SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – The only adjustment made at halftime was attitude.
With his team clinging to a seven-point lead, South Pittsburg football coach Vic Grider’s halftime speech was simple and direct. In PG-13 terms, the veteran coach challenged his players’ manhood after he felt they had been physically outplayed.
The response was just as direct and just as simple as the Pirates answered the challenge by rushing for more than 200 yards in the second half and outscoring visiting Monterey 22-0 to pull away for a 43-14 win in the second round of the TSSAA Class 1A playoffs.
“We did not play well in the first half, especially defensively,” Grider said. “We didn’t tackle well, and I think they shocked us a little with how physical they were. We had to come out and match that, and I thought that second half really showed what it means to our guys. That’s when we started to look like a veteran team.
“On offense, we went back to old-school football. We made the decision to just line up and give it to our best players and run right at them.”