed and i think cal and cab would both agree with us to find a kid who works harder on the practice field than ryan do you know he played he's our cent so he's instrumental in our office and in controlling our often sawan he plays a great five tech the end we kind of joke joke with him a little bit that he's kind of like a fifty year old semi pro player a defensive end because you know he might not be the fastest quickest the strongest guy right out the gate by parents but he has his great knowledge of the game you know and he finds his way the football and he gets off walks and you know one of the things we talk a lot about on film and kev going to test this too especially defensively is what are you doing on the back side of the play you know you're playing and on the left  doing the toss goes goes to your right and the answer for neuter is he's buzzes but trying to get to the ball you know and that's the sort of mentality that we we want our captains and we've gotten all four of our guys there are always hard work and we knew that we were going to get that on the  owner so really it was a no brainer yeah i was a ryan talk a little bit about that too where you were on and off and someone that is made up entirely of juniors you guys all came together this year and you're going to get a whole other year to do i mean it's great to have this experience together as a line and then you guys all get to come back next year yes definitely really truly we are going to return five starting off at the line and it's seen as next year and you know also coached you'd mentioned earlier that we're a little you know light on the offensive line because we don't have a lot of seniors who play that position and we have a lot of young guys who are going to be really good when they're older but just you know a little raw still not big enough strong enough yet so you know we had a week of practice one time where you know three of us are all banged up so we have to start season that's that's a great thing and i give these guys a lot of credit and also a couple of other guys who might not be on the starting rotation but george tucson's going to start a guard for us and jake parsons who's come in and out of t contribute to this year's defense i mean we've been calling their numbers quite on the defensive side of the ball well yeah i mean i think we've done a little bit of a better job this year and our numbers are up you know and it enables us to think a little bit more about platooning guys and keeping guys on one side of the ball and giving them an opportunity to be resident you know and can talk a little bit about that defensively you know and i'm convinced that you know you're always going to be a better player when you only have to focus on one thing now numbers and the state of high school football doesn't always allow you to do that so you get sity often get to have those guys go against each other you know in practice and we're not there yet but you know we're building towards that i mean we came in first year we had what like forty kids you know and almost throughout the entire program and right now you know started the season out with about ninety kids throughout the entire program so you know we're trying to keep clipping that up so that we can keep guys rested and keep guys healthy and keep guys on the field playing football for eleven weeks so right end of the question for us as a junior this would be your second year ryan talking about it that i've been really really blessed as one is that you know and i'll knock on the wood here is a riot is one of the most consistent senators snap in the football that i've ever been lucky enough to have and cal's catcher and an pretty impressive adjustments especially in the out especially in our first year you know before ryan was was snapping a ball in the gun makes a pretty impressive adjustments to haul a ball down or pick a ball off the dirt or grab a ball off the hip while keeping his he's our holder to you know and he utilizes you can see him use the catching skills you know you can see him get his body in front of me you can see him with the soft hands man and that's definitely an asset that we've been looking shotgun versus regular snap you have a preference or really done way about well ok i'll ask you one more thing that will kind of rotate people back in action will be a regular question i guess someone asked what do you personally what do you think makes coach q such a good like what do you appreciate about having i know it's loaded because he's right here but no they put in there they want everyone to be there they want to program to be good so they'll be there all day have three different lisette up so if people are working if people have driving school people you know jobs or sports that they have to do they're always there and we're in like the amount of time they put even in season  we not was boarding any audio not the audio was recording i think who is lord i don't know if something happened with the audio i don't know what's going on while we still have the video here so we got this going which is good for those audio carry over on to the video oh y show us that you know just keep working hard like you make the most of your opportunities you know it doesn't matter where you come from you know they're your background you know you can be whoever you want to be no matter how much work you put into it and you know it's it's better just you got to give one hundred percent even we don't want to kind of pay dividends in the long run that you know you don't really realize when you're doing it and you know it you know your death are going to trip up sometimes i think in a coach who says you know say like you are always going to you know be a hundred percent success rate but if you keep working you know it's going to work out for you and you know it doesn't really matter because he was always there with us through everything like on the field last field as cal numerous and let the time they put into everything the time they put into us the claim and they have the us is second to none all the other programs i've been in almost everything that that you have to like everyone but you want to love everyone and the fact is that like if you were rolling the bird on everything for someone beside you and you saw the opportunity to give it all that you have because you've all of that person then you do whatever you can do is help family out and do whatever you can for you know i'm humbled when these guys come up here and i you know it's it's it's always an awkward position for me to be in because i rely on so many other people to make this thing go and freshman coaches you know in coach hill and coach christo and coach to mario you know the amount of time that these guys put in is is insane i mean there is somebody in their right mind when doing a coaching friend of mine used to say that we have to be we have to be sick to do this job the right way and i've taken that really to heart for better or for worse in my personal life for sure but in my professional life and i think that's one of the big differences between our coaching staff a lot of other coaching staffs although i think it's very true for a lot of other coaching staffs is that the professional my personal blend you know there's really no border for us you know these guys are our brothers and where they're brothers  and so when i hear these guys stand up in preach about family and preach about love and do it with the passion that i think we talk to them about it and talk about how it relates to you know being able to weather the storm of an angry coach screaming about why you didn't roll over to the to the to receiver and good timing and you know they know that that yeah we're we're barking about that but at the end of the day and we say this to these guys all the time and for all you little kids out there watching the watch of the  know at some point in time for all of us unless you get into coaching and even if you get in the coaching you know you you hang the had up manny and we had up and yang shoulder pads up and it doesn't matter how many yards you ran for it doesn't matter how many touchdowns you threw it doesn't matter how many talk you know how many sacks yonder i mean picks you ali none of those things matter in the grand scheme of things they matter right now in the context of a football game but in the grand scheme of the of these young men in their lives and what it is that they're going to do with their lives you know nobody cares and and i don't say that to bill little what we do and these guys know that what we do is tremendously difficult and requires tremendous strength and requires tremendous passion and they're going to take those lessons and they're going to use them to make them better men but at the end of the day you know i'm concerned about who they are as men and how are they going to treat other people in their life their families that they're going to have the families that they already have their coworkers their friends and strangers you know what is their attitude towards their fellow man going to be and what is their attitude towards themselves going to be and you know to hear these guys who have been you know drinking the kool aid for three years stand up here and it's and spit back things that are so central to not just what i believe but to what we believe is probably the greatest gift a coach can get you know hours about this i need to shut up i like my greatest lawyer all of well you're wrapping up why do all three of you guys come up here and we'll get a chance to have some final get you on camera might my greatest my greatest reward i says to these guys is me is my greatest reward as you know is his twenty years from now twenty five years from now when i've put on you know fifty sixty pounds on my knees don't work anymore and you know i'm on the trot down the street is to get the opportunity to run into why iran and to cower run into camp you know and shake their hands and and ask them how they're doing and have them look at me and say coach my life is great it's it's it's what i why it hasn't always been easy but it's what i want and i've got you know a great wife and a great family and a great job and i just you know put my down payment down on my first house and you know i love my career and all of this stuff you know and and that moment for me is you know it all honestly i'll probably be good for me i'll probably clock out after this i'll probably leave the earth after that one because it really doesn't get emotional because you know the seniors who we've been with you know we spent a lot of time together the football team the people family and their practice and every day and film on saturdays and all that stuff so that be emotional when it sinks in that they're not going to be playing with us you know the next year an awesome experience you know from the moment you wake up in the morning you know years looking for the point and it's just so cool you don't even care it's like six thirty seven in the morning and you're like so excited to play what's the other thing played so early is the only day you get to early in the morning and then it just you know  you know you drive down here out of the field there whether you're taking the bus you know no one's out just just like your bus to go and take a five minute drive to the other town and you know you're just so excited you know to you know the stands are packed you know people are on the outside and just the whole atmosphere you know you know playing as the team his own time and going to watertown is like forget about the entire season this is a new season this is a new time for this team if you win this game everything else feels fine and i really hope that we can just go out there and win this game for th game and i mean i expect the same thing from these guys that they've given me each and every single day that they've come out to practice since they were you know software as a freshman and that is that they're going to put everything that they haven't everything that they do one repetition of the time toward success you know and i have there are very few things in my life that i view as complete and total certainty but the effort of my seniors and my football team on thanksgiving day is certain you know these guys  unit put every piece of themselves into what it is that they do and you know we're we're all doing that that and our planning and our you know week and a half of practice and not just that but you know i think one of the special things about turkey day taught especially for seniors is that at some point in time over the next forty eight hours these guys are going to process the the magnitude of the amount of work that they've done and that's why i always encourage guys to you know even when it's hard stick it out and play for years like finish your career because at some point in time these guys are going to look back on everything and for people who just come down and watch us on friday night and watch high school football on friday night i think that sometimes you know unless their parents of a high school football player have a limited understanding of how hard it is to do this thing in the grand scheme i mean these guys have to come out of software some of them and you know play scout and not get the the run that they want d on the varsity level and you still got to go out to practice you still got to be a film session you know you still got to be a games you still got a player j v game and you still got out focalize loaded one of the best high schools in the state of massachusetts and one of the best high schools in the country you know and you got to keep all that stuff above board you know and then you come out junior year and if you're starting now you're you know now you're playing eleven and we're not even talking about the offseason and there's four days a list so you know we can these guys are getting in there and doing that work and they're going to camps and on top of that they're playing other sports i mean the only who's like football madden here is kevin i mean cal's a baseball and hockey player noons of baseball and hockey players so not only are they trying to build their football program in the offseason but they're trying to win games for their respective other programs as well you know and you got to keep doing that and you know you know when you get to a day like today where it's you know it's better old man in the wind is howling and it's a it's just not a great day to be out plan sports but you know what you've got to put your helmet on man and you got to go out there and you got to do your job and  at some point in time these guys are going to reflect on just how much work they've done and they sit here and they talk about look at the time our coaches of put in the you know their commitment is second to none and i would spin that right around and say take one second to think about the amount of time that you've put in that has earned you the right to trot out on to that field man on thursday morning and it is it's a mythical morning and it's same thing for me you know you get up and go the same breakfast place for breakfast i'm going to before everything's going you know and i get the same meal and the drive down the down the road and nobody's on it maybe there's a little dust in the snow on is like is something magical you know it's a it's a really special day and special feeling so i'm just so excited for these guys fifty other ninety fifth edition i should say a belmont watertown football will be broadcast to get jeremy reserve will be leading the production crew and jim reynolds and i'll be on the call of the game we are very much looking forward to bringing you the ninety fifth annual belmont watertown ga without you brother we love it that way well good luck to the riders on thanksgiving day as they try to a snap watertown's four game winning streak in the ninety fifth edition of belmont watertown football for all of us to all of you have a happy thanksgiving and go