 Gary Stein with head coach Ed Hodl after a big 28 nothing win over Wilkes to close out the season and clinch the birth in the post season for Stevenson. First, I want to talk about senior day. You had it out here very emotional. 26 seniors. That's a big class. So just talk to me about your emotions on this day in terms of your seniors. Well, it's a little bit easier because I think we know we're playing again. So right. It's not it's ceremonial farewell, but certainly not not farewell. We're going to see him next week in the weight room on Monday morning at 6 30. So whether they're happy about that or not, I'm not sure. But you know, it's a great group of guys. You know, a handful of them are still kind of on the fence, whether they're going to come back or not. And a couple of them, you know, certainly did play their final football games, at least home game regular season game today. And I just couldn't be more proud. And I said this in my in my interview earlier in the week, not only proud of these guys, but proud of all of the seniors, not just here at Stevenson, but nationwide who were interrupted by the pandemic. And, you know, they had the strength and they had the courage to just stick to the education and see it through to the end. So, you know, just just couldn't be more proud of these young people. For the last couple of weeks, we've talked about your defense and conversations that we've had during the week. And you said, Hey, our defense is going to have to step up and, you know, they're not going to have to win the game necessarily, but we're counting on our defense. You guys only allow 24 points in your last four games, obviously zero here today. Talk a little bit about their performance today and what they did right against Wilkes. Well, I think if you look particularly early in the year, you know, Justin Rotowski, you know, Justice Pettis, you know, CJP, you can go down the list of guys that played very much college football. And we kind of felt like as they grew and matured and got actual game snaps that they would get better and better throughout the year. And they proved us to be right. And I think what they were able to do today was go out and execute a game plan that was, you know, well put together. Coach Holland did a great job, you know, kind of mapping things out with the defensive staff. And they went out and executed at a very, very high level today. And, you know, I thought we were a little bit, a little loose in the first half as far as tackling goes. You know, we missed some tackles, could have put them down a little bit sooner. We were able to get the locker room to have time to clean some of that stuff up. And, you know, when players can execute the plan, good things happen. Well, you certainly couldn't ask for a better start, though. You got the pick on the first possession that set you up at the 27. Brandon Walker took it in from there. That kind of set the tone for the game right there. For sure. You know, and, you know, we talk about that all the time, playing complimentary football. You know, we were able to get a take away and, you know, the offense's jobs to put in the box. And they did. And, you know, I think that was Brandon's career long run. And, you know, again, you know, being able to come out and start fast, you know, because we've talked over and over and over again about this second half football team. You know, we don't want to be that. We want to be a four quarter football team. And I think we were able to do that today. Ground and pound was definitely the key as far as offense. You talked about Brandon Walker, his career long run. This was the first time I could be wrong about this, but I think that you've had a 100-yard individual rusher all season long and it couldn't have come at a better time. Yeah. And that's something that we're, you know, we're aware of and we continue to work to get better. And again, the right, you look at that offensive line. It's got three first year starters that are sophomores, you know, and, but they're growing, they're maturing, they're getting game snaps. And, you know, they did a really, really nice job today, you know, for all four quarters and, you know, again, you know, for Brandon to play and, you know, this game today and go over 100 yards, you know, super special for him. Couldn't be more proud of all the guys. All right. So they're not done yet. They've got the bowl game coming up in two weeks, if I'm not mistaken, from today. I think you'll be on the road for that game since you're the number two seed in the conference. What's the plan over the next two weeks? How much rest do you get? What do you try to make sure happens over those two weeks? Well, I want them away from football. You know, you look at our schedule and how it kind of laid out, you know, being a no bye week. This is our bye week. And, you know, these guys are tired. They're beat up. They've played 10 straight. The back five included three of the longest trips in the conference. You know, they're tired and, you know, we're tired, you know, but that's that's college football, right? But I want them to use it at a time to, you know, to get away from football for a little bit, you know, catch up academically, make sure that everything's buttoned up as we start to head into, you know, the Thanksgiving break and then, you know, quickly into finals, you know, because we expect them to perform academically. And, you know, we're going to get out here Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday next week. We'll run around a little bit. We're going to get in the weight room. But, you know, they're going to be off for a couple of days at the beginning, couple of days at the end of the week, just to kind of rest and recharge a little bit. Final question. What do you do? Do you get away from football for a couple of days? Are you asking me for the right answer? The answer my wife wants or the football coach answer? I'm asking for the right answer. Well, a little bit of both. How about that? We're going to walk that line a little bit. Hey, listen, congratulations. Absolutely. I've really enjoyed being with you guys this year. I must say, I may not see you before Thanksgiving. I don't know, but happy holiday. Great season. Best of luck to you. Thanks very much. I appreciate it. He's Ed Hoddle, football coach at Stevenson. Big win. 28-nothing over Wilkes. They're on to the postseason eighth consecutive year.