By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          For a variety of reasons, Peach County didn’t live up to its standard in 2023.

          The transition from Chad Campbell leaving after more than two decades with the school and 16 as head coach was a somewhat tumultuous one, for a variety of reasons.

          Even plucking Marquis Westbrook from Warner Robins, he of the dazzling 50-9 record and two state titles in four seasons at Warner Robins, wasn’t enough for a normal Peach County season.

          Westbrook expects more normalcy in 2024. He was in Macon Thursday along with nearly two dozen other coaches for an event hosted by Score Atlanta, held at Westside.

          “Last year, we had to get rid of some kids because of some discipline issues,” Westbrook said of the 4-7 season that was Peach County’s first sub-.500 year since 1986. “I think it lingered. Then in the middle of the season, the kids started to believe and we started to play closer games.

          “We haven’t had any of that (problem). Really, it’s been really good.”

          The event was organized and sponsored by the marketing company and media outlet, which streamed the nearly six-hour event, focusing on those interviews with football and flag football teams.

          It hosted its second Atlanta-area day on Wednesday.

          The pre-set schedule fluctuated throughout the day, finally ending a little after 5 p.m., with Central Georgia teams ACE, Central, Jasper County, Northeast, Peach County, Perry, Putnam County, Rutland, and Warner Robins as well as Westside and Rutland flag football on the day-long docket.

          Jones County was scheduled, but didn’t attend.

          Other teams included Carver-Columbus, Greene County, LaGrange, and Valdosta, as well as flag football teams from Calvary Day, Camden County, and Southeast Bulloch.

          Ashley Henderson took over at Jasper County in 2022, the Purple Hurricanes off an 0-10 season and 5-25 three-year run.

          They’ve gone 9-13 with two playoff trips, and plenty of competitive losses. With a new school that’s only about a dozen years old and a football stadium that was three years old when he arrived, Henderson feels momentum.

          “They’d never won a game on the home field, the new one,” Henderson said. “They were telling me it was cursed.”

          Jasper County broke that curse in Henderson’s fifth game, a 27-8 win over Lake Oconee Academy. It’s gone 5-3 at home since he arrived.

          “If you want to win, you’ve got to do the things winners do in practice,” Henderson said, “and now you deserve to play on that field.”

          After losing three games last year by seven points or less, Jasper County – which has nearly 80 players out this summer - is hoping for its first non-losing season 2003.

          Rutland went 4-6 last year in Anthony Williams’ first season as head coach, continuing some momentum from 5-5 in 2022 under Jarmarcus Johnson, who left after two seasons, following the two-year stint of Rusty Easom and three years from Mark Daniel.

Season openers
(Aug. 16 unless noted)
Central vs. Dougherty, at Fort Valley State
(Aug. 23) ACE vs. Central
Jasper County at Taylor County
Peach County vs. Northeast, at Fort Valley State
(Aug. 17) Perry vs. Baldwin, at Fort Valley State
Putnam County at Greene County
(Aug. 17) Rutland vs. Bleckley County, at Fort Valley State
Warner Robins at Lee County

          The Hurricanes would certainly like some stability on the sidelines, but the 9-11 two-year record is the program’s best two-year run since going 9-12 in 2013-14.

          Bulking up has been a priority.

          “This offseason has been all about getting bigger, faster, stronger,” Williams said. “We started right after the Northeast game in the weight room. I told my guys there won’t be any Xs and Os. We’re just gonna try and get bigger, faster, stronger.

          “That’s what it’s been all summer long.”

          Rutland is in Region 2-AA with Westside, as well as Callaway, Jackson, Morgan County, and Pike County.

          Keith Hatcher’s third season at ACE is one with some momentum from a pair of 8-3 years and playoff trips.

          ACE returns to Class A after two years in AA, and this Class A region is substantially different than the one in 2020-21, with regular playoff programs Dublin, Washington County, Dodge County, Bleckley County and Northeast.

          Part of the program’s big growth under Hatcher involves more than just Friday night success.

          “Just the willingness to work,” he said. “We talk every day in summer workouts about not letting anyone outwork us. We ask them to do some crazy things at times, and we try to be really creative about our summer workouts.”

          Northeast has had four straight winning seasons – its best run since 2006-09 – and won three playoff games. That’s likely to continue with the return of a healthy Nick Woodford at running back, along with quarterback Reginald Glover, wideout Kavon Conciauro, and linebacker Tailen Sampson, among others.

          But the Raiders are in that brutal Region 2-A/Division I.

          “We got a whole region full of guys who got good programs, got good things going on,” head coach Jeremy Wiggins said. “We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game every week.

          “I’ve been preaching all summer about preparing. This’ll be something a little bit different, because usually you’ll get like two or three non-region games. This year, you get one non-region game, so each game after the first one is very important.”

          Joel Harvin starts his second season at Putnam County, the War Eagles going 6-5, their fourth straight winning season, which hadn’t happened since 1973-76.

          Harvin expects the next step to be a notable one.

          “One thing we struggled with was leadership,” said Harvin, who brought his leadership committee with him. “That was one thing this offseason that we really wanted to focus on, having guys that could step up, that we could count on.

          “We’ve got 20 guys here that have done everything we’ve asked of them in the offseason, and I think that’s a big turning point for us.”

          The War Eagles, in 4-A/I, are looking for their first region title since 2021, and second since 2010.

          Central will struggle for its second winning season since 2016, considering the Chargers are in that jammed 2-A/I.

          The Chargers were outscored 413-62 last year, the most points allowed and fewest points scored in program history. Nevertheless, second-year head coach Jarrett Laws has seen a little more progress than expected.

          “We’re at a point now where they’re asking the right questions, and they’re starting to see the process rather than be robotic about what coach said,” he said. “For me, seeing the ‘why’ as much as the ‘what.’

          “There are instances where now I can take my hands off of them and start to let them make some checks and make some calls because they can see the logic.”

          Perry is in a position nobody expected a year ago: defending GHSA Class 4A state champs. The Panthers return major cogs, like running back Ahmad Gordon, wideout Kory Pettigrew, linebacker Jordan Donald, and linemen Jukorin Thomas and Decorrian Daniels, among others.

          But they lost plenty: quarterback Colter Ginn, wideout Dakarai Anderson, tight end Donovan Funsch, and lineman Quentin Askin, to name a few.

          “We have guys that played a lot last year, but the seniors, those guys were sort of the leaders,” head coach Kevin Smith said. “Those guys coming back now, somebody’s got to be that bell cow.”

          Smith has the largest senior class, 31, since he arrived, and more than 120 10th through 12th grade.

          He’ll dress about 95, and expects plenty of players to sweat when it counts, including special teams.

          “We’ve got guys this year that might not quite good enough to beat the person in front of them, but they’re going to be able to play on special teams,” Smith said.

          It’s a tougher region for the Panthers, with Benedictine, New Hampstead, Ware County, Warner Robins, and Wayne County.

          And for the first time since 1965, Perry and Warner Robins will play.

          Demons’ head coach Shane Sams was a couple decades from being born at that point. His focus is on getting Warner Robins back, such as “back” is at this point.

          The 9-4 mark in 2023 was the Demons’ first single-digit win season since going 3-8 in Mike Chastain’s first year in 2016. And the quarterfinal loss ended the season earlier than any season since, well, 2016.

          Warner Robins is still not exactly in a rebuilding mode, and the Demons have found ways to more than adequately replace starting quarterbacks for several years.

          That’ll be the case again, with the graduation of Judd Anderson, who played one year in Warner Robins after transferring from Jones County. Skyler Williams is the top candidate.

          “He fits well what we want to do offensively and how we want to move around,” Sams said. “We’re excited about that.”

          The head coach and assistants may have changed entering last season, but there remains a lot of familiarity.

          “We feel like we’re moving in the right direction,” Sams said. “We preach a lot about being physical, and that’s what we wanted to practice like and operate like, and operate with high tempo and speed.

“We feel like we’ve been able to accomplish those things.”