Today’s interviewee is Benedictine coach Danny Britt, whose team defeated second-ranked Ware County of Class 5A 49-42 last week. The game featured two all-state quarterbacks, Benedictine’s Holden Geriner and Ware County’s Thomas Castellanos.
Danny Britt, Benedictine head coach
1. For those who didn’t see Friday’s game, how would you describe the atmosphere and flow of the game? “It was a great atmosphere at Memorial Stadium. We brought our normal big crowd. We have a big alumni base and following, and of course Ware County has a tremendous fan base. Then there was a lot of media attention because of the two quarterbacks playing. All that just made it a great environment. It was definitely very high up there compared to most regular-season games. As far as a win for us, it was a really good one. We finally played like I thought we could. We didn’t early this season. I feel like we turned the page.”
2. What gave your team the edge in the end? What were the key moments? “Our team in general just really came out to play. We played more loose than we had. We knew we were playing a good football team, and the players came out excited. To me, the tide turned when Holden Sapp was able to pick off Castellanos and break several tackles and return it for a touchdown.” [That gave Benedictine a 28-14 lead. Ware County came back to tie it 35-35, but Benedictine scored the next two touchdowns to pull away.]
3. Geriner had a huge game. What does he do well the separates him? “Holden definitely had a tremendous game. It’s the highest numbers he’s ever had – 31-for-42 for 448 yards and four touchdowns. He did have an interception. He had two rushing touchdowns. Holden came out with the eye of the tiger. He was in a different mindset. Typically he’s calm and cool and collected, but you could tell when he was running the ball. He was running to score. He really wanted to win this one.”
4. Benedictine started 0-2 with losses to Christopher Columbus of Florida and Beaufort of South Carolina, two outstanding teams. What didn’t you like about how you were playing? “We were playing good opponents. I’m not taking anything away from them, but we just didn’t play as good as we could’ve. Anybody that’s coached understands what I’m talking about. You just want to feel good about how you’re performing, and we weren’t. Our players knew that after the Beaufort game. They came together even without us [the coaches in a team meeting an hour before a practice after the second loss]. Then we met with the seniors. We changed the way we were practicing. We feel like it has helped and we’ve turned a corner. We’re playing more at the level we feel like we should.”
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