With East Bladen visiting West Bladen on Friday night, I took some time to reflect on the rivalry.
I played for East Bladen (Cougars ‘84) and had the privilege to coach at East Bladen in several sports, including football from 1998-2004.
With the Battle for the Bell happening this week, I thought of the 2003 JV football team on which I was an assistant coach and special teams coach. While all coaches were assistants to the varsity squad, I was primarily junior varsity. The JV coaching staff consisted of Head Coach Robby Priest, Raymond Marlowe, Kenzell McCall, and myself.
We went 10-0 that season. We cruised through the Waccamaw Conference with a 6-0 record. But our closest contest came from West Bladen. We won that game 31-30.
In Elizabethtown on Sept. 11, 2003, it was a seesaw battle with both teams taking the lead throughout the contest. One of the Knights’ scores came on a blocked punt deep in our territory that resulted in a touchdown for West Bladen.
I’m the special team’s coach. That can’t happen.
With 1:32 on the clock in the fourth quarter, we were up on West Bladen 31-28. It was third and 12 from our seven-yard line. We coaches huddled around to talk game-ending strategies. Everyone was looking to beef up our line to keep the Knights from blocking another punt and possibly scoring for the win.
I wasn’t.
I remembered the movie “All the Right Moves.” It starred Tom Cruise as a linebacker for a high school team and Craig T. Nelson as the head coach of a Pennsylvania team that had a chance to defeat the state champions and go to the playoffs. They held the state champions on a goal-line stand with little time on the clock deep in their territory with a 10-7 lead.
All the team in the movie had to do was fall on the ball or take a safety with a free kick and they would win 10-9. Coach decided to hand the ball off. It was raining bad, too. The back fumbled for a scoop-n-score and the state champions won the game 14-10. The coach blamed the running back for the fumble and Tom Cruise stood up for the back saying it was a bad play call.
Now back to 2003.
I told everyone, “No! Let’s take a safety and we will still have the lead. We will get a free kick and they will have to go the field in less that a minute. I don’t believe they can!” Coaches Priest, Marlowe, and McCall looked at me like I was Einstein. They agreed and we proceeded with my plan.
We took the safety and Dom Whittington — who by the way happened to be the NC Punt, Pass and Kick Champion three years running — kicked the ball away and we held West Bladen for the victory. After the game, my co-coaches gathered around me telling me what a great call I had made.
I looked at them and said, “Y’all have never seen the movie All the Right Moves? That’s what they should have done.”
Coach Raymond Marlowe looked at me and said, “You got that from a Tom Cruise movie?” I said yes. All the coaches looked at me with disappointment and confusion. But that movie pushed us to 3-0 and on our way to an unbeaten season.
And I will always thank a Tom Cruise movie for my chance to be a part of perfection at 10-0.
