GHSF Daily's Four Questions feature historically poses the same questions to a different Georgia head coach each issue. This season, head coaches are being asked Four Questions tailored to current events. Today's interviewee is Peach County head coach Chad Campbell, whose team plays Calhoun in a rematch of last year's controversial Class AAA championship game, which Calhoun won 10-6. This is Peach County's third consecutive trip to the semifinals and sixth in Campbell's 12 seasons.
Chad Campbell, Peach County head coach
1. Obviously, there's a lot of talk about regarding the rematch with Calhoun this week. How do you frame this game to your players? Is last season's outcome still on their minds? "Last year is last year. This is a new team with the same aspirations, and that is to win a state championship. The opponent just happens to be Calhoun. This year's team can't dwell on the past. We have to have a mindset of preparing as well as we can prepare for a war. Nothing else should be important."
2. What makes Calhoun a tough challenge, and what are the key things that need to be done to win? "Calhoun has a great program with great coaches. They are well prepared, as you can see watching their games, and are well coached and disciplined in knowing their assignments. Everything you get has to be earned because they don't make many mistakes at all."
3. How is this year's Peach County team different in style and ability to last year's team? Seems that perhaps you rely more on the defense as you've need to replace a prolific quarterback and one of the state's best receivers. "We lost eight starters on defense last year, and this year our new kids have done an outstanding job of learning our scheme. Our defense is playing with a lot of confidence right now and is playing well as a unit. Offensively, we lost our playmakers and returned most of our offensive line. We are really balanced in terms of rushing and passing yardage and replacing a quarterback that threw for close to 7,000 yards in his career and backs that rushed for over 2,000 yards. Our quarterback has been very efficient and has played pretty well all year, and we have used backs by committee this year. We are not as explosive as a unit, but we feel like our kids are playing pretty well together and complement each other well."
4. The GHSA's response going forward on the controversial ending to last season's Calhoun-Peach game was to add a seventh official for all playoff games. Is that a good solution, or do you favor the use of instant replay? "Anything that helps the game, I am for. If it is for adding an official to help the game, I am all for it. As far as instant replay goes, I say if you have the capabilities of having it, use it, but there has to be some guidelines and limitations for the usage."
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