Cedar Shoals High School head football coach LeRoy Ryals directs players at their 2018 playoff game against Walnut Grove High School. This will be Ryals’ fifth year coaching at CSHS, and his 13th Classic City Championship. “What we teaching and what we coaching this year, in this game in particular, we’re gonna focus on trying to play hard, and trying to play with a little passion. Play with passion, and let mistakes just happen and we’ll learn from our mistakes,” Ryals said. Photo courtesy of BluePrints Magazine
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Q&A: Cedar Shoals head football coach LeRoy Ryals
Cedar Shoals High School head football coach LeRoy Ryals sat down for a Q&A with Digital Staffer Micah Shannon to discuss the 54th Classic City Championship on Sept. 4.
ODYSSEY Media Group Digital Editor Micah Shannon: Can you tell me a little bit about your history as a coach, how long have you been coaching, both at Cedar Shoals High School and Clarke Central High School?
Cedar Shoals High School head football coach LeRoy Ryals: I’ve been coaching probably twice as long as you’ve been alive, this is year thirty for me, been doing it for a while, in three different states. (I’m) going on year five (at CSHS, and I coached) seven (years at CCHS).
MS: Since you have been the head coach at both schools, how do you view the Classic City rivalry?
LR: Right now, I’d just be happy to have an opportunity to play the game in this situation, in 2020 with the pandemic and everything. It’s all about really, with the logistics of playing a football game safely. So in my mind, I know it’s unpopular to say, but in my mind, it’s about playing the game of football. I know in the community’s mind it’s about the rivalry still, and I understand that, but you know, we not in the same region anymore so I’m sure we gonna go out and play a game, and we’ll compete. But, we got some bigger fish to fry about how we play the game, knowing how to play, with the new rules in place.
MS: Have you noticed any differences in the way the rivalry is perceived on either side or is it relatively similar across the town?
LR: Pretty similar. Both communities value the rivalry, most of them do. So that hasn’t changed. There’s a lot of history to it, and with Cedar being a younger school, Clarke Central being an older school, and Cedar playing at Clarke Central the first couple of years of existence for football, it makes it unique. The town of Athens is not very big, so they all know each other, so that’s what makes it so unique. You know each other, your family knows each other, and it makes it kind of exciting for the community.
MS: Given the world situation right now, what would winning the Championship mean to you personally as well as to your team?
LR: I told my team it’s gonna be special either way. Whoever wins it, they’re gonna have to overcome their opponents, you’re gonna have to overcome a lot of circumstances. You gonna have to be lucky, because with this pandemic, you never know when it’s gonna strike your team. I read again this morning some other schools have postponed or canceled their first couple games because of it. So teams that are able to stay healthy, make sure to stay healthy, make sure to stay out of the pandemic’s way, it’s gonna be the one to have a chance, it’s not necessarily gonna be the best team, the most talented team.
MS: Speaking of COVID-19, how did it affect your summer practice schedule?
LR: Well, (it was) very limited. First, mid-July was pretty much conditioning, lifting, you know. And even then that was limited because we had to bring them in in different groups to try and just get them acclimated back into the game. Also, understand that March 5th, the last day they were in school here in Clarke County, and the first time we got to see our kids again was June 8th, so they’re out for a while. So just getting them back, acclimated to being around each other, working out — that was a three to four week process.
MS: For some people being locked away for a while has sort of been depressing, did you notice any morale problems with your team?
LR: It is tough because, what the community goes through and what the world goes through, the kids go through as well, whether they tell us or not. So we try to not talk about it much, we try to focus on the things we do control, and that’s how we come to work every day, how we go about our business every day.
MS: Generally speaking, how are you approaching this game, how do you feel you’ve prepared for it?
LR: Well, I don’t think we’re prepared at all for it. But we’re gonna play it. Normally this time of year, you play in a scrimmage to kind of see where you are, and a lot of times we play in scrimmages and things of that nature for logistical reasons. You know, how do you get on the bus, how to get ready for pre-game, how to wear your socks, whatever. I don’t know if we’re doing that again now, but we’re also doing it with a different flavor because now you got the pandemic and dealing with what the different protocols are, the sidelines, how you get water, water breaks, you name it, so on Thursday, we probably won’t even do football, we’ll just do a pre-game warmup. We’re not even doing handshakes after the game. You know, after the game we can get to the hash marks and kind of wave to each other, I mean, that stuff is gonna be different. I mean, it’s gonna be different for me because I’m used to shaking people’s hands (after) thirty years of doing this. So it’s gonna be an adjustment for everybody. Not only this game, the first two or three games are gonna be an adjustment on how we play the game. That’s why I’m not trying to knock the rivalry, but it’s gonna be about how we do this and how we do that, instead of more about who won the game, to be honest with you.
MS: Are there any particular players you anticipate to be standouts during this game, during this season?
LR: I don’t know what to expect, to be honest with you cause like I said everything’s new. I mean you could have a veteran player who’s played for three years not do well because it’s just new. I may not do as well cause it’s new for me too. One thing I got to get used to is coaching with my neck gaiter on, my mask. That’s totally changing how I coach a little bit cause I have to do it every day in practice, so it’s going to be new to everybody. New to myself, (CCHS head football coach David) Perno, our assistants, so it’s gonna take some time, so I don’t really have a lot of expectations, I’m just gonna kinda see how things fall and go from there.
MS: You said there’s a lot of changes to the way you’re playing, so what sort of major changes are taking place, in terms of the way the game is played?
LR: Trying to still social distance on the sidelines, we’re not dressing many, we might dress like 40 kids, so, that may help us as well. You know, like I said, hydrating, you know on the sideline we’re planning more 8-ounce water bottles, the squeeze bottles, we’re planning on doing that. We don’t huddle per se, but even when you on the side, you know kind of huddle before you go on the field, before kickoff and stuff like that, that’s changed a little bit too. How you do pre-game warm-up, because the rule of thumb is not to have nobody within six feet apart for more than fifteen minutes, that’s kind of the rule of thumb. We’re trying to (be safe), but we’re gonna, you know, play a game, be on top of each other, so, yeah, that’s kinda gonna happen.
Six years of Classic City Championships
Q&A: Classic City Championship game preview with CCHS head football coach David Perno
Clarke Central High School head football coach David Perno watches the homecoming game against Walnut Grove on Oct. 18, 2019. The team has had more time this year to prepare for their first game of the season, against Cedar Shoals High School. “You make a lot of careless mistakes when you start as early as we would start just because it takes time but with this time, two, three weeks extra to prepare, I’m hoping that we’ve eliminated a lot of those early season mistakes,” Source said. “That’s the key, I think we should be able to play a much cleaner football game than your normal opener.” Photo by Luna Reichert
Clarke Central High School head football coach David Perno discusses how the team has been preparing for their first game of the season against Cedar Shoals High School on Friday, Sept 4.
ODYSSEY Media Group Sports Editor Isabella Johnson: How has it been preparing for the season under the pressures from COVID-19?
Head Clarke Central High School football coach David Perno: Well it’s been different which we all expected and (I’m) real proud of our players (and coaching staff). It’s kind of a new normal but they showed a lot of maturity handling the change and the key is for us to maintain the discipline with the change and we’ve had struggles here and there, you get a little comfortable and you kind of forget about some details with our coaching staff and everybody. What people have to realize is we started in groups of 20. Right around in that area. But we’ve been going since June 7, we’ve only had one week off for the GHSA rules — the dead week. By my account, I think we had two cases in June, (on) varsity, and then two coming out of the dead week and you know, knock on wood, that’s been it. Our kids have done a good job because the weekends have been free, we don’t keep them on the weekends. So, they’re obviously making good choices here, but also when they leave here.
IJ: What exactly have been the guidelines that you’ve had to adhere to because of corona?
DP: We have to screen (the players) coming in, temperature and questions, if they have felt any symptoms at all, they have stayed home, and we’ve had a couple instances of that and kids who have tested and come back negative so, it’s a good policy. You got to give the majority of the credit to our superintendent Dr. Xenona Thomas, because she suffered the illness and she went (to) the hospital but she maintained the importance of us trying to allow these kids to play football. It started there and then Dr. (Swade) Huff and his staff have done a tremendous job in handling all the change and trying to communicate it with everybody and then obviously, Coach (Jon) Ward, our athletic director and everybody’s help (has meant a lot). Everybody has had to do more and do their part and I’m very grateful that we’re gonna have the opportunity to represent Clarke Central Friday night playing football.
IJ: So speaking of the game, what have you and other coaches been telling the team about Friday to get them ready?
DP: Control what we can control. Stay away from social media right now. Let’s worry about trying to be the best version of us Friday night and not get caught up in all the other the clutter and the distraction and all the change, it’s still gonna be about football on Friday night and I feel like our team probably has a chance to be one of our better teams in a long time. That’s the key, trying just to zero in their focus and not let it be so scattered. From our situation normally, we probably would have played two weeks ago. (…) You make a lot of careless mistakes when you start as early as we would start just because it takes time but with this time, two, three weeks extra to prepare, I’m hoping that we’ve eliminated a lot of those early season mistakes. I think we should be able to play a much cleaner football game than your normal opener. We just can’t let emotion take over because I’ve always felt when you’re high on emotion, you’re low on logic. So we want to be passionate and excited about it. But there’s a difference between being emotional and passionate. I think we (need) to make sure they’re able to separate it being your crosstown rivalry, sometimes emotion gets the best of you.
IJ: So speaking about the rivalry, how do you think that is important to you and the rest of the team?
DP: I think from our standpoint, there was much more at stake when they were in the same region. I think this is good for the community, that we’re actually not in the same region. Because now we play this game and then once it’s over, we can kind of cheer for each other. I mean, we want them to be good. I think it’s better for the whole deal. I just don’t want them to be that good on Friday night. I want us to be better. But then after it I think it’s about the community and trying to give these young men that are playing for both schools, the resources they need to be successful, and a lot of them may have the opportunity to go play at the next level. So it’s definitely an important game, it’s a rival, but I think not being a region game, it can take a little bit of the sting away meaning if it didn’t work out and vice versa even if you win it I mean yeah, it’s good but at the same time there’s bigger fish to fry and bigger championships to play for, for sure.
IJ: Who are some players that we should watch out for this season?
DP: Well, you got the Mac twins. They’ll be our captains, JJ Mac plays safety number one and number three, (Jarius) “Nono” Mac, he plays our kind of slot receiver and he’s probably the most exciting player without question that I’ve been able to coach really, in any sport, so to watch his growth through the years has just been a lot of fun to watch but we have a lot (of good players), Tyreon Millsap will be another captain and Montavious Cunningham is a captain, but you got Douglas Clark, Scotty Thurman, Justin Hodges, I mean, we have a lot of pieces. Will Robinson’s going to get the start at quarterback but we got a really good transfer number two, Lucian Anderson who could be very dynamic and will be, he’s just a sophomore. And then kind of the underrated piece is Will Richardson who’s taken over for O’Brian at running back. Will is just real quiet, just does his job day in and day out, and I’m really excited about watching him. And then our linebacking crew’s much better this year and so hopefully, Kahari Dean, has really had a great fall camp and I’m excited about him. So we’ve got a lot of pieces this year on this team so it’s tough to zero in.
Through the years: Classic City Championship
Q&A by Micah Shannon
Q&A by Isabella Johnson
Timeline and gallery by Luna Reichert
Package by Ireland McCage
