Menchville head coach Ray Savage steps down from Monarchs’ program

by Brandon Mitchell, recruit757

As 2:00 p.m. neared on Saturday afternoon, there was a calmness about the atmosphere at Todd Stadium.

On one side of the stadium, the Phantoms had half of their team going though warmup drills with
Coach Jeremy Blunt isolated near the middle of their section. The rest of the Phantoms joined in 20 minutes later forming a circle on their side of the field to begin stretching. If you’ve ever been able to witness a Phoebus practice session, this originates well before the start of their football games on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

On the other side of the field, Menchville broke their team into multiple sections beginning individual position drills in preparation for its match up with Phoebus.

Kalepo Naotala could be seen on the sideline bundled up in an Oregon hoodie talking about the days when talent was at a premium for the Menchville Monarchs. The Hawaii defensive tackle is recovering remarkably from a spine injury that has currently left him paralyzed. As game time approached, a group of referee’s headed to midfield to greet Coach Ray Savage as they embarked in a lengthy, but candid conversation.

There was a referee that was late to the conversation that proceeded to approach Savage after the large contingent of referees walk away. He proceeds to talk to Coach Savage about this being his last game on a Menchville sideline.

A few weeks ago, Coach Savage made the entire community aware of his decision to resign at the conclusion of the regular season. Savage came on after the 2014 season and took over for Glenn Tidwell who coached the Monarchs for just two seasons before stepping down. Savage finished his first season as Monarchs’ head coach in 2015 where he coached Menchville to a 1-9 record. In his three subsequent seasons, Savage coached the Monarchs to a 4-26 record and was left out of post-season play all four years behind the helm.

Coach Savage has been praised for his ability to help young men that have lined up to play under him find a home at the conclusion of their high school football career. Despite not having the football record to reflect the overall direction of the program, we’ve watched players such as Kalepo Naotala, Marquis Rhodes, Malik Dixon, Jeremiah Fontenot, Shemar Butts, Nick Webster, Torey Guliford, Kenneth Kirby and Ray Savage, III among others leave Menchville with the opportunity to receive a quality education.

Coach Savage was kind enough to join recruit757 for an afternoon conversation while his men were preparing for their final game of the season against Coach Blunt and the Phantoms. With Phoebus gaining the top seed in Region 3A, the goal was to rest some of its starters in preparation for the region quarter-finals next week. Menchville has long been knocked out of playoff contention. However, Saturday was just another day for the Monarchs to go out and compete in order to send their head coach off with something position to hang his hat on. Below is our conversation.

– Brandon Mitchell