BETTER THAN THE DAY BEFORE: Olympia Titans ready to face Dr. Phillips Panthers

Sometimes, sports rivalries are born out of equally matched competitors, of two teams so evenly matched that every game between the two is considered a classic.

The rivalry between Olympia and Dr. Phillips is not that.

Olympia head football coach Travis Gabriel calls it the “Big Brother, Little Brother” rivalry. 

“I don’t recall the last time Olympia has beaten Dr. Phillips,” he said. “So we are still that little brother. We are still trying to earn our keep, and the main thing for us is we want to be able to compete with them.”

Dr. Phillips head football coach Rodney Wells is a good friend of Gabriel’s. And although both coaches communicate on a regular basis throughout the season, when it’s the week before this particular game, the phones go silent.

“We talk every day or every other day — except the week we play,” Gabriel said. “But that’s my brother, and we want each other to do well. When the lights go on Friday, we go at it, we compete, and after the game, we are back to being brothers.” 

Proximity — the two schools are only 4 miles part — forged this rivalry in 2005. But the competitiveness only lasts until the final whistle.

“We try to let the kids know that this rivalry we’ve got with Dr. Phillips — at the end of the day, we are all brothers,” Gabriel said. “That’s what we want to establish — we will compete, we go after it. But once that’s over, we tell the kids, ‘That’s it, let’s move forward and help each other out.’”

The two Southwest Orange teams meet 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at Olympia.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Every year, Gabriel chooses four captains and two leaders. 

This year, the Titans’ leaders are defensive end Kamran James and outside linebacker Joey Evans. 

“They lead by example,” Gabriel said. “They are doing what we ask them to do (the right way), and they are setting the tone for the younger kids. … I try to establish a consistency of four captains, but I usually only have one or two leaders that exemplify everything we look for as a football player on and off the field. They’ve been doing a pretty good job at that.” 

James, a senior and University of Florida commit, believes leadership is more than being the best player on the field. 

“Leadership is leading by example, always keeping your head up, and always being the light that people can try and reach,” he said. “The leader doesn’t have to be the best player on the team. (He) is just a voice, the fire that keeps everybody going, making sure everybody is good and making sure everybody is focused and together.” 

Evans, also a senior, agrees.

“I just do my job,” he said. “We all do our job to be the best team we can be.” 

Discipline, accountability and responsibility form the base of Olympia’s football culture. Gabriel and the coaching staff at the school not only focus on teaching the game of football to their players but also life lessons that will last long after the stadium lights go dark.

“We try to continue to build them to be better men for the future,” Gabriel said. “I’ve always used football as the tool to help create positive and successful men, because at some point, they are going to be role models and fathers. This game of football goes beyond the field for us.” 

LOVE FOR THE GAME

To build better players, better men and a stronger team, Gabriel surrounds himself with a coaching staff that not only loves football but also loves being around the players.

“You have to love to coach in this state,” he said. “It’s not about the money, so it has to be about the love. … It’s not about winning — that’s not what this should be about. It’s all about developing these young men to be successful — whether they play football (in the future) or not.”

That emphasis has, indeed, filtered down to the players.

“(There’s) definitely a lot more character development, better energy and better team morale in the locker room and stuff like that,” James said. “There’s more leadership on the team (too), less negativity. Everybody is uplifting each other; everybody is closer. It’s like a brotherhood.” 

Looking forward, the team is excited to continue competing with strong teams that will push them to be better each week. 

“You want to be able to have the kids compete and be able to understand that you always want to work to get better, and I think that you can really establish that by going against good competition,” Gabriel said. “You are working and competing against the best, you don’t want to be satisfied where you are. … Every day, we work at getting better — just (trying) to be better than what (we) were the day before.”