The football players that went to Linden a year ago remember well that first round playoff game in 2008.
“Walking off that field last year, looking up there and seeing 66-0, that taste is in my mouth right now,” Sophomore quarterback Josh Taylor said after Winterboro’s first round win over A.L. Johnson on Friday.
Remembering that score from a year ago put a look of determination in the eye of the young signal caller. The game against Linden last year was the first playoff game many of the players from Winterboro had ever participated in. Most of those players will climb aboard a bus on Friday and make that same trip again.
The trip will be the same, but the players are different.
“We took a lot of young kids to Linden last year,” Winterboro head coach Adam Fossett said. “I think we took 22 kids to Linden and I think four of those kids were seniors. And of those four only two of them started. We took a lot of kids, a lot of babies so to speak, a lot of puppies to Linden. This year I feel like we’re definitely a year older, a year more mature, stronger, faster, bigger and a little bit meaner.”
Now those players are in the midst of the best season Winterboro has had since 2005. The Bulldogs have posted four shutouts and have outscored opponents 318-139. Winterboro enters Friday’s game on a five-game winning streak.
Getting back to the playoffs was a goal from the start of the season. And even then Fossett was thinking about Linden.
“I told them after the playoff game last year in Linden to remember how it felt to lose,” the head coach said back in August. “Not focus on it, not dwell on it, but remember how it felt because we don’t want to feel that again.”
Fossett didn’t have to worry about his players forgetting that game, or how they felt once it was over.
“I’m really glad we won this game so we can go back and face Linden,” Taylor said. “I’m glad we’re going back to their house because that taste is in my mouth. That’s the biggest I’ve ever lost. And I’ve been playing since I was five.”
Senior Troy Garrett has been looking for this rematch as well.
“I take football real serious and I’m just glad we’re advancing to the second round,” Garrett said after the win over Johnson on Friday. “We’re coming together strong as a team. I want to get back at Linden. I like to have a rematch with teams. I’m just glad we get to go play them.”
The game won’t be an easy one. The Patriots enter the game with a record of 11-0. Linden’s defense has recorded eight shutouts on the season. Fossett and his squad aren’t afraid of facing the second-ranked team in the state in Class 1A.
“We’re going to line up against them,” Fossett said. “We’re going to play football and we’re going to see what happens. We’re not going to back down just because they’re ranked high in the state. I’ve got a good football team and we’re going to take them to Linden and see what happens.”
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