Daniel Brunner, Walton head coach
Today’s interviewee is Walton coach Daniel Brunner, whose team eliminated then-undefeated McEachern 28-24 in the first round. Walton was a 28-point underdog and lost to McEachern 50-17 to open the season in August. The Raiders, who made the playoffs as a No. 4 seed, will visit No. 3 seed East Coweta on Friday. East Coweta upset Denmark 28-14 on Friday night.
1. Walk me through the game … how was Walton able to pull the win out at McEachern? “We were behind, but we felt like we had momentum coming into halftime, and we came out and just executed in the second half. We gave up some yards on offense, but we did so well against the run. It was unbelievable how well our kids did against the run. We held a team that was leading the state in rushing yards to less than 100 yards. If you net it out, it was something in the 30-yard number. I just felt like they played a complete game on offense and defense and special teams. We turned the ball over twice, but we felt like we were able to complement and overcome that. We took away a possession on a fake punt, so really just all phases of the game helped us handle McEachern."
2. Your sophomore quarterback, Christion Peacock, made some big throws in the second half. How did he lead your offense to that win? “He made a nice throw to our tight end, Jude Cascone, for a long touchdown, and then we come back and hit a quarterback counter for the touchdown late to go ahead. He’s just a gutty kid, man. Sophomore, first-year starting. He’s had some throws this season he’d like to have back, I still think he’s got so much room to grow, but he is such a great leader and really rallied the troops behind himself. There’s no doubt in our kids’ minds over the last 21 days prepping for this game that we weren’t going to come out victorious. And I think that confidence exudes from him, and he’s a quiet kid. I’m trying to get him to be a little more excited when he makes plays and whatnot, but he’s just so humble. It’s a great guy to lead the program.”
3. How did the pain of the 50-17 season-opening loss to McEachern affect your team Friday night? “Obviously, it made the kids hungry. But I don’t think from the outside people really saw what that game looked like. I kept reminding the kids to go back and watch that one again completely because I don’t think the score really told what that game looked like, and we had plenty of chances in that game to get ourselves to a position to be in that game in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t. We just let the game snowball on us, and I really think for me, it’s just all the learning lessons that we’ve had throughout this season and the losses we’ve had. Whether it’s a last-second field goal loss at Roswell or a double overtime to Marietta, we’re young, and we’re still learning and growing, and I think it was a testament to the lessons that you learn along the season that pay dividends in the back end, and that’s why you want to play tough opponents early. McEachern was a tough opponent early, and I think we kind of put together a more complete game against them this time around.”
4. East Coweta also advanced after a first-round upset win. How will you approach preparation for another successful underdog this week? “I think that’s a big key to looking at East Coweta. I know [East Coweta coach John Small] is probably telling his kids the same thing: Don’t look at their record. I think we’ve got a good team that we’re looking at that we’ve got to play Friday, but their record doesn’t indicate, I think, how good they are. And I think they’ve kind of gotten better like we have as the season has progressed, and that’s got to be the thought process for our kids right now. You’ve got 16 teams left, and every single one of these teams is peaking right now. That’s why they’re still in this, whether they’re a No. 1 seed or a No. 4 seed. This is when people that are good, they start peaking, and that’s what we’ve got to make sure we continue to work to get to."
