CC Sports Report

Listen to the Clay County Sports Report with Clay Radio's Tim Mooney and Clay Today's Randy Lefko.   This week they're interviewing Middleburg High School Football Coach Ryan Wolfe, Senior Linebacker Mason Peevy and Junior Quarterback Dalton Motes.  They'll be previewing this years upcoming Broncos season.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Time now for the Clay County Sports Report on Clay Radio, your home team station. Each week we break down the big plays to celebrate standout athletes and bring you the stories behind the scores. Now here are your hosts, Clay Today's sports editor, Randy Lefko, and Clay Radio's Tim Mooney.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

All right, Clay County Sports Report here. It's football time, Tim, and uh as we speak, probably they're uh they're warming up somewhere. I think Orange Park's got Tokoi Creek and uh uh Ridgeview. Our guy Jason Smith is down at Gainesville. Hi, Tim Mooney on the soundboard with us. We're gonna be talking some football today.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Tim, what do you think? I think it's awesome. Um the rain that happened yesterday, that big thunderstorm that came through, it's washing away summertime. Fall's trying to sneak in. It's football season, it's ready to go. And by the way, you guys are here on uh Clay County Sports, the Clay County Sports Report on Clay Radio. Just to let you know, we're too excited about getting ready for football right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

It's happening right now. We got them and uh half uh half a bunch of games on Friday, so we'll be talking about that with our guests who are imminently arrived.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

We're gonna be back right after this with our guests talking nothing but football for the rest of the time here.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

All right, Clay County Sports fan, this is Rainer Lefko, Clay Day Sports Editor, Tim Mooney on the soundboard. We are uh yeah, we're probably uh what are you thinking? Six o'clock, seven o'clock Friday. We've already had the Thursday games. Uh by the time this is going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

So we're ready for football. And uh Friday night lights are kicking off.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

So we've had a lot of lightning and uh and rain the last time, so we're gonna uh ask our guests about that when we get there.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

So uh soggy foot food yeah, soggy field is awesome for football.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

It's also great for photos for the paper. Half of my awards are won in the rain. And people always say, why is that so why isn't that hard? I make rain gear. Yeah. Not that hard. So uh uh with us tonight is the uh is the uh ultimately four in a row region playoffs, the uh probably one of the number one, two guys. What do you coach? Uh before we be fair, what do you think? Are you are you the number one or the number two with the other guy that's won a couple in a row? Well, he's only won two in a row, right? Got to regions.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

For what?

SPEAKER_04 2:13

For football playoffs. You're four in a row. The next best guy in the county is two in a row, correct?

SPEAKER_03 2:18

For in the county, yeah. I think we're learning that.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

So he is the he is the uh whole the uh world record holder for consecutive regional series. That's Coach Ryan Wolfe over at Middleburg High. Uh appreciate you joining us, coach, and the rain and lightning and all that. Tell me who you got with you.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Uh I brought linebacker Mason Peavy and quarterback Dalton Moats.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

Dalton Moats coming in. Now both of these guys, Tim, we were talking about before, have unique situations that bring us into the uh 2026 season. Dalton uh had Mason back us in front of him last year for uh the eight and three run for the Broncos, a regional playoff game, but he came in what's beachside? Beachside game seven, eight.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

It was a district game, so I think it would have maybe been eight.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

So so uh Dalton when you now what happened is Mason got gotten injured and Dalton came in. It was a major game, Beachside High, went uh second round of the playoffs, I think lost to Pontavidra in the second round. They were the district champs, too. And they were the district champs, and uh most came in and took control. So tell us about that experience, and then we'll we'll uh we'll get to what happened uh with uh Mason here at linebacker Mason Peavy, the tackling machine. There were two of them over there. Uh Caden and Hanniphon was the other guy there on the tackling uh side-by-side monsters for for Middlebury. But Dalton, tell us about when you got the uh the did you get a phone call or a text, or did they come to the locker and they give you the playbook and said uh you need to uh you know memorize this stuff real quick.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

Yeah, he just let me know the next day of practice and it was just a really big learning experience, you know, trying to, you know, I know next you know, next year. Well now this year I I get to be a starting quarterback, so last year was kind of just a learning experience, trying to get into that role of being the starting quarterback, and it's all about learning.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

So And you got in there now. You had some help with uh Gino running for 300 yards, 285 yards. Gino five touchdowns, Gino Addison about it. Now where's he at, Coach?

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Coastal uh Gino's actually at North Carolina Central. North Carolina Central. I think he actually won the starting job this spring. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah, so so you had a little help there, but you still you still had a good game in there. And from that, I mean you had uh who Pontavidal next and then Fleming the next week.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

So he had back-to-back district.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

And then and then Daytona. So you you kind of got beat up, but you come back now. What was what was your thought process over the summer about preparations to become the guy at the quarterback position?

SPEAKER_05 4:46

Well, I mean, learning behind Coach Wolfe and him teaching me everything, you know, it's uh he's a great coach. He's able to get me in the right spot to where I know what I'm doing and where we get on the same wavelength. So when he calls a play, I can help make him correct for calling that play.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Coach, what did you see in the B side? That was awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

No, I just make him look correct from the Coach, what did you see in the B-side game and uh that has kept you uh, you know, having having Dalton as your number one guy at that point?

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Uh we knew from day one since we've had Dalton that eventually he was gonna be the guy. Like I like you just know what a mental makeup of a quarterback is supposed to be and what all the intangibles and he has all the intangibles. So I knew, you know, we we we all knew as a staff and as a team that like when Mason went down, we were gonna be alright because we had a guy that was ready. And and and he stepped in and he threw I mean, obviously, yeah, we had we had Gino back there and handed the ball a bunch, but he stepped up there and made a couple really big time throws in that game.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Well, especially in a in a playoff factor, district champ, two rounds of overtime, yeah. You can't overtime, right? You can't you can't flinch. And uh over the summer, as I've watched you, you've uh you know, you've been right and in fact, Coach and I were talking about your your arm power is pretty impressive to go mid-range and then go long range. You've been hitting uh CJ Williams and Robbie Ellett pretty consistently in the seven on sevens uh I've seen uh over the summers. And now Mason, P V the tackling machine, with like 96 tackles and uh a couple of uh decapitations, because I just saw I just saw pictures I tell you, Punta Vegro, where we absolutely annihilated the quarterback in the in the fourth quarter, but Mason got injured in the eighth game. Uh ninth against the ninth game. So it was uh unavailable for the for the playoff game. Uh you had rehab, what was it, knee, right? Yes, sir. You had a knee thing going on and and uh how how retributional was that? Where did you want to go with that knowing that you know you were gonna go through rehab and and uh you know, and I always try and caution the the the injured kids don't don't forget to do your rehab. You want to come back super strong, being able to pivot and turn and run and all that kind of stuff. How does how did the rehab go over the summer for you? And are you fully confident going full tilt uh what in two days?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, um honestly it's been one day one day. Honestly, it's been going uh pretty well. Uh over the summer I feel like um it went very fluid and very fast. Uh got cleared after seven months of ACL and meniscus surgery.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

So yeah, it's pretty um so seven months brings you back in what November, December, January, February, March, if it was like in mid-June. Yeah. Yeah. The day of the spring, yeah. And uh and uh what was keeping you motivated, knowing where you were at the point where you got hurt, and then knowing that this is your senior season and uh you know, knowing you were gonna be one of the spears for uh for the defense there.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, it kind of um clicked once I actually got cleared and got to um put the cleats on again. It kind of clicked that um I can't go back, right? Like um all there is is tomorrow and today. So you just make the best opportunity of it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

Now Tim over there, he's uh he's a world-class CrossFitter guy, and he's a little not world cross. He's had a little surgery on his foot, so I think he's in the same boat with Tim.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

You wanna it's that's I'm I'm still wearing a boot right now, and the hardest thing is I'm lifting and I'm like, I want to lift higher or more, I want to do this, I want to be able to jump on the box, I want and I'm just sitting there with sad face. I can't do this. And it's it's debilitating because you know I know I can only speak for me, the quote unquote gains I got. I'm looking in the mirror, I'm like, where'd it all go? Yeah. So it's that that's motivation right there to be able to get it right back.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

And that and that's part of it there. Your your linebacking uh uh tactical skills were pretty good. You were you're one of the fastest guys in and out, getting to the ball, getting to the tackle, or whatnot. Uh during the rehab, what what what do you think kept you sharp tactically as a linebacker? Do you play any offense? Uh no, sir.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

You have in the past, though. Yeah. Yeah, in the past, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Your quarterback. Your quarterback was fullback in the past. Oh, fullback.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

So so go to there. What what kept you tactically uh sharp so that when you did come back and you were fully cleared, you know, there wasn't uh I guess a transition period from from uh the injury to being full or did you see something, Coach, that hey, this this guy's 100% back.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Um I'm not gonna lie, there's a lot of times where we had to pull the reins back on him a little bit. Like there's a lot of times in summer where I'm looking down at seven and he's got he's got six plates on there, and I'm like, hey bud, like like let's let's put our toes in the water a little bit, let's not just can a ball into this thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

So there was a lot of times where we had to pull back on the seven, it's uh you know, hand touch a guy, and he's like flattening the guy going over the middle, and uh we had a like a full horizontal position. And the guy got up that I think was it Andrew Jackson, I think. And uh and the guy got up and he was cool. It wasn't like he tried to take his head off, but he had he had perfect form in the chest, and they went that way, and and the guy was going that way when he when he started with it. So it was pretty like, oh, kind of stuff. Dalton, who's in the backfield with you?

SPEAKER_05 9:53

What kind of offense are we gonna have this year? I got Braden Ventura and Sam Craven, our running back. Craven! Ah!

SPEAKER_04 9:59

He was our weightlifter guy on here, and I and Coach and I talked about him coming back. That to me is uh is uh is pretty good for the team to have a a guy with that much uh grit experience coming into the fold and uh lending his uh expertise into the into the backfield there.

SPEAKER_05 10:16

Yes, sir. And then I got we got a great old line, you know. We have Chaz Britton at our fullback from uh and then we have CJ and Robbie at receiver. So I mean we're gonna have a pretty good offense.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

Yeah, CJ Williams, Robbie Ellot, you had uh uh KK what's his name, Kendr?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

KK Robinson.

SPEAKER_04 10:34

What's his Kendrin?

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Caden.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Caden, Caden Robinson is another guy, so freshman. A freshman, so you have a plethora. There's the word there, Tim. A plethora of opportunities there. And uh and coming into the you just had a little scrimmage there, Coach, and and uh what third play where Ventura goes 50 yards?

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Yeah, yeah. We had a couple of explosive plays on that. I think I think Caden Robinson, KK had had a 80-yard screen and then uh 80 yards he caught a screen and went eighty yards with it. I think that was about a 40 or 50 yard. When did he have a punt return?

SPEAKER_04 11:06

He had a long somebody had a long punt return or kick return, or was it the screen? I saw somebody going up the sidelines. I think that was that was KK.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Oh, was it?

SPEAKER_04 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

We got we got some pretty good fresh role on this team.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Well, I'm looking at the defensive numbers, and I again this is it's football. I love numbers. After missing one game last year, you were number four, okay, solo tackles. You were number two on the team with 37, and you were number four with 34 assisted tackles, 71 tackles total for the season. What's a goal for you this year? Are you gonna top that?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Um you have a number you want to hit? Do you have any personal goals you want to hit on the field? Besides winning, we already know y'all want to win. That's team effort.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Still got personal goals when you go out there.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Yeah, um, complete like top-notch, uh like the dream, probably about like 150 or so. Yeah. Good forward, okay. Reasonably, probably about like 120 or so.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Well, he was going for 50 in the last two games. Yeah, 25 per game would have got him there. Had he not got now that the the key to it, Tim, and and coach back me up on this rest of that linebacker crew is is pretty dang good. Uh uh, who's back there? Tell us about your newest guy, and then the other two guys that have been stalwarts as well. So uh Mason may get like 38 tackles if those four guys get beat to the punch there.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

Yeah, we got um we got Mason back there playing a little linebacker. Our mic is gonna be Demarcus Bussey, young guy, sophomore. And then uh outside linebacker is gonna be Ty Street. Ty Street.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Um, Ty Street was a NFL wide receiver for the 49ers for a long time there.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

Uh Fleming Island, he was a hundred tackler for I think he was about eighty tackles for uh Fleming Island coming over there. I suppose he had to make a good transition to your your system there, Coach.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Yeah, I mean he he played with us as a freshman. So actually freshman and sophomore year, right? Or was a freshman year? But I know he he started out with us and now coming back. So he I mean he knows the system. His brother played for us, his dad's coach for us, so he uh he understands the system.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Does that take any pressure off of uh Mason? Uh to you know where where you gotta know, yeah, literally you gotta know where all four of them are, I think. Or Blake Blake, I think, is maybe your sleeper player, Blake Mullin X.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Dude, Blake's a good player. Blake uh Blake's happening to play safety again this year. We're trying to we're trying to bump him down a linebacker, but he's so good at safety we got to keep him back there.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

Oh, okay. And you got uh uh probably an all-stater that was there, Derek Marshall. Derek Marshall's our other safety crack. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah. So you're gonna have uh the center field covered there, and on the corners, you got a lot of athletes who's out there.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

You got uh Chase McMillan and Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez. And then uh Robbie Elliott will be playing a little bit of corner. There's a little two-way there. And on the line? The D line, we got uh Nelly Seward. Wait a minute. Mason, who's in front of you? Who's in front of you?

SPEAKER_04 13:46

Let Mason, let uh tell me what you've seen in front of you. How about that? Well let Mason.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

I'm sure he's paying attention. Uh so on the D line in front of me, uh we have uh Nellie Seward. Um Lane, he's a freshman. Um we have uh Kellen Blackburn and also uh Jalen Woss. Jacob Long. Jacob Loss? Who's the biggest? Is Seward's not the biggest? He's the biggest bigger one.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

No, no, Jacob's definitely the biggest, yeah. And so on that on that front, which now Ty's on the opposite side? On the outside, who's in the middle? Uh Demarcus Bussey. Oh, okay. And then and then stunt wise, I mean Seward and you, that's gonna be a pretty good, pretty good corner right there. Who's in front of Ty? Uh in front of Ty is Nelly, and then in front of me is uh Jalen. Oh wow, that's gonna be how the how are they looking in the in the practices, coach? Are they they uh you were you're you've mainly been a go get them like front assault. I don't I know in front of a stunt.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

We're pretty athletic up front this year. Like, you know, sometimes you got a big D line, sometimes you got an athletic D line. This year we got one of those athletic D lines. We'll we'll we'll do a lot of moving up front.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

How do you see them, Dalton, being the quarterback and having to make reads and all that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_05 14:59

Do they you get any pickoffs from them or I mean they run a lot of different stuff, so like when we had to scrimmage them, it's like you never really know what's coming because they line them in so many different ways and they send a bunch of different people. So I mean it's it's everything.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Who's your big guy on the line that you like being behind? I know Logan in is in the middle, kind of guard or center, like uh Albany. And you got the the sophomore guy, uh Mendez. Is that his name? He's like 6'3, how well how big is he?

SPEAKER_03 15:29

He's uh Mendez is probably 6'4, uh probably 290, 285. Good lord. Yeah, who's the other two? We got size all the way across? Uh we got Maverick Clark at left tackle, and we got uh Lucas McGrath at right tackle. They're both around 6'3, 235, 240. And then uh Jacob Long will also play some offensive line.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

All right, we'll get a little uh little more into the offense. Maybe they'll tell us some of the secret plays too much. That's what I'm hoping for. All right, we're gonna go on break. We'll be back right after this. All right. All right, Clay County Sports fans, Bronco fans we have going on here. We're football fans too. We're gonna expand a little bit. Uh we have uh Ryan Wolfier, coach of Middleburg, Dalton Motz, quarterback over there, and uh Mason Peavy, the smash taskmaster for the uh defense there. Um coming up in the season, you got Baldwin, a uh I think 2A, 3A, 2A, 3A. I believe three, I think they're pretty a pretty perennial top-notch team, uh playoffs and all that kind of stuff. What do you expect from them? I know you were you were kind of snooping around at the clay high seven on seven, watching a little bit of them guys. They they were throwing some good passes out there. What do you what's your read on them?

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Uh I mean they've always got some athletes and are always really well coached. That's why I like playing them in a kickoff classic game, because it gets an idea where we're at, you know, what we need to improve on and all that stuff. Because like I said, they're they're a good they're a good matchup for us because I mean they're uh I know we've made the playoffs four straight years, but I think they're one of those teams that have made the playoffs like four or five, six straight years. So it's a good it's a really good test of seeing where you're at to to line up against the team that plays as long as us.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Dalton, one of the uh questions we've have asked Coach Mike Pickett of the girls' soccer team over at St. John's Country Day. Now we say Bulls, but when you have a streak, what it what is the uh what is the pressure level on you to make the five?

SPEAKER_05 17:15

I mean, you kind of just gotta.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Coach, the same thing with you as well when we get to when g when Dalton gives you his answer.

SPEAKER_05 17:20

We just kinda gotta not think about it. You kind of just gotta let the season come as it comes and then play play football. If you if you don't really think about it, then you'll play the best you can if you're not if you don't feel any pressure.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

So you're telling me you don't think about five at all during this whole practice and didn't that come up in the huddles there? Like we're the four four in a row, we gotta get we're we're going for five now?

SPEAKER_05 17:43

People might say stuff about it every now and then sometimes you'll start thinking about it, but you have to kind of push to the side and just play football because if you're thinking too much about you know go going five in a row, then it's that's all you're gonna focus on at that time.

SPEAKER_04 17:55

And coach, a unique situation for you, and I I wanted to ask you this the other day was when you came in and you were uh contemplating a the head coaching job somewhere, and this one came up, did you did you feel back then that I'm gonna go to Middlebury because I think this can happen? Uh yeah, I didn't know. I didn't really think too much about it.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Like I you know, I we we were having a lot of fun where we were and and and calling ball plays and all that stuff, and when that opportunity came in I I feel like in order for a place to be successful, there has to be alignment. And everybody has to be in an alignment with each other. And the fact that we have the admin that we have, the athletic director that we have, and those were the guys that were there when I when they brought me in. So like it it it didn't it we didn't think about it too much. Me and my wife, like, because I've been friends with Jay for a long time, I've been friends with uh Mr. Athletic for a long time. So when when the opportunity came, like you know, I've seen a lot of guys take a lot of bad jobs because the structure wasn't there from top down, and I knew that the alignment that we had from top to bottom, and I knew how much they cared about athletics and the facilities were there and the community support was there. Like I always felt like Middleburg could be a sleeping giant if the right guy got there.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

What's his uh Cole Robertson with the wrestling and whatnot. You know, and I think it's infectious that once that uh uh order of uh the state champion gets placed upon your school, then the ability to chase it becomes a little easier. Mason, what do you think about that? Um honestly wins championships there, Mason. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely score to win. Oh yeah, you only need one. You can score on DF. You only need one. You can score easily on D Fey.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

I've done it, I've done it multiple times.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

You guys had a guy a couple years ago, a lineman that went about 80 yards with a pickup fumble. Do you remember that coach? Uh uh one of your lineman guys.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Ah, was it Gabe?

SPEAKER_04 20:04

No, it wasn't Gabe Gigger. It was like an Italian name, like uh Agassi.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

I remember. I remember Cowboy took a long scoop and score. Maybe that's what it was. Uh Austin. Yeah. Austin was a good one. Cowboy's not very Italian, but no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

No, it wasn't because when he when he did it, it was cool to watch because he did it. He just got a jump on the fumble. So he had about 10, 15 yards separation. He went right in front of the other team's uh sideline. He got down there, and I remember uh standing amongst you guys, I'm like, he ain't gonna make it. I'll have to remember when I do that. Uh so so you got them and then uh you you kind of reverted back to your uh your tough beginning of the season with uh Barsham Trail, uh North Marion, all traditional uh long ones, and then of course you got uh the big one is St. Augustine on October 9th. And uh you know, what kind of what's the what's the feel on how that plays in there? Knowing that you got kind of the Moby Dick of uh the District 4-4A is all of us and St. Augustine. I uh you were probably if you were at the Baker Day, I asked Coach Brian Braddock to St. Augustine move into the county somewhere because they were in our district and he laughed and uh I said, Oh, that's not good.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

No, I mean it's it's Florida. Like every time they redistrict, you're not gonna duck everybody. Right. Like there's always gonna be tough teams in a district. Like we made the playoffs four straight years. Fleming's ago program, like Clay. I was the OC of Clay when we were playing for state titles. Like the Orange Park not that long ago was 10-0. Like that that's a pretty tough district. So uh, I mean, yeah, obviously, like you look at St. Aug, they're one of the most storied programs in North Florida, right? But I think it's a tough district altogether. Like we were in a tough district last year with Beatside and Ponta Vidra. Those teams both made runs in the playoffs. So I I just think in Florida, I just I I don't think you're ever going to be in a district where you're like Oh, that's that's ours, you know, like it's always gonna be tough. It's always gonna be you're always gonna have one or two really, really, really good teams in your disc just because it's Florida.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

There's like a take on the county uh spread in there, Dalton. Do you know a lot of the guys that you're gonna be playing against? Clay, Ridgevie, Fleming Island, Orange Park, that uh has has there been chatter either on social media or wherever you guys hang out at the Sonic, uh, you know, where where uh we'll see in uh September eleventh or something like that. Does that make it cool?

SPEAKER_05 22:28

I haven't heard of uh anything from any of the other kids from the other schools, but I mean I still talk to a couple kids from Fleming because I'm still friends with some of them, and so they'll talk to me about their team, and they'll I mean we'll just talk a little bit about football and but um other than that I really haven't heard anything from any other.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

So be be careful with this, Anthony. What's your read on uh on some of the schools, like Fleming Island? They got uh they got a uh a a good uh D B and Chase Donaldson over there, you know, they got a pretty good uh uh defensive line with uh Landon Howard and Zion Longmire. We had them on here. What's your what's your read on them, either either coach or or you on that? Have you contemplated that? I mean uh it's not putting chalkboard stuff up.

SPEAKER_05 23:11

Yeah. I mean, it's they're a good football team. They're not it's like coach said, it's not gonna be an easy district, and they're they're a really good team. So I mean, there's we're not gonna have any really easy games this year. So I mean, I know a couple of those kids like Chase and I know Grayson, Landon. I had lifting classes with them when I was at Fleming. Oh and they're they're some pretty good players.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

So Mason from the defensive end, what uh who who are you who are your friends out there that are talking to you? Clay High's got s a lot of seniors coming back that are all in key positions. You know, you you got Orange Park's got some they got three big guys up front. I know that. Three uh three 300 pounders up front there, and then uh two pretty good running backs. Uh and then uh who's the other one? Ridgeview. Ridgeview's the unknown with the city.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

That's gonna be unknown with Jason Smith.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

He comes in there with his firepower speed and go get it kind of stuff, and they they kind of opened the door with with a big win in their spring game against Crescent City. So uh what are they what do they say to you? Or uh I mean your coach, you don't let them uh chit chat for chalkboard stuff?

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Um I mean like um nothing much has really been said. Um I've always heard like uh small talk from um Clay, you know, Ridgeview's always gonna have something to say, just because they went out of it, basically. Um other than that, not much. Um they can talk when the pads come on. It's like it's not that it's not that difficult.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

What's gonna be the what's gonna be the key attack mode, Coach Wolf, on on offense? And you got a great running backs, you got great wide receivers, you got a gigantic uh uh offensive line there. Is it just a matter of uh setting the standard at the line of scrimmage in the trenches we always talk about, and then uh seeing what happens from there?

SPEAKER_03 24:51

I think just continue what we've kind of been doing the last few years on offense. Uh we've got a lot of weapons. Got a good guy behind the center, we're big up front, uh got a bunch of good coaches on offense. So I think he's just really just continue to keep keep doing what we've been doing on last year.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

Brady was kind of in the same boat as him. He came in, he was behind Geno most of the year, but when he came in, he made explosive runs and he was tough to bring down. And uh now is he have I I we saw some breakaway speed uh last week on that. Is is he gonna be the next market? You've had great running backs under your tutelies with Mikey Mitchell and TJ. And don't you have TJ's brother?

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Yeah, Jamarion's a freshman this year.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

He got another lane coming there.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

He's playing this year on on Varsity, yeah. Jamarion Lane as a running back or as a D lineman.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

As a D-lineman, uh but um do you see do you see that formulating with Brady? You've you've had a knack of being able to uh get that one or two guys, that one guy, actually, where where Brady can be the marquee guy.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Yeah, he's got a chance. I mean he he's he's a big bruising back. It's tough to I wouldn't want to tackle him for four quarters.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Yeah. And Logan and and Mark the seniors up front, uh is that is got is that gonna be a power offensive line? You got big guys. Who's the other two guys? Those three d those three guys are big right there.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Yeah, we're pretty big up front. Uh I mean we're anywhere from 240 to 310. Jeez.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

So I just I couldn't imagine high school players. I remember again 30 years ago being a high school quarterback, and just I would love to have a 190 pound guy in front of me.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

So 300 is just crazy. I think we had an all-state guard when I played in 1938. It was 160 pounds. Yeah. And he became a uh tank commander in the U.S. Marines, man.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

He was he was a total uh kids I I I hate saying this, right? His kids these days are getting huge, so I'm jealous.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

So with the weather going on now, what is how has that affected your uh practices for the last week or so? We've had a lot of rain, a lot of lightning. Is is that something that concerns you, coach, about the the getting onto the field? Of course, you know, you get on the field and it's slippery, you kind of want to make sure nobody slips out and bust up anything. Have you been able to get on the field?

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Uh we we're we're probably gonna be one of the best library football teams. Library in in n in North Florida. In the library? That's you mean just filming or we are really good at volleyball. So when you're winning state titles of volleyball, it's tough to get in that gym. So we we find we find ways to get work in, whether it's in the cafeteria or in the gym. And I'm sure most of the most of the state faces this. Like we we don't we don't have the resources that that that the Texas schools and the Georgia schools have, so we have to find a way to get it in because what we got we've got wet balled all week and there's been lightning all week. So we just find a way to get some work in.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Alright, so as the season pro you got Baldwin coming, Menendez down the line, you uh eight and two, eight and three after the playoff game. What's the what's the season uh do you crunch the numbers along the way? What do we what do we want to get? Are you you you went like five five, what, five and six, six and four, and all that, and then you what got your eight and two last year. Uh what do you want to see? What's the next step of your your progressions have been always positive and you grow one that one step each year the last four years?

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Well, I mean it each team's different. Like I don't I don't want to say, hey, this team has to be better than the eight and two team or all that stuff. Like we did graduate 22 seniors, so this team was 17 starters?

SPEAKER_04 28:17

What is that was? There was a lot of starters on that.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Like it was 22, like 22 really good football players, like 10 of them are going on to play college football. So uh we do return a few starters, but this team's gonna be this team's gonna be young, and this team's gonna be a lot different than the than the rest of those teams. So I don't want to compare them to any of the last teams. We're just gonna be our own team and and try to figure out a way to compete in the district and and try to go win a playoff game.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

We got a we got about a minute left. Who's on who's on the coaching staff? I know you got the Blackburn guy out there, I like him, and uh Jordan Collins uh on the offensive line. You got um got Robert Ripley, offensive line for the bigger. Robert Ripley, yeah, and you and I just saw uh coming back from China our guy Jonathan Bryant, uh basketball star out of Oakleaf and uh and uh University of Tampa. What is what is how's Jonathan melded in there on the football level?

SPEAKER_03 29:07

He's doing a great job. He just got back from playing basketball in China, I think maybe like three or four days ago. So uh he's hitting the ground running. He coached with us this spring, so he understands the offense. So what's he coaching? He's coaching tight ends and fullbacks.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Uh oh yeah, he was a good tight end at Oakleaf when uh before he uh started getting serious on the on the basketball front there. So we're gonna take a break. About five seconds, Tim's giving me the heave ho. Uh we'll be right back right after this. All right, Clay County football fans, final segment here at Clay uh Clay County Sports Radio. You'll be able to see this or listen to this on uh uh Thursday at seven o'clock on uh Clay Radio, Spotify, all that kind of stuff. It's also Friday at five as you drive into the uh Middleburg uh Baldwin game at Middlebury. You you'd be able to listen to uh Coach Wolf and the guys here talking about some uh inside intel on the Bronco football. And then again on Sunday at five o'clock, you can hear it there. Have you guys ever listened to us before you get in the game? Like the is that what's in your headphone when you're on the field, Dalton? I'm gonna listen to Moon.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

I don't think that's true, Dalton, but I'm gonna do that.

SPEAKER_04 30:12

He was a yeah, I got that on my uh sounded confident, I appreciate that. So we're gonna we're gonna take a little lap around the county because uh everybody else is starting as well, so it's pretty exciting. We got volleyball. Clay High is at Baldwin at a preseason uh tournament. Actually, they were there yesterday, and they'll be here tonight for the second game. Middleburg. Clay's got uh Mackenzie Harris back. They also got Orange Park Transfer, Kai Longmyer, who's a great basketball player, volleyball player to Orange Park. Now she's over uh at Clay High doing a nice job there. They got a couple of incoming freshmen that seem to be good for Coach Kelsey Shannon. They're in the same same thing here, they're in the same district with everybody, Middleburg and all that. Uh Middleburg, Fleming, and Ridgeview are all going to the Bishop Candy preseason tournament of champions, which is a uh collection of some of the best schools in Florida, all at Bishop Canny and Middleburg with uh Meredith Forcombe having two of her three kids on the on the lineup with uh Brick Forkam being a starter now at Troy University, doing a nice job out there. We have Paige Forkam and Reese Forkam on the team there. Page being the older one, also a massive hitter over the top, like uh like the Sis there. Uh Macy Bader, one of their big hitters coming back as well, with Allie Enschutz as a uh back line defender and center for them. Gracie Bingham, the other center. Fleming Island got the two big bashers that we had on the show last week. Uh Lauren Broski, Lily Eason, uh Kaylee Clark was with us as well, so they got a big front. They're gonna be uh playing at Bishop Kenny as well. Uh what is the other guy? Uh Orange Park is Hannah Smith, uh new coach over there. Hannah Smith, longtime assistant coach. They're gonna be at uh JJVA is hosting a preseason tournament as well, with Keystone Heights gonna be there and Oakleaf. Oakleaf having a mass exodus of graduates, six six teams, the six starters on the team all got college scholarships last year. So pretty impressive for Coach Jamie Reed, but she brings back a uh new cadre of of kids there. Ridgeview Sarah Anderson did a nice job coming in on her first year. So we'll see what happens there. Keystone's got the best hitter in the state. Mia Rivera Sr. uh was uh one of the best hitters in the state, led the state midway through the season, and then uh she kind of got covered and she finished as fourth best in the state, and I think she was 11th most kills in the nation. So uh that's a that's a good one there. Uh Kaylee Marquot, the daughter of softball coach Jessica Marquot, is one of the top assist centers for Keystone Heights as well as the state. So that's going on there. Of course, Tim, we had Richard Fannon in last week talking about the Cecil uh Cecil Field World Summer Classic cross-country. Uh I saw Fleming Island out there again. They got 30 guys running over there.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Good for them because this heat, this humidity is not fun to run in.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Yeah, and he was saying that the the course is pristine again. So we got two teams coming from Georgia, one from North Carolina, one from uh Alabama that they just got, Richard Fannon uh pumping that up. We have actually every state champ Florida team from last year represented. And there's one A, two A, three A, four A, girls and boys, one A all the way up. We're gonna have eight defending state champion programs. Not necessarily the same people, but the program coming. Uh so we're gonna, I mean, it's gonna be wicked. So, coach, if uh get there late, that's why over in Cecil Field, because they're starting at five o'clock, so uh I might get there late.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Well, uh over a hundred running teams are gonna be out here for this. Yeah one of the biggest events here in Northeast Florida. We're having everybody from all over the southeast coming to join us.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

And he and he just got tapped to be uh to host the region, I think one, two, three, and four championships at the Cecil Field later on in the season. So top runners are gonna be JP Strombeck uh from Fleming, Lauren Rossette. Oh, there's another one. Lauren Rossette from from uh Middleburg, your girl there. She's a sophomore cross-country uh track runner there. She just won her second age group triathlon championship. She won at St. Augustine uh two weeks ago and last week at Camp Landing at the Hammerhead Olympic try. She did the sprint try part of it. Uh she won that one, I think, by about four minutes. So uh and she also asked me not to put it in the paper because her coach didn't want it to she didn't want her coach to know she was doing triathlons uh instead of running ten miles.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

So you put it on the radio instead.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

So put it on the radio instead because you know these guys are they do you know Lauren? You know Lauren Rossett? You coach, the runner? That triathlon stuff's your bag. That's that's your well she's your one of your top cross-country guys, uh Kenneth Yancey and Paul Grib, the coach. You know, Grib's been a long time successful coach in cross-country track all over the place. So uh he's got a bunch of good guys uh uh setting up there. With two other guys we're doing, Adam Ruiz and Rowan Avery, uh also were at the race. I think Rowan was fourth in his age group. He won the age group at the St. Augustine race. And then uh for Fleming Island, Brooke Reynolds going to Lenore Ryan cross country uh in a couple of weeks. She won her age group with Izzy, uh Izzy Williams, a weightlifting stater for Fleming Island in second place behind her. And also from Middleburg, you know Lynn McWaters? Have you heard that name? She's one of the conditioning coaches for uh many of the girls' sports over there. Uh she's uh she won the uh uh uh 50 to 54 in the sprint race, and her daughter, Kaylee McWaters, who's one of the best multi-sport female athletes out of Middleburg, soccer, swimming, and and track and all and flag football, she won her age group in the Olympic distance race. So you're talking about triathlonines, the other guys did a quarter mile swim in the lake, uh, 11 mile bike, and a three-mile run. This McWaters girl did a one mile swim, a 40k, 26 mile bike, and then a 6.2 mile run. About two hours and 39 minutes or something like that. So uh she uh she was a stud when she was at Middleburg and she uh she made the she made the paper with that one, man. She was the first time she's ever done an Olympic distance race. So uh she was pretty impressive there doing that. What when's yours?

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Don't you have one coming? I'm on the I'm on the bench until at least uh uh I can't even start running again until December. So but I love seeing the athletes here. Whenever we talk about endurance racing, we had a triathlete in here.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

I remember the Iron Man, they had an Iron Man girl here that our guys were all over that.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

And you guys all the same reaction.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

Have you ever done that? Do you swim at all?

SPEAKER_03 36:46

Do you I swim a couple of laps in my pool?

SPEAKER_04 36:49

There you go. Twelve foot around like that, one of them uh things like that. But you know, it and it's just to me, it's cool to watch alumni athletes. You know, I like seeing them. You know, it isn't uh uh Richard Owen just got hired by Alabama. Alabama. Yeah, I just saw somebody just sent me that one at one of our uh Hall of Famers, isn't he? Hall of Famer on the on the scoreboard over there.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Yeah, he's coaching tight ends in Alabama.

SPEAKER_04 37:12

Yeah, he's over in Alabama. So where's the other guy? Um Gary? Gary, yeah. Where's Gary Barnage?

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Gary, we we do our end of the summer party at Gary's house. He still lives down here in Green Cove. Uh is he still coaching somewhere right now? Yeah, he's he he uh he just got engaged in um Gary Barnage. He's still doing the the ghost hunting TV shows and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

Oh really? Yeah now Gary was famous, he's in the Hall of Fame for the catch. Remember he made that catch behind his legs or something at the Gary's a free Catholic. Yeah, he uh he he caught a pass for the Cleveland Browns that was nine years.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

Nine years NFL one year Pro Bowl. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Damn. So uh Yeah, you can't say the catch though. The catch is only one player. That's Dwight Clark. Dwight Clark. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Everybody knows or what's his uh Beckham, Beckham? Who's your who's your target over there, Dalton? Which one are you guys? I know CJ caught a lot of your passes over the summer on your seven on seven. Now he had he was good for the catch and go, catch and add. He was he had that good separation speed after he got to the ball. And then uh and then Robbie, he's a littler guy, but he's he's squirmy.

SPEAKER_05 38:15

Yeah, uh I have a bunch of great receivers, you know. CJ, I mean the chemistry that you have with your receivers as a quarterback is probably the best part of being able to throw them the ball because you know you're kind of thinking the same thing, you know, if you want to throw it to him a certain way, they'll catch it and then make a move and then be able to get free instead of just walk out of bounds and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 38:33

All right, last uh last couple minutes there with Dalton, what's your what's your take on the season that's about to start? You're you're the guy in charge now.

SPEAKER_05 38:41

Yes, sir. I'm I'm very excited for our this season. I know Coach Wolfe's also very excited, and um I can't wait to see how the season goes and be able to play some football games, you know, and win some. And uh yeah, I mean, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

What's the what's the key element in your skill set that you think has improved the most over between last year and the summer and now as we approach you? There's something that you maybe were a little uh lacking last year coming in, but now you think you got it rock solid.

SPEAKER_05 39:10

I think being a leader, uh you know, you g as a quarterback you kind of gotta lead the offense, you gotta be the guy that tells them, you know, get get ready, get set, you gotta get everybody lined up in the right spot, you know. And I think being a leader, my leadership ability has improved from last year.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

How'd you do that? I mean Just read a book? Watch a film of uh Nick Saban or somebody?

SPEAKER_05 39:30

I mean, just I don't even I don't know. I mean just lead by example.

SPEAKER_04 39:33

Well, just yeah, I mean you're forced to do it because that's the position right there. Uh coach, is that you concur with that? Is that his skill set? That's been a biggest part mentally instead of physically.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

I think he's become a leader. You know what I mean? He he came in last year as a sophomore and and now this is kind of his team and and I also think he hit the weight room pretty hard this off season.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

So when I first saw him in the beginning of the summer, I remember I said you jacked up here over here. I thought he was gonna play linebacker if uh Peavy was gonna go play uh tight end or something. Mason, what about you? What uh what what is uh now you you come with a a bona fight skill set to begin the season. You got hurt, now you have to kind of reestablish that. Have you got to that point? And what do you think you have improved in your skill set to to get to your 150 tackles and six interceptions and five fumble recoveries? Yeah, right, Tim? That's what I said.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

That's what he said. We got it right here on tape. Um honestly, um I'm almost back to where uh I feel like I was beforehand. Um I feel like what I have gotten better on for sure is being more vocal. Uh rather than just um relaying plays, being able to visualize what the offense is doing, but being more um open like towards uh the team and being able to have them move certain ways in order to um the theory.

SPEAKER_04 40:53

Who was who was the uh vocal with you and Kaden? Because Hannafin was another uh machine uh over there with you and uh you and him over there. Who was who's who was the more vocal of you and him? He was kind of he was kind of a outward guy.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah, he was for sure. Um on the field, I don't think he was um very vocal, but he was he was good in the world. Did he go did he go college coach at Hannifin?

SPEAKER_03 41:15

Uh he had a s he had several offers. He decided to um I think he ended up going to UNF to uh pursue a different major. So yeah, he had some offers and then uh he just decided, which a lot of a lot of people do, you know what I mean? Like I I know a lot of people decided I'll I just want to go be a student and and I definitely appreciate that. But yeah, he had some chances.

SPEAKER_04 41:36

And you've had some you've had some great linebackers in your tenure there. What you're talking about uh Austin Cruz over there, you got Caden Hannifin. Who else who was in the earlier years? Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_03 41:45

Oh, they're all starting to run together. Uh yeah, like I said, we've had some good ones.

SPEAKER_04 41:50

Who's been who's uh I know Austin was a hundred tackles every year. Uh and uh who was who do you think was your most dominant defender in the four four years you've been there? The guy that impressed you the most with year in, year out coming in and just stabbing.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

I mean, it it's tough to go against cowboy. Like I got like he was he was a four-year starter at Motelberg High School. Like I think he had over a hundred tackles every year. Like he And he was just bad, honory kind of Ray Mitskey.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

Ray Nitsky kind of kind of a kind of a linebacker. He's a policeman now. Who do you like? Who do you like? Who's your who's your linebacker uh wannabe? Or not you quarterback. I'm talking talking a Dalton there. Who what who do you what do you call it?

SPEAKER_02 42:30

What do you think who do you launch and emulate their game? Tom Brady. I mean Oh, come on, get out of here. I mean Tom Brady's great. I can say he's good now, but come on.

SPEAKER_04 42:39

Yeah, but you know what? It does it, it makes a little sense because he's he's very astute in the pocket, making this you can see when he's now you know, seven on sevens is a is a quick move in the game, and and uh there weren't a lot of times where he's making bad decisions, although there were some because uh Coach Wolfe is not uh very quiet when that happens. But uh but it happens. Uh Mason, how about you? Who's your linebacker guy? Um probably Luke Keekly. Yeah, from you can say Fred Warner. Carolina in the Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

I could I could, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

Luke Keekly's a great one. He's the one that you look at with the Palomalu guy with uh with Troy Palomalu? He was a safety. Yeah, he was. Oh, was he?

SPEAKER_02 43:17

But he was yeah, but he played like a linebacker. You look at Luke Keekly, and he's one of those off the field, you're looking at him like, okay, you're a linebacker? Clark Kent. Uh Clark. Superman it right when you don't want to be in the middle of that guy.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

All right, coach uh coach, you got ten seconds to give us your final thoughts on uh as your season progresses here. You got Baldwin, Menendez, uh Fleming Island, everybody coming in here. What's what's your thought process as the season begins?

SPEAKER_03 43:41

I just can't wait to chill out. I just can't wait to get on the field. You know what I mean? You you lift all those weights all summer and you're banging on each other all fall camp. Like I'm looking forward to the season. Like I said, we've got a lot of young guys. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do this year. All right, Coach Wolf, Dalton Moates, Mason Peavy.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Mason, what did I say? Mason Peavy. Yeah, P. You said it's correct, man. Okay. I was I was thinking I was thinking of a different Mason, I was almost gonna say Backus. I was gonna say Backus is the other quarterback and that the Moats was behind. So uh there we go. We got more we got football starting, Tim.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Let's uh let's get ready to go. Let's start hitting people. I know. I look forward to being out there.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

I'm ready to put my helmet on and uh here we go.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

We're gonna be out there Friday, right? For the freshman ticket party? Is it I got yeah, I got a head shake. So we'll be out there Friday getting ready to watch you guys play.

SPEAKER_04 44:24

All right, don't forget uh Thursdays, Saturday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday watches. Monday will be a link on the website, and you can watch it on Spotify, iHeart, and all that other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Or listen to it as well. Yes. We'll be back or we'll be have a good week. We're done.