HELENA — As No. 8 Carroll College looks to continue its chase for the Frontier Conference West division crown, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with Fighting Saints head coach Troy Purcell.
A full transcript from the video interview with Purcell is available below:
MTN Sports: You’re coming off your second bye week of the season. How much does that extra week of preparation really help you in terms of what you're able to scheme for an opponent?
Troy Purcell: You know, you get a good feel for the opponent, and you can deep-dive a few more games, get a little bit more intel on them — just on tendencies and how are they going to line up.But it also gives you a chance to get your ‘owies’ out if you got a few owies here and there — to get those healed up and you can gain some strength in the weight room.
MTN Sports: I know you like to always say in terms of making the NAIA playoffs: You’ve got to play well early in the season. You’ve got to play well in the middle of the season. You’ve got to play well at the end of the season. You're through the early, you're through the middle, now you're getting into that late part of the season. What's the number one thing this team has to do to play well through that last part of the season?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, you just got to continue to improve. Everybody started off the season, and then I don't know how much progression and how much better each team got. But as long as you're improving, as long as you're getting better, then you give yourself a chance to peak at the right time. And the right time would be at the latter part of the season.
Every game's important. Every game means a conference championship. Every game is so valuable in the rankings and everything. When you're down to the last three games like this, it's a championship atmosphere. And it’s a championship opportunity that's put before us. And we got to reach out and grab it.
MTN Sports: The team before you this weekend is Southern Oregon. You're going on the road. What are the keys to this game for Carroll College to go to Southern Oregon and come away with a win?
Troy Purcell: Yeah,it's a tough place to play down there. It took us a while to get a win down there. So, it’ll be the planes, trains and automobiles to get down there again. It is what it is. We leave at 2:30 in the morning Friday.
So, we just got to get our minds right, control the controllables. That's the main thing down there. And go in there with a positive mindset and go in there with a mission and a purpose. And it's not a vacation. It's a business trip.
