Daily Dive: Providence Christian’s dramatic turnaround campaign

Historic milestones have been achieved by several programs this season, which is a clear indicator of improvement due to the 2023 season being the second half of the current reclassification cycle. The opponents are for the most part identical to this past season and so it is noteworthy when a program sees a dramatic increase in victories. Teams like Ola, McDonough and North Atlanta are just a few of the teams that have achieved the best start in program history and teams like Peachtree Ridge have also made noise with undefeated starts that have eluded the program for several seasons.

A program that has not yet received the attention for its turnaround is Providence Christian in Class 2A and the Storm’s 4-0 start has already matched the highest win-total in the school’s 10-year history. The 4-6 finish in 2018 was the first time in school history that Providence Christian won multiple games in a season and no other campaign had produced more than two victories until this season. Additionally, 2017 and 2018 were the only seasons that Providence Christian won a region game.

With that context provided, let’s look at this year’s flawless 4-0 start and the opportunity for first-year head coach John Russ heading into Friday’s trip to King’s Ridge with a chance to achieve five victories in a season for the first time. Coach Russ previously worked under Hall of Famer Jeff Saturday at Hebron Christian and took over this season after Joe Sturdivant departed to take the Parkview job. The Storm’s latest victory was a record-setting 71-0 win over Athens Christian and it increased the average margin of victory to 42 points. Providence Christian also scored a 53-15 win over St. Francis, a 32-10 road win over Whitefield Academy and a 51-13 home win over Riverside-Military. This will be the third all-time meeting between Providence Christian and King’s Ridge and the series is tied 1-1 with Providence Christian winning 14-9 in 2018 and King’s Ridge earning a 20-14 win in 2019. Stay tuned to see how the Storm follow up this historic start.