Steve Specht Quotations

The greatest thing is, it gives you a barometer of where your season will shake out. That first week will show you where you stand . . . We always love playing in the Showdown.

Our defensive coaches did one heck of a job against their triple option. The defense remained disciplined. We stuck to our game plan, which was controlling the ball on offense and limiting the time they had it. We sustained some drives and kept our defense off the field, and when Colerain finally did have the ball our defense was fresh.

Darius is important in what we do. He's a special talent, but very humble. He's learning from Chris about work ethic.

He did a great job of managing the game. He didn't try to do more than what he can do. He played smart football and didn't force anything. He understands sometimes a punt is better than an interception.

We are just glad to be at home instead of traveling.

We have to establish the run early and play all four quarters. We have to finish strong.

Against a team like that, and against a triple option, just one mistake and it's now a tie game. That was a big stop for us.

We have a lot of young guys battling for those other spots.

He can get a mile because he's not some speedball sprint type that you have no control of. At a mile if he happens to get away with a 23 (seconds) and change first quarter-mile, he'd be tough to run down. He'd have a pretty big edge on them turning for home. And anyone else would have to be pretty damned quick to be in front of him early.

Our kids are excited, but the faces on both teams have changed dramatically. Our team is looking at this as a chance to open the season against what, on paper, looks to be the best team in the state and one of the best in the nation. With the kind of buzz this game will have, what more could anyone want?