Powerhouse Sportz

and We are joined by the Piedmont Bulldog head football coach Jonathan Miller and coach. We appreciate you joining us for a short bit tonight. I know it's a busy week for But coach, if you don't mind, kind of introduce yourself a little bit and talk about your road to becoming the Piedmont head football coach. Well, I went to Alexandria And I was going to college. First job out of college was at SACs and stayed there for about 22 years. Coach basketball for about 14 years of those on the varsity level. And for about 11 of those, I was the football and basketball coach, So, And, Piedmont is no stranger'success. I mean, it's a traditional powerhouse, state champions You're not one of the state champions You're at least making a quarter final semifinal run. It seems Let's talk about the culture and the standard that Piedmont has before you've gotten there until now. What that culture is I mean, I think the big thing, obviously, with me coming in is just trying to continue the great things that, And I've been a lot of great football coaches here, obviously, Coach Smith, before I got here, had a great run, And, And, And, And then that kind of carried over into last year. And, And, And then t And, So please, with where we're at now. And, Coach, I'm from a small town in Bruton, w And, Coach, your community support is up the charts. Your facilities, as me and Bo Starrke talked about earlier t I hear a member to get indoor facility, the turf, all those there'so many community support and what it means in Piedmont. And what makes Piedmont a special place? Well, it's one of the best places to watch a It's just a special place. Great, great fan support community comes out every Friday night, regardless of who we're playing and supports these kids and coaches. The school is kind of the center of that and the football program. And other sports programs here are very important to our community. So, again, the standard, And, So, and really don't matter if it's at the field of champions or on the road, they come out and show our kids support. And, Being here on a Friday night, especially with a big game, It's a great place to watch a game. And I t If everybody watc Piedmont fan, let Coach Miller know that you are watc So, Coach, right now a yard sitting at 12 and 0. Talk about the defense side of the ball first. I mean, y'all are playing on standing or lights out, only allowed just over 100 points the whole entire year through 12 games. Talk about some of those guys on the defense side of the ball. Well, I there are two leading tacklers on the season. Those two guys are, they're juniors. They've got a year experiencing it under their belt. And those two guys have really been the catalyst for our success on the defensive side all year. But obviously, I t And those guys have played extremely well. I think, Ben Dempsey in the secondary. Those guys have really paid attention to detail during the course of the week. Our coaches have, And offensively, Cole Austin, really a breakout year for He's one of the probably the, I guess, cool sophomore course they've ever seen playing When there's nothing really that rattles in, it seems Talk about that dynamic duo that you have, but also some of the other guys on offense play a big role as well. Well, obviously, we, He's calm, cool, collected out on the field, does not get rattled. That's what makes He does a lot of t And also for Obviously, Raleigh Pinto, everybody knows about He's had another phenomenal year. He's right around, So, And, Our two running backs have been really, really good. Nick Mixon, a senior, and he's rushed for a little over 700 yards. And Jackson Howard, they, they're our duo and running back. And Jackson's got over close to 700 yards on the season. So, those two guys have really, really played well for us. Mason Morrow at receiver, Ethan Tibble at HVAC, those guys have really come along as the seasons progressed. And I t Really athletic group. Again, not the biggest group in the state, but really athletic and I think underrated as far as, Those guys up front have been really, really good for us all year. And Coach, I was trying to look at some pre-season stuff earlier, and you're right. A lot of people have kind of not wrote I know I really expected the years that you're having so far. I mean, defensively, one of the best, the best in 3A, offensively putting up big n And a lot of the times the linemen are the, Up front on the offensive line, Caden Doyle is our senior right tackle. T He's had a really, really good season. He's our biggest, biggest old lineman. He's been solid for us all year. Deuce Taylor at right guard. T He got a year of experience last year, and that really shows. He's really good, Brethren Williams moved to center from guard last year, and Brethren has had a phenomenal year. He's a team leader, really, really Jared Bonnet at left guard is taking over for, we, one of our season-ending injuries, we had early in the season. He took over at left guard. He's a senior for us, and has been really, really steady, done a great job for us, and left tackle Cain Stanford. Second year starting. He's a junior, has really started playing well here towards the middle to end, in part of our season. So, I'm really excited with where those guys are, and I hope we can continue to improve as the season goes by. On the defensive line, Malac He's been steady for us, as Nathan Wood, a really quick twitch D. Lyman that has been, Bryant Waters physical kid, has played some defensive end force, and done a great job being anchor up front. Leo plays nose force, and has had another great year. And Coach Gordo, you shut out five last week, and if anybody knows anyt So, it stands on what type of team you're already defensively t Obviously, offensively, put up 36, but a Gordo team that comes in there, a physical bunch. Y'all played last s Personally, we've played Gordo, I believe, but looking at this game in the head, not getting to game plan, but looking at Gordo, Well, offensively, they're going to run the ball right at you. Big physical offensive line, they're going to challenge you. In some ways, Gordo'similar to that. They're a little bit bigger than five up front. Both teams are very physical. So, it'll be a challenge for our guys, for our defense, and that's where it starts. When any Friday night, you've got to control the running game. You've got to be able to stop the run and run the football offensively. So, that's a big key to the game. It's trying to limit what they can do on the ground. Again, that's a big challenge because they'really, really good at what they do. So, defensively, our guys got their work cut out for them again t Another physical football team. Defensively, really good unit. Big up front again. Tough to move inside. Good safeties. Good secondary overall. Play really physical. I t But again, you're in the t So, anybody who play at t So, it's going to be two good teams playing, obviously. At there's eight teams left in 3A. So, we expected a quality opponent. Obviously, that's what we got coming in here Friday night. Because you mentioned, obviously, last year, some of our final run. So, a lot of your guys this year, there'some that tasted that last year they want to try to get over that h It's a unfinished business. What is your message? It's t Coach, speak. What do you tell your team in games What's your message to practice? And what is the mentality you're trying to get your guys to buy into Friday night? Well, I t It's just one week at a time. And that's cliche and coach speak and all that good stuff. But really, when you start to play, everybody starts looking at those brackets. And it's very, very easy to look ahead for anybody, kids especially. So, you really got to focus one week at a time. Each team that you play at t So, you can't overlook anybody. You got to be where your feet are. Prepare really, really well throughout the course of the week. And I felt And obviously, t And we got to finish the week off strong tomorrow and prepare well and be ready to play so you can let loose on Friday night. I agree 100%. And coach, they always say that a head coach or a good head coach surrounded by good assistant coaches. Talk about your staff a little bit, the coordinators, and kind of what they bring to the table for you t Defense of staff, coach, our defense coordinator, he's done a great job. I t Really, really get those guys to play hard each and every week. They're prepared when they get to the game. Our offensive coordinator, coach Bedwell, has done the same with our offense. We'really well prepared when we get into a game. We'ready for different situations that come up. Those guys have done a really good job throughout the course of the season and in our previous seasons. And then we kind of got some, a couple of other veterans, coach Dearman, coach Glover. Coach Dearman is also on the defensive side, has done a good job with coach Pruitt getting our game plans ready. Coach Young's are D-Line coach on that side of the ball. Again, those three guys have done a great job. We've got a volunteer coach also on that side of the ball that played here at Piedmont. Coach Jax, coach Malac To round out our offensive staff, coach Ogles, our offensive line coach. And again, he's done a great job with our group up front. I feel When you look at 3A teams, done a really good job developing those guys each over the course of the season. And coach Dearman, I mentioned earlier, has done a great job with our receivers on the offensive side of the ball. And coach Big Game Friday night, and we appreciate you spending a couple of minutes with us tonight. I know there's a lot of Piedmont people watc And coach, a couple more questions for you. So on a Friday night, I hear that Piedmont is a special place to be, not just during the game, but also pregame. I hear that y'all do it But to talk about the community support on Friday night, so what it means not just to you, but also these players, they play in a special environment on Friday nights. Well, It's one of the, Whether you go, whether you play at home or you go three hours away, the stands are going to be packed with Piedmont people. I mean, that just enhances the experience so much more. So it's really special, special here, special place, special people, a lot of support, and that means the world to our players and coaches. I know we had Jack Hayes on here a couple of years ago, and he, we get to see the player perspective of it and he's on Haley at Piedmont. I've always seen That's what, Do you have a routine you got to go to on Fridays or you kind of one of those guys that I don't have a set routine. I'm not, I'm not super ceaseless really. So, I'm just kind of doing whatever needs to be done or thinking about what needs to be thought about or watching, Got you coach. Because I appreciate you. I know you're a busy man, so I ain't gonna hold you much longer at all, but Joining us tonight, talk about Piedmont. It's always a great time to be able to have programs, get their exposure. I know Piedmont's kind of one of those programs where everybody loves listening to and see, but we appreciate you spending your night with us here on Powerhouse Sports. Yeah, and thanks sir. Thanks for having me on and you will not regret coming up here Friday night. It'll be an experience that you won't forget. It'll be a lot of fun. Yes sir, I appreciate it. I look forward to it. I know the fans, I don't know if So I'm expecting a good time. Always going to my bucket list places to come to, and I can't wait to be there Friday, but again, I appreciate you spending your time with us tonight. Just about your program. Yes sir, thanks for having me on, and thanks for what you do to promote Yes sir, thank you. If everybody watching, They will face Gorda on the quarterfinal t Pick them as we break down and pick all the quarterfinal games across the state, but as always, I'm Andrew Ettridge, and that is Piedmont and football coach Jonathan Miller, and until next time, God bless, and we'll see y'all.