HELENA — As Carroll College seeks playoff redemption against Montana Tech in the second round of the NAIA playoffs on Saturday, 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: You're into the second round of the playoffs. You're the number 14 seed. You're going to number three seed Montana Tech — obviously a team you're very familiar with. What are you looking at in this matchup?
Troy Purcell: It should be a great matchup, good rivalry game. We already played them once this year. We fell a little bit short that game. So, it's going to be a great contest. You know, it's not that far away. It’s probably the cheapest NAIA playoff game in history for the NAIA to not have to go planes, trains and automobiles to get there.
So, it’ll be a great rival game. We played these guys the last 100 years of football. And so, it's going to be an exciting day.
MTN Sports: You talked about that early-season matchup that Tech won 30-19. Why do you believe that this time around is going to be different?
Troy Purcell: It's just that you always look at those five, six or seven plays that happen in a football game. And if you win those plays, you win the game. If you lose those, you're going to end up losing the game. So yeah, we’ve just got to win.
You just got to win those plays, those key moments in time. Make the catch when you need to catch it. And, you know, get a strip sack when you need to get it. And you need to score when you need to score. And so, big players play big games. And that's what we're looking forward to. Be at your best when your best is needed and make plays, be a playmaker and put on a show.
MTN Sports: I remember last week we talked about the idea of not having a bye versus having a bye coming into the playoffs. You obviously picked up a playoff win en route to this game. Tech is coming off the bye. Do you think that playing that first week — as opposed to having bye — treated you well?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, I think so. Whatever I say, it's going to be good because either we had one or we didn't. But it was going to be the best thing for us. But no, I really believe that it really helped our team kind of get in a rhythm.
You kind of get in, you know, where you're not sitting around twiddling your thumbs, wondering who you're going to play. So, I think it's definitely a benefit for us. And I think we got better because of it.
