MMQB: Around Central Georgia

 

*Sigh*

          Friday night was, frankly, a bummer.

          Mary Persons couldn’t going on offense, and only needed to get going a little bit at home.

          Baldwin was quite the tease there for most of the first half, but the Braves unforced mistakes opened the door for Cartersville to finally wake up and take advantage to win going away.

          Dublin was banged up, making changes in the starting lineup for the first time all season, and couldn’t get going on offense, and only needed to get going a little bit at home.

          Washington County’s main issue in its losses was simple mistakes and/or unforced turnovers, and that kept the Golden Hawks from getting a solid first-half lead, which can make things different. So can recovering an onside kick and quickly scoring, which Callaway did.

          Mary Persons-Marist was going to be a four-quarter game, but you figured even if the weather slowed teams down, they’d manage at least a couple touchdowns each. And the Bulldogs couldn’t make a play here and a play there to get over the hump, and Marist, unsurprisingly, took advantage.

          Dublin didn’t have a passing game, and Heard County did, and ended up being the difference, the Braves getting two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to win.

          Washington County didn’t have a passing game, but first-half mistakes led to points being left on the field, and Callaway came up with an onside kick that changed the game and kept the Golden Hawks in a hole.

 

Memo to adults: be adult-like, aka mature

          More than a few people cringed when the semifinal matchup emerged Friday night: Peach County and Calhoun.

          Oh, Lord, really?

          So here’s a plea to adults on both sides, be they connected to the team or just blathering absurdly on message boards or other social/anti-social media: be grown up. Let it go. Stifle the pettiness. Shut up a little bit. Quit whining.

          Play the game.

          Human beings decided that game just like they’ll decide this one.

          The GHSA didn’t officiate. Humans did.

          Calhoun didn’t officiate. Peach County didn’t. There were other missed calls.

          All lives continued, and most moved on.

          Some of us have bitten their tongues for a year, feeling bad for both sides and for the officials and for the GHSA and wanting to scream at both sides, the officials – hey guys, you wanna help a colleague out instead of bailing from the pressure? – and the GHSA.

          It’s over, it wasn’t nearly as clear and solid as too many with agendas and general paranoia think, and it’s long past time to be civilized a bit and move on and not spend the week being snippy and juvenile.

          Nothing is gained, except satisfaction for dingbats, by playing out last year all week. Move on, grow up, bite your tongue, and cheer for the kids playing the damn game.

          And next week, go pick up your application to be an official. Or shut up some more.

 

Some hurt a little more

          Spoon Risper had one of those pained smiles.

          “I can’t really think about it any more,” the Westside football coach said three days after the Seminoles were yards away from tying their second-round game at Benedictine only to lose by seven. “I mean, yeah, this one …”

          The Seminoles were inside the 10, no timeouts left, had the Cadets on their heels

          Fast forward to a week later, and a chat with Mary Persons’ Brian Nelson, whose team was held to 43 points below its season average in a 10-7 quarterfinal home loss to Marist.

          Yes, Nelson said, Marist is a good team. No, Nelson said, he didn’t think Marist was better than Mary Persons. Yes, the Bulldogs failed to make a few catches they’ve made all year and some fundamental defensive plays they’ve made all year.

          The Bulldogs were pretty much a top-3 team all year, and were done. But Nelson was stung a loss more than just the game.

          This senior class went 34-7 the past three years (it’s not logical in high school to go by a four-year record since freshman very rarely get any quality varsity time/snaps, and the Bulldogs’ percentage doesn’t change). It’s the class that, for the most part and with a few exceptions, had been playing together since middle school.

          Goodness, the past few years at Mary Persons were Dan Pitts-like years. The last time the Bulldogs won four straight region championships was 1977-1980. Last three-year run was 1992-94.

          Rare air indeed.

          The 34-7 record (82.9 percent) the past three years is the program’s best since going 35-5 from 1993-95.

          Another depressing similarity: only one of those teams from 93-95 reached the final, Mary Persons losing 24-21 to Greene County in the 1993 finale.

          This, many in and around Forsyth believed, was the best chance in long time to at least play for the trophy. After all, it’s awfully rare for more than a third of a sizable school’s roster to be seniors, and for nearly 70 percent of that class to be of major impact.

          “I’ve been here 13 years and never had a group come through here like that,” he said. “And it could be another 15-20 years before you get another one, know what I mean?”

          Yeah, Coach, we do.

 

Help wanted: Rutland

          For all sorts of reasons, Wednesday was the first conversation between The Sports Reporter and Mark Daniel, and it came a few hours after he informed officials of his resignation.

          Overall, the conversation expected to be around 15 minutes went 75.

          Daniel is, frankly, unsettled with the amount of recruiting going on, locally and statewide, and the already-struggling Hurricanes lost players each of his three years – and an flight ended up sabotaging George Collins’ final season – to some outside influences and other schools. We’ll check one day and see if they got what they wanted, other than perhaps being part of a successful program.

          Rutland may be the posterchild for why Bibb County athletics programs struggle for success and consistency – it’s an old story we’ll address one day soon – and why it takes a lot of luck to get the right fit to lead a team around here.

          Daniel isn’t afraid to express himself on what he thinks is wrong and only increasing, in Bibb County and in the state. Expect him to find an assistant job somewhere in south Georgia. He’s 59, and doesn’t sound like he wants 2-27 to be his final three years.

 

FYI

          There are three Central Georgia teams in the semifinals.

          A year ago, there were three, and all three won. Two are the same, Warner Robins and Peach County.