*This was originally printed in June, 2013 by the Maysville Ledger Independent
It was 1996 and my first trip to Flatwoods to face the Russell Red Devils. It was past 7:30, time for kickoff. And I walked to the hash marks, saying loudly, “I guess since this is Russell and that is Ivan McGlone, we don’t have to start the game on time.”
I was trying to establish with our kids that we were not going to back down from anyone. The referees begrudgingly threw the flag and penalized the Red Devils, but they were mad at me the rest of the night.
I still think it was good for me to set the tone with our kids, but little did I know that night that our series with the Red Devils, and more importantly my friendship with Ivan McGlone, would have a monumental impact on me as a person and a coach.
Since the first butt-kicking we took in 1996, the trip to Flatwoods and the challenge of playing the Red Devils has become my favorite game and destination. It is a challenge because of what Ivan, his staff, the players and the community have built at Russell.
Our games with Russell have been major turning points in our program. In 1997, we finally beat them. In 2001, our first game after 9/11 was against them at home on a Saturday night, moved because of the events of the week.
We won that game by two touchdowns and played exceptionally well, but
In 2002, they knocked us off in a crazy game in a rainstorm the first week we had ever been ranked No. 1. The later loss in the playoffs in 2002 was the toughest loss I’ve experienced – ever.
We started playing again in 2007 after having been moved to the old Class AAA. As a staff, we prepped more for the 2007 game than any other, going all the way back to December 2006. The result was a home loss in OT, followed by a playoff loss at Flatwoods.
We finally broke through in 2008 and won in Flatwoods. We have now won three in a row in Flatwoods, including last fall when we came back from three TDs down in the fourth quarter to win 32-28, which was one of the biggest wins I’ve experienced – ever.
Ivan has taught me much about football and life. Ivan’s Wing-T offense, especially his two-tight-end Wing-T set, is an incredibly sound and solid offensive system.
Glenn Caruso, the head coach at the University of St.Thomas (MN), is one of the brightest and best young football minds in the nation. Through Coach Bill Arnsparger, I had the opportunity to talk to Coach Caruso. Caruso has developed a system for assigning to offensive formations a quotient that determines the difficulty of the set to defend. When you apply Caruso’s formula to Ivan’s primary offensive set, it scores very high.
His base set is balanced, but he gives you an additional gap to defend to the wing side. He can get four receivers deep in a hurry, but he can also get all of his blockers to the point of attack inside the tackle box when he needs to do so. He can handle any adjustment made with a small number of very effective plays. Add to all of this the bonus of having a boatload of deception and blocking angles in his offense, and you have a juggernaut to defend.
We work against Ivan’s blocking schemes and use our defensive reads for his offense in the spring and preseason. His offense forces you to play good, sound, fundamental football, which helps you against all of your opponents.
Defensively, the Red Devils blitz whenever opponents hit the red zone. We call it the November Drill and work against that blitz year-round. We put the ball on the 20-yard line and tell Coach Larry Harris(at that time our DC) to blitz the house. Ivan has made us a much better offense in the red zone.
Through 17 seasons of seeing Ivan before and after our games – some of them our biggest wins and losses ever – he has given me a better perspective on what is really most important. Of course I want to win, but I get fired up just anticipating that for four quarters we are going to have an epic battle.
The last few years when his wife Gloria was battling cancer, I also began to really look forward to seeing her after the game. I realized if she was there and I got to see her, win or lose, it had been a great night.
In the spring of 2012, Gloria passed away and Ivan was struggling in his recovery from back surgery. When I saw him at Gloria’s visitation, I wasn’t sure he would be on the field Oct. 5 in Flatwoods. That moment in the church helped me appreciate how blessed I had been to be on that field, opposite of Ivan, over these past 17 seasons.
Before last year’s Lewis County game, I told the kids we were playing for the “envelope.” Only with a win could we open the envelope. We won.
On the inside, it said “battle of unbeatens, big district game, in Flatwoods versus the Red Devils and Coach McGlone.”
One more time, we were going to face the legend and the Red Devils in Flatwoods. And I believe Ivan was right where Gloria would want him – on the field, getting ready to be who he is and do what he does.
I missed Gloria being there, but I was glad that Stephanie(my wife) and Trosper (my son) were there to hug Ivan after the game.
We always want to win, but if I can face my old friend one more time in 2013, it will be a great Friday night regardless of the score.
Edited by Zack Klemme.