I know just like a lot of you know, there is way to much football to be played, but I will say this. Our chance at STHS to go to state is as good as anyone else. Teams are praying that SS beat us this Friday, because they don't want to see if STHS is real. This is a game about match-ups and I feel we can play with anyone out there. We don't have a lot of support on here, but we do make believers after the games.
Everyone wrote us off this year because we didn't have one of the Hillary boys at QB. I'm so proud of the way our boys, especially J-Brown handled all of this. Keep playing as a cohesive unit. I know you hear the talk about SS scoring 74 points. The defense is so pumped right now. Just stay focused and play one game at a time. I believe there is 4 quarters to a football season just like it is 4 quarters in a game and you have to play hard all 4 quarters to be victorious.
Lets break it down:
1st Quarter - spring training allows our coaches to see what they have to work with for the upcoming year. Everyone was a little optimistic last spring and rightfully so, but you guys had a good spring.
2nd Quarter - Summer weightlifting, practice, and pre-season games. A lot of you came back this year bigger, stronger, and faster ready for battle. The practices went well, but once the pre-season games started, you started clicking. You beat some perennial 1A power house teams in Ware Shoals and Ninety Six. Then you Stepped up and beat Chester, who is 3A region 4 champions and ranked #5 in the 3A poll, but you didn’t stop there, you beat White Knoll a 4A school, but that wasn’t satisfying enough so you played Laurens, a 4A team who were 4A region 1 runner ups and ranked in the top 10 in 4A football and beat them as well. That’s when the belief kicked in and people started thinking, this team might be special .
3rd Quarter - You went undefeated, the 1st team since 1985-86 to go undefeated in regular season. You beat a 4A North Augusta team (21-7) which was ranked in the top 10 in the state in 4A football at the time and is in the 4A state playoffs right now. You played Silver Bluff at the Bluff and won a dog fight (7-0) and they are ranked in the top 10 in 2A football and I might ad, has a strong chance to win the Lower State title (Lets go Bluff the CSRA is pulling for you). On top of that, you beat everyone in your region convincingly and most people will agree 2A region 3 is probably the toughest region in 2A football. Region 3 still has three teams in the playoffs and that speaks for itself. Teams are still saying you haven’t played anyone. They are showing us no respect. I was always taught that respect is not given, it's earned, so go out there and take it this week. All you can do is play the team that is in front of you and let the naysayer’s say what they want.
4th Quarter - The playoffs is the 4th quarter. This is where you get to play all of the schools who said you didn’t play anyone all year. We start this quarter with only 32 teams and every team is undefeated. Regular season records go out the window. This is the cream of the crop. This is where you have to go undefeated to win a championship. Everything else has prepared you for this moment in time. One let down will cost you everything. I’m talking from experience, because I was on that 1980-81team that went undefeated and made it to state, but we lost 22-20 to Myrtle beach. You live with that for ever. I was a part of the 81-82 team that had all the talent in the world, but we had some players to make some bad choices and got kicked off of the team and we went 5-5. I was a part of the 82-83 team that started the season off bad, but I remember that team playing with the most heart ever, because we were rebuilding. What made that team turn out to be special, we were 1-4 in Columbia playing Keenan and they were beating us 14-0 at half time. I was a junior that year, but I had the most experience on the team, so at half time, before the coaches could talk with us, I stood up and I did a gut check with my teammates. We lost some games that year that we should have won and I told them I was tired of loosing. I said Keenan thinks this game is over, but we are going out there and play Strom Thurmond football and ram that ball down there throats. We beat Keenan 18-14 and Strom Thurmond went on a 43 game regular season winning streak. In 83-84 we went 12-1. We lost to Myrtle beach in the upper state championship game. This is a game we beat them all over the field, but we fumbled 6 times inside the 10 yard line. Why, because we had some kids looking ahead. Focus on the task at hand. This is where champions are made. Right here, right now.
In conclusion, this team has a chance to do what a lot of great Strom Thurmond teams couldn’t do, go undefeated and win state, but you have to do it together, one game at a time. Never underestimate an opponent. Play with confidence and not arrogance. Teams are not going to lay down for you. They are just as hungry as you are. Play with conviction and take what is yours. Own the field, silence the crowd, and play smash mouth football.
This is one of the best, if not the best balanced team in Thurmond history. We have an offence that can score with the best of them averaging 35 pts. Per game 390 total points. We can run the ball, our QB is a dual threat to run and pass, and kicking game is one of the best in the state. We pin teams deep on puts, our kickoff’s are usually in the end zone, we can kick field goals from 50 out. The kicking game is what makes us even more dangerous. Keep up the great work Ren Fell, we need you buddy. Or Blue Steel Defense is playing lights out stingy football. Only 65 points have been scored on you all year (avg. 5.9 per game. 2nd in the state) and the majority of that has been scored on our younger and up and coming players giving them experience on the field because the game is already under control. With that said, we could have scored and averaged more points as well on offense and allowed a lot fewer points on defense. I'm glad we don't have a coaching staff that is concerned with padding the stats.
I’m not saying this to swell your heads. This is gut check time. There can only be one 2A State Champion and teams like Woodruff, Central, Cheraw, Silver Bluff, Timberland, Abbeville, and Batesburg are not going to come to the party to dance, they are coming to fight. I say you have just as good of an opportunity as anyone else. Let’s do it one game at a time.
Remember what this felt like.
"we do our talking on the field"
PalmettoFootballTalk 
