With the MIAA playoffs in full swing this weekend, I thought it’d be a good time to get a bunch of Patriots players to talk about their favorite high school football memories, particularly in the postseason. After all, if not for people supporting them in the early stages of their careers, most pros wouldn’t be where they are today. High school football is really where dreams start to become a reality.

So, with that in mind, 10 different players shared some of those moments with me and provided commentary on just how special and everlasting those relationships built under Friday night lights really are.

MAC JONES (The Bolles School, Jacksonville, FL)

“My favorite was we beat Raines in the playoffs my senior year and they’re our rival. I think we beat them 60-20 or something. Usually, it’s like an overtime game so that was one of my favorites. Then, we went to state a lot, but we didn’t win. I was 0-3 (in state championship games). I’ve got a bunch of friends that I still talk to from my team and they’re some of my best friends. High school football, it’s honestly one of the best times because you have your friends you’ve known since you were five, six-years old. A couple of my teammates played in college and the NFL, it’s cool. Some of us are still playing. High school football was a lot of fun.”

BAILEY ZAPPE (Victoria East High School, Victoria, TX)

“I was in Texas and ya’ll know how Texas football is, you’ve got to be top dog to make it to state. My senior year, we made it four rounds deep, which was the furthest anybody in Victoria high school football history has ever made it. That was my senior year and probably my favorite moment, being with those guys. So, we went four rounds deep, lost to Calallen in the fourth round, they actually went to (the state championship) and lost in state. It was just pretty cool because that core of guys, it was about almost 20 of us that were all in the same class. We went from middle school all the way up through high school together and finished, that was pretty cool and probably my favorite memory. The cool thing is, Coach Reeve, Charlie Reeve who recruited me to Houston Baptist is now the head coach at my high school. They actually play (Victoria) West this week. They wanted me to kind of send a video and pump them up, so I think tonight I’m going to send them a video before they face a rival this weekend. If you were in playoffs you played around Thanksgiving. I just remember growing up and everyone said if you make it to November football, you’ve done something. You have no school and you get to practice in the evenings and it’s just basically like the NFL. They pack those stadiums. You get those big schools…at my stadium, (Victoria) East and (Victoria) West, my senior year we filled it up to about 13,000 people. It was such a great atmosphere and made high school football really special.”

WILL GRIER (Davidson Day School, Davidson, NC)

“I really enjoyed my junior year state championship. I liked that team a lot because there were some guys that were seniors when I was a junior that are some of my best friends still to this day. So, that state championship game, that team is still my favorite high school memoryt. The junior year semifinal game (national record 837 yards passing in a game; 10 touchdowns) was cool too. Yeah, no doubt, I still talk to all of those guys.”

MIKE GESICKI (Southern Regional High School, Stafford Township, NJ)

“Probably my junior year, the game we won to go to the state final. It was a crazy ending, a lot of fun winning semifinals and going to the state championship. We were on like a last-minute two-minute drive. I actually got the ball on a reverse, I was playing receiver. Threw it back to the quarterback, it was a big play, we ended up going down there and scoring and winning the game. We weren’t supposed to really win, so that was cool. All of my buddies that were like in my wedding and stuff, I played high school football with them and yeah, all those guys are still my best friends from high school.”

DAVID ANDREWS (Wesleyan High School, Peachtree Corners, GA)

“We won a state championship my sophomore year. We beat ECI (Emanuel Country Institute), they had a lot of good players so that was super fun. I think in high school I always loved practicing on Thanksgiving. I know up here they play their rivals on Thanksgiving so that’s cool. It threw me off the first time I heard that, but I always thought (practicing) on Thanksgiving was enjoyable because it was late in the playoffs for us. We always had a piñata, we’d always do a Thanksgiving piñata after practice. We practiced at like 7 A.M. and everyone went home with their families after. That was a super fun playoff run we had. We went down to South Georgia and beat a team and I think we stopped at Golden Corral for lunch before the game. I think if I did that now I couldn’t even make it through warmups. A lot of good memories from high school football, best time of your life. I think I have really like, four best friends from home. I’m still super close with all of them and we all played high school football together. We went to different colleges, one of them played college football and played at App. State. We didn’t continue our football journey there, but those memories and those relationships are still there.”

COLE STRANGE (Farragut High School, Farragut, TN)

“I think the furthest we ever made it was the second round. I spent most of my time pissed off, but one of my best friends is someone I knew from high school. That playoff run, we had a good team. I thought we had a really good team. Funny enough, my high school won the state championship the next year right as I left, but we made it to the second round of the playoffs and played a team named Ray County. They ran like a triple option and we just did not adjust well to it. We ran an old 3-4 defense, like ends were head up on the tackles every single play, never adjusted and they just ran it right down the middle every single play. Looking back on it I don’t know what our coaches were thinking, but overall, looking back on it I’m really fond of it. Whenever I really look back on it it’s like ‘hmm, we probably should have won more,’ but no, I’m fond of it, for sure. I miss it. It’s the last time ball was just ball, you know? With college you’re on scholarship and you’re trying to get to the league. I guess in high school you’re still trying to get to college, but there’s just less pressure.”

JACK JONES (Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Long Beach, CA)

“First of all, I want to say I went to the best high school in the nation, let me just put that out there. Honestly, I loved high school ball. It was all ball, it was fun. We never played for a state title. My junior year, we lost to St. John’s Bosco with Josh Rosen. I played against Rosen and then my senior year I got robbed of an opportunity to go to the championship. There was a guy on our team that lied on his paperwork to get into the school, then he transferred out middle of the season, so we had to forfeit every game he played one snap in. It was maybe four games, but you know in high school, everything matters with a short season. So sh*t, that came back to bite us in the ass and we couldn’t even go to the playoffs. We was a really good team my senior year, that hurt. That’s not my favorite memory obviously, but that’s the most memorable thing about playoffs and high school. But hell yeah, I still talk to all those dudes that I played with, high school ball and college ball. It’s a brotherhood. It’s deeper than football with us.” 

MYLES BRYANT (Loyola High School, Los Angeles, CA)

“I would say making it to the playoffs is my favorite memory. I feel like when I was there, my first three years I don’t think we made the playoffs, it was like an eight-year drought or something like that and they were historically good. My senior year, we were able to make it to the quarterfinals and it’s in one of the best divisions in California. Just, that whole year trying to turn it around and leave it better than we found it and set the bar that come after. That was a lot of fun. We talk about it all the time. We talk about games we had in high school. We have a little group chat, a few of us. We still talk to this day.” 

CHRISTIAN BARMORE (Neumann Goretti, Philadelphia, PA)

“Playoffs for me, I never played in the state championship. I used to love the rivalry games, especially going on their field. Like, homecoming, going to a small state, because everybody’s looking at you. Especially when you’re playing against the highly recruited guys, like, ‘oh, this guy can take us all out, right?’ you know what I’m saying? I liked going to someone else’s home, a small city and shutting them up. West Catholic was our biggest rival when I was there. Whenever I see (former teammates) I say what’s up. I still talk to my coach (Troy Gore). I still talk to him all the time.”

SIDY SOW (Joseph-Hermas Leclerc High School, Bromont, Canada)

“So, senior year I had been playing high school with the same group of guys since I started playing football until my senior year. We go undefeated and we allowed 72 points in 10 games on defense, which I was part of because I was playing that side back then. We go into the state championship, it was 9-6 at halftime and it ended up being the final. We stopped them four times in the red zone and blocked three field goals to win the game. It’s a mix between Canadian football and American football. So, we have the CFL field but it’s mostly all American rules. I’m still in close contact with some of my high school friends, some more than others. I still have my championship ring on my little shelf display in my office. It’s good to look at it sometimes and remember it was my dream to play in the NFL when I won that and now I’m here. It helps give perspective and gives me some added motivation.”