Gleave sees hard work pay off

By Ray Rodriguez
Argus Observer
Sunday, September 28, 2008 12:15 AM PDT

Weiser—Against conventional wisdom Troy Gleave bucked the trend hoping to build a winner at Payette High School.

Four lean years later, the long-suffering head coach finally led his rambunctious bunch to its biggest win in their history.

Sept. 26, 2008: Payette 20, Weiser 19

After 32 years, the Payette football program was able to earn a victory over Weiser, and did so on Walter Johnson Memorial Field in Weiser, on homecoming night.

“Everybody thought I was nuts for taking the Payette job. They told me I can’t win anything in Payette, can’t win anything that counts,” Gleave said. “The first four years we had some ups and downs, but the administration always had my back. They believed in what we were doing.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Gleave put it best when he capped the evening after his team’s victory, wiping water from his face from a Gatorade bath, choking back tears from a dramatic win.

“Maybe the football gods like Payette after all.”

Quarterback Travis Blackwell was pressed into duty after an injury to Garrett Grotheer and came through with two drives to bring the Pirates all the way back. Tobby White came through with acrobatic catches, one coming on a sure interception by Weiser’s Trent Winegar, setting the stage for the game-winning score by Damian Reynolds.

The telling moment was when the clock struck zeros and Blackwell held the football in his hand and walked off the field a winner.

Defensive coordinator Shawn Scow ran down from the press box, into the waiting arms of Gleave where the two embraced. Roy Bullington was jumping for joy on the sidelines, and assistant coach Scott Horrace had a huge grin on his face.

Earlier in the week, he made a promise to the team — Beat Weiser, and the hair comes off.

The Pirate student body erupted onto the field in a mob of black and red, celebrating a momentous occasion.

One for generations.

One no one will soon forget.

At long last.

The gods indeed were smiling.

“We came in this season with the mentality of stopping the attitude of the past. Tonight it finally came through,” Blackwell said. “This is huge for the program and huge for this team. We now know we belong.”

On Aug. 28, in a preview interview with Argus Observer sports writer Wil Anderson, Anderson asked Gleave a point-blank question.

“Do you honestly feel your team is ready to compete?”

Gleave paused for only a moment.

Anderson said he felt Gleave would be angry with the question.

But the coach said with candor, “In years past, I said the same thing, but I didn’t believe it. This year I really believe it.”

Like the preseason motto for the Pirate crew, they dreamt it, believed it and at last, achieved it.