Friday night, five defending champions will begin their quest for a repeat when each opens play during the first round of the football state playoffs.
Wesleyan, Cairo, Tucker, and Camden County will each seek its second consecutive title, while Buford is gunning for its third straight Class 2A championship.
Buford (9-1 overall, 6-1 Region 6-AA), a legitimate contender loaded with talent on both sides of the ball, will host Pepperell (9-1, 4-1 Region 7A-AA) in the opening round. Last season Buford topped Calhoun 45-21 — a top-ranked favorite this year — for the crown.
“I don’t think your focus can ever be on winning streaks or how many you’ve won or lost,” said Buford head coach Jess Simpson. “I just think that when you get that perspective as a coach or a player your focus is not on the process of being in the present. I think to be successful you have to stay humble, you have to keep people hungry and obviously not complacent.
“Winning a championship is always the goal of everybody. We’ve just been extremely blessed and lucky to have won a few this decade,” he added. “I don’t know that winning three in a row is more important, I just know when you feel like you have a good team you want to do everything you can to take advantage of that opportunity as a coach. At the end of the day, an opportunity is an opportunity and you want to take advantage of the ones you have.”
Key players for Buford include fullback Jessel Curry and offensive linemen Du’Von Millsap and Kolton Houston.
“Every team is different, even though maybe scores and results look the same year to year,” Simpson said. “This team has been interesting in that they’ve kind of been a mixed bag; they’ve separated late some, they’ve separated early, and they had a little adversity in the regular season that those other two (championship) teams had not had, in the third game against Lovett, where we lost (28-21).
“So, what’s probably made this journey and this season so much fun is to see how those guys responded to losing a regular season and region game and how much improvement has taken place over the last eight weeks,” he added. “This is probably the youngest team we’ve had this decade, and the kids have really responded. It’s been a really fun team to coach.”
WOLVES HUNGRY AGAIN …
Meanwhile, Wesleyan (10-0, 6-0 Region 8-A) has enjoyed an impressive undefeated run this season, and will host Whitefield Academy (6-4, 5-3 Region 5-A) in the opening round of the A playoffs.
“I think this year’s team has the benefit of last year’s experience, and last year’s team was navigating some uncharted waters,” Wesleyan head coach Franklin Pridgen said. “This year we’ve got the experience to build on, and we’ve got a very mature and confident group of football players who I think understand very clearly what it takes for us to win. Last year it was more experimentation.”
The experiment was a recipe for success after Wesleyan knocked off Emanuel County Institute 33-21 — the defending champions from 2007 — for the title.
This season Whitefield Academy (6-4) is averaging 20.9 points per game — 20 fewer than Wesleyan. Defensively, the Wolves have limited opponents to a microscopic 2.5 points per game. On the other hand, the Wolfpack is allowing 19.7 points.
“I think we’ve got kids who absolutely understand our system,” Pridgen noted. “We have a scheme; we’re multiple on defense, which means we run a lot of different fronts and a lot of different coverages, and our kids can really handle that. They’re extremely bright and understand the game. They’re very savvy when it comes to football smarts, so we’re able to put a pretty complicated scheme out on the field that makes things very difficult for our opponents to handle.”
Whether or not Wesleyan brings home another title is not the end of the world.
“Obviously, that would be great if it works out that way,” Pridgen said, “but when you get to the playoffs all the bad teams are finished, so there’s nothing left but good teams. So, we’re going to go out and do our best; we’re going to prepare for one opponent at a time, and if it works out that we’re able to win another championship that’s fantastic.
Wesleyan’s key players include quarterback Conor Welton (80-of-110 passing for 1,088 yards and 19 touchdowns), running back Kyle Karempelis (1,204 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns), and linebacker Bobby Fulton (57 solo tackles, 40 assists).
SYRUPMAKERS AND TIGERS ARE BACK …
Considering all the revisions Cairo (7-3, 6-1 Region 1-AAA) has undergone from one year ago when it won the AAA title against Flowery Branch 28-14, its impressive the Syrupmakers are even back in the hunt. After all, last season they had 19 of 22 starters returning from the year before, whereas this season they lost 28 seniors, 19 of 22 starters, and all of their backups.
Cairo hosts Woodland, Henry (7-3, 6-2 Region 4-AAA), a team averaging 27.9 points per game.
“Really we had to start new this season,” Cairo head coach Tom Fallaw said. “We only had two kids on the field really with any kind of playing experience, (and) we’re playing anywhere between eight to 10 sophomores right now. Basically, it was like starting a new program.”
In regards to repeating, Fallaw is quick to point out that has not even crossed his mind.
“We’re not worried about repeating right now,” he said. “I think our kids are going to take it one game at a time, and we’ll see how far that takes us. What we’re worried about is our next opponent, and that’s Woodland right now.”
In Class 4A, Tucker (8-2, 7-2 Region 6-AAAA) squares off against Dalton (7-3, 5-1 Region 7A-AAAA) on the road after winning its first ever state title against Marist 15-3 one year ago.
It was an inspiring run for the Tigers considering they lost to Northside, Warner Robins the previous year in heartbreaking fashion.
Running backs Tyrell Poole and Devin Scott, including defensive end James Vaughters and defensive end/tight end Quenton Brown should help guide the Tigers as they attempt their second straight title.
A DARKHORSE THIS SEASON …
Camden County (8-2, 7-0 Region 3-AAAAA) will host Newton (6-4, 4-3 Region 2-AAAAA) and look for its third Class 5A title in school history. Camden County upended Peachtree Ridge 21-14 for the championship last season.
After losing two of their first three games this year, the Wildcats rebounded to win their final seven games, posting five shutouts along the way.
“We certainly struggled early; all three of those games could have gone either way,” Herron said. “We could have very easily been 0-3, we could have very easily been 3-0, but I just felt like our team at that particular time just wasn’t ready to win those type games.
“But I do think the experience of playing in those games has helped us tremendously lately,” he added. “It’s forced our young kids to grow up. It was absolutely (a good thing). Playing tough people always helps you, and I think those games have helped us and hopefully will continue to.”
The dynamic duo of running backs Ean Days and Aundre Johnson will look to mow over the Rams in what should be an offensive battle.
“There’s a lot of differences like there’s going to be any year no matter what the teams and the situation,” Herron said. “We were a seasoned veteran team last year, and this year we’re a much younger team with less experience; that’s the biggest difference.”
The Wildcats are averaging a whopping 43.6 points per game while allowing just 8.3. Newton is averaging 24 points while allowing 12.7 per outing.
As far as another championship goes, Herron is taking matters one step at a time.
“Honestly, we don’t think about it,” he said. “Winning a state championship is so hard, and I think if you sit around and think about something like that you’re not going to have a chance. Our goal was to win our region, try to get first place and play at home, and we’ve been able to do that. Now our goal is to try and win one playoff game. If we do that, then we’ll worry about what comes after that, but I learned a long time ago you better not overlook anybody in this business, and we’re not going to overlook Newton.”
Murdock can be reached at jason.murdock1979@gmail.com.
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