Mike Rippee Quotations

Like a lot of places, we've had some good runs and some bad runs, and the last three years we've had some real good years. I hope we've established something here, where our kids expect to win and not just hope to win.

Since I've been here (at Douglas High), there have been a few suspicions. I'm sure every coach can say the same thing about their program. If they say something different, then they aren't being truthful.

I have a committee back there right now. Maybe eventually one of them will step up and get away from the others, but right now there isn't a whole lot separating them.

There are a lot of seniors there this season. Both guards and both tackles. We've seen some real good things from them so far.

Kids can also just go on the computer and the Internet and get what they want. When I was growing up in Yerington 30 years ago, we didn't have any of those things.

James isn't as big as the nose guards we've had the last few years, but he has that same motor. He keeps it going at all times and has a tremendous desire to succeed. Bryan has done some good things in the preseason and we expect a lot out of Cory this year.

We've got some kids who are playing hard; we just need to get it done for 48 minutes. We stand toe-to-toe with anybody, there have just been a few breakdowns here and there that have hurt us.

You do have to give Hug the edge in our league. They won it last year and they have a lot of those guys back.

We're never going to stop him, we can just hope to contain him a little bit. We have to know where he is when he's on the field and try to keep him breaking those 50-, 60-yarders.

There's no doubt about it, I truly feel you have to be a good defensive team to go anywhere. Defense is a lot of attitude and desire. You have to be disciplined and you have to be a real competitor to play defense. At this point in time, we have a way to go to get there.

Pound for pound, Henry is probably one of the strongest guys on the team. We count on him being very physical and running that defense.

Offensively, we are ahead of where we've been compared to this point in the season the last few years. We've seen some real good things.

Special teams will be extremely important just as they always are. People tend to forget about how important the kicking game is. Reese has gotten better every week and D.J. looks like he will handle the job well. We've worked real, real hard.

Coaches can get a little skewed about wanting their kids to get bigger, stronger and faster. It's important you tell your kids to do it the right way.

It really doesn't matter when we play. This is one of the oldest rivalries and one of the best. You can't help but get excited about a game like this.

I can't be prouder of these guys on the whole. It was against all odds and they got after it and did a great job.