HELENA — As No. 14 Carroll College readies for its first NAIA playoff game since 2022 — and first at home since 2014 — against St. Thomas (Fla.) Saturday afternoon, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with Fighting Saints coach Troy Purcell.
A full transcript from the video interview with Purcell is available below:
MTN Sports: Coach, you're into the national playoffs for the first time since 2022. What is different or special about this group that has allowed you guys to make your run and now have a chance to play for the national championship?
Troy Purcell: Believe, believe, believe. We've had good leadership, good captain leadership. And our coaching staff has done an outstanding job. Our whole ambition this year was to go from good to great. And an 8-2 record got us that and got us a hometown playoff game, which is awesome. It's since 2014, I think, is the last time the Saints played at home in the playoffs.
MTN Sports: Talking about that hometown playoff game, you're the 14 seed. St. Thomas is coming all the way from Florida; they're the 17 seed. Is there anything different about preparing for one of these teams you don't see very often? Obviously, the teams in the Frontier you see them play all the time. But St. Thomas is coming from the opposite side of the country. Is there anything different?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, it was crazy. We played this team three years ago and had a shootout here at the end, unbelievable comeback. And we ended up beating St. Thomas. And it just happened we got matched up against the team that we played three years ago. But no, you prepare the same way. You get to understand them. You put a great game plan together and go out and perform.
MTN Sports: You get into the playoffs as the 14 seed overall via an at-large bid. How do you feel about where this team sits heading into the postseason?
Troy Purcell: Awesome. Perfect. I think for our team right now, we're a healthy team. So, keep playing, keep going. You know, you don't want that week-long bye where you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs and wondering and as coaches you don't know who exactly you're going to play. But I like to continue to play and kind of stay in a rhythm.
You know, sometimes byes are good, sometimes bodies, it's just how we respond coming out of them. So, I’m just really happy because of our health. If we were beat up a little bit right now, I might want to pump the brakes and give them a little bit more time. But we're healthy, we're ready to go, and we're excited to be here.
