It's a compact season. We play 18 games, and between games and practice, you have to get a lot done in a short period of time.

We almost didn't even have a field to play games on. We don't really even have a practice field.

I always felt we needed to play more in games and even in practice. As a veteran, I also realize you want to go into the season healthy. That's why I'm glad it's the coach's job.

Every practice or every game, our young players are seeing a new situation. It's very important to play the games, to make corrections and to name a few things that we did well.

We have five games in a row later in the year. The guys wanted to play in the county tournament to see how they stack up. The state games are our number-one priority.

This is what you talk about; this is why you practice every day ? to play in big games like this. We fought through (a poor third quarter) and now we're Western Conference champions.