 Hi everybody and welcome to the lake and locker room once again I'm John Weber joined today by Jim Zabrowski the head football coach at Lakeland College Jim as usual on the show we like to get right to it so here we go boy what a game I tell you people are just exhausted even watching the game I guess I got to mention the score right off the bat 26 to 23 and over a four overtime loss to UW Oshkosh and Oshkosh What do you have to say about the game? It was a great game you know I hate to say that when you lose right but the atmosphere is unreal I truly thought I told all the fans all our parents you know everybody that came afterwards We had as many up now more fans than they did and that stadium is big and so on that place was electric I couldn't hear myself calling plays in the overtime periods our side was going crazy our fans were going crazy They had these yellow megaphone things they were using up there and you could see the Lakeland crowd and it was a great atmosphere You know and I says tough to say we could game but we lost I mean do we have chances to win yes did they have chances to win yes You know it was right there for us or for them but I think for college football for Lakeland I think the experience was unreal And I could I was exhausted I mean and that game could have went on forever you know that game just kept going and going and going And the mood swings were unreal it was like a roller coaster I mean one team was up the other team was up We do something wrong they do something wrong and I really think what happened was by the third quarter I think early on they thought they were going to take it to us because they were moving us around a little bit And they're big son of guns now I'm both sides of the ball I really think they thought that they were going to take us to us But it was like that Rocky movie I was telling you because like Rocky 4 you know you got to cut it like when Drago finally gets cut by Rocky He's cut I feel like the third quarter we finally cut him and all of a sudden they stood there and like Because they haven't got a touchdown in 10th quarter and we all of a sudden scored in the third quarter And they're like wow it's a ball game holy mackerel these guys are and that's when I knew our kids had a chance Because it was like Tota it was like a slight fest after that it was man I think they got nervous because they didn't expect us to be around And we started believing you know Coach Krueger doing squares we really thought we started believing by that third quarter that hey It is just a football game it is just another team and that's a team who beat Wisconsin style last year Who was on real in 8-1 or 9-1 or 8-2 whatever they were last year and Oshkosh beat them and that puts us right in that category where You know we can go so yeah of course we wish we don't want but wow exhaustion is a good word for that sucker Well Oshkosh came in as the big bad boys in the blockhouse sticking to your Drago thing they came in like I will break you You guys are just like go for it and try to use this that you know And that game though had opportunities honestly they had the way we played in the first half they had opportunities to knock us out They could have put that that game could have been 21-0 in the first half but since they didn't and we made some great plays to keep us around Then also and you're right in the second half our kids finally said I went in the locker room and talked free sternly to them in a sense of Let's start believing we can actually be here and let's start doing things we're supposed to do and so on And once they did that it was on and that was even Stephen football now for for the next 12 however many quarters we played Well let's even take a step backwards for stop enrollment at Lakeland college 835 all time I've got to mention that But again Oshkosh has nearly $11,000 and then of course you're playing in a stadium that holds about $10,000 And how'd your kids go into that where they just like you know let's go forward or they just you know are they a little nervous You think intimidated at first or as coach and we're just like let's just go for it because we've been you know And my coach is Southern Illinois we played at the old sombrero and the new sombrero because that was our South Forest home field Was a Tampa stadium so I'm not but I think our kids tried to not try to downplay it of course But I think sometimes once they get out there and I think it takes them maybe a little bit You know they play there last year and so I still think you know it's a great setup You know the field takes a little bit of a beating because they have a high school games and Pee we stuff But that the setting is great and I think I really think our kids for as much as I talked and so on about believing And I think it took them a half to realize why worse we can do this and we're here like every overtime period I just kept saying we're still here I told you guys we're gonna be here we're still here So I did I I think our kids were a little I don't know never I don't know what word to use I think On we did some things on both sides of the ball or I thought we had to because they were so big on both sides of the ball Maybe we look back we didn't need to because second half our defense played flat up straight base defense And beat them up pretty good Well as you mentioned Ashkash jumped out to 7-0 in the first quarter but then from there it was pretty much a stalemate right up to half It was a great we they scored we came back on a three-yard for four-yard on first and going to four getting nothing out of it Drop a touchdown pass miss a field goal They Eric Boy makes great play knocks the ball out of the quarterback's hands in the second quarter as he's going in for a touchdown So we got lucky to not give up another score there and then they missed a field goal or two too So I mean there was more potential for scoring in that first half mostly on their side But our deep our kids survived I I keep telling the day we actually stopped making so many mistakes and having to stop coming back from adversity is a day We're gonna be really really special. I'm really opportunity to be really really good, you know, because we're good right now I think and and those kids are believing it but gosh if we cut down some of our errors That's when you start seeing some scores where you're like, oh You know they give some people some some beatings in terms of on the scoreboard Kind of gets back to that old saying in the past if you've heard people say so many teams end up beating themselves Most other teams actually beating them Exactly and we and I feel bad maybe the head coach and the coach you know I tell the other guy I'm the worst head coach in America because with the mistakes we make we probably shouldn't make But then our kids somehow try to try to make they make mistakes to almost give the game away But then they they don't let it happen and I think that's you know if I want to leave something on the program for this year So I hope that's something that we instilled in those kids We as coaches made them realize you're never out of it regardless of how bad you might do in terms of certain plays Don't give in and our kids that don't give in I think that's what keeps us in but like I told you before Before we came out well I think we can play with the Steven points of the world and stuff And I think we can play with teams that aren't that good either right now We got learned to when we play a team that maybe work better than in terms of physicalness or side That we got to take it to them but at least we know we can play with teams that are bigger Well that's an important step too because hopefully if you get to the point where you want to get in your program to get in the postseason Well when you get to the postseason you're not going to be you know a flabbergasted or anything like that Exactly, I mean you're prepared for that Right, I mean they had their DM's with the Northern Iowa transfer, huge He was a great looking kid and he played great and there was one tight end with the Wisconsin Their tight ends were huge, their tight ends looked about 6'4", 6'5", 2'4", and they were huge and they were really good So our kids battled through that, you know And like I told you before we ended up playing with the backup center, he's a great kid, Andy Argel He's 204 pounds, we throw 204 pound Most high schools in this area are going to have centers bigger than our guy who played But he plays hard, he plays hard So we ended up playing him and we survived in there And we're actually playing more, people didn't realize that we're playing more and more freshman As this thing rolls on, there were probably three or four freshmen that played The whole game we got significant amount of playing time which is a great experience for them too Well you guys went into halftime, 7-0, you said you'd give a stern talk to your team Yeah, we'd call it a positive reinforcement A positive encouragement That's a good way to look at it Yeah, I let it loose, I did go out because they weren't, I thought they weren't We were getting handled and I hate when a team that I'm associated with is getting handled And I said we can't get handled anymore In much sterner language, I said that I'm both sides of the box Depends who we're surviving, but we were hanging Opends that we were getting beat up in terms of just, we couldn't block them Well again, it must have worked because right away you guys came out in the third quarter And as you said at that point, it's kind of a combination You got your crowd going absolutely crazy on the score And you got the Oshkosh fans, you know, just as quiet as it could be It was, it was, and just, it was like, it felt like we were at a home game Like I said, I can't say it's enough Sean, our crowd was unreal I never, we were louder than they were, it was amazing I told all the, I saw a lot of young ladies from our campus that were there And all the parents, I said, you guys are unbelievable, thank you so much And I was like in tears going, I never heard of going to someone else's place And having crowd, you know, but you're right, once we scored all of a sudden I think our fans actually thought, we got a chance, you know And their fans were like, man, this is, this is a game You know, because they beat Concordia last week, 21-3 And they basically manhandled them, I mean that game was over pretty quickly And we sat there and said, hey, and also everyone started believing And that's where it all starts, so it starts with your team to believe first And all of a sudden it kind of spreads, and once people get on, you know, jump on the bandwagon So it's like, it's just an amazing family Exactly right But the third quarter you guys scored on a 24-yard pass from Brent Lukey to Sean Barron And Big Bird is Bird, as Sean's Lord had it We can't even say enough about him what a game And you know him from baseball, he's an unbelievable athlete Like you said before, he probably could have played pro baseball If he were to stay healthy, I'm just, just his athleticism He's skinny, he's tall, he's 6'3", whatever, he's 6'4", I don't even know what he weighs He's probably hilarious, he's not exceptionally strong weight room-wise But he's an athlete, he's a gamer, he's a competitor I saw him bouncing around on Thursday in the Friday practice His knee's been hurting him, and I said, I call him grandpa Because he looks so old, he looks like the oldest guy on our team So I go, Gramps, you're moving around pretty well Because I feel good, and after 15 catches for 160 yards and three touchdowns I guess he did feel good, he did, he's part of it He made a great catch, and we'll see on tape after a break A break-up, make a couple of people miss, and he did a great job Well of course, at that point it was 7-7, but then you got to give an action credit They came right back at that point, and just put it right in And that's why, and we had a chance to fold again, because you come back, 7-7 They come back, 14-7, you're like, that was a quick answer That was a quick answer, and then we didn't give in Now we ended up driving back sometime in the fourth quarter, missing a field goal Which is disappointing, because our second field goal in the game So we could have made a 14-10, but then we got some nip and tuck type stuff We got the ball back in fourth quarter, I don't know how much time we left For something, or three something, we scored Actually, 256 256, and we hit a post to a bird, Sean Barron again For a touchdown, that was a good read by the quarterback It was a backside read, same play that we dropped last week for a touchdown We had a make-and-come-through, and then chaos was going on in that stadium at that point When I was 14-14, watch out I got asked, did you even consider being on the road? Did you ever consider going for two at that point? You know, honestly, I did cross my mind I can tell you, I wish I could say, yeah, I was thinking about it Or pull out a fake or something, you know, I really did I didn't, I was, I feel okay with our p- I get better feeling with our kicking game, but I really, at that moment, I didn't think it But I did tell Coach Creek, hey, being, not negative, being realistic Chris, we missed it, we had to go outside Because we don't have any time out, we got to get the ball back So, we were ready, prepared in case we did Shank, have a G, our Gerald's turn, we call them Jeeps Jeeps made the extra point, 14-14, kick it deep, let's go And of course, at that point, actually, you guys even had another possession I think it went back and forth a couple of times We stroked them really quickly and made them punt And we got the ball back, and they had two-time house left We had none, we were on our own, like, 18-yard line We wanted to run the clock out, but we weren't running the ball very well right then They had us beat up physically up front So, we tried to get some things, and we didn't get it We ended up having to punt back to them with, like, 57 minutes Something left, minute, 30 left, and our defense held them in And then the fun started I don't even know where to go here, because obviously four overtime Just kind of kept going back and forth, but Oshkosh scored first On a 37-yard field Yeah, overtime broke quick, I know we're getting close to break here Overtime was, no one scored the first overtime We had the worst overtime drive, maybe in the history of house football We had a home, a sack, we're fourth and 30 from our 45-yard line Everybody knows in college that you start from the 25-yard line And you try and score, and we almost get a vertical anyways Well, now our defense has to go out there They stroke them, we call it timeout to ice-start kicker The kid whiffs, he misses, he shanks the 32-yard Back to the square one They got the ball first in the second overtime They kicked a field goal, we came back We dropped a touchdown pass, we could have won But then we kicked a field goal, Jeeps kicks it Bang, third overtime is when the fun occurred We get the ball first, we score, don't go for two They come back and score, they miss for two Now it's the fourth overtime They get the ball first, they just keep switching Hold on a second, this is the perfect time to go to break We're fourth overtime Stay with us, we'll be right back with more on the Lake and Locker Room What does being involved really mean? Is it making grilled cheese sandwiches for a sleepover? Staying for the curtain call at the talent show? Or learning the names of their favorite bands? Believe it or not, right now there are parents Just like you out there talking about things like this From school to home, from friends to futures And we'd like you to be a part of it National PTA, every child, one voice Hi everybody and welcome back to the Lake and Locker Room Once again I'm John Weber joined today by Jim Zabrowski The football coach at Lakeland College Jim we're just recapping the game and we're into the overtime now We're into number four, it's number three I think In case somebody's just joining us right now 26 to 23 was the final versus UW Oshkosh Unfortunately, it fell in four overtime But you're just about ready to recap the fourth overtime Third overtime we both scored and we both missed two Start the fourth overtime, they get the ball first Which you want to have happen, they end up kicking a field goal So now we got a chance, you know, again We get seven yards in the first down We make two bad, two not very good plays Now we're fourth and fourth from the 19 I think somewhere right around there We got a chance to kick a 36 yard field goal to Tide And set it into the fifth overtime And I call it time out with Coach Creek And I go coach, you know, it's fourth before I go Our kicking game hasn't been exceptional You know, 36 yard, we can make it But it's just hasn't been great You know, what do you think? And he looks at me He goes, what do you always say? I said I've always thought from the moment I take this job I'm going to go for it, I'm going to go after it And I said, he goes, what do you got? So I go, yeah, I feel pretty good about what We've been throwing the ball pretty well I gotta play, I go, let's roll, you know, let's go You know, I know, and we did And you'll see the last play on the tape Not showing it because of what happened But just, we missed a read We read it, we just threw a bad ball And we had to get it open for ten yards But it was so far, we threw the ball Into the ground somewhat and I'm going Because I knew he was open I watched the tape, I didn't realize how open So it ends, 26-23 And the place was just It was, I don't know It was one of the first games where I was a coach It was like mutual respect, admiration I mean, I was a coach that was Given that hug type deal, a great job And it wasn't like, yeah I mean, those kids were telling us Unbelievable, those kids are like You guys, you're the toughest team we play You know, that's unreal The atmosphere, the What you brought to the table The physicalness, and I think at first they thought they were going to roll us too And then they realized, yeah, you ain't rolling us right now So I was really mutual admiration It was a great, just For the kids, it was unbelievable Just to watch those kids play hard And then after the game, it was mutual respect And admiration It kind of gets back to what you said from day one You just want your kids to play as hard as they possibly can And the good things is they'll take care of themselves So just a perfect example of what can happen Yeah, and this is, if there's going to If you can get something out of You always have to get something out of something Whether it's a win or a loss You want to pull something from it And I told the kids, I think after the game Be proud of your effort Don't be happy with the result It's easy for people to tell you now Great job, you guys almost beat it Unbelievable, you could play at state schools And I'm like, well that's where you're supposed to be You know, and On the bus on the way home I told the kids, I said don't be happy I don't want to hear a lot of cheering I mean, we still lost But now be proud of your effort And realize if you bring that kind of effort to the table Minds and mistakes we make We got a chance to play pretty well The rest of the season So that's why I want to make sure You know how it is, you play a great team People want to tell you, you guys play so great But as a coach, a role model Yeah, they're in the model You put yourself in a position where everybody around the state Now knows Because right now people look at the score and say For Lakeland Wow They must be doing something down there Well I got to say something that might be off track here But I think it's a benefit for you being hired from out of state Because I went through the same process being from Illinois And you come up here and everybody's like Oh the state schools, the state schools And being from Illinois doesn't mean a thing Because I don't care if we're playing Stout or Point It didn't matter to us because we'd beat them anyways It wasn't a big thing, but I'm going to tell you From the baseball perspective The mentality of our kids having to overcome that was huge And I didn't realize that coming in I don't know if you see the same thing No, I think that is You hear the kids talking about certain things About state schools And maybe I joked around a lot of practice About that Ooh, we should I've had people tell me I don't know why you guys schedule those I had nothing to do with the scheduling But I just Being from the CCIW From Milliken and Augie And we played Augie and Wheaton That's what the state school league is It's Augie, Weston, Wheaton Milliken, Carthage, North Central I mean These guys ain't better than Carthage, I'm not sure You know, I think they were bigger You know But they play as hard Those leagues are so good because they all play so hard And there's no Quote on quote weak sister, I should say Whatever it is And people start buying into that And like you said, I was a better coach Early on in Milliken I think because I knew about Augie, but I didn't care Augie, Wheaton, I'm from Carbondale I just coached against South Florida Western, Illinois Eastern Who cares about Augie Because I said these guys, I go stout And the game was going on, I said That's a good football team Not unbelievable Good football team, well coached Good discipline, physical football team That's how I hope our kids always play Other kind of games you want to play You know, those kind of games I agree with you, I think it does help me going Stout, I told our kids just joking I said, you put this This is a school with a name of the state in front of it We'll call us Wisconsin Lakeland There you go, not worth it It has nothing to do with it It's Oshkosh to me It's Stevens Point, Stout Oshkosh, it's Platteville, it's Lakeland It's St. Norbert, it's kids It comes down to how bad kids want to play And how hard they want to work Let's go ahead and look at the tape here too We got some great highlights from the game A couple offense, a couple defensive I just took a peek at it, so if they're a bad Coach Worsler, G.A.'s player again It's like a week in a row This is one of the few running plays We got off, this is Marcus Tenon running This is an ISO, we had some burst We gained 14 or 15 there, did a nice job here Great play, catches a hitch Breaks one tackle, breaks two Fakes out number three and gets to the end One of his 15 catches And he's 6-3 doing that stuff Here's the play that ties us Puts us into overtime Little play action, Brent does a great job Throwing a backside post to you know who Sean Barron, great job This is Sean's catching overtime We actually run a play that gets kind of broken up Sean a judge, you won't be able to see it But he's 6-4 and those two kids are 5-10 So you throw it out there, let him go Defensively, just threw a couple at you And they played really well David Ben here on the sack They couldn't block our kids on pass Once we got them in the passing situations They couldn't block us They had something to do with running the ball Because they're big Here we are causing a fumble This is a big play because we just got stroked Not scoring and we get the ball right back A great play getting that fumble This is a road about more We need this play to get the ball back in the fourth quarter And he just strokes that quarterback And here's the last play of the game Just so we hit a flat The flat routes covered Our slats open right there Right in the middle of the field We just threw a little behind them And that's no disrespect to Brent or who threw that And I didn't want people to think Oh he's making a show Brent feels worse than anybody And I feel worse than Brent I don't want to play Or when our team does something I learned from Whoever told me this Maybe Bob Stoops or Jim Trezzel Somebody I've listened to before And they said you coach What you see on tape What you see on tape is what you coach So I feel terrible Because I don't want to coach in the quarterbacks We have to make those plays As often as a quarter Well if a kid makes a poor throw Or works harder to get his feet properly set I should have made him realize That that slant is going to be open At the flat routed I take full I'm like oh I knew it on tape And we had chances That's one of the numerous plays where we had chances Well you guys Even though Brent missed that pass there at the end Like you said he's had a one heck of a game 30 of 53 overall Got the throttle ball quite a bit more than normal But he had over 300 yards passing Around 9 million times that deal I think we're running through a lot more than used to What's happened though Is we've created a bunch of different formations For people to Adapt to And our kids are still playing physical at this moment We're playing with a 156 pound halfback At a 204 pound center Against a defensive probably average 270 up front And they were mean Tough Their front six is really good We had to keep powering it in there though But we'll get there, I want those kids to realize That's what we're going to be like So we threw it 53 times or whatever I was going to say you ran it 43 times And I think in last year's situation We would have been drawing the ball 75 times last year Exactly and that's why I think They still have to What's helped our pass game is a run game Right now they still know They have to prepare for it because they don't We're going to gash it We just need to get a big run I ran the reverse again I was at the second week and ran around Jeff Our biggest run last week was Maybe Brenna 15 or like Marcus might have won at 14 yards We didn't have that 40 yard gash That you need to kind of break the ice Well one thing we were just talking about Again that break is just how proud you have to be of the defense The bottom line is they just haven't been giving up many points Weekend and week out And we got a couple of turnovers I forgot how many they had We had four or two turnovers They might have had one turn we might have had two It was pretty even When you look at the stats that game was even Stephen is 40 to 35 In terms of time of possession So even though we threw the ball more The possession time was still even For the most part The yards were about 40 or 50 yards off We had more first downs I think We had like 20 more plays than they had They had like 96 They had like 77 We could have won a quadruple overtime It's an even game But their coaches were really How do you say it Because we're not in awe They were really complimentary Hey Jim great job Those kids played You've done a great job with those kids making a play I go I don't do anything I point in the right direction And our kids go at it At least our kids have realized That they can get respect from these coaches We put a beat on somebody They're coming around going They can play with anybody in our league I think we can play with anybody In the country I'm not going to be worried if someone Calls up and Millicom on his call or he's your coach Or you get the good old purple Raiders On the phone and they want to play We're going to give effort We're going to give effort We still have to make some corrections At this moment in the season At the baseball coach You get to a third of the season If someone's not getting the job done Someone else has to go At our moment if there's a freshman Who's doing okay and there's an up class Who's still struggling well Then the freshman's going to play Because we have four years with them I think you're going to see some new faces In some situations come this week But it's for that's not because It's a fire sale I'm expecting great success From this moment forward I told them this is a springboard to step four The second half of our season Pre-season non-conference You know Raiders season is the conference schedule That's what we started this Saturday Well again both teams are well coached Only eight penalties in the entire game Three for them and five for you guys Yeah they called It was unbelievable They let it go We just got caught In the first overtime drive Kid molested with penalties But after that it was they didn't call anything We only got a couple minutes left We got a couple guys defensively Mike Gregory had a big game for you again Gregory, Rosie, Gregory The D-line played well in the second half Eric Boyd made the big play I mean you can go on and on The receiver, the DB's had a great job They didn't give anything in the past Besides one little razzle dazzle The linebackers played well Vision, Rosie, Mike, Gregory Outstanding Well now you've got the big game coming up The start of the Atlanta Badger football conference on Saturday Down with those night games No more of the rest of the season So we got a couple minutes left What do you think about the Eureka game Good, I told them step three Each game is a stepping stone In regards to if you have to fall back or not Do we take much of a step back? No, I think we're right there on step three Getting ready to go to step four Which is Eureka, I told the kids You got to take this feeling you have I mean every kid's crying And I was happy to see it But actually it shows You got to actually care finally You care about each other and we're a family The reason hurts so bad because You actually care about each other And that's where it is You're not about to feel this way until Only until three o'clock on Sunday Once we're practiced on Sunday And we're done, it's on Eureka So at this moment I don't care I don't care what style ran I don't care what Oshkosh ran I don't care what Eureka run It's also the first part of our conference season So they're coming up here I think it's good for us to get back home Two night games which screws up your schedule Because you get back at one o'clock in the morning And that's why I still look like crap Because I'm still looking tired But I think it's a great game For the fans to come back out to us To show that support at home Which we got on the road and go Eureka I think struggled a little bit this season so far They're either one and two or one and three Or something like that I feel like if you don't play harder We've got to play better in terms of less mistakes But keep giving great effort And let's get the conference season off to start Because playing well against Oshkosh And beating cards into Oshkosh doesn't mean squat If you go in there And don't get up because our kids will be up It's home, it's conference Let's go Thanks again for joining us today Great recap of the game Again the Muskies follow in a great game 26 to 23, 4 over times Oshkosh The men's and women's soccer teams Played this week and unfortunately they both went 0-2 To Carthage and St. Norbert's And the volleyball team went 2-2 this week At the Elmhurst Invitational And they're getting better all the time A nice young team that coach Shriver is doing a great job With building them up for the long run here If you get a chance come on out this Saturday 130 vs. Eureka at Lakeland College Thanks for joining us, we'll see you next time On the Lakeland locker room