Former NFL player and Philomath alum Kevin Boss had some interesting things to say about high school football recently during an interview with the Bulletin Sports Talk podcast in Bend.
Boss said the sport at the high school level was football at its “purest form.”
“The further up you get there is more at stake, there are things that can sour the fun level,” said Boss, who owns Boss Sports Performance in Bend. “People always joke that the NFL stands for the ‘No Fun League’ and I had a blast playing in the NFL and I can understand how it got that name, too.”
Boss talked with Bulletin Sports Talk’s Brian Rathbone about lessons learned on his way from being a lightly recruited athlete out of Philomath.
“After we lost in the first round of the playoffs my senior year, I thought that was my last football game,” Boss said. “Nowadays kids are committing as juniors in high school. Walking off the field I had already switched my mindset to go win a state championship in basketball and we were able to do that.”
Boss graduated with Philomath High’s Class of 2002. His final football game with the Warriors was a 34-0 loss to Brookings-Harbor in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.
“Walking off that field that night I still remember one of my football coaches put his arm around me and said, ‘You know what Kevin, I don’t think this will be your last football game,’” Boss told Bulletin Sports Talk.
But as he mentioned, Philomath won the state title in boys basketball during his senior year with a 40-38 win over Central in the 3A finale.