Payette team defies the odds on championship run
By Larry Hurrle
Argus Observer
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 11:23 AM PST
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| Payette head football coach Troy Gleave (right) talks to members of his team during practice at Killebrew Field Monday. The Pirates went through a light practice Monday after defeating Timberlake 28-13 Saturday to advance to the Idaho 3A state semifinals.
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Payette —
Uncharted waters. Perhaps that is the best way to describe where the Payette Pirates football team is right now.
But, like any true pirate would do, Payette is sailing into the unfamiliar territory with its head held high and eager to see what comes next. For the second consecutive year, Payette’s football team qualified for the Idaho 3A state playoffs.
This year, Payette won its first contest, destroying Kimberly 36-3 Oct. 31, then powering into the semifinal round with a 28-13 victory over Timberlake.
This week: A rematch for the ages as Payette travels to inter-league, inter-county, inter-everything rival Fruitland Friday night with the winner earning the right to play for a state championship.
Payette is no stranger to state titles.
A walk into the high school gymnasium shows that with several banners proclaiming the boys and girls soccer championships, including the 2009 3A State Championship banner for girls soccer. Football championships, however, have eluded Payette for the most part in the past.
This year, though, has been different. The Pirates grabbed a share of the Snake River Valley Conference with Weiser and Fruitland. Each team has one loss. Payette lost to Weiser. Weiser lost to Fruitland, and Fruitland lost to Payette.
Only a points system proclaimed the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the state playoffs. And regardless who played the SRV teams in the first rounds of the playoffs, they were virtually getting the No. 1 seed.
Payette is now guaranteed no less than third in state.
A win Friday gives the Pirates nothing less than the state runner-up trophy and, possible a state championship.
“We keep preaching that this is supposed to be fun,” Payette head coach Troy Gleave said. “If we’re not having fun, we’re not doing it the right way.”
Gleave said the excitement level is at an all time high for the Pirates right now.
“They’re definitely jacked,” he said. “The opportunity to play Fruitland again in the semifinals is something pretty special to these kids. Their entire walk through high school, they’ve had to look over at Fruitland. All these kids have seen in high school is Fruitland play state championship games. They’ve (Fruitland) got what these kids want.”
Gleave said changing Payette’s mindset toward football has been the toughest part of his job as head coach.
“That was the hardest thing from where the program was when I first started to where we are now,” Gleave said. “The kids were beat before the got on the field. They just looked over and saw the name Weiser on the chest and we lose. They looked over and saw the name Fruitland on the chest and we lose. It just took a lot of confidence building and lot of hard work. A lot of hard work and a lot of buying-in to what we’re doing and how we’re doing things. And some little successes on the field to get them to that point where they believe they can play with these guys.”
Gleave said one of those successes was a 20-19 come-from-behind win over Weiser in the 2008 season.
“The gigantic breakthrough was last year against Weiser,” he said. “It just kind of awoke them to their abilities, I think.”
After that, Gleave said, he has witnessed a different team in Payette.
“It’s not even the same kids,” he said. “Mentally, attitude-wise, it became, ‘We can do whatever we set our mindset to. We can achieve.’”
Add in to that the hard work Payette has put into its program this year, Gleave said, makes it very clear his team is for real.
“They didn’t just stumble into that success,” he said. “They’ve completely earned it and taken that success.”
Gleave said he has tried to drown out the hype concerning Friday’s game, but the reality of the situation is the ultimate goal that every team sets at the beginning of the year.
“If we get through this week, we’re playing for what the ultimate goal is: the opportunity to win a state championship,” he said. “But the hurdle in front of us is enormous. They’re a team that only understands how to win. They don’t know how to lose.”
Gleave said Payette’s playoff experience has been more than just winning games on the gridiron. The travel, he said, is an experience all in itself.
“You get the opportunity to see different teams and different kids,” he said. “The travel part isn’t a lot of fun, but it is in its own way. You get the opportunity to ride together and get more time together with the kids and bond as you travel together.”
Gleave said Payette is looking forward to the opportunity to playing its Snake River Valley Conference rival for the second time in one season. A victory, he said, would silence the naysayers of the community that still believe the 26-21 victory was a fluke.
“The opportunity to play Fruitland again for all the marbles on this side of the state is something, I think, the kids are really looking forward to,” Gleave said. “They want the opportunity to step on and say, ‘We can play and we can win.’”
Gleave credits the “Black Thunder” defense with a lot of Payette’s success this year.
“Our defense has just played beautiful, baby,” he said. “The name fits. They roll to the ball and they create turnovers and they create three and outs. It isn’t just one kid. It’s all 11 kids on the field doing what they’re supposed to do and make plays.”
For the community of Payette, Gleave said, the success of the football team gives people something to come together about and take in a game on Friday night.
“I’ve got a lot of kids here who’s parents played for Payette,” he said. “They’ve had to live through all that — all those years of losing. It’s hard to go to games when it’s a 70-7 blowout. We had plenty of those games, too, when I started here. It just kind of gives the whole town a morale booster.”
Gleave credited both the parents and boosters for Payette athletics by showing support for the team.
“For the second week in a row, we had more people at the game than the home team,” Gleave said about last weekend’s game in Spirit Lake. “The support and encouragement they giving is getting everybody excited.”
Ultimately, Gleave said, people need to remember that the game, no matter who wins or who loses, is just that — a game being played by high school students between the ages of 14 and 18. He said people need to remember that these players are playing their hearts out to win for their team and mistakes will happen. No matter what happens, he said, people need to support the players instead of criticizing them.
“There is a lot of pressure put on the, especially at this time of year, to play well,” Gleave said. “These kids are giving everything they’ve got, every play. They trying as hard as they possible can to win not only for themselves, but for each other.
“Win, lose or draw in this game, the kids should be exceptionally proud of what they have accomplished,” he said. “We definitely hope this isn’t the last page in the book Friday night. We hope there’s one more chapter to write.”
