Finals Weekend is here! We take a quick look at the four teams that have made it to the Dome. No. 2 Irwin County vs. No. 4 Hawkinsville and No. 3 Mt. Paran Christian vs. No. 5 ELCA.
We'll have one more football blog next week (Thursday) to put this season to bed and transition into basketball full time. Remember, send any basketball nuggets you have to s.thomascoleman@yahoo.com.
No. 2 Irwin County (11-1-1)
State titles: 1 (1976)
Buddy Nobles knows winning football.
After working as the offensive coordinator at Fitzgerald under Robbie Pruitt, where the Purple Hurricanes put up double-digit wins each season, he went to Coffee with Pruitt in 2012 to turn that program around.
Nobles came to Ocilla in March to take over for Jon Lindsey, who after righting the ship at Irwin County – leading the Indians to a 10-2-1 record and a trip to the public school semifinals last season – left to take over at Cook County.
Nobles knew the program at Irwin County didn’t need a lot of tinkering. So he tweaked the program’s traditional wing-T offense to fit his version, which features less motion and more pro-style formations instead of the double-wing. He also changed the defense a bit to one that lines up primarily in a four-man front, and added to coaches to the staff.
“They were already successful and hungry to keep winning,” Nobles said, adding that after summer conditioning he knew his team would be pretty good.
“I knew our line would be good because they already had experience running the wing-T,” Nobles said. “Then we competed in [7-on-7] against Coffee, Valdosta and Pierce County. Of course those are much bigger schools but we did well against them. Plus I saw how hard our kids were working, and so I knew if we stayed healthy, we had a chance to be pretty good.”
He was right. Irwin County has not loss to a Class A team this season, and after a loss to Class AA Fitzgerald in September (Fitzgerald advanced to the semifinals), the Indians have won 10 straight. Leading the way in their run-heavy attack is Region 2 Player of the Year Jakyron Young (committed to Georgia Southern) who has rushed for 1,563 yards and 25 touchdowns.
But the engine that drives Irwin County is their offensive and defensive lines, led by senior center Cam Morgan (6-2, 275), tackles Ethan Etheridge (5-11, 220) and Chandler Taylor (6-2, 250), guards Rusty Dorman (5-10, 240) and Tyler Dorman (5-9 190) – who are brothers – and tight end Cully Jones (6-5, 210). Jones and Tyler Dorman are juniors, the others are seniors. On defense, senior Robert Wilcox (6-1, 260) is a block-eater in the middle, bracketed by ends Jared Johns (6-0, 230), a junior, and Zion Ross (6-0, 210), a sophomore.
Nobles expects a defensive slugfest with Hawkinsville. But he knows his team will have a lot of support as the school has already sold 850 tickets, nearly a quarter of the population of Ocilla, located about 90 minutes east of Albany.
“Their defensive coordinator has done a tremendous job,” he said. “They play sound football and don’t make any mistakes. They’re only giving up about 67 yards [rushing] a game.
“We’ve already filled up two fan buses,” Nobles said. “Folks are fired up.”
No. 4 Hawkinsville (12-1)
State titles: 5 (1953, 1954, 1959, 2003, 2004)
David Daniell has brought Hawkinsville back to glory.
After winning the 2004 state title, the Red Devils went 42-36 before Daniell arrived in 2012. Hawkinsville finished 4-6 his first season but finished 9-4 last year and advanced to the semifinals.
Since the middle of last season, the Red Devils have won 18 of their last 20 games. The only losses were at the hands of last year’s state champion, Marion County. The Eagles defeated Hawkinsville in last season’s semifinals (40-7) and in the regular season this year (13-6). But the Red Devils knocked the defending champs out of the playoffs last week, 15-13.
“[Last season against Marion County] was the first time a lot of our kids had gone that deep in the playoffs and so I think we were shell shocked a little bit,” Daniell said. “But our kids have played Marion County a lot with us being in the same region, and so we know them and they know us, and our kids believed they could win.
“I’m just so happy for the kids and the community,” Daniell said. “This is special. It’s not every day that you get a chance to play in the [Georgia] Dome.”
Daniell said he had a good feeling about his team, which features 18 seniors, during summer workouts.
“We had nine starters returning on defense and they are all seniors. Most of them started for two years and six started three years,” Daniell said. “We were working out this summer and my seniors were teaching the younger players. That made our jobs as coaches so much easier.
“These kids have played together since third grade,” Daniell said. “They know each other. Their families know each other. It’s just a great group of kids.”
Community pride also has helped fuel the run to the finals.
“We’re the only game in town, and because we have just one elementary school, one middle school and one high school, everyone has some sort of connection, some sort of investment in the school,” Daniell said. “Everyone either played [at Hawkinsville] or knows someone who played. Even when we weren’t successful, we still had a great following.”
Hawkinsville has earned its way to the finals the old fashioned way, with stout defense and a strong running game. The Red Devils give up just seven points a game and yielded 14 points just one time. Leading the way is the three-man front of nose tackle Devin Adams (5-10, 235) and ends Royce Owens (6-1, 190) and Keshun Wright (6-2, 205). Offensively, Hawkinsville has seven players who have rushed for at least 200 yards, led by Reginald McDonald (628 yards, seven touchdowns) and quarterback Dakota Sloan (458 yards, 10 touchdowns).
With the propensity for both teams to run the ball, the game could be short. But it should also be pretty entertaining, Daniell said.
“This game could last just an hour and a half,” Daniel said. “It’s going to be a big challenge for us. I think it’s going to be a very good game.”
No. 3 Mount Paran Christian (13-0)
State titles: 0
Even though many people, even opposing coaches, had been telling Mitch Jordan all season that this could be the year his Eagles advance to the state finals, he still wasn’t sure until the last possible moment.
“Probably not until the final seconds [of the 34-14 win over No. 1 seed Aquinas in the semifinals last week],” Jordan said, only half jokingly. “We’ve been really lucky, really blessed this season. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I’m just humbled by all of this. It’s great for the kids and for the community.”
After coming within a field goal of defeating eventual-champion Aquinas last season in the quarterfinals, and with most of his team returning, Mt. Paran was one of the favorites to make a deep run into the playoffs. The Eagles’ talented roster has not disappointed.
Offensively, Mt. Paran averaged nearly 50 points per game even though its first unit rarely played more than three quarters. The group is led by senior quarterback Jake Allen, who distributes the ball to a bevy of playmakers led by senior running back Dorian Walker, who has rushed for over 2,000 yards and 31 touchdowns. The other main weapons are senior Emoni Williams and junior Taylor Trammell. Also, Jake Mezei, in his first season of football has made good on 73 of 74 extra point attempts. The only one he missed was partially blocked.
While the offense has garnered the lion’s share of the attention, the Eagle defense has been tough all season. Most of the points yielded by the unit this season came in the second half of games against young reserve players. Twins Graham and Reed Massey are Mt. Paran’s tough, heady safety tandem while linebacker Nick Sbravati, who Jordan calls “the most instinctive kid I have ever coached,” leads the charge. Additionally, first-year player Jack Crone, a defensive end who had only played basketball and soccer, was a key contributor this season.
The shining moment for the defense came in last week’s semifinal win over Aquinas, in which the Eagles bottled up Irish senior running back Ruben Garnett, holding him to just 31 yards rushing.
Jordan knows his defense will have to step up again in the final against Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy. Mt. Paran defeated the Chargers in the season opener for both teams, 31-14. The loss was the first of six ELCA suffered during its non-region schedule. All six teams advanced to the playoffs, four (Class AAAAA Stockbridge, Class AAAA Woodward Academy, Class AA Greater Atlanta Christian and Mt. Paran) made it to the semifinals and two (Greater Atlanta Christian and Mt. Paran) are in the finals.
“After they went through that gauntlet, that has made them a better team,” Jordan said. “No one on the state played as tough a non-region schedule as they did. Now they are on a roll and I can’t think of anyone playing any better than they are. They are stout on defense and their down-hill running game is going to give us some problems,” Jordan said.
But Mt. Paran has been tested as well this post season, having beaten No. 2 seed Aquinas on the road in the semis, Region 6 rival Mt. Pisgah in the region championship game, and Stratford Academy and Savannah Christian in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“The Mt. Pisgah win was big for us. They’re such a good, well-coached team,” Jordan said. “And I have a lot of respect for coach [Mark] Farriba and what he’s doing at Stratford and coach [Donald] Chumley does a tremendous job at Savannah Christian. Playing those teams has gotten us ready. [The final] will be exciting.”
No. 5 Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy (7-6)
State titles: 1 (2012)
This season has been one of highs and lows for ELCA head coach Jonathan Gess.
Right now things are as good as they can get as the Chargers have played their way to within a game of winning the program’s second state title since joining the Georgia High School Association in 2004. But two months ago things were as low as they could have been after ELCA lost its sixth straight game to begin the season, facing the toughest non-region schedule of any team in Georgia.
Gess and defensive coordinator Kenny Dallas saw it coming.
“We were sitting together at a conference in Texas at the beginning of the summer, and when we looked at our scheduled we both said we could go 0-6 and still find ourselves with having a shot at winning a state championship,” Gess said.
So to be proactive, Gess, Dallas and the rest of the coaching staff began having dinner with the team’s seniors, bracing them and counseling them on how they should handle losing and how they should conduct themselves as team leaders.
“Our kids did a great job of keeping their heads up and not giving up,” Gess said, singling out seniors safety Davis Reynolds, defensive tackle Evan Lewis, and guards Ryan Meneely and Spencer Stefano.
Another down point was when Gess and his staff made the decision early on to bench two of the team’s most talented players, senior defensive ends Nick Dawson and Darius Goode.
“We were extremely disappointed in their play and their attitude,” Gess said. “We had 23 seniors graduate last year who went 48-5 and [Dawson and Goode] were on those teams. They thought they could just step on the field and win without putting in the work and the effort it takes to win. Their effort was poor and that was so disappointing.”
But now Dawson, a major college prospect with nearly a dozen offers, and Goode, also a college prospect, got the message and opponents are paying for it.
“They are playing lights out now,” Gess said. “They have been humbled and now they are playing at an extremely high level.”
Additionally, junior quarterback D.J. Hammond has made the Charger offense potent since he took over the position midseason. Gess had been playing senior Jordan Scott at quarterback but needed to move him around so that teams could not key on him.
“[Scott] is our best athlete but when we had him at quarterback it was too easy for teams to focus on him,” Gess said of the senior, who plays receiver and defensive back. “As D.J. came along and got better and better, that made us a threat to run and pass.
“He has so much talent and potential as a quarterback,” Gess said of Hammond. “He has a rocket arm and he’s a great athlete, and he has those intangibles quarterbacks have to have. He just makes plays. We’re excited about being able to help him develop.”
But that will come this off season. For now, Gess and his staff are concerned with a Mt. Paran team that defeated the Eagles 31-14 in the season opener for both teams.
“They are just a complete team with no holes,” Gess said. “They’re so deep and so talented. They remind me of the team we had in 2012. They just don’t have any holes.”
However, Gess knows the most talented team does not always win the title. For example, his teams in 2010 and 2011 went a combined 24-3 but didn’t win a state championship.
“Our kids wouldn’t have it any other way. They want to face Mt. Paran,” Gess said. “It’s like when your big brother beats you up, you want to go at him again. They are a complete, talented, well-coached team but our kids are ready to compete.”
