How a small, buried football helped motivate a high school team to win a title
Coaching can be more than just Xs and Os.
A lot of coaches can diagram the perfect play but lack the ability to motivate players. On the high school level, where teenagers have so many distractions that can cause them to lose focus, the right form of motivation can go a long way.
On a hot day in August, Grace Christian football coach Keith Boutwell showed up to practice with a shovel, a small $2 football and an idea.
The team, which played its first varsity game in 2015, would turn that idea into a 34-33 win over Arendell Parrott for the 2019 NCISAA 8-man Division I state title.
In 2013, with his own kids at Grace, Boutwell started a football program because the school didn’t have one. But the new team had its struggles. Before this season, the most games Grace won in one season was four in 2016. The team went 1-5 in 2018.
This season, however, Boutwell knew he had talented returning players. In the preseason, Grace was good enough to end up with a winning record, but Boutwell wanted to find a way to motivate his players each week.
An idea from Pinterest
One night while his wife was browsing social media site Pinterest, Boutwell saw a football with “state champs” written on it. He ordered the ball but had ”Grace Eagles Varsity Football State Champs 2019” embroidered on it. He showed up at practice with the ball and a shovel and told his team to follow him to the corner of the end zone.
“Players thought it was punishment,” running back Isaiah Anderson said. “We thought we were going to have to dig the goal line or something.”
The players exchanged looks with each other, and reluctantly followed Boutwell up the hill. He then showed them the football, about the size of a fist, and turned it around to reveal the goal for his team.
“He kind of gave a rowdy speech like ‘this is what have to do, we can do it,’” senior linebacker/wide receiver Drew Fields recalls. “I’m not going to lie, when I first saw the ball I thought that’s a little ambitious, to already have a ball that says state champs, that’s a big goal to already have.”
All 23 players took a turn in digging a hole. When they were done, they put the ball in a plastic bag and buried it. Boutwell told them they would dig it up when they won the state title.
‘Dig it up’
The chance to be able to dig up that football pushed the players throughout the season.
“Dig it up” became a rally cry for the team. When the players would break the postgame huddle and at timeouts, they would shout the phrase.
“I thought he was a little bit crazy because it was just a little ball and I didn’t think it meant that much,” Fields said. “But it really meant something halfway through the season when we realized we could win it. It had some value to it and it really motivated us”.
Grace won four out of its first five games before falling to Parrott, 51-36, in Oct. 4. After losing to Cary Christian on Oct. 25, the team revisited the buried ball to remind themselves of the goal they were chasing.
“After we lost to Cary Christian we went back to that spot and he (Boutwell) reminded us that it was there and asked if we still wanted to do this,” Fields said. “We all decided as a team, ‘let’s do it.’”
Winning the NCISAA championship
Boutwell credits the ‘dig it up’ slogan for getting his team through its playoff run.
“It just motivated the kids, and then going into states it was like now we’re in,” Boutwell said. “They started believing in themselves and when we faced Parrott, we never beat them before, ever. They are kind of the class of the league, and they have 30-40 kids and it’s tough to compete with them, but we did it.”
When he took the job at Grace, Boutwell didn’t care as much about wins and losses as he did about making memories. He reminded his players that they would remember the championship game against Parrott for the rest of their lives.
Six days after beating Parrott, the players met again at the end zone of the football field. Boutwell brought the shovel so they could dig up the little football.
The football was the perfect way for Boutwell to motivate his team, which finished the season 8-3. What will he come up with for next year?
“I don’t know yet, it’s like I have to keep one upping myself,” Boutwell said. “Once everyone heard about ‘dig it up’ they said it’s pretty cool. Especially if you win it all. I would feel like a moron if we didn’t. It’s a cool moment, it’s a really cool moment.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 4:08 PM with the headline "How a small, buried football helped motivate a high school team to win a title."
