Brant Hayes was the starting quarterback at Westville High School and wanted to run an offense that threw the ball, and Mike Burge was the head coach and wanted to focus on the run game.
That was in 1994.
Coach and kid compromised, with the kid mostly doing what the coach wanted, and they formed a bond that led Westville to three appearances in the Class 2A playoffs.
Three decades later, Hayes and Burge will meet again on Thursday, this time on opposite sidelines, with Hayes leading the Empire Bulldogs to open the regular season at the Canadians, where Burge is now the offensive coordinator.
The passionate Hayes is leading the Empire back to the eight-man squad this season after two years in Class A. The Empire has made the playoffs in every season Hayes has led the eight-man team, and they’re hoping Thursday marks the start of another foray into the postseason.
“Being passionate is the Hayes way,” Burge said, noting that Hayes’ sister, Dr. Chana Byerly, Duncan’s superintendent, is just as passionate as he is. “It’s ingrained in them. Brant is fiercely competitive. He hates to lose. He has a great work ethic and he led by example. He took things very seriously. When it was time to go to work, he went to work. He was calm and never seemed upset.”
Hayes remembers Burge as a level-headed coach who liked to call running plays and had players run 40-yard wind sprints for conditioning.
“He was a good Christian guy,” Hayes said. “He was very calm, so if you made him mad, you could tell he was really upset. He runs the Wing-T offense, which I didn’t like. I wanted to throw the ball more. He also made me hate the 40-yard dash, because that’s all we did for training.”
Hayes was a four-year starter at free safety and three-year starter at quarterback as Westville never finished a season with fewer than six wins during that span and made three playoff appearances.
Westville went 6-5, 6-4, 8-3 and 8-5 during Hayes’ four seasons there. Hayes recorded 21 interceptions and was named an All-Star in his class as a free safety in 1996.
Canadian Empire
Burge still runs the Wing-T and will run it again Thursday against the Bulldogs. “Stopping that is going to be the key to winning,” Hayes said. “His new team has to stop his old offense.”
The onus will fall on Empire defensive linemen Sean Allen, Nick Menga and Chase Casper-Wright to get stops on early downs and force the Canadiens into passing situations on third down.
“They’re a big, physical team, so hopefully we can tire them out,” Hayes said. “Their offense will make it hard for us, like any other team. The key is to stop the run and force them to pass.”
And if the Canadiens are able to run the ball well, they might not get enough offensive possessions, so the Bulldogs will have to score almost every series, Hayes said.
“We have to limit the big plays and sometimes they don’t get as many chances to run the ball as they would like, so we have to score on almost every attack,” Hayes said.
The Empire is employing three different offensive philosophies this season: the pass-heavy spread formation, the run-heavy WHAM! alignment and the Pro Set, and the Bulldogs used all three in a scrimmage against Bray Doyle and Ryan last Friday.
Sophomore Bryce Shaver will play quarterback, while Kamdyn Whetstone will handle the heavy running back duties. Whetstone, a strong downhill runner, replaces graduate transfer Damien Goldsberry, who led the county in rushing yards last season.