“The game itself is what’s important,” Cox said. “You tell the kids this is a chance to get a week better, a chance to go out and compete, a chance to play with your teammates again. There’s a lot of things you can look for. For the media and the sports information guys, there are a lot of good little sidelights, but in the end, it’s great to have a chance to play the game, no matter who the opponent is. I think kids grow up too fast. There are certain things you can only do as a teenager, and they need to enjoy it.”
East coach Rick Haynes pointed out that fans should savor this year’s game since the two teams aren’t guaranteed to play every season with the GMC going to an eight-game league schedule in 2017.
“I think it’s a big help in terms of, since we’re not playing in the postseason, then we’ve still got a lot to play for,” Haynes said on his way to East’s last practice of the season Thursday. “That’s going to change next year.”
Haynes hadn’t brought that up with his Thunderhawks, he added. The game already is big enough.
West (2-7, 2-4 GMC) is coming off a 31-0 loss to conference champion Colerain that snapped a two-game winning streak, but the Firebirds have won four straight games in the series, including a Division I postseason playoff win in 2014 and last season’s 35-0 romp at East that left them with a 13-6 advantage in the series, according to West co-sports information director Bob Ashby.
The two teams didn’t play the first year Lakota split its one high school into two back in 1997, Ashby said in an e-mail.
Cox can’t pinpoint one reason for West’s recent dominance.
“The kids just happen to play well at that time,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any one thing we do that you can point to say, ‘That’s why.’ I think every game is its own entity. I’ve been around long enough to know that. We’ve had our share of times when we haven’t played well. Every game is its own little game. There are a lot of factors that can sway how teenagers think.”
East (4-5, 3-3) also is coming off a loss, 28-13 at Fairfield, and has dropped two of its last three games. A win over West would be the Thunderhawks’ first since 2012, a 33-21 triumph at West. That is more than enough motivation for East.
“We haven’t won in three years,” Haynes said. “We want to go out and play well.”
That would help propel East into what Haynes hopes is a productive offseason. He admitted to having mixed feelings while heading to the season’s last on-field workout.
“It’s gone by fast,” he said. “It’s hard. Obviously, we’re excited about playing a rival, but you don’t want the season to end. It’s a double-edged sword. I like the offseason too, watching the kids improve and get stronger in the weight room.”
Fans shouldn’t anticipate seeing West take a “nothing to lose” approach and empty its playbook.
“You are who you are,” Cox said. “Sometimes you try to reinvent the wheel for no reason. You might at the scope of a season and see what you did well and highlight that. I’ve never been one of those guys who says, ‘We’ve got to do this and this and this.’ What we need to do is what we’ve been doing and do it better.
“There’s an old saying — ‘It’s not Xs and Os, it’s Jimmys and Joes.’ Are your Jimmys better than their Joes? Our job is to make our Jimmys better than their Joes.”
Haynes was a little more coy.
“We’re going to play hard and do whatever we’ve got to do to win the game,” he said.
Friday’s game
What: Lakota East (4-5, 3-3 GMC) at Lakota West (2-7, 2-4 GMC), 7 p.m.
Where: Firebird Field, 8940 Union Centre Blvd., West Chester Twp.
Last meeting: Lakota West won 35-0 in 2015
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