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DumCoach
(@dumcoach)
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Joined: 14 years ago
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This is a long but good read:

The creation of the Killer Bee defense is owed in part to Brian Rosenthal, Darren Fish, Jack Gregory, and JJ Lawsen (for his TKO paper).  I was asking Rosenthal how to defend Spread with my DC Pro 4-3 and asking Fish how to defend the DW with a WT6.  They both gave me the exact same answer.  That is, both Spread and Double Wing are defended the same way.  Within two weeks I had created the Killer Bee with two of my own additions.

The Killer Bee is intended to give you the chance to beat better players with worse by interfering with their blocking and getting to the ball using pursuit angles regardless of what they're running.  It will also do something else few youth defenses do and that's READ system offenses.  "System" offenses are any offenses that can be either bought or found on a web site.  All SYSTEM offenses work on a single principal - producing ANGLES.  You can produce ANGLES with either blockers or receivers (You can cross two blockers or cross two receivers to create OPEN SPACE for the ball.).  The defense knows how to read both blockers and receivers to recognize the play and can do it on just the first step of the offense.  They are all headed to get where they need to be for either the INT or the tackle as soon as the offense gets its first step down.  A DE can get into the backfield six different ways, every down, with no sideline call.  He can learn all six different ways in about six minutes even if he's a 7 year old.  This defense will defend run or pass regardless of formation because it's designed to defend offenses spread all over the field (Zone) or stuffed in a phone booth (zero splits).  You can defend SW, DW, "I", Spread or Pistol because the "D" can either follow pullers (easily done) or eliminate ANGLES (whether receivers or blockers) and doesn't care what the line splits are. 

Offensively, teams use ANGLES to create SPACE.  DW and SW teams will compress across the front to eliminate leaks and then block down and kick out to create space.  You can neither block down nor kick out the Killer Bee front to create space. You can offset the FB, go "Wing On", and pull your blocker(s) and run into a wall.  Spread teams want to pull a tackle to block screen only to find three being defended by four and one of the blockers is actually blocking his defender into the screen receiver's only way out.  Spread will also run crosses and slants only to try and throw into seven with four.  A successful Zone blocked play goes for 1.5 yards.  The reason the defense works so well is that it's four man front plays like five (And the offense cannot stop the defense from doing this (For 20 years it was tried and could not be done.).  And the front does more just play like five.  Cisar, Mountjoy, Jack, and Reed all use a very effective MPP even front.  Killer Bee also borrows from this only does it better by doing more. So you're busting up the offensive front three different ways 1) You have four playing like five 2) They're moving to the ball, regardless of the play, on first step, and 3) You have two MPP's causing trouble.  The front four can take out as many as seven offensive blockers (TE to TE) every down without a single blocker getting down field.  And they still have the chance to make the tackle. This happens regardless of whether the offense's blocking rule is ON,  GOD. GOOD GOD, SAB, GOL, TKO, "G", GDB, "Cross", Wedge, Zone or just plain"Hit somebody!".  They just don't go anywhere.  I invented this system myself (from beating SW teams).

That leaves the offense with just three blockers for their ball carrier versus seven DB's.  That math just doesn't work.  It's so bad that one of the seven DB's doesn't even try and get in on the play.  He sits back and looks for the trick play.

The seven DB's all use ANGLES to beat ANGLE.  Two receivers always run into three defenders.  Three receivers always run into four defenders.  There are more wrong colored jerseys to throw to then right.  And they are very well positioned for any pattern.  And it's COVER FOUR.  Almost no youth defense is Cover 4. Cover 4 is a Spread Killer.  They can run four deep and all are covered.

Another trick used by offenses is "multiple formations".  A multiple formation offense will have like seven different formations from which it runs the same play.  The concept of multiple formations is to move a key defender away from a play and run it again.  It's known as "out formationing" an opponent. Killer Bee is almost impossible to out formation.  Why?  Because when the offense moves the defense only moves have as much or not at all.  The key player is still there.  Defenders only move if the ANGLES move and they only move as far as the ANGLE moved (which is not the same distance the offensive player moved).
 
Teams that try and change formations on the Killer Bee usually go from bad to worse.  The failure of the defense to MOVE often makes it look to scouters like you taught your kids this defense in 15 minutes and that's just how they line up no matter what.  So they'll try and cook up a formation in practice with an ANGLE that looks open only to find that it's covered and waste all that practice time.  The defense is also unrecognizable in spite of the fact that it was on national TV for over twenty years.  Again, it will look like something you drew up on a napkin during lunch.  Some players  will even look like they don't know how to line up.  Opposing coaches will likely not scout you as they just see the same thing over and over again (The kids look like they're doing the same thing over and over again because the offense is doing the same thing over and over again.  It's how offenses work.). 

One of the trademarks of my defenses is I don't allow a runner or a receiver OPEN SPACE.  A ball carrier in open space can use his moves and his speed and, odds are, he's better in OPEN SPACE then your guys are and that's why they gave him the ball.  A ball carrier in OPEN SPACE is BAD NEWS!  You never want to give a good running back or a good receiver OPEN SPACE because they will make use of it.  You will learn two things when a stud hits open space with the ball.  First, you'll learn why they made him the ball carrier and, second, you'll learn why 9 of your 11 defenders are not ball carriers for you.  Your 9 will not match up to their ONE.

So the Killer Bee not only takes away the blocking and receiving angles that create open space but then moves into that space with an overwhelming number of tacklers (They can't all miss.).  Here, again, Killer Bee does what no other defense does.  No matter what your offensive play call, you'll find that your runner or passer can ALWAYS read the backside jersey number of a specific offensive lineman.  This is true no matter what you run.  Draw it up yourself.  See if you can figure out who it is.  Because Killer Bee knows who it is and is trying to get behind his jersey number and doing it six different ways, every down, no sideline call.  In Killer Bee it is possible to tackle the runner TWICE for a loss before he even reaches the LOS.   

In Killer Bee the runner either runs into a crowd and the QB throws into a crowd.  And the crowd is pretty good especially when three are unblocked (Their three cannot block your seven but one of the seven holds back.).  And the three unblocked are always your best three tacklers.  And the three pass defenders always includes one of your top two studs.  The offense gets all screwed up because they can't away from your numbers and talent. 

The first two of your unblocked tacklers are coming in from opposite angles (left and right).  I learned this from WWII aerial torpedo school. They'd approach the targeted ship from the bow from opposite sides and drop their torpedo.  Both torpedo paths intersected at the bow.  If the ship went straight, both torpedoes hit.  If the ship turned turned left or right, at least one still hit.  I did the same thing with a runner.  I made him the ship and I made two defenders torpedoes in the water intersecting the bow (belly) of the runner.  If the runner went straight, he got tackled twice.  If he tried to dodge one (go left or right) he got hit hit by the other.  It doesn't matter how good or how fast he is, he gets hit.

Subsequent follow up hits are timed to come in sequence, one right after the other.  I often noted that, if three tackles are missed, it's a TD.  This happens because of the interval of time between the hits is too long.  The runner has time to shake off the first tackler, get going again, and do the same to the next tackler.  So I reduced the time between tacklers hitting.  While the runner is still shaking off the first tackler, he gets hit by the second (Which is actually the third following the two "torpedo" players.).  There's no time to regain his balance.  He goes down.  The first man slows his him down and the second finishes him off.  And, if he gets away from the second, here comes the third right behind the second.  It's gang tackling but its planned gang tackling

Notice, at no point does the runner ever get to make a move or use his speed.  Killer Bee does not allow that. 

The three top tacklers also use landmarks on the field.  Once they get their READ they run to their landmark.  The landmarks have all been measured.  The unblocked defender will ALWAYS get to his landmark ahead of the ball carrier and the ball carrier is always running to his landmark (exception: Reverse - but reverse is double covered).  This produces both a pursuit angle and a shorter distance.  Film shows they work.  Again, I invented this system myself.  The use of landmarks allows you not to have to learn the math and angles the defense works on.  Just run to your landmark and the math and angle are automatically taken care of.  This defense is really high tech but with low tech teaching. You virtually teach none of this stuff.  It's done for you.

It's very hard to throw screen, short, or play action versus the KB.  You must throw DEEP and most youth QB's can't do that and, if they do, it's Cover 4.  If they can do that (And this usually means a 40 yard throw), the Killer Bee has a pass rush call to reach a QB in about 2 seconds, with no blitz, and even if he's in shotgun.  This pass rush along with the system for following pulling linemen was developed by NFL coach Tom Landry and was the basis for the Dallas "Doomsday" defense. This defense was specifically designed to beat Vince Lombardi's Green Bay sweep (similar to Wing T and DW football with two pullers). But Tom Landry was able to call a ferocious pass rush out it.  This defense produced 20 consecutive winning seasons, an NFL record.  It also produced front four names like Bob Lilly, Harvey Martin, Randy White, and Ed "too tall" Jones.  Pretty much anything they could do, you can do, and you will

The coverage is Zone and comes primarily from Jack Gregory's "6-3" with two additions that I added.  I changed the OLB play to match that of an NFL coach who produced a record number of INT's by an OLB so I thought that was worth copying.  I also went to "Cover 4" to better defend sweep, option, and Spread.  You can also go to Tom Landy's "Nickel" and "Prevent" calls. 

It's useful to know that I more or less copied Jack's zone rules (I thought his was a proven system) because it gives you an idea of how hard it is to teach this defense.  Our manuals are about the same length although mine would be much shorter but I added defending entire youth playbooks that I found online to "demo" the defense against (Also, just for fun I once tested it out against the 49'ers offense and Oregon's and could defend both their playbooks.). For example, there's 31 pages donated to the DW although there's only about four instructions and two optional calls in those entire 31 pages (The 31 pages are just 31 diagrams showing their plays and solutions not working.).  Basically, if you can teach Jack's you can teach mine.

In fact I have made the  defense even simpler since then.  The original playbook was designed to stop the San Francisco 49er's and the Oregon Ducks.  But since neither of those teams is on anyone's schedule in this forum, I down graded the levels of play to the following:

1) Those teams that will never see a pass
2) Those teams that might see a pass.
3) Those teams that will see a pass.

Originally, the manual was for #3.  But a lot of stuff gets eliminated if you're playing at level #1 or #2.  When I first put it out, I admitted against most daddy coaches you're using a howitzer to kill a fly with this "D" (That's because Killer Bee is designed to beat proven systems.). I'm pretty sure it can be run from ages 7-15 (In all three levels the player is only required to be able to count to 3.). 

In most years, 70% of all Killer Bee teams make their playoffs and about half  of these make their Super Bowl.  Teams in their second year are almost 100% in the championship game. 

The defense is an even front and a member of the "4-3" family but no one you play will know that.  As mentioned, it's Zone and most opponents won't know that either.  It requires two fast tackling running back types and will handle two MPP's.  The rest of the kids to run can be found on any team.  It takes about 90 minutes to install by yourself but then you have to rep it and that will require stations and assistants.

You should film your games if run this "D".  This defense is extremely forgiving and you could have kids making mistakes all over the field, not know it, and still stop every play (Winning 40-0 is not uncommon even with massive errors going on.).  The reason it works even with mistakes is because the offense has never seen it before, has no idea what's going wrong, or how to fix it.  But you'll want to watch your film and fix the errors.  It will pay off by the time you reach the playoffs.   

This is also not a defense you buy and then hand the manual to an assistant and say "Install this".  You install it yourself.  If you're not going to install it yourself you shouldn't buy it.  The defense is actually easy to learn but, oddly enough, hard to teach (There's a lot of stuff in here because every player's taught different.).  A coaching "cheat sheet" is provided to carry in your back pocket for quick practice reference. Everybody throws it away after two weeks. 

The Killer Bee costs $ 50 and gets you the manual, an assistant's presentation, and access to the private forum.  You can send payment to this account via Paypal:

clarkwilkins@charter.net

Include you want to access to the KB forum and give your screen name here so that I can clear it for entry to the forum.     

       

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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CoachQ
(@coachq)
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Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 314
 

Clark,

I just wanted to let you know how the KB worked for us.  We finished our MS season 5-2 but man the KB was kick butt!!!  We only gave up 42 points all year.  Our defense was our strong point and we finished the year with three consecutive shutouts!  I'm a believer in the KB and thanks for your help.


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DumCoach
(@dumcoach)
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Joined: 14 years ago
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Topic starter  

I'll try and dig up some posts on the defense now that the search function has been fixed.  This is one comparing the install of the Killer Bee to Jack's 6-3 (Of which defense I am an advocate of):

I bought both, handed them to my DC and said "you decide...it's one or the other".  Clarks was easier for us to digest.  I've purchased some other Jack Gregory material and he's on an entirely different wavelength than I am.  Maybe at some point in the future, some things will click and I won't have so much trouble reading his literature (and others)...or maybe the videos would help me.  Simplicity is why we went killer bee.

Here's one on how it works against an undefeated Double Wing team:

Having run the Killer Bee vs a very well coached Wyatt Double Wing team... I can agree with Clark. It stops the Double Wing out of the box.  No adjustments... although we got beat by them this year (not defense's fault though, my poor execution on the offensive side of the ball).  We destroyed them with it last year. In the last three years they have lost two ball games. Two years ago against Clark's DC46 and last year 44-6 against the Bee.... 😉

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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DumCoach
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Topic starter  

Here's one that points out that I will answer questions by PM (or here) and tell you if I think the "D" won't work for you:

If I may - you're not kidding that Clark does not aggressively market/sell it!  He was kind enough to give me a nice explanation of the general intent/philosophy of D via email/PM, and when I explained to him what my situation is, he said it probably isn't the right D for us.  Very cool of him to take the time to do that, and to be honest that maybe this isn't the D we're looking for, no need to spend the $.

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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Dimson
(@dimson)
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Here's on that points out that I will answer questions by PM (or here) and tell you if I think the "D" won't work for you:

You said the same thing to me. You said something to the tune of rocket launcher to kill a fly. I did buy a DVD from you though, but it wasn't the Killer Bee.


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DumCoach
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Topic starter  

You said the same thing to me. You said something to the tune of rocket launcher to kill a fly. I did buy a DVD from you though, but it wasn't the Killer Bee.

Thanks for the kind words.  Yes, you could be bringing a howitzer to kill a fly.  The Killer Bee is so advanced it will defend the 49er's "Pistol" playbook.  I found these running plays:

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/All22-A-closer-look-at-49ers-Pistol-offense.html

Of the five running plays shown, KB defends all five.  I also looked at the only passing play I found:

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/All22-How-49ers-use-waste-motion-to-create-matchups.html

Here, the 49er's use motion to draw a one on one match up between a LBer and a TE, evidentally a mismatch in pro football.  In the KB that TE would be covered by a safety (presumably not a mismatch).

Of course, none of us have to defend the 49er's but it was kind of fun to do.  🙂 

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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DumCoach
(@dumcoach)
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Topic starter  

Some additional information that might be useful.  Purchasing the Killer Bee manual is different than most. You pay $ 50 for it but I didn't set that price.  Eleven coaches on this forum agreed on the price.  I don't do this for money or ALL my stuff would be for sale.  But, if I gave it out for free everybody would be downloading it and trying to figure out how to beat it.  So here's how the price works.  First, I don't sell the Killer Bee during the months of September and October.  So, if you buy the defense, and kick A$$ with it,  come playoff time (October) your opponents can't buy it from me to figure out how it works to beat you.  They have to buy it either before September or after October which is when they don't need it.  It was judged that $ 50 was more than the "looky-Lou's" would be willing to pay for it during the off season but still affordable to a coach seriously wanting to run it.  So, for $ 50 you're pretty much guaranteed you'll be the only one running it in your league and no one will be able to get a copy of it during your season - or probably next season too for that matter  🙂  Your opponents will also find it difficult to impossible to get internet help from other coaches when the defense is not known to them.

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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Coach TonyM
(@ramoody)
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here's the great thing about the Bee... there are no adjustments that have to be made for a specific offense. If the kids know their assignments/alignments, then everything is covered.

There is only one exception that I know of and that is a team that has a great passer that can throw on the run in under three seconds.  I faced that this year. The team was a spread team with athletes that could throw and catch.  I discussed with Clark and put in a "nickel" back.  I would pull my Mike out and put in an extra coverage back.  This team killed everyone except two (the double wing team was the other one) and me.  We lost 8-6. We were outmatched athletically and it should've went in to overtime cause my halfback bumped out a hole on the 33 quick I called and it was wide open but the Bee did its job.  I would say that the nickel package is not something you would normally have to put in... only used it once in the last two years.


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DumCoach
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There have been recent discussions of the future of offensive football for ages 10-11.  One that was raised was a Joe Gibbs "Bama" offense which another poster described as the "East Coast Offense" (ECO).  It can be either a four vertical  receiver spread or use an H back and the recommendation was to use five running plays from three formations. The five running plays weren't all named but appear to include inside zone, outside zone, and three other plays from Joe Gibbs 1988 offense, including the counter trey.  This offense received a couple of "two thumbs up" here because it was a very simple install.  I found the words "very simple" to provoke my curiosity and so looked it up today to see if it was something I might want to run.  It appears that it's "very simple" relative to installing Air Raid, Flex-bone, or Delaware Wing T which, to me, means it's a simple high school offense.  Nonetheless, it was nominated as a youth system and even led the pack.  If so, Killer Bee should be very popular as it stops inside veer, outside veer, and counter trey as well as covers four verticals (and a screen with four verticals) with no call.  Likewise, I earlier tested it against the 49er's 2012 basic playbook and all plays were covered, again with no call.  That's not to suggest you'd want to play the 49er's with it (As their QB might just connect with the four verticals anyway covered or not.).  But it does show that the direction of modern offenses seem to play right into the Killer Bee.   

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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RoHi
 RoHi
(@rhoibcekrst)
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Hi Coaches,

How can I get the Killer Bee defense and how long does it takes for it to arrive?  I would love to install this defense.  The Youth teams here run the sw, dw, and spread.  Thought about 6-2, but from reading the threads, I might want to take a look at the Killer Bee.  Thank You for your help. 

"Hook'Em"


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Wing-n-It
(@robert)
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Hi Coaches,

How can I get the Killer Bee defense and how long does it takes for it to arrive?  I would love to install this defense.  The Youth teams here run the sw, dw, and spread.  Thought about 6-2, but from reading the threads, I might want to take a look at the Killer Bee.  Thank You for your help.

You have to email Clark (upper post)
His email is in the original post.

I dont think it is available right now because he doesnt want someone coming in and getting the book just to try to beat a coach that has it. You'll also get access to a private part of the forum that just talks about the Defense with other coaches that run the KB

Its a real good defense but I think you may be waiting till next year.

2 Things my offense will always have is a Wing and a Wedge


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Wing-n-It
(@robert)
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Some additional information that might be useful.  Purchasing the Killer Bee manual is different than most. You pay $ 50 for it but I didn't set that price.  Eleven coaches on this forum agreed on the price.  I don't do this for money or ALL my stuff would be for sale.  But, if I gave it out for free everybody would be downloading it and trying to figure out how to beat it.  So here's how the price works.  First, I don't sell the Killer Bee during the months of September and October.   So, if you buy the defense, and kick A$$ with it,  come playoff time (October) your opponents can't buy it from me to figure out how it works to beat you.  They have to buy it either before September or after October which is when they don't need it.  It was judged that $ 50 was more than the "looky-Lou's" would be willing to pay for it during the off season but still affordable to a coach seriously wanting to run it.  So, for $ 50 you're pretty much guaranteed you'll be the only one running it in your league and no one will be able to get a copy of it during your season - or probably next season too for that matter  🙂  Your opponents will also find it difficult to impossible to get internet help from other coaches when the defense is not known to them.

Here it is Rhoibcekrst
found it
You have a few more weeks to get it

2 Things my offense will always have is a Wing and a Wedge


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Wing-n-It
(@robert)
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As you should be  ;D

It is a great defense and Clark has done a great job with it.

Once you get it there is alot of help both from CLark and the other coaches who run it in a private section of this forum. THAT is invaluable

Enjoy

2 Things my offense will always have is a Wing and a Wedge


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DumCoach
(@dumcoach)
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Joined: 14 years ago
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Topic starter  

Here it is Rhoibcekrst
found it
You have a few more weeks to get it

Here is what he sent me today:

Hi Coach,

Just want to update you...I received the Killer Bee manual and was reading over the install for the 5th and 6th grade team I signed on to coach as First time head coach.  I talked over the system with my Brotherly Friend and head coach of the 7th and 8th grade team of which I've been apart of his staff for over 5 years.  He was just as excited as I was and wanted to install the Killer Bee for his team as well.  We started the install today.  He worked the DT's & M's together crawl, walk, run.  I worked the DE's together crawl, walk, run, while the corners and safeties worked drills.  (not enough coaches today to install their portion).  We then brought the DT-M-DE combination together and goodness....We are both in agreement that the Killer Bee is one AWESOME DEFENSE!!  Thank You for your hard work in putting this together.....Take Care.

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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DumCoach
(@dumcoach)
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Topic starter  

Another coach posted this:

First official scrimmage went well. We played a team from outside our league I knew very little about them. The BEE shut them down, sweeps went for 1-2 yards too no gain or losses, runs up the midddle were stopped after little to no gain. They tried to pass and there was nothing doing there either. Our OLBs were created havoc and safetys played down hill. We still need to get better at tackling. The thing I like most is the sheer numbers this defense can bring to the sweeps, Mike, Safeties, playside corner are for the most part unblocked. I think we will see a higher level of competition in our league but i am really stoked right know. GO KB!

"Football is for the kids - But let's win anyway."


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