Today’s interviewee is Cross Keys coach John Bowen, whose team ended a 30-game losing streak with a 28-7 victory over Notre Dame Academy. It was the program’s first opening-game win since 1989. Cross Keys, a DeKalb County school with a predominantly Hispanic student body, has not won more than one game in a season since 2010.
John Bowen, Cross Keys head coach
1. What was the reaction of the players to the victory, and what does it mean to the program? “The players were extremely excited, as you could imagine. The win should reaffirm the message we have been preaching for over a year now, and that message is that hard work is rewarded but not supposed to be easy. Not everyone can meet the demands of football.”
2. How was the game won, and what was interesting about the game beyond just the history? “I think one thing that stands out is that we muffed the opening popup kickoff and gave them the ball at our 35. Last year, that would have led to a quick six points for the other team. However, we forced a three-and-out and then went on a 14-play, nearly nine-minute drive to score on the first play of the second quarter. That kind of served notice that this is a new Cross Keys Indian football team.”
3. What would you like people to know about your team? “Our roster is 23 players, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but the difference is that there is a core nucleus of 17 to 18 that was steady in the weight room all winter. They’ve paid ‘sweat equity,’ and that makes it tougher to give up. We start four freshmen and one sophomore on defense along with two juniors playing their first year of high school football. We still have a ton of growing and improving to do.”
4. What motivates them to play football, especially in a season where many might’ve been tempted to take the year off over concern about the pandemic? “I think we’ve just been steadily creating a ‘football culture.’ By that, I mean the fact that we teach character and leadership as well as toughness and football. The young men are ‘buying what we’re selling’ - leadership! America needs men of character, and we pride ourselves in upholding that. For example, last spring when I brought up getting a group to read at a local elementary school for Read Across America activities last year, the attitude was ‘Say no more, Coach, we got you.’ To be leaders and men of character while trying to be the best football team you can be, isn’t that what the game’s supposed to teach?”
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