Algiers, America: The Relentless Pursuit (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Backs against the wall - full transcript
The Cougars battle it out for the state championship, but immediately face the harsh realities of life in Algiers. Coach Brown and his staff work to keep their players off the violent streets and focused during summer workouts, as...
COMMENTATOR:
4A State championship game.
Glad you've joined us for this.
Ken Trahan, Eric Elm.
The Karr Cougars are going for
a fifth consecutive state championship.
History could be made here tonight.
That's mind-boggling, isn't it?
COMMENTATOR 2:
It's almost unheard of.
This is gonna be
a great matchup tonight.
Number one seed
against number two.
COMMENTATOR: Well, it is.
And I think when you look at
the Cougars, they're a no-huddle,
throw it all over the yard team
that does it better than anybody.
In terms of a duo of receivers,
I don't know that anybody's got two
better than Karr
when you're talking about
Destyn Hill and Aaron Anderson.
They're both tremendous.
And then, of course, the Karr defense
has been exceptional as well.
It starts up front with Tygee Hill
and then, of course, junior Tory Morgan.
He can run. He can hit.
He gets after people.
The Karr Cougars can throw
the heck out of the football.
And they've done just that,
because AJ Samuel's fast
with 35 touchdowns.
What's more impressive is that
AJ is just a sophomore.
And here he is
in a state championship game.
He has been simply outstanding.
AJ grew up in Algiers.
Um, I grew up in New Orleans East,
but once I, uh, got married,
I moved to Algiers.
He's, you know,
kind of like the rest of us,
kind of rough and rugged
and kind of likes to get dirty.
Early on, like, when he was younger,
it was, you know,
about being hard on him.
My focus was to keep him
extremely disciplined,
and the way I went about that
was through training.
I was kind of raised the same way.
My dad made me do push-ups
every single night.
Before you go to bed,
for me it was 50 pushups,
50 sit-ups, and 50 squats.
For AJ, that number had gotten
a lot higher.
[laughs]
He has become a much more elite athlete
than I was at a young age.
[tires scraping]
Turn around and come back.
AJ SAMUEL:
Me and him, like, we're real close.
You know, he's tough on me,
but it's nothing that I'm not used to.
He want to see me get better.
That's all it is.
MICHAEL SAMUEL JR.:
He makes me proud, you know.
Makes me feel like,
you know, it wasn't in vain.
It wasn't a waste of time.
You know, he's not one of these kids
you give so much to,
'cause, you know, there are some kids
you give the world to,
and they still mess it up.
Even as a kid, he had a good arm.
And the coaches in the park
will see that
and they wanted to move him
to quarterback.
Once they made that switch,
I just started training him
on a three-step drop.
You just started getting to work.
[chain scraping]
AJ, he has the potential
to be the best one.
This is really
a quarterback-driven team.
So the quarterbacks get a lot of credit,
and they get a lot of the blame.
AJ:
I'm a competitive person.
I'm hungry for success.
I'm hungry to win.
And going into
the state championship game,
I just like being
in a situation like this,
'cause it shows me who I am.
I feel like it makes me a better person
at the end of the day.
♪ hip-hop music ♪
♪ They say that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪
MAN: Brice Brown's team
has won 26 consecutive games.
MAN 2: 'Cause when you look
at what they've done,
that's mind-boggling, isn't it?
MAN 3;
No one had called them a dynasty yet.
Let us be the first.
MAN 4:
Karr signed 12 seniors
to college football scholarships
last year.
How big is this for
the West Bank of New Orleans.
Man, this is big
for the city of New Orleans.
♪ They say that we never gonna make it ♪
♪
BRICE: We are the first
predominantly African-American school
to win four state championships
in a row.
And we're going to be the only school
to win five straight.
♪ And they say that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR 2:
And, hey, we're ready to kick off.
COMMENTATOR: We are.
Aaron Anderson and Destyn Hill are deep.
That's a pretty good pair, isn't it?
We are underway.
Let's go. "Quick six" on me,
"go six" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Quick six!
COMMENTATOR:
Samuel takes the snap, retreats to throw.
Steps up with a lot of time.
He's going deep
on the first play.
He's got his man!
Perfect throw.
Catch made by Aaron Anderson.
Huge play for Karr right off the bat.
Samuel with a snap,
wants to throw it. Looking.
Intercepted on a poor throw.
And the Carencro Bears
getting huge play early.
[player grunts]
On fourth and eight.
Faulk bobbles the snap.
Recovers and he's in for a big loss.
And the Cougars come up big.
[all cheering]
Get your ass out of there
on third-- on fourth and long.
Good job, boy. Good job.
COMMENTATOR:
Samuel, hard count, retreats to throw.
Steps up, has time.
He's gonna throw it deep.
He has a receiver down there.
Ball hangs up. It's caught.
Touchdown, Cougars.
Touchdown, Karr.
Aaron Anderson
who just ran by his man.
Anderson is so good.
COMMENTATOR 2: All about
Aaron Anderson for Karr thus far.
He has been the man.
COMMENTATOR:
Fake it. Faulk wants to throw it.
He throws it down the field!
Caught, at the 40,
at the 30, at the 25.
All the way down to the 20.
Still on his feet.
At the 19. At the 18.
COMMENTATOR 2:
What a catch and run.
And a great job by Faulk.
ANNOUNCER:
First down, going Bears.
COMMENTATOR: Still no score
for Carencro here in this game.
Carencro about to change that
it would appear
unless the Karr defense
can come up big.
[crowd cheering]
Sets it down. Faulk gives it
to his running back, touchdown.
[crowd cheering]
They're coming right at you,
downhill to you.
Make the tackle.
Walk away with this.
I'm throwing you that ball.
Uh, you did a good job facing up
and reading that shit.
Go. You are fast, and I don't know what,
but go, alright?
COMMENTATOR: Samuels, shotgun.
Takes the snap. He does want to throw.
He's got time. He's looking.
He's going to throw it deep.
Has a man down there.
The throw is there. It's caught.
Inside the 35, all the way down
to about the 32.
There's Destyn Hill.
Samuels looking.
Samuels throwing. Deep.
Sideline, end zone.
Did he catch it?
[crowd cheering]
He did. He caught the ball.
Touchdown, Karr.
What a way to close.
It took them two plays.
Karr takes a 13-to-7 lead.
And that will get us to halftime.
NORMAN: Here's what
we've been talking about all year.
Now we about to play
situational football.
We've got to get
the stop coming out.
You know what it feel like now.
You know what it feels like now, right?
We got to play like we losing, okay?
We cannot give up any more points.
COMMENTATOR: Karr will kick off
to start the second half.
So Carencro will get it
against a 50 front.
Back to the split back here.
And the pitch. And they're gonna throw
a halfback pass.
Wide open. Caught.
It's gonna be a touchdown.
Carencro with the trick play. Touchdown.
They've tied the game, 13-13.
Trick play worked.
Now Karr goes to work.
Snap it to Samuel.
Fakes it. Wants to throw.
And it's batted in the air.
Incomplete.
Snap it. Samuel.
Lot of time.
He's gonna throw it deep.
Has a man out there,
but he over-threw him.
But he had his man.
That throw was way too long.
It was there for him, though.
It really was.
BRICE:
He, he's missing wide.
Ultra-wide receive
from the quarterback position.
You know, we got to lean on defense
to win this game.
It's a defensive game.
[indistinct chatter]
BRICE:
"Finish" on me. One, two, three.
ALL:
Finish.
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Snap it, run it, left.
Cutback is there.
It's wide open. He might go.
Forty, 50, 40, 35, 30, 25.
Knocked out of bounds
at about the Karr 22-yard line.
Big run off the big hole.
And that's a huge run.
52 yards for Prejean.
Snap it.
Wants to throw it.
Does. It's caught.
And a touchdown for Carencro.
Nineteen yards touchdown pass.
And Carencro leads by seven.
Gonna be a dogfight
It's gonna be a dogfight.
[air horn blaring]
Gonna be a dogfight.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Alright, here we go. Fourth down and five.
Another huge play,
Karr's going for it
with three receivers right,
a single to the left.
Snap it. A reverse play coming.
And it's open.
He's at the ten.
He's at the five. He scores.
Touchdown, Karr!
They run a reverse pitch
to Aaron Anderson.
He scores, 17 yards.
And the Cougars are on the board.
It's 20-to-19.
♪
Third and five.
Gonna run it right. Cut back.
He broke a tackle. He's gone.
This will be a touchdown, Carencro.
Hard run again.
Touchdown for Bears.
Thirty yards on the run,
Kendrell Williams.
And the Carencro running game
is taking over here.
And with 12 seconds to play
in the third quarter,
Carencro still up two scores,
28-to-19.
We finish the ballgame, guys. We finish.
We finish. We finish.
We finish the ballgame.
COMMENTATOR:
Fourth quarter begins.
Who can make a play for Karr?
Snap at Samuel. Retreats.
Wants to throw.
Lot of time.
Can't find anyone and takes a sack.
And that should never happen.
Third and twelve.
This is a huge play.
If Carencro gets a stop here,
they could take total control
of this game.
Snap it.
Samuel, running left.
Not going to get there. Nothing.
Got a yard, that's it.
Clock now down to 7:30 and counting.
Started here, you gonna finish here.
You still the top man,
win, lose, or draw.
COMMENTATOR: Karr needs a stop
right here, right now.
And they're going to fake it.
Faulk wants to throw it,
under pressure.
He is sacked.
Karr needed that.
Down by nine. 6:30 to play.
There is still a shot for Karr
in this game.
COMMENTATOR 2: Absolutely.
The whole key here is Samuel.
COMMENTATOR:
There it is. Game on the line.
Need to make plays.
Need to make them now.
Wants to throw.
Steps up, throws down
the middle, incomplete.
Second and ten at the 23.
Snap it. Samuel wants to throw.
He's looking the other way.
Stops, looks, throws deep
down the field, incomplete.
And it just looks like
Samuel's kind of out of sorts.
Karr's in deep trouble here.
I mean, this is the ballgame.
If they don't make this,
Carencro is going to win this game.
Karr's got to find a way
to make a play.
Samuel, rolling right.
Looking, looking, looking.
Nobody open,
throws it incomplete.
And he got decked as he threw it.
And Carencro stops them.
Samuel took a big hit.
Slow to get up.
And Carencro has got control
of this game
with a chance to put it away.
[air horns blaring]
♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Carencro, they're up by nine.
28-19 over the Cougars.
Make this, and it's over.
Snap it. Run it.
Breaking the tackle
and scoring, touchdown.
Carencro.
[crowd cheering]
♪
And the Karr Cougars see
their four-year streak
of winning state championship games
come to a close
against a team
that was simply better.
[crowd cheering]
♪
You lost, right?
Take it. Take it.
Wipe your face.
Wipe your face. Let's go.
Hey. Hey. Come on, man, get up.
Don't let them see you down.
We lost. Come on.
♪
COACH: Somebody gotta win,
somebody gotta lose.
Use this as a lesson.
It's supposed to hurt.
This job--
[screams]
Y'all are some good kids, man.
Y'all are some good kids. Alright.
I just feel I need
to just let you guys know.
Listen, dawg, we still love you, dawg.
We still love you.
We still believe in you.
Man, we are blessed.
We knew when we came here today,
there was a chance that we could what?
We could lose this competition.
When we say we love you,
that's just not saying that
to win a football game.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
Don't let losing make you think
that you are not a champion.
This line don't end.
This path don't end.
We control our own destiny
based off of what we do
and how we respond from this moment.
Hardest thing for a grown man to do
is to be consistent.
How they talk, how they walk.
That shit is hard.
What you going to do
for yourself after this?
How are you gonna build yourself
into that calm man
that we all strive to be?
Winning creates complacency.
Let's see how this loss
creates consistency.
Take one step forward every day
with no steps back.
And I promise you, if we keep taking
those steps forward,
you will be a champion again
and hold up that gold trophy.
You never go into coaching saying
one day I might try to win five in a row.
You're blessed to win one.
You're blessed to even get there, right?
But it still hurts
and it's gonna hurt,
and it's gonna hurt forever.
I, I hate to say it like that.
Trust us and keep on
that narrow line, Lord,
that you prepared for them, Lord.
We don't question what you did, Lord.
We fell short
and got a silver trophy
and they got a gold one.
So for us,
we got to put a chip
on our shoulder
and be able to get back to work.
Um, you know, he's played
in big games before,
you know, playing at Karr,
it come with the territory.
Not a lot of quarterbacks in Karr history
have been successful
as a sophomore in this game.
He has a lot to build on,
and hopefully, this isn't
the last time he visits
the state championship game.
And, you know, hopefully,
you know, he could get back here
and correct some of the mistakes
that he had tonight.
AJ: That was the hardest one,
going up to my dad on a loss.
That was... that was
a tough one for me.
That's all he ever dreamt of,
was me to, to be great,
to be successful, to always win.
And I lost.
I just needed somebody
to lean on right then.
Shit.
BRICE:
Carencro beat us.
We lined up and we shook their hand.
Good game. See you next year.
We teaching our boys
to keep their head up,
to take losses just like you take wins.
We supposed to fail at something,
and then we're supposed to get up
and we're supposed to fight back.
That's what we're supposed to do.
Because that's how when we
walk out of this, this building,
that's what the, that's what
the real world gonna give us.
♪ upbeat music ♪
♪
It's tough to measure a coach
by his wins and losses.
You know,
the true measure of a coach
is how he impacts his players.
I met Brice when he was
a junior high player at Karr.
He was head and shoulders above
the kids his age.
I understand his father died
when he was a very young kid.
And so sports was his way out also.
Yeah, we played spades right here.
Had a basketball goal right here.
So we were gambling
when we were, like, 13 years old.
[chuckles]
LORIEN BLAKELY:
This is our wall of fame.
All the grandkids.
This is Brice. All seven pounds,
13 ounces of him.
When we all stayed here.
This was our room right here.
TOYA BROWN: One day, he just decided
he was going to play football.
He and my grandfather
would, uh, get in the living room
and move all the furniture
out of the way,
and he was showing, like,
offensive plays and stances
and all kind of stuff like that.
I think he's taken a backseat
for his own life
to make somebody else's life better.
And that's just who he is.
BRICE: You know, a head coach,
you got to always be there.
And I don't believe in 50 percent.
NORMAN:
He don't have kids.
He don't say, "I'm not going
to be there tomorrow. I got something."
This is his life.
They're going to feel 'em, T.
NORMAN: He know if he adds a part
of his life that's outside of Karr,
that's going to take away from Karr.
And he's not willing to do that.
And I think that's just
the ultimate sacrifice.
Your expectations should be
to use this tool
to go into another field
in your life.
Are you good with the price
that you're paying?
That's the question.
And I'm comfortable with it.
You know the thing
that keep me going?
Jesus Christ.
They whipped him
until he couldn't even walk.
And he didn't complain.
[players praying indistinctly]
So I don't have no room to think
about complaining.
[keyboard clacking]
[printer whirring]
BRICE:
We do have a lot of success.
But we fail a good bit too.
We talk about a lot
in the staff room,
we're trying this approach,
we're trying this approach,
but we just can't get this kid
to buy-in or whatever.
But we can't save 'em all.
REPORTER:
An Edna Karr High School senior
was shot and killed
yesterday afternoon
in the 6100 block
of Tullis Drive in Algiers.
Eighteen-year-old Caleb Johnson
was just days away from graduation.
The Edna Karr high school senior
played football,
was on the homecoming court,
and was planning to join the Navy.
BRICE:
It breaks everyone's heart that that kid,
his name will still
be called at graduation,
but his body won't be able
to walk across that stage.
Caleb, he wasn't with us
on the team any longer,
but, you know,
he still was at the school.
You know, we went to visit Miss...
Miss DeCarlas at her house.
And she showed me a video
that Caleb had sent
when he was working out,
running on the bridge.
And he was running and he said,
"Coach Brice,
I'm gonna show you this year."
Caleb was the victim
of gun violence.
It's so tragic
because it was said that he died
trying to purchase a weapon
to protect himself from other violence.
And during the sale of the weapon,
he was shot and killed.
I think children thrive
when they know they belong to something.
And him quitting the team
and then him being murdered,
it puts a laser focus
on just how necessary
that institution is.
[indistinct chatter]
That ain't a lie.
♪
♪
I would be remiss
if I didn't say something
because as an advocate,
not only for education,
I'm a doctor of education,
but I am a daughter of New Orleans.
This is our community.
And there is
an African proverb that says
children who are not embraced
by the village will burn it down
to feel its warmth.
And I'm here to tell you
that New Orleans is on fire.
DR. WYATT:
I go to the rallies and the marches
and the vigils and the funerals
because I care.
Y'all keep thinking blood
makes you family,
blood makes you relatives.
Love makes you family.
I have a 14-year-old son.
And before I let Jefferson Parish have him
or before I let somebody
that look like him have him,
I will burn this
entire motherfucker down.
Do you understand me?
[crowd cheering]
I don't give a damn about anything
other than making this community
a place that my child can live,
his children can live,
and not have to fear
the very act of just trying to live.
God, thank you for this food
that we're about to receive.
May it bless and nourish
our bodies, amen.
MAN:
The unity amongst this community.
Father, where there's unity,
there's a blessing.
Father, we thank you that
you're blessing those that are...
We can't talk
about Black-on-Black crime
without talking about
all of the systemic issues
that create this bottleneck effect
of why Black people
are killing Black people.
CROWD:
Fight for Nola.
We won't stop.
DR. WYATT: It's built in policies,
it's built in the Constitution,
it's built in the fabric of America.
Because an uneducated people,
an impoverished people,
a marginalized community,
that's, that's like you're shoving them
in a corner.
And when they get tired of their backs
being against the wall,
they're going to come out swinging.
We are just seeing loss of life
younger and younger now.
I think as early as 11, 12.
They're carrying guns now.
CROWD: Justice for Nola!
WOMAN: Justice for Nola!
We just have to do something about it.
We have to do something that matters.
MAN:
Second down. Second down.
Let's go. Let's go.
Run it. Run it. Run it. Run it.
[indistinct chatter]
Set! Hut!
MAN:
There you go, there you go, there you go.
[indistinct chatter]
Y'all loose.
Y'all got to stop him
and y'all need to scoop.
Y'all gonna get
three players to scoop,
not three players
to get a touchdown.
It's very easy for our kids
to stray off the record
and just go left
into the wrong, uh, company.
But some kids don't have options,
so the streets and, and bad news,
that's all they have.
So I, I want to be here
just to give them a option,
like, hey, well, we do have programs
over here that's going on.
Tonka was of vital impact to the kids,
especially in my program.
He's actually my brother-in-law,
so they know he played at Karr,
he played in the championship game.
So, you know, he played in the Superdome.
He also went to college.
So when he come around, the kids,
they, wow, like, he's an NFL player.
So they just want to hang around him,
wanna pick his brain,
see what it took for him
to get to that level.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
♪
We just passed the old YMCA.
That was like a safe haven
for all the kids in this community.
Once they took that away--
They took that away around 1985, '86.
So that's when a lot of stuff
in this neighborhood went down.
You know, it was just crazy
after that, you know.
We had nowhere to go.
And that's when these kids
getting involved in the drugs
and the guns and stuff like that.
It's all about the kids, you know.
It's not about the adults,
you know.
I feel like the adults had their time
to do whatever they had to do in life.
It's all about the kids.
♪
BOY:
There he is. Man of the hour.
[indistinct chatter]
[fireworks exploding in distance]
TYGEE:
New Orleans still got good in it.
Just look around, you know,
you see people,
their families,
their little ones, you know.
Just make you feel good
about just being from here.
The pride being from New Orleans.
[kids chattering]
♪
♪ I, I never reach up
I got amnesia ♪
♪ I don't remember
I got a temper ♪
♪ You stalkin' now
I fuck around ♪
♪ You fuck around
we both not proud ♪
♪ You said I'm different
I'm difficult ♪
♪ You said I'm missin'
I'm missin' you ♪
♪ You poppin' up
I'm poppin' out ♪
♪ They talkin' now
just block 'em out ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[woman shouting]
[police siren blaring]
KELLS:
They fighting.
Oh, they left wigs on the ground.
Bitch can't fuck with me! Stupid ass.
BOY:
What was that about?
Her dumb ass!
[indistinct]
[girl shouting]
You know what's up!
This is real life reality
in New Orleans right here.
Always something.
Kells, get in the car, come on.
[engine revving]
- Fuck!
- Yeah.
They really had that on camera,
so why they did that bad--
Well, they pop shooting, bro.
They pop shooting that whatchamacallit.
They mad. She must have lost.
But that could have hit anybody, bro.
For real, they trippin'.
[indistinct]
BOY: That's what-- that's,
that's New Orleans for you.
NICHOLAS:
That's New Orleans.
Like, that's what we got
to go through just to have fun,
just to see all the girls.
Gotta go left sometimes.
[wind whooshing]
[insects chirping]
New Orleans,
summers are hot and humid,
which makes people agitated.
Your murder rate,
just look at the number, goes up.
[students chattering]
If you have football practice,
you're not in the streets.
That's how simple that is.
BRICE;
Summer's idle time.
You know, idle mind
is the devil's workshop.
You have to accept as the coach
that you cannot control
what these kids do
when they go home.
You stay proactive
by keeping them at practice.
Everybody pay up.
Everybody pay up.
Whoever in front,
step out to me.
Some more. Some more.
Right there. Right there. Right there.
Right there. Right there. Right there.
This group right here.
Listen up.
This group right here, your job is
to try to touch
the person in front of you.
If you don't touch them,
you got push-ups.
If you touch them,
they got push-ups.
So we're going
to stand right here.
This group right here
is gonna stand right here.
This group's gonna stand right here.
When I blow the whistle,
a, a letter or alphabet I say
we're getting out,
so y'all go to the top.
Your job is to touch them.
If they touch you,
be a man, do your push-ups.
First whistle. Ready!
[all shouting]
[indistinct chatter]
[whistle blowing]
[all grunting]
[all shouting]
Two.
ALL:
Two.
You can't work hard,
don't come to me 'bout no rotations,
about no starting,
about no playing time.
Don't come to be
about none of that.
♪ Swallow my pride,
channel my rage ♪
♪ Where have you been?
I've been away, under my skin ♪
Think about how you were worn down.
They wore you down.
You're not getting worn down this year.
♪
You better earn it right here.
Don't be the weak link.
Come on, finish.
Come on, Ashton. Come on, Ashton.
[players yelling]
NORMAN: Come on--
Good job [indistinct]
- Come on, Ryan.
- Come on, come on, come on, finish.
NORMAN:
Come on, move.
Finish. Finish, finish, finish.
♪ Four a.m., dancing 'til it's late
on my lonely ♪
♪ Four a.m. dancing
in the rave, rave, rave, rave ♪
♪
[grunting]
MAN:
Full palm, with the leg. I got you.
[grunts]
MAN: Yeah, four, three, two.
Two more like that.
[grunts]
MAN:
Four, three, two, push.
Tory, you know,
he's the middle linebacker here.
Unfortunately, his mom died.
And he really went into a dark place.
And I hadn't seen him
for maybe three or four weeks.
And then I said, "Listen, I need
to see you tomorrow in person."
And then, you know,
he just burst out crying.
You know, he had never been
without his mom before,
which we all understand that.
What you doin'?
You gonna get tired in the fourth quarter?
Come on.
BRICE: I thought we was
on the brink of losing him.
And I thought that our coaches
did an exceptional job
or reeling him back in.
You know, it was a regular day.
You know, she came home from work.
You know, she worked two jobs.
She worked bus in the morning.
She did, like, truck driving.
You know, garbage truck driving,
you know.
She did always work.
And the incident happened,
you know.
They had a group of doctors
come get us, pull us to the back.
And we were just
sitting there for, like--
It was in a empty room. We were just
sitting there for, like, 20 minutes.
I'm thinking they were going
to tell us something like,
you know, she got to be
in the hospital alone.
I was not expecting her
to, you know,
for them to give me
that type of news.
But when-- and when they said
she passed,
I was just like
for, like, five minutes straight,
I was just froze, bro.
And it just hit me, like,
the most important person
in my life gone.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
Thank you, Lord,
I'm just blessed to be in this situation
and be here with my family.
We here for you, Mama.
And just continue to steer us
in the right direction.
Amen.
BRICE:
I remember one time he called me,
he said, "Coach, I need you
to come pick me up."
I was like, "Alright.
So where you at?"
He's like, "I'm by my dad house."
I pulled up. All of his clothes
was on the front lawn.
And I, I pulled up,
he was, he was putting all his,
picking up all of his clothes
out the grass and putting it
in a box.
I said, " Look,
You ain't going back there."
[keys jingling]
And now that he's living
with his grandmother,
a more stable home for him.
WOMAN: Come on, baby.
You mother, your grandma--
I want a picture
with all of my men.
- No, y'all together.
- Where?
My grandsons all over there.
Okay.
MAN:
Everybody ready? Oh yeah.
LORNA:
He got somebody to rely on.
And he know he was gonna
have a meal.
But the only thing about him
is I told him he's not a baby.
I don't have to go in that room.
[indistinct chatter]
MAN:
What's up?
TORY:
She be throwing down in this kitchen.
Mm-hmm.
You did something different.
See, I'ma put you
in a bigger house.
A bigger kitchen
with a bigger stove.
So that mean more food for me.
Every time I walk past it,
I just need to touch it.
Let her know, like, I'm still here,
I'm still gonna go hard for you.
Yeah, she gone,
but I can't be negative about it.
I, I, I got to find
a way to be positive.
So, that's why
I always be around Karr
because Karr always keep me
on a positive side.
DENISE: When you took the pre-ACT,
what was your lowest subject?
Was it math, English?
You don't have to say the score,
but what was the subject?
I think, I think it was--
Honestly, I thought math was going
to be my lowest,
but math was my highest,
that was crazy.
Of course, it was.
[laughs]
'Cause I taught you math. Mm-hmm.
TORY: Miss Ellis, she always tried
to be a mother figure to me
'cause she knew, you know,
I don't have that right now.
But just the love and the care
they have for me,
it replace it sometimes.
I'm saying, if that's what you want,
'cause I don't, I don't want you to chase,
like, doing business 'cause
you're trying to chase paper.
Chase whatever you,
what you want to do.
Chase your purpose.
You chase your purpose...
Tory worries me sometimes
because he doesn't give himself a break.
I'ma keep going. I'ma keep working.
And I tell him, you know,
you need to rest.
He doesn't feel that way
'cause he feel like
this is his only way out
and by any means necessary,
I got to do it.
When you go home, I don't want you
to look it up, look up the answers.
I want you to just blindside do it.
I know she's looking down at me,
and I know she,
you know,
proud of what I'm doing.
But I want
to just make her prouder every day.
I'm trying.
Ohh.
We're actually on our way
to go visit my oldest son
that's, um, incarcerated
at Ascension Parish Jail.
He was incarcerated
at the age of 15
for armed robbery,
and he was trialed as a adult
and they gave him 15 years.
The system is against us, not for us.
So of course we will be the ones
that got to go through it
and endure the worst side of it,
you feel what I'm sayin'?
So it's something we just go through,
like, as Black people.
So it's just... it's not right.
It's just normalized, so.
♪
♪
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
What's up?
TYSHA: What's going on?
[indistinct chatter]
I've been gone since I was 16.
I was a kid. I'm 27 now.
I got one more year left.
That's a lot of time
to be gone from your family.
TYGEE:
What article that in?
There was a newspaper--
[indistinct]
TYGEE;
I was in the news?
I was reading a newspaper one day,
I look, I'm like,
that's his name in there.
Man, that's my little brother.
I'm bringing it to all the people
around the dorm, showing it to people.
I'm just excited
every time they play on TV,
like when they was on state champs,
I had the whole dorm watching the games
and everything.
DARRYL:
I want him to be successful too.
Stay focused, go to school,
go to college, do something with yourself.
I wanna be an example for you.
This is, this is the wrong route.
I don't want him to come this way.
[indistinct]
TYGEE:
Seeing, like, throughout the years
him just going through trials
and tribulations is like,
that really showed me, like,
I'm conscious of everything I do.
I know when I get to Karr,
safe haven, I'm good.
I'm straight.
Feel what I'm saying?
But from Karr to my house,
you're just trying to make it home.
♪
MAN:
Come on, boy. There you go.
[indistinct]
MAN: There you go.
Pretty good running back too.
MICHAEL: I don't let him go
to no house parties.
Like, like, no. I was like, you know,
you're too valuable of a person.
You know, I can't keep you
boxed in for too long
'cause you going to go, you know,
you gonna end up going crazy or something,
but then I can't just let you free
'cause then you gonna end up squandering
away all your blessings, you know.
Especially at this, this age,
you know, 16, 17 years old.
It's like that's the time
where you kind of starting
to let the reins go a little bit.
But it's, like, also scary
at the same time.
You know, you never know
what's that next phone call gonna be
when they're out,
you know, doing certain things.
So my aunt,
she actually had this poster.
It was in her house,
and I took it from her.
It's like a really important time
in American history
for African-American people
to even be in the Olympics
and win a medal
and to so, show, show and support
our kind at this time,
at this point in time.
This is my youngest sister Ajis.
She's one.
Uh, she acting shy right now,
but she's never really shy.
You're not gonna say hey?
No?
♪ Man and a woman ♪
[laughs]
[child babbling]
Mommy.
WOMAN: Ducky!
[child babbling]
I guess I feel like
I'm, like, the caregiver
making sure, you know,
he has what he needs every day.
Make sure he's feeling good
every day.
Make sure he gets
to where he needs to go every day.
You know, I like to be
a listening ear when he needs it.
I kind of like to be a balance.
You know, his dad is real aggressive,
forceful, demanding, you know.
That can be challenging at times,
but that's why the tribe works.
MICHAEL: It's a whole tribe
that has invested into AJ.
You know, um,
when he hits these camps,
my parents help out,
his step-mom,
she does a phenomenal job.
She's the one doing all the cooking
and making sure he's eating properly,
the one making sure
his clothes are washed
and he's getting up
for school on time.
And, you know, his aunt,
she heads his, uh, recruitment.
So she's out, you know,
emailing, talking to coaches.
LEAH:
I believe in AJ.
I believe he's one of the greats.
I believe he's one of the top kids
in the state easily.
I believe that anything negative
people say about him
is not, is not his game,
it's about, uh, his height.
Schools that actually recruit
and give, uh,
smaller quarterbacks chances
is where we like to look.
AJ's talent, his arm, his skill,
his footwork, his technique.
Had he been six-five,
I might not have to do this, right?
Like, every school in the country
is looking at him, looking for him.
And put up the numbers
he did for a sophomore?
Come on.
[grunting]
COACH: Good.
[whistle blows]
REPORTER:
The Karr Cougars are tackling practices
with an extra edge.
For the first time since 2016,
they won't start the season
as the defending state champs.
Carencro put an end to their four-peat
of state titles in Natchitoches.
Did you have one of the better teams
in the state last year?
Yes. Yes, you did.
You had one of the most talented teams
in the history of the school.
Did you win? No.
But did you lose? No.
You did not lose because now
the one thing you did lose
is that taste in your mouth.
Identify. Accept. Correct.
In any walk of life
that you going to go through,
you must have those three steps.
You owe yourself
the opportunity to correct it.
A big message in the Karr program
is no success without struggle.
Then you go what?
You go half that speed...
How do people perform
when their back
is completely against the wall?
What is your response to being
at the lowest point of your life
or the most difficult point in your life?
How do you respond to that?
Do you surrender or do you fight?
It's no in-between.
[players grunting, yelling]
[indistinct]
- That can't be me on the ground.
- Can't be me.
It can't be me on the ground.
No, bro, I can't--
[indistinct]
TORY:
You, you know, we lost,
but I take that L as a lesson
instead of a loss,
because it just makes you realize
that, you know,
even though we were
the best team, we beatable.
[grunting]
[blows whistle]
TYGEE:
We took this L.
You gonna see
a whole different type of, like,
aggression, motivation.
You gonna see
a whole different team
in how we do everything.
NORMAN: You know, you went four
and you lose that fifth one.
Now you're motivated, right?
You have a chip on your shoulder.
So going into this next season,
we wanted to reclaim what was ours,
which was that state championship trophy
that we had let go
the year before to Carencro.
♪ upbeat music ♪
NORMAN:
The humidity is so damn sticky.
But you know what?
They better get used to it.
Turf is feeling 109 right now.
BRICE:
Gotta hydrate.
Right now, we are trying
to reclaim our spot
as the best team
in the state of Louisiana.
Why? Because we are
the best team in America.
How? We gonna work our fuckin' ass off.
Win. Right now.
♪ They said that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪ We ain't tripping
never was basic ♪
♪ Fuck niggas
and I never was racist ♪
♪ Show love,
should have never been gracious ♪
Good job.
[indistinct]
Everybody wants to beat you.
So we got to practice like that.
Every single day. Every day.
[shouting]
You got to go through the defender
and make that play.
Counting on you.
I'm looking for perfection.
COACH:
Dig deep inside of you.
Every day you go
throughout your life,
you want to gain an inch, a crumb.
Hungry for success.
Greedy for success.
But understand success won't come
without the struggle.
Today, you put in the struggle.
♪ We already know that we grinding ♪
♪ They said that
we never gonna making it ♪
♪ We ain't tripping
never was basic ♪
Hey, let's go!
Let's fucking finish it. Let's finish it.
[grunting]
[whistle blows]
BOY: Ohh!
- [whistle blowing]
- Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
If y'all not here
and y'all doing dumb shit,
we locking down on that.
Real talk, 'cause we, we on a mission.
[rhythmic clapping]
BRICE: You want to be
a state champion, right?
Do you want to reclaim your legacy?
We can be a lot better.
But guess what?
You know what we need?
Motherfuckers who believe that we can.
Position!
[yelling]
PLAYER: Three.
ALL: Together.
PLAYER: Four, five, six.
ALL: Family.
[blows whistle]
♪
[thunderclap]
[thunder rumbling]
We are now under hurricane warnings
for all of southeast Louisiana.
We do expect it
to become a major hurricane.
Wind, flood, surge impacts definite.
So now's the time
to get that plan in order.
REPORTER: You're going to have to do
the things that protect your life
over the next several hours
as this plays out,
especially on the South Shore.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[thunder rumbling]
[lightning cracks]
♪
4A State championship game.
Glad you've joined us for this.
Ken Trahan, Eric Elm.
The Karr Cougars are going for
a fifth consecutive state championship.
History could be made here tonight.
That's mind-boggling, isn't it?
COMMENTATOR 2:
It's almost unheard of.
This is gonna be
a great matchup tonight.
Number one seed
against number two.
COMMENTATOR: Well, it is.
And I think when you look at
the Cougars, they're a no-huddle,
throw it all over the yard team
that does it better than anybody.
In terms of a duo of receivers,
I don't know that anybody's got two
better than Karr
when you're talking about
Destyn Hill and Aaron Anderson.
They're both tremendous.
And then, of course, the Karr defense
has been exceptional as well.
It starts up front with Tygee Hill
and then, of course, junior Tory Morgan.
He can run. He can hit.
He gets after people.
The Karr Cougars can throw
the heck out of the football.
And they've done just that,
because AJ Samuel's fast
with 35 touchdowns.
What's more impressive is that
AJ is just a sophomore.
And here he is
in a state championship game.
He has been simply outstanding.
AJ grew up in Algiers.
Um, I grew up in New Orleans East,
but once I, uh, got married,
I moved to Algiers.
He's, you know,
kind of like the rest of us,
kind of rough and rugged
and kind of likes to get dirty.
Early on, like, when he was younger,
it was, you know,
about being hard on him.
My focus was to keep him
extremely disciplined,
and the way I went about that
was through training.
I was kind of raised the same way.
My dad made me do push-ups
every single night.
Before you go to bed,
for me it was 50 pushups,
50 sit-ups, and 50 squats.
For AJ, that number had gotten
a lot higher.
[laughs]
He has become a much more elite athlete
than I was at a young age.
[tires scraping]
Turn around and come back.
AJ SAMUEL:
Me and him, like, we're real close.
You know, he's tough on me,
but it's nothing that I'm not used to.
He want to see me get better.
That's all it is.
MICHAEL SAMUEL JR.:
He makes me proud, you know.
Makes me feel like,
you know, it wasn't in vain.
It wasn't a waste of time.
You know, he's not one of these kids
you give so much to,
'cause, you know, there are some kids
you give the world to,
and they still mess it up.
Even as a kid, he had a good arm.
And the coaches in the park
will see that
and they wanted to move him
to quarterback.
Once they made that switch,
I just started training him
on a three-step drop.
You just started getting to work.
[chain scraping]
AJ, he has the potential
to be the best one.
This is really
a quarterback-driven team.
So the quarterbacks get a lot of credit,
and they get a lot of the blame.
AJ:
I'm a competitive person.
I'm hungry for success.
I'm hungry to win.
And going into
the state championship game,
I just like being
in a situation like this,
'cause it shows me who I am.
I feel like it makes me a better person
at the end of the day.
♪ hip-hop music ♪
♪ They say that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪
MAN: Brice Brown's team
has won 26 consecutive games.
MAN 2: 'Cause when you look
at what they've done,
that's mind-boggling, isn't it?
MAN 3;
No one had called them a dynasty yet.
Let us be the first.
MAN 4:
Karr signed 12 seniors
to college football scholarships
last year.
How big is this for
the West Bank of New Orleans.
Man, this is big
for the city of New Orleans.
♪ They say that we never gonna make it ♪
♪
BRICE: We are the first
predominantly African-American school
to win four state championships
in a row.
And we're going to be the only school
to win five straight.
♪ And they say that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR 2:
And, hey, we're ready to kick off.
COMMENTATOR: We are.
Aaron Anderson and Destyn Hill are deep.
That's a pretty good pair, isn't it?
We are underway.
Let's go. "Quick six" on me,
"go six" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Quick six!
COMMENTATOR:
Samuel takes the snap, retreats to throw.
Steps up with a lot of time.
He's going deep
on the first play.
He's got his man!
Perfect throw.
Catch made by Aaron Anderson.
Huge play for Karr right off the bat.
Samuel with a snap,
wants to throw it. Looking.
Intercepted on a poor throw.
And the Carencro Bears
getting huge play early.
[player grunts]
On fourth and eight.
Faulk bobbles the snap.
Recovers and he's in for a big loss.
And the Cougars come up big.
[all cheering]
Get your ass out of there
on third-- on fourth and long.
Good job, boy. Good job.
COMMENTATOR:
Samuel, hard count, retreats to throw.
Steps up, has time.
He's gonna throw it deep.
He has a receiver down there.
Ball hangs up. It's caught.
Touchdown, Cougars.
Touchdown, Karr.
Aaron Anderson
who just ran by his man.
Anderson is so good.
COMMENTATOR 2: All about
Aaron Anderson for Karr thus far.
He has been the man.
COMMENTATOR:
Fake it. Faulk wants to throw it.
He throws it down the field!
Caught, at the 40,
at the 30, at the 25.
All the way down to the 20.
Still on his feet.
At the 19. At the 18.
COMMENTATOR 2:
What a catch and run.
And a great job by Faulk.
ANNOUNCER:
First down, going Bears.
COMMENTATOR: Still no score
for Carencro here in this game.
Carencro about to change that
it would appear
unless the Karr defense
can come up big.
[crowd cheering]
Sets it down. Faulk gives it
to his running back, touchdown.
[crowd cheering]
They're coming right at you,
downhill to you.
Make the tackle.
Walk away with this.
I'm throwing you that ball.
Uh, you did a good job facing up
and reading that shit.
Go. You are fast, and I don't know what,
but go, alright?
COMMENTATOR: Samuels, shotgun.
Takes the snap. He does want to throw.
He's got time. He's looking.
He's going to throw it deep.
Has a man down there.
The throw is there. It's caught.
Inside the 35, all the way down
to about the 32.
There's Destyn Hill.
Samuels looking.
Samuels throwing. Deep.
Sideline, end zone.
Did he catch it?
[crowd cheering]
He did. He caught the ball.
Touchdown, Karr.
What a way to close.
It took them two plays.
Karr takes a 13-to-7 lead.
And that will get us to halftime.
NORMAN: Here's what
we've been talking about all year.
Now we about to play
situational football.
We've got to get
the stop coming out.
You know what it feel like now.
You know what it feels like now, right?
We got to play like we losing, okay?
We cannot give up any more points.
COMMENTATOR: Karr will kick off
to start the second half.
So Carencro will get it
against a 50 front.
Back to the split back here.
And the pitch. And they're gonna throw
a halfback pass.
Wide open. Caught.
It's gonna be a touchdown.
Carencro with the trick play. Touchdown.
They've tied the game, 13-13.
Trick play worked.
Now Karr goes to work.
Snap it to Samuel.
Fakes it. Wants to throw.
And it's batted in the air.
Incomplete.
Snap it. Samuel.
Lot of time.
He's gonna throw it deep.
Has a man out there,
but he over-threw him.
But he had his man.
That throw was way too long.
It was there for him, though.
It really was.
BRICE:
He, he's missing wide.
Ultra-wide receive
from the quarterback position.
You know, we got to lean on defense
to win this game.
It's a defensive game.
[indistinct chatter]
BRICE:
"Finish" on me. One, two, three.
ALL:
Finish.
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Snap it, run it, left.
Cutback is there.
It's wide open. He might go.
Forty, 50, 40, 35, 30, 25.
Knocked out of bounds
at about the Karr 22-yard line.
Big run off the big hole.
And that's a huge run.
52 yards for Prejean.
Snap it.
Wants to throw it.
Does. It's caught.
And a touchdown for Carencro.
Nineteen yards touchdown pass.
And Carencro leads by seven.
Gonna be a dogfight
It's gonna be a dogfight.
[air horn blaring]
Gonna be a dogfight.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Alright, here we go. Fourth down and five.
Another huge play,
Karr's going for it
with three receivers right,
a single to the left.
Snap it. A reverse play coming.
And it's open.
He's at the ten.
He's at the five. He scores.
Touchdown, Karr!
They run a reverse pitch
to Aaron Anderson.
He scores, 17 yards.
And the Cougars are on the board.
It's 20-to-19.
♪
Third and five.
Gonna run it right. Cut back.
He broke a tackle. He's gone.
This will be a touchdown, Carencro.
Hard run again.
Touchdown for Bears.
Thirty yards on the run,
Kendrell Williams.
And the Carencro running game
is taking over here.
And with 12 seconds to play
in the third quarter,
Carencro still up two scores,
28-to-19.
We finish the ballgame, guys. We finish.
We finish. We finish.
We finish the ballgame.
COMMENTATOR:
Fourth quarter begins.
Who can make a play for Karr?
Snap at Samuel. Retreats.
Wants to throw.
Lot of time.
Can't find anyone and takes a sack.
And that should never happen.
Third and twelve.
This is a huge play.
If Carencro gets a stop here,
they could take total control
of this game.
Snap it.
Samuel, running left.
Not going to get there. Nothing.
Got a yard, that's it.
Clock now down to 7:30 and counting.
Started here, you gonna finish here.
You still the top man,
win, lose, or draw.
COMMENTATOR: Karr needs a stop
right here, right now.
And they're going to fake it.
Faulk wants to throw it,
under pressure.
He is sacked.
Karr needed that.
Down by nine. 6:30 to play.
There is still a shot for Karr
in this game.
COMMENTATOR 2: Absolutely.
The whole key here is Samuel.
COMMENTATOR:
There it is. Game on the line.
Need to make plays.
Need to make them now.
Wants to throw.
Steps up, throws down
the middle, incomplete.
Second and ten at the 23.
Snap it. Samuel wants to throw.
He's looking the other way.
Stops, looks, throws deep
down the field, incomplete.
And it just looks like
Samuel's kind of out of sorts.
Karr's in deep trouble here.
I mean, this is the ballgame.
If they don't make this,
Carencro is going to win this game.
Karr's got to find a way
to make a play.
Samuel, rolling right.
Looking, looking, looking.
Nobody open,
throws it incomplete.
And he got decked as he threw it.
And Carencro stops them.
Samuel took a big hit.
Slow to get up.
And Carencro has got control
of this game
with a chance to put it away.
[air horns blaring]
♪
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Carencro, they're up by nine.
28-19 over the Cougars.
Make this, and it's over.
Snap it. Run it.
Breaking the tackle
and scoring, touchdown.
Carencro.
[crowd cheering]
♪
And the Karr Cougars see
their four-year streak
of winning state championship games
come to a close
against a team
that was simply better.
[crowd cheering]
♪
You lost, right?
Take it. Take it.
Wipe your face.
Wipe your face. Let's go.
Hey. Hey. Come on, man, get up.
Don't let them see you down.
We lost. Come on.
♪
COACH: Somebody gotta win,
somebody gotta lose.
Use this as a lesson.
It's supposed to hurt.
This job--
[screams]
Y'all are some good kids, man.
Y'all are some good kids. Alright.
I just feel I need
to just let you guys know.
Listen, dawg, we still love you, dawg.
We still love you.
We still believe in you.
Man, we are blessed.
We knew when we came here today,
there was a chance that we could what?
We could lose this competition.
When we say we love you,
that's just not saying that
to win a football game.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
Don't let losing make you think
that you are not a champion.
This line don't end.
This path don't end.
We control our own destiny
based off of what we do
and how we respond from this moment.
Hardest thing for a grown man to do
is to be consistent.
How they talk, how they walk.
That shit is hard.
What you going to do
for yourself after this?
How are you gonna build yourself
into that calm man
that we all strive to be?
Winning creates complacency.
Let's see how this loss
creates consistency.
Take one step forward every day
with no steps back.
And I promise you, if we keep taking
those steps forward,
you will be a champion again
and hold up that gold trophy.
You never go into coaching saying
one day I might try to win five in a row.
You're blessed to win one.
You're blessed to even get there, right?
But it still hurts
and it's gonna hurt,
and it's gonna hurt forever.
I, I hate to say it like that.
Trust us and keep on
that narrow line, Lord,
that you prepared for them, Lord.
We don't question what you did, Lord.
We fell short
and got a silver trophy
and they got a gold one.
So for us,
we got to put a chip
on our shoulder
and be able to get back to work.
Um, you know, he's played
in big games before,
you know, playing at Karr,
it come with the territory.
Not a lot of quarterbacks in Karr history
have been successful
as a sophomore in this game.
He has a lot to build on,
and hopefully, this isn't
the last time he visits
the state championship game.
And, you know, hopefully,
you know, he could get back here
and correct some of the mistakes
that he had tonight.
AJ: That was the hardest one,
going up to my dad on a loss.
That was... that was
a tough one for me.
That's all he ever dreamt of,
was me to, to be great,
to be successful, to always win.
And I lost.
I just needed somebody
to lean on right then.
Shit.
BRICE:
Carencro beat us.
We lined up and we shook their hand.
Good game. See you next year.
We teaching our boys
to keep their head up,
to take losses just like you take wins.
We supposed to fail at something,
and then we're supposed to get up
and we're supposed to fight back.
That's what we're supposed to do.
Because that's how when we
walk out of this, this building,
that's what the, that's what
the real world gonna give us.
♪ upbeat music ♪
♪
It's tough to measure a coach
by his wins and losses.
You know,
the true measure of a coach
is how he impacts his players.
I met Brice when he was
a junior high player at Karr.
He was head and shoulders above
the kids his age.
I understand his father died
when he was a very young kid.
And so sports was his way out also.
Yeah, we played spades right here.
Had a basketball goal right here.
So we were gambling
when we were, like, 13 years old.
[chuckles]
LORIEN BLAKELY:
This is our wall of fame.
All the grandkids.
This is Brice. All seven pounds,
13 ounces of him.
When we all stayed here.
This was our room right here.
TOYA BROWN: One day, he just decided
he was going to play football.
He and my grandfather
would, uh, get in the living room
and move all the furniture
out of the way,
and he was showing, like,
offensive plays and stances
and all kind of stuff like that.
I think he's taken a backseat
for his own life
to make somebody else's life better.
And that's just who he is.
BRICE: You know, a head coach,
you got to always be there.
And I don't believe in 50 percent.
NORMAN:
He don't have kids.
He don't say, "I'm not going
to be there tomorrow. I got something."
This is his life.
They're going to feel 'em, T.
NORMAN: He know if he adds a part
of his life that's outside of Karr,
that's going to take away from Karr.
And he's not willing to do that.
And I think that's just
the ultimate sacrifice.
Your expectations should be
to use this tool
to go into another field
in your life.
Are you good with the price
that you're paying?
That's the question.
And I'm comfortable with it.
You know the thing
that keep me going?
Jesus Christ.
They whipped him
until he couldn't even walk.
And he didn't complain.
[players praying indistinctly]
So I don't have no room to think
about complaining.
[keyboard clacking]
[printer whirring]
BRICE:
We do have a lot of success.
But we fail a good bit too.
We talk about a lot
in the staff room,
we're trying this approach,
we're trying this approach,
but we just can't get this kid
to buy-in or whatever.
But we can't save 'em all.
REPORTER:
An Edna Karr High School senior
was shot and killed
yesterday afternoon
in the 6100 block
of Tullis Drive in Algiers.
Eighteen-year-old Caleb Johnson
was just days away from graduation.
The Edna Karr high school senior
played football,
was on the homecoming court,
and was planning to join the Navy.
BRICE:
It breaks everyone's heart that that kid,
his name will still
be called at graduation,
but his body won't be able
to walk across that stage.
Caleb, he wasn't with us
on the team any longer,
but, you know,
he still was at the school.
You know, we went to visit Miss...
Miss DeCarlas at her house.
And she showed me a video
that Caleb had sent
when he was working out,
running on the bridge.
And he was running and he said,
"Coach Brice,
I'm gonna show you this year."
Caleb was the victim
of gun violence.
It's so tragic
because it was said that he died
trying to purchase a weapon
to protect himself from other violence.
And during the sale of the weapon,
he was shot and killed.
I think children thrive
when they know they belong to something.
And him quitting the team
and then him being murdered,
it puts a laser focus
on just how necessary
that institution is.
[indistinct chatter]
That ain't a lie.
♪
♪
I would be remiss
if I didn't say something
because as an advocate,
not only for education,
I'm a doctor of education,
but I am a daughter of New Orleans.
This is our community.
And there is
an African proverb that says
children who are not embraced
by the village will burn it down
to feel its warmth.
And I'm here to tell you
that New Orleans is on fire.
DR. WYATT:
I go to the rallies and the marches
and the vigils and the funerals
because I care.
Y'all keep thinking blood
makes you family,
blood makes you relatives.
Love makes you family.
I have a 14-year-old son.
And before I let Jefferson Parish have him
or before I let somebody
that look like him have him,
I will burn this
entire motherfucker down.
Do you understand me?
[crowd cheering]
I don't give a damn about anything
other than making this community
a place that my child can live,
his children can live,
and not have to fear
the very act of just trying to live.
God, thank you for this food
that we're about to receive.
May it bless and nourish
our bodies, amen.
MAN:
The unity amongst this community.
Father, where there's unity,
there's a blessing.
Father, we thank you that
you're blessing those that are...
We can't talk
about Black-on-Black crime
without talking about
all of the systemic issues
that create this bottleneck effect
of why Black people
are killing Black people.
CROWD:
Fight for Nola.
We won't stop.
DR. WYATT: It's built in policies,
it's built in the Constitution,
it's built in the fabric of America.
Because an uneducated people,
an impoverished people,
a marginalized community,
that's, that's like you're shoving them
in a corner.
And when they get tired of their backs
being against the wall,
they're going to come out swinging.
We are just seeing loss of life
younger and younger now.
I think as early as 11, 12.
They're carrying guns now.
CROWD: Justice for Nola!
WOMAN: Justice for Nola!
We just have to do something about it.
We have to do something that matters.
MAN:
Second down. Second down.
Let's go. Let's go.
Run it. Run it. Run it. Run it.
[indistinct chatter]
Set! Hut!
MAN:
There you go, there you go, there you go.
[indistinct chatter]
Y'all loose.
Y'all got to stop him
and y'all need to scoop.
Y'all gonna get
three players to scoop,
not three players
to get a touchdown.
It's very easy for our kids
to stray off the record
and just go left
into the wrong, uh, company.
But some kids don't have options,
so the streets and, and bad news,
that's all they have.
So I, I want to be here
just to give them a option,
like, hey, well, we do have programs
over here that's going on.
Tonka was of vital impact to the kids,
especially in my program.
He's actually my brother-in-law,
so they know he played at Karr,
he played in the championship game.
So, you know, he played in the Superdome.
He also went to college.
So when he come around, the kids,
they, wow, like, he's an NFL player.
So they just want to hang around him,
wanna pick his brain,
see what it took for him
to get to that level.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
♪
We just passed the old YMCA.
That was like a safe haven
for all the kids in this community.
Once they took that away--
They took that away around 1985, '86.
So that's when a lot of stuff
in this neighborhood went down.
You know, it was just crazy
after that, you know.
We had nowhere to go.
And that's when these kids
getting involved in the drugs
and the guns and stuff like that.
It's all about the kids, you know.
It's not about the adults,
you know.
I feel like the adults had their time
to do whatever they had to do in life.
It's all about the kids.
♪
BOY:
There he is. Man of the hour.
[indistinct chatter]
[fireworks exploding in distance]
TYGEE:
New Orleans still got good in it.
Just look around, you know,
you see people,
their families,
their little ones, you know.
Just make you feel good
about just being from here.
The pride being from New Orleans.
[kids chattering]
♪
♪ I, I never reach up
I got amnesia ♪
♪ I don't remember
I got a temper ♪
♪ You stalkin' now
I fuck around ♪
♪ You fuck around
we both not proud ♪
♪ You said I'm different
I'm difficult ♪
♪ You said I'm missin'
I'm missin' you ♪
♪ You poppin' up
I'm poppin' out ♪
♪ They talkin' now
just block 'em out ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[woman shouting]
[police siren blaring]
KELLS:
They fighting.
Oh, they left wigs on the ground.
Bitch can't fuck with me! Stupid ass.
BOY:
What was that about?
Her dumb ass!
[indistinct]
[girl shouting]
You know what's up!
This is real life reality
in New Orleans right here.
Always something.
Kells, get in the car, come on.
[engine revving]
- Fuck!
- Yeah.
They really had that on camera,
so why they did that bad--
Well, they pop shooting, bro.
They pop shooting that whatchamacallit.
They mad. She must have lost.
But that could have hit anybody, bro.
For real, they trippin'.
[indistinct]
BOY: That's what-- that's,
that's New Orleans for you.
NICHOLAS:
That's New Orleans.
Like, that's what we got
to go through just to have fun,
just to see all the girls.
Gotta go left sometimes.
[wind whooshing]
[insects chirping]
New Orleans,
summers are hot and humid,
which makes people agitated.
Your murder rate,
just look at the number, goes up.
[students chattering]
If you have football practice,
you're not in the streets.
That's how simple that is.
BRICE;
Summer's idle time.
You know, idle mind
is the devil's workshop.
You have to accept as the coach
that you cannot control
what these kids do
when they go home.
You stay proactive
by keeping them at practice.
Everybody pay up.
Everybody pay up.
Whoever in front,
step out to me.
Some more. Some more.
Right there. Right there. Right there.
Right there. Right there. Right there.
This group right here.
Listen up.
This group right here, your job is
to try to touch
the person in front of you.
If you don't touch them,
you got push-ups.
If you touch them,
they got push-ups.
So we're going
to stand right here.
This group right here
is gonna stand right here.
This group's gonna stand right here.
When I blow the whistle,
a, a letter or alphabet I say
we're getting out,
so y'all go to the top.
Your job is to touch them.
If they touch you,
be a man, do your push-ups.
First whistle. Ready!
[all shouting]
[indistinct chatter]
[whistle blowing]
[all grunting]
[all shouting]
Two.
ALL:
Two.
You can't work hard,
don't come to me 'bout no rotations,
about no starting,
about no playing time.
Don't come to be
about none of that.
♪ Swallow my pride,
channel my rage ♪
♪ Where have you been?
I've been away, under my skin ♪
Think about how you were worn down.
They wore you down.
You're not getting worn down this year.
♪
You better earn it right here.
Don't be the weak link.
Come on, finish.
Come on, Ashton. Come on, Ashton.
[players yelling]
NORMAN: Come on--
Good job [indistinct]
- Come on, Ryan.
- Come on, come on, come on, finish.
NORMAN:
Come on, move.
Finish. Finish, finish, finish.
♪ Four a.m., dancing 'til it's late
on my lonely ♪
♪ Four a.m. dancing
in the rave, rave, rave, rave ♪
♪
[grunting]
MAN:
Full palm, with the leg. I got you.
[grunts]
MAN: Yeah, four, three, two.
Two more like that.
[grunts]
MAN:
Four, three, two, push.
Tory, you know,
he's the middle linebacker here.
Unfortunately, his mom died.
And he really went into a dark place.
And I hadn't seen him
for maybe three or four weeks.
And then I said, "Listen, I need
to see you tomorrow in person."
And then, you know,
he just burst out crying.
You know, he had never been
without his mom before,
which we all understand that.
What you doin'?
You gonna get tired in the fourth quarter?
Come on.
BRICE: I thought we was
on the brink of losing him.
And I thought that our coaches
did an exceptional job
or reeling him back in.
You know, it was a regular day.
You know, she came home from work.
You know, she worked two jobs.
She worked bus in the morning.
She did, like, truck driving.
You know, garbage truck driving,
you know.
She did always work.
And the incident happened,
you know.
They had a group of doctors
come get us, pull us to the back.
And we were just
sitting there for, like--
It was in a empty room. We were just
sitting there for, like, 20 minutes.
I'm thinking they were going
to tell us something like,
you know, she got to be
in the hospital alone.
I was not expecting her
to, you know,
for them to give me
that type of news.
But when-- and when they said
she passed,
I was just like
for, like, five minutes straight,
I was just froze, bro.
And it just hit me, like,
the most important person
in my life gone.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
Thank you, Lord,
I'm just blessed to be in this situation
and be here with my family.
We here for you, Mama.
And just continue to steer us
in the right direction.
Amen.
BRICE:
I remember one time he called me,
he said, "Coach, I need you
to come pick me up."
I was like, "Alright.
So where you at?"
He's like, "I'm by my dad house."
I pulled up. All of his clothes
was on the front lawn.
And I, I pulled up,
he was, he was putting all his,
picking up all of his clothes
out the grass and putting it
in a box.
I said, " Look,
You ain't going back there."
[keys jingling]
And now that he's living
with his grandmother,
a more stable home for him.
WOMAN: Come on, baby.
You mother, your grandma--
I want a picture
with all of my men.
- No, y'all together.
- Where?
My grandsons all over there.
Okay.
MAN:
Everybody ready? Oh yeah.
LORNA:
He got somebody to rely on.
And he know he was gonna
have a meal.
But the only thing about him
is I told him he's not a baby.
I don't have to go in that room.
[indistinct chatter]
MAN:
What's up?
TORY:
She be throwing down in this kitchen.
Mm-hmm.
You did something different.
See, I'ma put you
in a bigger house.
A bigger kitchen
with a bigger stove.
So that mean more food for me.
Every time I walk past it,
I just need to touch it.
Let her know, like, I'm still here,
I'm still gonna go hard for you.
Yeah, she gone,
but I can't be negative about it.
I, I, I got to find
a way to be positive.
So, that's why
I always be around Karr
because Karr always keep me
on a positive side.
DENISE: When you took the pre-ACT,
what was your lowest subject?
Was it math, English?
You don't have to say the score,
but what was the subject?
I think, I think it was--
Honestly, I thought math was going
to be my lowest,
but math was my highest,
that was crazy.
Of course, it was.
[laughs]
'Cause I taught you math. Mm-hmm.
TORY: Miss Ellis, she always tried
to be a mother figure to me
'cause she knew, you know,
I don't have that right now.
But just the love and the care
they have for me,
it replace it sometimes.
I'm saying, if that's what you want,
'cause I don't, I don't want you to chase,
like, doing business 'cause
you're trying to chase paper.
Chase whatever you,
what you want to do.
Chase your purpose.
You chase your purpose...
Tory worries me sometimes
because he doesn't give himself a break.
I'ma keep going. I'ma keep working.
And I tell him, you know,
you need to rest.
He doesn't feel that way
'cause he feel like
this is his only way out
and by any means necessary,
I got to do it.
When you go home, I don't want you
to look it up, look up the answers.
I want you to just blindside do it.
I know she's looking down at me,
and I know she,
you know,
proud of what I'm doing.
But I want
to just make her prouder every day.
I'm trying.
Ohh.
We're actually on our way
to go visit my oldest son
that's, um, incarcerated
at Ascension Parish Jail.
He was incarcerated
at the age of 15
for armed robbery,
and he was trialed as a adult
and they gave him 15 years.
The system is against us, not for us.
So of course we will be the ones
that got to go through it
and endure the worst side of it,
you feel what I'm sayin'?
So it's something we just go through,
like, as Black people.
So it's just... it's not right.
It's just normalized, so.
♪
♪
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
What's up?
TYSHA: What's going on?
[indistinct chatter]
I've been gone since I was 16.
I was a kid. I'm 27 now.
I got one more year left.
That's a lot of time
to be gone from your family.
TYGEE:
What article that in?
There was a newspaper--
[indistinct]
TYGEE;
I was in the news?
I was reading a newspaper one day,
I look, I'm like,
that's his name in there.
Man, that's my little brother.
I'm bringing it to all the people
around the dorm, showing it to people.
I'm just excited
every time they play on TV,
like when they was on state champs,
I had the whole dorm watching the games
and everything.
DARRYL:
I want him to be successful too.
Stay focused, go to school,
go to college, do something with yourself.
I wanna be an example for you.
This is, this is the wrong route.
I don't want him to come this way.
[indistinct]
TYGEE:
Seeing, like, throughout the years
him just going through trials
and tribulations is like,
that really showed me, like,
I'm conscious of everything I do.
I know when I get to Karr,
safe haven, I'm good.
I'm straight.
Feel what I'm saying?
But from Karr to my house,
you're just trying to make it home.
♪
MAN:
Come on, boy. There you go.
[indistinct]
MAN: There you go.
Pretty good running back too.
MICHAEL: I don't let him go
to no house parties.
Like, like, no. I was like, you know,
you're too valuable of a person.
You know, I can't keep you
boxed in for too long
'cause you going to go, you know,
you gonna end up going crazy or something,
but then I can't just let you free
'cause then you gonna end up squandering
away all your blessings, you know.
Especially at this, this age,
you know, 16, 17 years old.
It's like that's the time
where you kind of starting
to let the reins go a little bit.
But it's, like, also scary
at the same time.
You know, you never know
what's that next phone call gonna be
when they're out,
you know, doing certain things.
So my aunt,
she actually had this poster.
It was in her house,
and I took it from her.
It's like a really important time
in American history
for African-American people
to even be in the Olympics
and win a medal
and to so, show, show and support
our kind at this time,
at this point in time.
This is my youngest sister Ajis.
She's one.
Uh, she acting shy right now,
but she's never really shy.
You're not gonna say hey?
No?
♪ Man and a woman ♪
[laughs]
[child babbling]
Mommy.
WOMAN: Ducky!
[child babbling]
I guess I feel like
I'm, like, the caregiver
making sure, you know,
he has what he needs every day.
Make sure he's feeling good
every day.
Make sure he gets
to where he needs to go every day.
You know, I like to be
a listening ear when he needs it.
I kind of like to be a balance.
You know, his dad is real aggressive,
forceful, demanding, you know.
That can be challenging at times,
but that's why the tribe works.
MICHAEL: It's a whole tribe
that has invested into AJ.
You know, um,
when he hits these camps,
my parents help out,
his step-mom,
she does a phenomenal job.
She's the one doing all the cooking
and making sure he's eating properly,
the one making sure
his clothes are washed
and he's getting up
for school on time.
And, you know, his aunt,
she heads his, uh, recruitment.
So she's out, you know,
emailing, talking to coaches.
LEAH:
I believe in AJ.
I believe he's one of the greats.
I believe he's one of the top kids
in the state easily.
I believe that anything negative
people say about him
is not, is not his game,
it's about, uh, his height.
Schools that actually recruit
and give, uh,
smaller quarterbacks chances
is where we like to look.
AJ's talent, his arm, his skill,
his footwork, his technique.
Had he been six-five,
I might not have to do this, right?
Like, every school in the country
is looking at him, looking for him.
And put up the numbers
he did for a sophomore?
Come on.
[grunting]
COACH: Good.
[whistle blows]
REPORTER:
The Karr Cougars are tackling practices
with an extra edge.
For the first time since 2016,
they won't start the season
as the defending state champs.
Carencro put an end to their four-peat
of state titles in Natchitoches.
Did you have one of the better teams
in the state last year?
Yes. Yes, you did.
You had one of the most talented teams
in the history of the school.
Did you win? No.
But did you lose? No.
You did not lose because now
the one thing you did lose
is that taste in your mouth.
Identify. Accept. Correct.
In any walk of life
that you going to go through,
you must have those three steps.
You owe yourself
the opportunity to correct it.
A big message in the Karr program
is no success without struggle.
Then you go what?
You go half that speed...
How do people perform
when their back
is completely against the wall?
What is your response to being
at the lowest point of your life
or the most difficult point in your life?
How do you respond to that?
Do you surrender or do you fight?
It's no in-between.
[players grunting, yelling]
[indistinct]
- That can't be me on the ground.
- Can't be me.
It can't be me on the ground.
No, bro, I can't--
[indistinct]
TORY:
You, you know, we lost,
but I take that L as a lesson
instead of a loss,
because it just makes you realize
that, you know,
even though we were
the best team, we beatable.
[grunting]
[blows whistle]
TYGEE:
We took this L.
You gonna see
a whole different type of, like,
aggression, motivation.
You gonna see
a whole different team
in how we do everything.
NORMAN: You know, you went four
and you lose that fifth one.
Now you're motivated, right?
You have a chip on your shoulder.
So going into this next season,
we wanted to reclaim what was ours,
which was that state championship trophy
that we had let go
the year before to Carencro.
♪ upbeat music ♪
NORMAN:
The humidity is so damn sticky.
But you know what?
They better get used to it.
Turf is feeling 109 right now.
BRICE:
Gotta hydrate.
Right now, we are trying
to reclaim our spot
as the best team
in the state of Louisiana.
Why? Because we are
the best team in America.
How? We gonna work our fuckin' ass off.
Win. Right now.
♪ They said that
we never gonna make it ♪
♪ We ain't tripping
never was basic ♪
♪ Fuck niggas
and I never was racist ♪
♪ Show love,
should have never been gracious ♪
Good job.
[indistinct]
Everybody wants to beat you.
So we got to practice like that.
Every single day. Every day.
[shouting]
You got to go through the defender
and make that play.
Counting on you.
I'm looking for perfection.
COACH:
Dig deep inside of you.
Every day you go
throughout your life,
you want to gain an inch, a crumb.
Hungry for success.
Greedy for success.
But understand success won't come
without the struggle.
Today, you put in the struggle.
♪ We already know that we grinding ♪
♪ They said that
we never gonna making it ♪
♪ We ain't tripping
never was basic ♪
Hey, let's go!
Let's fucking finish it. Let's finish it.
[grunting]
[whistle blows]
BOY: Ohh!
- [whistle blowing]
- Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
If y'all not here
and y'all doing dumb shit,
we locking down on that.
Real talk, 'cause we, we on a mission.
[rhythmic clapping]
BRICE: You want to be
a state champion, right?
Do you want to reclaim your legacy?
We can be a lot better.
But guess what?
You know what we need?
Motherfuckers who believe that we can.
Position!
[yelling]
PLAYER: Three.
ALL: Together.
PLAYER: Four, five, six.
ALL: Family.
[blows whistle]
♪
[thunderclap]
[thunder rumbling]
We are now under hurricane warnings
for all of southeast Louisiana.
We do expect it
to become a major hurricane.
Wind, flood, surge impacts definite.
So now's the time
to get that plan in order.
REPORTER: You're going to have to do
the things that protect your life
over the next several hours
as this plays out,
especially on the South Shore.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[thunder rumbling]
[lightning cracks]
♪