When the sports season comes around there is always a saying or a rallying cry that a team adapts for that season. In some rare instances though a saying becomes more than that, it becomes something different, it becomes an attitude that can overtake a whole community similar to the way the Clemson football program has adapted the phrase ‘All In’.
When the Boiling Springs football season ended last year with a tough loss to Fort Dorchester, the Bulldogs football program adapted a new motto when they reconvened during offseason conditioning and it has become the motto for this season, ‘Here We Go’. In the years that I’ve watched Boiling Springs football there have been teams that were capable of being really good but it always seemed like there was something that held them back from getting to the lofty goals and expectations they had coming into that season. With the success that the Bulldogs football team had last season and with so much talent coming back this year I was constantly asked by people, “Are the Bulldogs going to be as good as we hear?” It was a question that I could only answer with, “The talent is there, we’ll just have to see how it goes.” It’s not that I didn’t have the confidence in the team, it was the worry of the unknown that had always seemed to cause the Bulldogs problems in the past. As this season has continued on my fear of the unknown has started to fade and the attitude of ‘Here We Go’ has taken its place and it’s a feeling that has begun to spread amongst the whole Boiling Springs community. It was a motto that started as a motivational tool for the football team but it’s one that has started to take over every sports program at Boiling Springs. With the success of the football program it could be easy to overlook the success that has overtaken the whole athletic program. The end of last season saw Boiling Springs’ baseball and softball teams’ battle for region championships and the men’s golf team capture their third straight state championship. The success has spread into the fall also with the girl’s golf team, the competitive cheer team, the men’s cross country team and boy’s swimming team all capturing Region III-5A championships. When talking with coaches at the school, the success of the other teams has inspired their players to work harder in the offseason as they all want to be a part of the winning atmosphere. The ‘Here We Go’ phrase started as a motto for one team but has turned into an attitude of an entire athletic program. Where did the ‘Here We Go’ saying come from? The phrase was a creation of Bulldogs associate strength coach Joey Hawkins when he started working with the football team regularly in January. “It’s something that I just found myself saying a lot while the guys were going through our four quarter offseason training,” said Hawkins. “A lot of teams adopt mottos for their seasons and I just realized that ‘Here We Go’ just fit the mindset and attitude that our players were bringing into offseason training each day. No matter how tough the training was each day, we would focus on getting better and each new day was a new opportunity and here we go.” When asked how he feels about the saying taking over the program Coach Hawkins said it has kind of taken a life of its own. “All the kids in the athletic department have really bought into the motto and rallied around it,” said Hawkins. “Every sport has bought into the fact that they are just as good as any other team that they step on the field of play against. With the phrase ‘Here We Go’ each team gets its own name, the football team is the DPG (Dawg Pound Gangsters), the cross country team is the Long Haul Dawgs, the basketball team is the Hardwood Dawgs, the softball team is the Yellow Ball Dawgs and so on.” Coach Hawkins added that he has even given the community a nickname of its own and it’s the DST (the Dawg Support Team). When asked about how all of this support and pride has risen from one phrase Coach Hawkins said it has just spread more than he even realized. “It’s like a tree and the ‘Here We Go’ was the first seed that was planted and has become the roots,” Hawkins explained. “The trunk of the tree is the DST because they are the ones that have helped support and be the source of strength for all of our athletes. The limbs of the tree are each of our teams and the leaves are the successes that each of our teams accomplish. Our football team is still alive for a Region championship and this Saturday the Long Haul Dawgs will be competing for a state championship.” Coach Hawkins also added, “All of this wouldn’t be possible if the coaches and players weren’t willing to embrace the meaning of ‘Here We Go’ and put the words into action. The fans also don’t know how much their support means to the coaches and the players because every time any Bulldog team walks onto the field and sees the support they have in those stands they just feed off that energy.” ‘Here We Go’ has not only become the rallying cry for a team but has become the attitude of a team, a program, a school, and a community. When Saturday morning rolls around there will be a lot of people in Boiling Springs waking up looking forward to the 5A football state championship game but few will be as excited as Adam Gosnell. If you’ve been to a Boiling Springs athletic event over the last decade you know two things are certain, the Bulldogs will be taking the field and Adam will be there to cheer them on. When I sat down with Adam and his father Danny Gosnell on Friday morning I got a chance to find out more about Adam’s devotion to the Bulldogs.
Adam, now twenty-four years old who also suffers from down’s syndrome, started his love for Boiling Springs athletics in junior high school when he first met Bulldogs head baseball coach Jeff Lipscomb and Bulldogs offensive line coach Joel Goff. Danny Gosnell says that “Those guys and some of the kids who went to school with Adam like Dylan Thompson, Issac Lawrance, and Reece Thompson really looked after Adam and took care of him. They took a real interest in him and he in turn took a real interest in them and the sports that they were all playing.” Adam from that took a real liking to the athletics at Boiling Springs and Mr. Gosnell says that it has just blossomed from there. “He always tells me when there is a game, ‘Dad we’ve got to be there to support them’ and his energy for that just inspires me.” It’s not just the football or baseball team that Adam has been devoted to but it’s the entire athletic program, as Danny says, “whenever the schedule is released for a team at Boiling Springs, Adam immediately downloads it and posts it on our fridge so that we don’t miss a game. We haven’t missed but I think only one football game in the last decade.” After games at Boiling Springs you can always see Adam there greeting the players to give them a hug, handshake, or a pat on the back thanking them for their effort on the field that day. The players always welcome the appreciation with a smile and a return gesture. You can tell that the players truly appreciate the support from Adam as many have returned the favor by going to cheer him on at his own Miracle League games. Mr Gosnell says “Those guys will come to see him play and it just tickles him to death when they’re able to come see him play. They’ve been really supportive of his endeavors.” Mr. Gosnell says that he has a great thanks for the support that Adam has received from the administration, coaching staffs, and athletes at Boiling Springs. When I asked Adam what it would mean to him if Boiling Springs were to claim the state championship on Saturday he said, “It would be great!” Win or lose on Saturday though I know one thing is for sure, Adam will be there at the end of the game as the players walk off the field to thank them for their effort and he’ll be there at the next Bulldogs’ athletic event because “we’ve got to be there to support them.” On Friday night the Boiling Springs Bulldogs made history as they captured the first ever 5A Upper State football championship and punched their ticket for a trip to the 5A State Championship game in Columbia. The Bulldogs (13-1) claimed the championship by defeating region rival Spartanburg Vikings (10-4) 14-13 in front of a packed house at the Backyard at Bulldogs Stadium. During the regular season, the two teams played a nail-biting game that had to be decided in overtime and it was no different on Friday night.
The game was a true battle of great defenses as both teams held two high scoring offenses to under 300 yards of offense. The Vikings jumped on the board first just three minutes into the game when wide receiver Damyijai Foster ran the ball in from three yards out and gave Spartanburg a 7-0 lead. The rest of the first half and the third quarter was a defensive battle as neither team allowed any points and set up a great finish between the two teams going into the fourth quarter. Boiling Springs was able to get on the board with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter when senior linebacker LaTrez Pinckney intercepted a pass by Vikings quarterback William Yex and returned it for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. Pinckney after the game said about the interception return, “I just knew that we as the defense had to make a play and we did just that. I couldn’t believe it when I intercepted that ball, I just saw the ball in my hands and took off running.” With just six seconds left in the game, Spartanburg was able to give kicker Will Lawson an opportunity to win the game on a thirty-seven yard field goal but the kick was blocked by Boiling Springs’ Chris Evans and the game headed to overtime. In the overtime, Spartanburg had the ball first and was forced to start the overtime period at their own twenty-five yard line due to an unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of regulation. On the first play of overtime, Yex was intercepted by Boiling Springs’ sophomore defensive back Storm Duck. The Bulldogs’ on their first offensive play of overtime sent out senior kicker Grayson Atkins to win the game, very similar to the situation from the first game the two teams played earlier this year, but Atkins kick sailed just left of the upright and sent the game into the second overtime period. The Bulldogs got the ball to start the second overtime and after two runs by senior running back KJ Rodgers got the ball down to the three yard line, senior quarterback Mason Streater ran the ball the rest of the way and into the endzone giving the Boiling Springs a 14-7 lead. On their second possession of overtime, it didn’t take Spartanburg long to score as Foster ran the ball in from ten yards out for his second score of the game. After the score, Vikings head coach Chris Miller decided to go for two to win the game. On the two point conversion attempt, the Vikings ran a reverse pass that fell just short of its intended receiver and gave Boiling Springs a 14-13 victory. After the game Bulldogs head coach Rick Tate said of his team’s performance, “For everything that happened there in the first half I told our guys that they’ve thrown everything at us and we’re still here. We always talk about having each others back and our defense definitely had our backs tonight and came up big for us.” When asked about what this victory meant to him Tate said, “There have been a lot of great coaches and players that have came through this program and this is for each and everyone of them and it’s also for the people of this community. I hope that Boiling Springs just shuts down next Saturday and everyone is there in Columbia with us.” The Bulldogs will be playing their first ever State Championship football game at 6:30 PM on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia as they take on Dutch Fork for the first ever 5A State Championship. Dutch Fork defeated Fort Dorchester 49-24 on Friday night. |
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