Irwin County coach Buddy Nobles acknowledged a recent diagnosis of stomach cancer Monday and told GHSF Daily that he had no plans yet to take time off.
"I have not missed a practice, have not missed a scrimmage; I'm just kind of taking it easy," Nobles said. "I'm obviously tired and little things like that, but otherwise I'm basically the same. I have a great staff and group of kids, and they're working their rear ends off. They've done a great job with everything that's going on."
Nobles said he would have an MRI on Wednesday and meet with doctors Friday to determine a treatment plan.
"We're still in the early stages of trying to figure out what kind of cancer it is and what stage," Nobles said. "The only thing I ask for is to be in people's thoughts and prayers, just those two things."
A native of Jacksonville, Nobles was part of six Florida state-championship teams as an assistant coach before coming to Georgia. He became Irwin County's head coach in 2014. His Irwin teams are 54-13-2 and have won four region titles and reached four state championship games in his five seasons.
Irwin County, ranked No. 2 in the Class A public-school rankings, opens its season Friday night at Berrien.
Flowery Branch QB Gainey out for season
Flowery Branch quarterback Elijah Gainey, who suffered a torn ACL during a scrimmage game Thursday, is out for the season. He announced the prognosis on his Twitter page.
"These past couple of days have been some of the toughest I've had to go through," Gainey said in his post.
Gainey is committed to South Alabama. He passed for 2,043 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.
Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin, whose team edged Flowery Branch 21-20 in the regular season on the way to a state title, said Gainey was the best returning quarterback in Region 7-AAAA.
"He beat us last year up until he separated his shoulder on the last play of the game, and he still played for the two-point conversion," McFarlin said. "Toughest kid I've seen in a while."
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