Mike Purcell Quotations

We want to go to the free throw line. We've been pretty good at the line, but we had a stretch where we weren't.

Bryan is probably the best offensive player that I've coached. I would say he's comparable to the best that Brentwood has produced.

Bryan has enjoyed much success on the soccer field because he is a complete player ? a terrific goal scorer, but also the team leader in assists. He has a wonderful work ethic and is a great example of how well balanced and well rounded a teen can be.

He really wouldn't stand out in the crowd.

He's been a rock for us the last three years. When you have a guy that good, you build a team around him, particularly on the offensive end of the field, and that's what we've done.

We played much more like we're capable of in the second half. We played with purpose and direction. We acted like we wanted to play again next week.

We've got one game to prepare for this week. We played a good first half the first time. We're going to try and continue that the whole game.

We had too many turnovers (15). I don't think it was the press. At times we made poor decisions and ill-advised passes.

We didn't do much talking at halftime. We sat in silence and thought about what's been our goal for our seniors.

We've hung on in a couple of games lately. We came through at the end.

We'd be on offense seemingly dominating and then they'd flip the field and do the same thing to us. Two really similar teams. It's the kind of game you don't want to lose, but I think I would feel bad if they lost. But not that bad, you know.

We want to play Mitchell. They have been the measuring stick of where you need to be with your team. We've earned this and we're going to enjoy it. Now, we need to get our kids prepared in just a few days.

The one thing we're not doing well enough is scoring goals. We'll get 25, 30 shots in a game and out of those there's probably seven or eight that you wonder how in the world they didn't go in. If you don't finish, at the end of the year you're going to be in trouble.

We felt we were attacking the basket well in the first half and we took what they gave us. It just wouldn't fall. Either team could have had a comfortable lead but the shots wouldn't fall.

You either get the break or you don't. You remember the good ones better, although that girls game stuck with me.

We didn't know if we had anyone feeling it yet.

Ben has had two wonderful games this week. He always plays great defense, but he's added offense.

Often he will get double-teamed, triple-teamed and he's very adept at passing the ball off. He's our assist leader for the last three years also.

This is huge for this group. This is their first GDC win on the road this season.

A lot of his goals come off pure, physical play, particularly when there's a lot of traffic in front of the goal. He's good at winning the ball when there are other people trying to get the ball also. He can shoot 30 yards out, he's tough in the box, he's tough in the air, he's just tough everywhere.

It was a gutsy team effort. Our Central Districts reps, Shane (Wilson) and Luke (Donovan) performed well at the top of the order and our women put in a good effort too.

He's made three or four goals in the last three years that I need to see that again on tape before I can believe it. He's had a couple of jaw-dropping goals from impossible angles and banana shots. He's done some pretty bizarre things that turned out to be really good. Everybody just stands there and shakes their heads.

The main three for Brookings, they got the ball to them. The rest of the team worked to get them open. Their rebounding was intense at times and they'd look to get the ball up court.

The district is on our mind. We want to have our two best practices and play our best game of the season Friday (hosting Spearfish). I want us to think of nothing else but playing Spearfish for the next three days.

The last four or five games against them have been super games. We lost to them 1-0 in the regular season, and it was a terrific game. The season before it was a 0-0 tie, so we've had really close games. There's a lot of intensity and emotions in these games.