BOONEVILLE- RNN Sports is highlighting this week’s conference showdown between the Booneville Bearcats and the Charleston Tigers. As an added feature for our readers, RNN Sports is sharing stories from two seniors from both schools who will play on Friday. We asked each what the rivalry means to both them and their communities. The players highlighted in separate stories are Dax Goff of Booneville and Reese Merechka of Charleston.
Just after the end of the Bearcats’ practice on Wednesday of last week, Booneville’s All-State running back and linebacker, Dax Goff, visited with RNN Sports on the Bearcats’ upcoming game at Charleston.
Goff has been a man among boys for the past three seasons for the Bearcats. He continues to break both school and state rushing records while looking forward to continuing his playing career next fall at Harding University. Against Greenland, Goff went on to eclipse more than 4,000 yards rushing in his career. With several games left, including what should be a deep playoff run for the Bearcats, Goff may set records that will stand for many years to come.
We began our telephone conversation by visiting about the season he is enjoying in 2023. Dax commented, “It has been a fun season, a fun senior season. I’m healthy and have been doing all of the ice baths, protein, and extra recovery things.”
In our previous interview with Dax this summer, he indicated that he wanted to break the all-time rushing record at Booneville. When I asked him last week how many yards he had remaining to break the record, he said, “I think it is 286 yards.”
The Bearcats, at deadline time, were facing two tough road trips that will more than likely determine the top three seeds in the conference for the state playoffs in November. Booneville was traveling to Mansfield on October 13, and will travel to Charleston on October 20. Commenting on the match up at Mansfield, Dax shared, “I feel really good going into Mansfield. We have watched a lot of film on them, studied a lot, and I think we can go in there and play like I know we can. I know they will have a few tricks up their sleeves for us.”
Our conversation quickly turned to the upcoming game with Charleston, and Dax began by saying, “Since we lost to Charleston last year, the rivalry has just blown up. So, like this year, we have been saying, “Take Pride” all year. Last year, it was like “Unfinished Business” because of that game and the rivalry between us. That rivalry is big now, and we want to take it home. It means more than any game we will play this year.”
I asked Dax if he thought the Bearcats were at risk of looking past Mansfield due to the next week’s match-up with Charleston, and Dax said, “We have not talked much about Charleston at all this week because of Mansfield. We want to beat them (Mansfield). So, we are hard core Mansfield this week. We have been really good this season at focusing on one team at a time. We don’t have the experience this year that we had last year to look past anyone.”
So, undoubtedly, as big of a game this week’s match-up with Charleston is, Dax Goff and the other Bearcats seniors are showing their leadership in keeping the team focused going into the Mansfield game before turning their full attentions to the Charleston Tigers.
The Booneville / Charleston rivalry is a little unique due to the close geographical proximity of the schools, and the past and current relationships among the coaches and players from both schools. There is a strong sense of mutual respect between both schools, no matter how badly they want to defeat each other. Dax added, “I played drums at Coach May’s church for three years. The rivalry between the two schools and communities is there, but as players, both teams don’t talk about it much. The chirping starts (between players) on game week and it is intense. This game means a lot to me because it is my last time to play them in Charleston.”
So, I asked Dax to tell me what it will be like in the Booneville locker room just before they take the field on Friday night at Charleston. Dax said, “One thing I like about this team is that we don’t have to have a coach get us fired up to play. We are always ready to go. We always have a little of swagger to us on Friday nights. We (seniors) probably will say something that night because its Charleston, but like we will just go out there and play.”
And that is what champions do…they just go out and play.
Friday’s game will be an epic showdown between two champions, and it will be a battle.
