{"id":39393,"date":"2025-10-24T02:20:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/papa-syrup-and-the-fighting-fourteen\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T02:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:20:29","slug":"papa-syrup-and-the-fighting-fourteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/papa-syrup-and-the-fighting-fourteen\/","title":{"rendered":"Papa Syrup and the Fighting Fourteen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fighting Fourteen\u2019s fullback Daveon Provost struggling for tough yards against Aberdeen Roncalli. (Photo by James Giago Davies)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PINE RIDGE\u2014Back when Mahpiya Luta was still called Red Cloud, Duane \u201cSyrup\u201d Big Crow coached a football team that deserves to be remembered as more than a footnote. The South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) website won\u2019t show their names or scores, and the record books skip straight to the school\u2019s 9-man All Nations Conference years. But before Red Cloud dropped down, before they were playing only reservation schools, there was one extraordinary season in 2016\u2014a year when fourteen young men played 11-man football both ways and made believers out of everyone who thought Indian kids couldn\u2019t win on the same field as the Wasicu.<\/p>\n

They were called the Fighting Fourteen.<\/p>\n

Syrup Big Crow wasn\u2019t a former college quarterback, didn\u2019t have a degree in kinesiology, and didn\u2019t talk like the clipboard philosophers who diagram sophisticated plays. He started in the kitchen\u2014literally. After graduating from Holy Rosary (now Red Cloud) in 1976, he washed dishes and cooked for the kids while other men with degrees coached football.<\/p>\n

But something about Big Crow\u2014 his calm, his humor, his refusal to see himself as above anyone\u2014 made people listen. Eventually, someone noticed the Lakota guy in the kitchen had a knack for knowing how to talk to young men who didn\u2019t always like being told what to do. He went from assistant to coordinator to calling plays \u201cupstairs\u201d at Wingate High School in New Mexico. That\u2019s where he learned the art of patience from his mentor, Gary Schuster, who told him, \u201cNever yell at your players, they respond better if you just talk to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

After thirteen years at Wingate, he came home to Pine Ridge and found himself working in the kitchen again\u2014this time at the new hospital. Eventually, his boy, D.J., made it to high school, and Syrup followed. Coaching became part of his rhythm again. But like so many good-hearted men on the reservation, his blunt honesty rubbed administrators the wrong way. He called out a coach for calling a fake punt that backfired badly\u2014and was fired for it.<\/p>\n

But Syrup doesn\u2019t stay bitter. A year later, he took a job at Red Cloud\u2014his old school. In 2010, his first season as head coach, he led the Crusaders to a 6\u20132 record and the playoffs. The reward? He was let go, and from what he remembers it was because they didn\u2019t think he was good enough. They had a losing record over the next two seasons, ran through two other coaches.<\/p>\n

By 2016, Big Crow was back in charge and the season started badly. Three losses in a row\u2014St. Francis, Custer, Chamberlain. Big Crow huddled his boys and asked them what they thought. \u201cI said, \u2018You guys wanna try the RPO?\u2019\u201d Run- Pass Option\u2014modern, fast, risky. The boys grinned. They\u2019d been waiting for that. Assistant coach Wade O\u2019Bryan added, \u201cLet\u2019s go no-huddle. Let\u2019s get these guys in shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

They started with twenty-some players. By midseason, it was down to fourteen\u2014some quit because with only fourteen players they needed to be in shape, and workouts were grueling. Others were ineligible or hurt. Fourteen for 11-man football. Every player went both ways.<\/p>\n

Once they found the RPO rhythm, they didn\u2019t stop. They beat Pine Ridge, then Little Wound in a one-point thriller, 41\u201340. They held the line in Lead and won 26\u201324 after stopping a fullback on fourth and goal\u2014a half-yard shy. Then they beat Bennett County and Crow Creek, and even avenged an early loss to Custer to advance to the second round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Fourteen had three big weapons.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Ale Rama, just a junior, was a wiry, athletic kid with instincts you couldn\u2019t coach. \u201cHe was unbelievable out there,\u201d Big Crow says. \u201cRunning, throwing\u2014 teams were scared of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fullback and linebacker Deveon Provost was the muscle. \u201cPine Ridge couldn\u2019t stop him. Lead couldn\u2019t stop him. He just kept grinding. When we needed a yard, we gave it to him,\u201d Syrup remembers.<\/p>\n

Then there was Russell Leader Charge, a lightning bolt in shoulder pads. A basketball star who ran like the wind and could carry tacklers an extra five yards. \u201cHe\u2019d see a one-foot opening and run right through it without losing a stride,\u201d Big Crow said. Leader Charge had only one gear\u2014all out. He said he would go \u201cfull blast in practice and get mad if told to slow down.<\/p>\n

But come game time, Leader Charge was sheer excitement. He could change direction without losing a step, and twist through tackles. Against Roncalli, he gave the Aberdeen crowd something to remember\u2014 a sideline sprint that left their star defensive back in the dust.<\/p>\n

The nickname \u201cSyrup\u201d came from his aunt, though she never said why. When two of his grandsons, Koby Morrisette and Kasey Miller, joined the team, they started calling him \u201cPapa Syrup.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Red Cloud joined the All Nations Conference the next year, Big Crow was quietly dismissed again. On paper, it made sense\u2014 the school was changing leagues, looking for a \u201cnew direction.\u201d But those fourteen kids who went both ways knew the truth: their coach had done something even few credentialed coaches could do.<\/p>\n

He had them focused and playing as a unit; there was chemistry between Big Crow and his players that made them greater than the sum of their parts.<\/p>\n

What is often overlooked: when Red Cloud lost to Aberdeen Roncalli, 68-18, the opposing players and coaches, and the hometown Roncalli fans, were thrilled by the way Red Cloud scored those 18 points. The Fighting Fourteen weren\u2019t just football players on that day, they were tribal ambassadors. They made a 50-point loss exciting to watch, a game all in attendance will always remember.<\/p>\n

2016 Fighting Fourteen Record<\/strong>
\n9\/2 @ St. Francis \u2014 L 13\u20130
\n9\/9 vs Custer \u2014 L 34\u201320
\n9\/16 vs Chamberlain \u2014 L 62\u201312<\/p>\n

And then the Run Pass Option:
\n9\/23 @ Pine Ridge \u2014 W 28\u20136
\n9\/30 vs Little Wound \u2014 W 41\u201340
\n10\/7 @ Lead\u2013Deadwood \u2014 W 26\u201324
\n10\/14 vs Bennett County \u2014 W 32\u201318
\n10\/21 @ Crow Creek \u2014 W 69\u20130
\n10\/25 vs Custer (playoffs) \u2014 W 40\u201328
\n10\/31 @ Roncalli \u2014 L 68\u201318<\/p>\n

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Papa Syrup and the Fighting Fourteen<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Fighting Fourteen\u2019s fullback Daveon Provost struggling for tough yards against Aberdeen Roncalli. (Photo by James Giago Davies) PINE RIDGE\u2014Back when Mahpiya Luta was still called Red Cloud, Duane \u201cSyrup\u201d Big Crow coached a football team that deserves to be remembered as more than a footnote. The South Dakota High <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> October 24, 2025<\/p>\n

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