4th & Ward

Episode 78 is packed with high school football chaos, coaching talk, stadium reviews, and another round of Drip or Drown!

Jack opens up about a tough loss against a really good team and what it means moving forward with three region games left. We talk about being outmatched by personnel, the importance of “Jimmy’s and Joe’s,” South Carolina’s RPI playoff system, and a huge rivalry game coming up against Belton-Honea Path in the Battle of the Bridge.

Adam took advantage of his open week to head to Lovejoy in Lucas, Texas, to watch the Leopards and experience a Friday night from the other side of the fence. The homecoming atmosphere, tailgating, packed stadium, student section, fourth-quarter sing-along and pregame/game-night production all made a strong impression.

Then things get weird.

While watching the game, Adam notices something VERY important about the opposing punt team: they only had nine guys on the field. One missing player was apparently off grabbing a cold drink before being summoned from the bleachers to join the punt team. We break down the missing shield player, the questionable block point, the fact that the quarterback was also the punter, and the general chaos that followed. 😂

And then it's time for Drip or Drown, with more than 42,000 votes now cast in the database. We review uniforms from Mount Vernon, Alexander, El Dorado, Miles, James Island Charter and Venton County while debating helmet stripes, pant stripes, logos, color combinations and everything else that makes a football uniform either DRIP or DROWN.

Finally, we spin the Team of the Week wheel and land on Arlington Lamar High School in Texas. We take a look at the Vikings, their schedule, “Viking Fight Never Dies,” and the history and future of Cravens Field as Arlington prepares for a major stadium rebuild.

🏈 A brutal loss and the importance of Jimmy’s & Joe’s
🏈 The Battle of the Bridge
🏈 Adam watches Lovejoy on his open week
🏟️ Friday Night Pulse: Leopard Stadium
🎶 A fourth-quarter Benson Boone sing-along
😂 THE PUNT TEAM ONLY HAD 9 GUYS
🥤 Somebody had to come in from the bleachers
🎥 Hudl, film exchange & high school football technology
🏈 Drip or Drown — 42,000+ votes and counting
🔥 Mount Vernon, Alexander, El Dorado, Miles & James Island
🏆 Team of the Week: Arlington Lamar Vikings
🏟️ The future of Cravens Field
👀 And plenty of coaching talk and football nonsense along the way

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

🔥 Drip or Drown — Vote on high school football uniforms
⚡ Friday Night Pulse — Rate and review high school football stadiums
🏈 Jimmys & Joes — High school football recruiting/scouting database
🧠 4th & Wardle — Daily high school football trivia
🏆 Team of the Week — Nominate your school to be featured

🎙️ Get access to exclusive 4th & Ward content, including our OVERTIME Bonus Episodes and more!

Join 4th & Ward on Patreon

Episode 77 of the 4th & Ward Podcast is loaded with football stories, homecoming chaos, questionable school equipment, and plenty of Drip or Drown debates.

Jack survived a week of two varsity games, homecoming, and being an assistant principal—only to discover that students had completely decorated his truck for the homecoming parade. Meanwhile, Adam breaks down a tough district loss where two plays made the difference, and the guys talk about the addiction of Friday night football.

We also dive into the Nelsonville, Ohio controversy after last week’s episode, including the giant cross, championship years hidden in their helmet stripe, and the Ohio fans who wanted to set the record straight. Plus, Thursday Night Shenanigans, flooded freshman fields, stolen footballs, ancient practice footballs, brutal old-school blocking drills, and a school’s stolen Gator that apparently nobody wanted to replace.

Then it's time for another massive round of Drip or Drown, including a whole bunch of Ohio uniforms, teal turf, blue turf, tanks, butterfly collars, and some looks that definitely deserved to be drowned.

And for Episode 77, we hit 100 teams on the Team of the Week wheel before landing on Mundy's Mill in Georgia—which leads to an unexpected deep dive trying to figure out exactly where they play their home games. 😂

🏈 Two varsity games in one week
🎈 Jack's homecoming parade truck disaster
⚡ A tough district loss decided by two plays
⛳ The stolen Gator saga
🌱 Thursday Night Shenanigans + flooded sidelines
🏈 The worst practice footballs you've ever seen
💥 Old-school football drills that would never fly today
🔥 Nelsonville, Ohio comes back to defend itself
👕 Drip or Drown
🏟️ 100 teams on the Team of the Week wheel
🐯 Team of the Week: Mundy's Mill, Georgia
🎙️ Introducing the Patreon and our postgame/OVERTIME content

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875
🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Check out everything 4th & Ward:
🔥 Drip or Drown – Rate high school football uniforms
⚡ Friday Night Pulse – Rate football stadiums
🏈 Jimmys & Joes – Recruiting & scouting database
🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school

🎙️ Get access to exclusive 4th & Ward content, including our OVERTIME Bonus Episodes and more!
https://patreon.com/4thandward?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Episode 76 is a lightning-delayed Monday night football game, a snake in the locker room, questionable student assignments, and the kind of football-season chaos only Adam and Jack can deliver. 😂🏈

Adam and Jack are navigating one of the strangest weeks of the football season. Jack's team had a game suspended by lightning just six minutes into the first quarter, forcing them to return Monday night to finish the game before turning around for another Friday night matchup. Add homecoming week to the mix, and the normal football schedule goes completely out the window.

Adam also shares a story about discovering a snake in the varsity locker room early one morning. What he initially thought was a toy snake turns into a real-life locker room cleanup mission, complete with a paper protector, some choice words, and a debate over whether the little guy might have been a baby rattlesnake. 🐍

The conversation takes another hilarious turn when Adam tells Jack about a geography assignment where a student was asked to research a country other than the United States. The student apparently took a map of the U.S., added a text box that said "Japan," and turned it in. The guys discuss the technology struggles they see in the classroom and how students can be comfortable with social media but still struggle with basic computer tasks.

Other topics include:

• 🏈 Monday Night Football: Finishing a suspended game, managing the short turnaround, and preparing for another Friday game during homecoming week.
• 💥 The walkthrough collision: Jack gets absolutely smoked in the shin by a scout-team player running full speed.
• 🏫 Homecoming games for away teams, shared stadiums, and how school districts handle game-day revenue.
• 🏈 Adam's homecoming win and the wild sideline celebration, including a fumble, a big hit, coaches skipping around, and a water bottle explosion.
• 👕 Drip or Drown: West Rusk, Mineola, Union Grove, Rocky Point, Diamond Hill-Jarvis, Riverside, and Martinsburg all get their uniforms put under the microscope.
• 🧢 Uniform design, mismatched brands, helmet stripes, and why execution matters more than simply having a modern look.
• 📸 The growing number of photographers on football sidelines and whether schools should have a more structured media credentialing system.
• 🎡 Team of the Week: The Harold Hornets (TX) are selected from the wheel, leading Adam and Jack into a deep dive on six-man football, the tiny school community, their stadium, and the unique atmosphere of rural Texas football.
• 🏟️ A look at Harold's football field, press box, surrounding farmland, and the possibility of watching a game from a truck bed.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

🏈 Drip or Drown — Vote on high school football uniforms

🏟️ Friday Night Pulse — Rate high school football stadiums

⭐ Jimmys & Joes — Community recruiting & scouting database

🧠 4th & Wardle — Daily high school football trivia

🎡 Team of the Week — Nominate your school for a future episode

Subscribe, follow, and share the episode with a coach who has ever had a week where absolutely nothing went according to plan. 😂🏈

Episode 75 is football-season chaos at its finest: questionable officiating, 105-14 scoreboards, freshman B-team football, long snappers doing trick shots, and a football field sitting on an island.

Adam and Jack kick things off with some wild high school football clips sent in by listeners, including a team that does up-downs during the middle of a game and a 2027 long snapper who has been snapping footballs every day in increasingly ridiculous locations—including the Alamo, a swimming pool and an airport.

Jack then unloads about a brutal Friday night that included questionable officiating, a controversial intentional-grounding call and a game-winning field goal that was kicked after the clock appeared to already be at zero. The guys break down the video frame-by-frame and debate exactly when that clock should have stopped.

The conversation also turns to the controversial 105-14 high school football game where the losing team reportedly declined a running clock. Adam and Jack discuss sportsmanship, running up the score, roster depth and what coaches can realistically do when there aren't enough players to simply stop playing football.

And then comes one of Adam's favorite sub-varsity stories: a player who has apparently been told for five straight weeks what “Peter” means on a punt. Everyone is screaming “Peter!”—meaning don't touch the ball—and the kid decides he's going to pick it up and make a play anyway. It does not go well. 😂

Other topics include:

• 🏈 Whether to schedule another game when a conference opponent cancels its season
• 👨‍🏫 Building relationships with your coaching staff and why good staff chemistry matters
• 📊 Texas vs. South Carolina football classifications, enrollment numbers and playoff systems
• 🏟️ The differences between Texas and South Carolina high school football
• 😂 Why freshman B-team football is basically must-see TV
• 👕 Another round of Drip or Drown, including uniforms from New York, Tennessee and more
• 🩳 A football player wearing Lululemon bike shorts at left guard
• 🏆 The continuing debate over the 105-14 game and whether the winning team should have done more to run the clock
• 🌊 Team of the Week: the Hull Pirates from Hull, Massachusetts, whose football field sits right on the water overlooking Boston Harbor
• 🌬️ A wind turbine, island football and Adam wondering if a badly shanked punt could end up in the Atlantic Ocean.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Episode 74 is peak football-season chaos: Texas heat, homecoming mums, sideline struggles, Drip or Drown controversy, and a Team of the Week selection that hits close to home.

Adam and Jack are deep into the football season, talking about the grind of coaching, Labor Day practices, game-day preparation, and everything that goes into surviving another week of high school football.

The guys dive into one of the biggest Texas high school traditions Adam had never experienced before moving to Texas: homecoming mums. What starts as a simple conversation about flowers quickly turns into $300–$400 mums, battery packs, music, cowbells, and the Texas mentality of “look at me, look at me.” 😂

Jack also shares his latest sideline wardrobe dilemma after discovering that pants + a shirt + a cut-off hoodie in the Texas heat might not be the best coaching outfit. By halftime, his knees were sweating, his pants were changing colors, and he was worried about leaving a full sweat outline on the chair.

The guys also talk about the growing technology circus surrounding high school football, crowded press boxes, livestreams, scouting equipment and all the gear required just to get a Friday night game on camera.

Other topics include:

• 🏈 Labor Day practices and the grind of football season
• 🧑‍🏫 Jack's experience stepping into an assistant principal role
• 🌸 The wild world of Texas homecoming mums
• 🥵 Coaching on the sideline when it's still brutally hot
• 📹 The ever-growing technology demands of high school football
• 👕 Another international round of Drip or Drown, with schools from Texas, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Canada and beyond
• 🇨🇦 More Canadian uniform submissions and the continuing expansion of the database
• 😂 Some questionable uniform decisions, including off-center helmet decals and uniforms that leave Adam and Jack scratching their heads
• 🏆 A look at Aledo High School and their football program
• 🎡 Team of the Week: Aledo High School (TX)

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Episode 73 is peak football-season chaos: 110-degree heat, Saturday practice debates, equipment disasters, Hudl headaches, and some questionable uniform decisions.

Adam and Jack are deep into the football season, talking about the grind of early-morning practices, whether Saturday practices are actually worth it, and how coaches balance player development, recovery, and family time.

The guys also break down their film-grading systems, tracking snaps and production, and how technology like Hudl and AI is changing the way coaches scout opponents and prepare for game day.

Then things get entertaining when Adam shares stories from the first sub-varsity games of the season—including one player who decided Carhartt long johns under his football pads was the appropriate choice in 110-degree Texas heat. They also discuss a freshman who apparently interpreted “eye black” as an opportunity to look like Braveheart. 😂

Other topics include:

• 🏈 The never-ending debate over Saturday football practices
• 📊 Film grades, snap counts, production points and using data to evaluate players
• 💻 Hudl, SkyCoach, cameras and the technology coaches depend on every Friday night
• 🎥 What happens when an end-zone camera gets smoked by a field goal
• 💰 The growing debate over media passes and schools charging photographers and media outlets to cover games
• 👕 More Drip or Drown uniform ratings and submissions
• 🏆 Carthage's big Week 1 rivalry win over Henderson
• 🦛 The Hutto Hippos and their football program
• 🌊 The completely unexpected debate over whether hippos can actually swim
• 🎡 Team of the Week: the Hutto Hippos (TX)

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Subscribe, follow, and send this episode to a coach who has ever had a piece of football equipment fail at the worst possible time. 🏈😂

Episode 72 is another week of football-season chaos, coaching lessons, technology struggles, and plenty of Drip or Drown.

Adam and Jack are officially into game week, and the reality of football season is setting in. Adam talks about his first varsity scrimmage of the year and the stress of trying to get everything running in the press box—only to discover that the Ethernet connection wasn't working, the iPads weren't working, and the backup plan turned into a complete circus.

The guys also get into one of their favorite ongoing topics: why today's high school athletes sometimes struggle with technology despite growing up with it. Jack tells a story about students who couldn't figure out how to download a logo and upload it into Canva, while Adam follows it up with an astronomy assignment where a student apparently needed help figuring out which words on Wikipedia were important.

Other topics include:

• 🏈 First-game nerves and the transition from scrimmages to real Friday night football.
• 🧠 The “next play mentality” and how coaches teach athletes to flush mistakes and move on.
• 📱 Listener questions and advice for coaches getting into the profession in their 30s.
• 🌡️ Whether Texas schools should start after Labor Day because of the ridiculous August heat.
• 💻 Why students can navigate social media but somehow can't find a file in their Downloads folder.
• 🏫 Teaching, coaching, and what today's athletes seem to be missing when it comes to basic technology.
• 👕 Another big round of Drip or Drown, including Stephenville, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York and more.
• 🎡 Team of the Week: After what feels like an eternity on the wheel, Sheldon C. E. King finally gets selected! The Texas Panthers went 13–3 and reached the state championship game before falling to DeSoto.
• 🏟️ A look at C. E. King's football program, competition and facilities.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Episode 71 is back-to-school chaos, football-season preparation, and some questionable coaching decisions—all rolled into one.

Adam and Jack are officially in the thick of football season, balancing teaching, practice, jamborees, scrimmages, and all the behind-the-scenes headaches that come with getting a program ready for Week 1.

Jack tells the story of a lightning-delayed jamboree that turned into a complete pregame disaster, including a forgotten Huddle power bank, scrambling to get cameras working, missing the entire pregame warmup, and finally deciding he might be done with that job altogether.

The guys also answer a listener question about their funniest first-day-of-school stories, including Adam's incredibly awkward first-day classroom interaction and stories from their own days as students.

Other topics include:

• 🏈 Preparing for the first real games and deciding how much to game-plan for a jamboree.
• 🎥 The never-ending battle with football cameras, Huddle, and getting the technology to actually work when you need it.
• 🏫 Jack getting some experience filling in as an assistant principal.
• ❄️ The joys of classroom HVAC systems that are either freezing cold or hot and miserable.
• 👕 Another marathon session of Drip or Drown, including Edgewood, Cordova, Newport, Lockport and more.
• 💼 Advice for coaches and teachers preparing for job interviews.
• 🧢 A discussion about coaching gear, Nike apparel, custom hats, and what coaches actually wear.
• 🌪️ The Golden Gales of Lancaster, Ohio—and Adam discovering that a “gale” is not, in fact, a bird. The conversation somehow ends with “I got some golden gales going on” after Taco Bell.
• 🏟️ Another Team of the Week selection, with the wheel finally landing on Lancaster High School (Ohio), home of the Golden Gales.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Episode 70 is officially the longest episode in 4th & Ward history—and somehow we still had more to talk about.

Adam and Jack are back in the football grind as the school year gets underway, scrimmages begin, and coaches attempt to survive the first week back. Jack shares the story of getting caught in a Forrest Gump-level rainstorm during a scrimmage, riding home soaking wet on the activity bus, and eventually passing out on the couch with his contacts still in.

The guys also discuss what happens when you're coaching in your 30s—including recovery shoes, sore feet, getting older, and realizing that some of the conversations you're having with teenagers are getting progressively harder to understand.

Then things take a turn when they start talking about some of the simplest things high school athletes somehow struggle with. Helmet straps get threaded through the wrong holes, Guardian Caps become a puzzle, and one student in Jack's athletic leadership class somehow turns “pylon” into “pylines.”

And that's before they discover a student who apparently needs the alphabet taught during football class.

Other topics include:

• 🏈 A Mexican high school football powerhouse traveling 15 hours a week to play games in Texas—and a potential 30-for-30 documentary.
• 💰 Akron letting a fan script the opening offensive drive as part of a season-ticket promotion.
• 🎮 The guys imagining what happens when a fan thinks college football works like Madden.
• 🧠 The latest football equipment craze and whether colleges are simply buying expensive equipment because they have the money to burn.
• 👕 A massive international edition of Drip or Drown, featuring schools from Texas, Kentucky, New York, Canada, Mexico and beyond.
• 🇲🇽 Prepa Tec Borregos and their wild football history in Mexico.
• 🇨🇦 Canadian uniforms that give Adam and Jack some serious Ricky Bobby / NASCAR / Pee-Wee football vibes.
• 🗣️ Why Kentucky and New York might officially be done with 4th & Ward after another brutal round of uniform ratings.
• 🏟️ A special Team of the Week deep dive on D'Iberville High School and the story of their team manager scoring two touchdowns in a JV game.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

Episode 69 is pure "back to school" energy mixed with uniform chaos and coaching frustrations.

Adam and Jack are officially back in the grind as teacher in-service, junior high camp, and the first days of football practice kick off. Both coaches are already losing their voices while venting about the never-ending Vector compliance training videos that somehow take 12 hours and still won't let you skip ahead.

The guys also react to another wave of Drip or Drown uniform submissions after their Mason County (KY) discussion went semi-viral—and got them absolutely roasted in the comments. Highlights include Keystone Heights' beer-can helmets, Arlington Martin's claimed 103 uniform combinations, and more standout Kentucky uniforms.

Other topics include:

• New explosion sleds, trap chutes, and the never-ending debate over when to run pursuit drills.
• Jamborees vs. scrimmages—and why Adam misses the old multi-team jamboree days.
• Getting ready for the first padded practices, first scrimmages, and the official start of football season.
• Another spin of the Team of the Week wheel, landing on the Ozona Lions (TX) for the special Episode 69 edition.

📱 Text the show: 469-726-9875

🌐 Visit: www.4thandward.com

Explore everything for high school football fans:

• 🏈 Drip or Drown – Vote on high school football uniforms
• 🏟️ Friday Night Pulse – Rate high school football stadiums
• ⭐ Jimmys & Joes – Community recruiting & scouting database
• 🧠 4th & Wardle – Daily high school football trivia
• 🎡 Team of the Week – Nominate your school for a future episode

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