Pike’s coachin’ staff loved them enough to make a winner out of them! “Goals”

The Pike Red Devils are looking to climb back on top with first year head coach Pat Echeverria. Photo: TheJayGravesReport

In Pike’s second game of the season they beat the brakes off of Fishers 43-0. It was their first win since the 2015 season because they lost every game on the schedule in 2016 goin’ 0-10. They lost a close one to Zionsville 33-32 to kick the 2017 season off. So as you can imagine it was a huge burden lifted off of their shoulders to just get a win in Week 2.

I asked head coach Jimmy Graves how he was able to keep his team motivated. He gave me the simplest of answers. “We just kept lovin’ on them!” He said it again, “We just kept lovin’ on them.” On Friday night he led those same kids that he and his staff have been lovin’ on all season to their 6th win. They beat the doors off of cross town rival North Central 42-21 to get to the Sectional 5 championship against the same Fishers team that they blasted in Week 2.

Graves was absolutely right about the love in the buildin’ because I don’t know how many times I heard kids comin’ off of the field on Friday night tellin’ the coaches that they loved them. The emotions were runnin’ high as the Red Devils controlled the ball game from the word go.

Before a boy could get his camera turned on good they were up 14-0! By the end of the first half they were up 22-0. North Central came out of the break with some confidence and put it down Pike’s throat closin’ the gap 22-7. Shortly thereafter, Pike linebacker Bryant Bostic put boyz on his back with a pick 6 that he took 62 yards to ignite the Red Devils that refused to look in the rear view mirror the rest of the way.

Quarterback Jordan Garrett showed, like my momma used to say, “His bare bottom” runnin’ the offense like a well oiled machine. He finished with 174 yards and 3 touchdowns with an additional 69 yards rushin’. He threw touchdown passes to three different receivers. Both Keith Allender and Jaylyn Crenshaw went to the crib with 3 catches for 44 yards and a touchdown each. Daryl Black Jr. followed them out of the door with his 3 for 28 yards and a touchdown. Runnin’ back Reggie Lipscomb got outta the joint with 74 yards and 2 touchdowns just to keep a boy honest.

The much improved Red Devil defense that gave up 55 points per game a year ago is now only givin’ up 28 points per game in 2017. They were even more hungry on Friday night only givin’ up 21 points led by the BEAST, Bryant Bostic, with three solos, 8 assists and a 62 yard pick 6! Somebody give that man some Now and Laters and a Hot Pocket! Salute my young brotha!!

A team that didn’t win a game a year ago is about to compete for Sectional title next week. They’re comin’ in on a four game winnin’ streak preparin’ to play a dun that they beat 43-0 in Week 2. Gettin’ these cats prepared mentally to play next week will be Coach Graves’ most difficult task yet.

However, if he could love them enough to get them to believe they could have a winnin’ record and be competin’ for a sectional title just one year after winnin’ absolutely nothin’. I think that he can have boyz ready to play next week. Coach Graves says that the goal was to have a winnin’ record and win a sectional title comin’ off of and 0-10 season a year ago. Well playboy…they can almost taste it. Stop me when I start lyin’!

Playas Thesaurus: 

1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.

The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”

The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!