His Own Name: Ike Phillips and One Last Night at Carl F. Williams Field

His Own Name: Ike Phillips and One Last Night at Carl F. Williams Field

By Danny Cardwell · Allegheny Mountain Radio

If you go to Carl F. Williams Field at Bath County High School and look up at the Hill of Fame, you’ll see two Phillips and one Williams. Jake Phillips, John Phillips, and Tim Williams are arguably three of the greatest football players this school, this district, and this region have ever produced. Jake is now the Chargers’ head coach and one of the top five quarterbacks ever to play at William & Mary. John went on to UVA and the NFL. Tim graduated from VMI and is arguably the best running back in school history.

Ike Phillips is a remarkable young man. He’s humble, and he carries a very famous last name. Jake and John are his cousins. Playing football at Bath County with that name on your back comes with expectations.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to watch Ike compete, and not only in games. I’ve watched him in practice, where nobody’s cheering for you and the real work happens. I’ve watched him touch every line. I’ve watched him finish drills hard.

When Ike came into the studio, I could have asked him what it was like to watch his cousin John play on Sundays. I could have asked about Coach Jake, and what it’s like to get mentorship and guidance from someone so close to you who is a legend in his own right. But that would have been their story, not Ike’s. It wouldn’t have shown the work he’s put in, and it wouldn’t have given him room to make his own name.

So we talked about Ike.

I started where I always like to start, with why. Ike didn’t talk about records or trophies. He talked about the kids he grew up with.

“I feel like I’ve always had a love for the game, just being out there with the kids that you got to play with, and just playing with them,” he said. “It’s a great experience. It builds a friendship that you can’t have anywhere else, and there’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of being on the field.”

Ike has made his name in the middle of the Charger defense. He’s a multiple-time All-District player and a big reason opposing offenses have had a hard time running up the middle on Bath County. He took that spot as a freshman, which almost never happens. Ask him why defense fits him, and you can hear a linebacker talking.

“I’ve always liked the defensive side of the ball more, just the physicality and the leadership it is, being like the Mike in the middle,” he said. “Being kind of in charge of the defense, and right in the middle, and it kind of starts with me. I just like the feeling I get when I get to make a tackle, and it just all flows better for me on the defensive side of the ball.”

He was one of the very few underclassmen I’ve seen walk onto a varsity field and get asked to make plays right away and do it. He had big-time talent around him. Braden Mabe was a two-time Defensive Player of the District. Wyatt Campbell got a lot of deserved credit on offense but he was a strong performer in the secondary too, at corner or safety. Ike was a starter on the 2024 Charger team went 11-1 and won the district title.

“It was a huge step up, you know?” Ike said. “I’d only played like middle school and JV football, so it was a different world. But there were some great guys there, the seniors and upperclassmen that I got to do it with. They were really great leaders and helped push me to become better.”

Those guys, he said, “all pushed me to be better.”

This season, Ike has been asked to carry the ball too. I’ll be honest: if somebody had told me before the season that Ike Phillips would have a 200-yard rushing game, I’d have been surprised. Then he ran for 300.

He sees it as part of growing up.

“It’s just part of that, you know, getting older and becoming more of a leader, and on both sides of the ball now,” he said. “It’s my turn to step up and fill some big shoes. We’ve had some good rushers in the past, but now it’s my turn to try and take a bigger stance on offense.”

He didn’t know it was coming until late in the offseason.

“Coach kind of sat me down, we talked about it a little bit,” he said. “But, you know, with the weights through the summer, I feel like I prepared myself. And we had the line. They were out working out, and it really made a huge difference in the running game.”

That’s Ike. He ran for 300 yards and gave the credit to the guys up front. When I asked what a night like that feels like in the moment, whether the holes look bigger the way a rim does to a hot shooter, he made it sound simple.

“It feels the same as any other rush,” he said. “You just take it and you hit the hole, and you just kind of wiggle a little bit, and you see it open up, and you just go. I mean, it’s just there, and you just gotta hit it.”

Now he’s a senior, and the roles have flipped. He’s the one the freshmen look up to.

“It’s a different feeling, you know,” he said. “I finally understand how they felt back then. Just playing with these guys I’ve been playing with for so long, man, I love those boys. They’re great. And it’s big time now, and we’ve got to enjoy what we got left.”

I asked him about the seniors who’ll walk off Carl F. Williams Field with him for the last time on Friday. He had something good to say about every one of them.

About Walker Randozzo: “Just the drive he has. He has, like, that want-to that you have to have to be a good ball player. Like, he wants it, and he pushes everybody to be better. He’s got all the heart and hustle you can ask for.”

About Bryer Nicely, number 77, a lineman who doesn’t hear his name called often: “That’s my dog, man. I love Bryer. He’s in there, he’s got all the fire, all the hustle, great leader. He’s a great motivator, and he really helps push everybody above that limit, and they just get more out of themselves.”

About the Malpica twins, Hernan and Marcos: “They’re generally quiet guys, but they get out on that field and they kind of flip that switch. They got that fight. They got that leadership, man. They are outstanding people and great football players.”

He’s already looking out for the players who’ll come after him, too. “A couple of the ones I’d like to shout out are DaJay Palmer. He’s been pushing real hard, working out good. Azi Tyson, he’s been doing great. He’s been playing super hard. Got kids like Jeffrey Hamilton and Cade Perdue. They will all be standouts here in the future.”

Then I asked him the question every senior gets eventually. On Friday night against Parry McCluer, a longtime rival, he’ll look around that field one last time: the lights, the crowd, the people in the stands. What’s it going to mean?

“It’s gonna mean everything,” he said. “This community, they’ve always come out for the team and me and all of us. They meant so much to me as I played, and they’re great. I just love everything about it. I’ll miss it so much, but it’s a great community, and I just love them all.”

Before he left, I asked him a few quick questions. Friday night lights or Saturday college football? “College is great and all, but high school’s got that little different bit to it.” Pregame meal? Wings. Hunting or fishing? Hunting. Biscuits and gravy or pancakes? Biscuits and gravy, all the way. Mountains or beach? Mountains. Sweet tea or soda? Sweet tea. “Hate soda.” Snow day or summer day? “I like my snow days.”

Ike is a young man who touches every line, finishes every drill, and talks about his teammates before he talks about himself. Whatever comes next for him, he’s already earned his own name.

The Bath County Chargers host the Parry McCluer Fighting Blues for senior night this Friday, October 30, at Carl F. Williams Field. The pregame show starts at 6:45 p.m. on the Allegheny Mountain Radio Virginia stations and online at AlleghenyMountainRadio.org.