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 Warren County head coach Cherard Freeman, whose Screaming Eagles defeated Lincoln County 28-21 on Friday to end a 43-game losing streak in the series, the longest skid of its kind to one opponent in state history. Freeman is a former all-state running back at Lincoln County, where he was part of the 1993 and 1995 state championship teams.
Cherard Freeman, Warren County head coach
1. What did the victory over Lincoln County mean to your program, given the history of that series? "It was big. It was a big win for the community and for the school. It was just an exciting night being that I'm from Lincolnton and we beat them on homecoming to break the curse. All my classmates who went to school with me from kindergarten all the way up were there. It was sad and sweet. I had some old coaches there, Coach Ellis and Coach Banks. They said it was a sad night for them, but they were excited for me. Warren County had been close many times before I got here. I talked with Lincoln County's statistician, and he said it came down to a field goal one year and a two-point conversion one year. It just all came together on Friday night. When we have our pregame meals, I usually have to blow my whistle to quiet everybody down, but for this one, when I walked into the lunch room, they were quiet and focused. They felt like they had a good chance of winning this time. This is a special team."
2. What are some of the challenges that are perhaps unique to Warren County when it comes to building a good football program? "It's a big challenge. We only have 151 kids in our high school - 53 boys. Out of those, 30 of them play football. Kids have to play both ways [offense and defense]. With a school that size, we only have the resources for four certified coaches. We have to bring in volunteers to help us with things like the middle school program, strength-and-conditioning and tutoring. I've got community coaches like Maurice Lester and Terry Seals with full-time jobs who get up at 3 in the morning so they can finish their work and be at our practices on time. I've got an awesome strength-and-conditioning coach, Roderick Williams. He lives in Claxton. I live in Statesboro. We both drive an hour and 45 minutes to work and get there at 7. I cover his duty session so he can cover the weight room. We came in fifth in the state last spring [in weightlifiting]. We've gotten so much stronger."
3. Coincidental to your victory on Friday, Hancock Central beat Washington-Wilkes for the first time since 1980. What's happening in Region 7-A? "This region is changing because we're getting coaches in who are able to relate to kids. We're showing an interest in what they're doing with their futures. Times are changing. It's not all about sports now. Winning is good. But all of us coaches in the region, we talk. We're trying to be on the same page in terms of getting them in college and talking about education. That's what our coaches talk about in our region. I talk with Coach [Marleau] Blount at Hancock Central, Coach [Chad] Alligood at Washington-Wilkes and Coach [James] Leonard at Aquinas all the time on the phone. We work together in the summertime. Hancock and Warren throw against each other in the offseason. We do organized camps. We're working together as staffs to make this region tough."
4. You say that kids are different today. Can you tell us more about that? "In Lincolnton, I stayed on Dawkins Street. We had other communities like Pony Woods, Black Jack, First Baptist Street. Somebody from each community put a football team together, and we met on Saturdays and played. We had a schedule set up. They don't do those things any more. That was fun to us. We took football seriously. These kids don't take it seriously. So, we have to find ways to make it serious. We talk about how this game is training them to become young men. This is going to help you when you get older. Things aren't always going to go your way when you have a family, and you're going to have to grind for it just like a football game. You have to grind for a win. We used to get worn out in the fourth quarter. Friday night, I can honestly say that when the fourth quarter came, we weren't tired. There wasn't anybody leaning over. And that's why we won. It was that hard work showing off."
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