High school football's version of the Border Wars is heating up again.
Traditionally for programs in Georgia and Florida, this early portion of the season is the time the two border states get together for exciting regular-season games.
For the fans, it's another chance at bragging rights on whether the Peach State or the Sunshine State reigns supreme. Both are, with California and Texas, the biggest recruiting hotbeds in the country. But for the teams it's an important tune-up for what lies down the road: the state playoffs.
So which state is better? Going by the raw stats found on the Georgia Football Historians Association website, Florida went 13-7 against Georgia schools last year, but that marked the first time since 2000 that it won the border series. From 2015-18, Georgia is 44-41 against Florida schools. This season features 21 matchups, with two already in the books — Rockledge (Fla.) beat Ware County and Union County (Fla.) beat Lanier County, both by scores of 19-7.
There are three Florida-Georgia matchups this weekend, led by Class AAAAAAA's No. 10 North Gwinnett's Bulldogs (0-1) hosting the Armwood Hawks, the No. 3 team in Florida's second-highest classification, according to FloridaHSfootball.com. For Bulldogs coach Bill Stewart, the matchup is more than just a border rivalry because Armwood is his alma mater. He played safety for the Hawks, was a member of the schools' first graduating class in 1986 and served as the team's defensive coordinator from 1998-03. He was coordinator while the Hawks' current coach, Evan Davis, was a player.
When Stewart saw the open date on his schedule, he reached out to Davis, and the two made the matchup happen. Although the game will have a sentimental feel for Stewart, the main reason he scheduled it was because of how competitive the Hawks are and how it will prepare his team for the postseason.
"That's why you do it," said Stewart, whose team lost to top-ranked Wekiva (Fla.) last year before winning nine of its next 10. "You want to play that caliber of an opponent because when you get to the playoffs, you've got to play at other places that you're not familiar with, so it's better to start dealing with that now. We'll eventually play teams in our state that are high-caliber, and (Florida schools) have athletes all over the field. But we have those teams in our state, too. So, it's a matter of realizing you can play with them."
Davis said it will be the first time in program history the Hawks have played in Georgia, and the first time they've left the state for a game since 2011, when they beat Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman.
“We wanted the most adverse situation as possible to see if we can do it the right way early on,” Davis said of his decision to take the team on a seven-hour bus ride to Suwanee. “The drive, the hotel stay ... North Gwinnett will bring a good crowd and we’ll play one of the top-level programs in the country. We want to make it not be an easy thing, so when the playoffs come (the adversity) is not a shock.”
Another matchup scheduled for Friday is AA’s No. 1 Champagnat Catholic at AAAAAAA’s No. 7 Lowndes Vikings (1-0). Not only is Lowndes the only program in Georgia to play two Florida schools this season, but both are currently ranked No. 1. The Vikings host AAAAA’s No. 1 Miami Northwestern Bulls (1-0) on Sept. 20.
Credit: Jason Getz/Special
Credit: Jason Getz/Special
"We're 18 miles from Florida, so we like to find good competition there that will come here, and we'll probably look again next year for at least one team," Vikings coach Randy McPherson said. "Preparing for somebody new is a good thing for experience, and it will help us in the playoffs. We've never seen (Champagnat and Northwestern), so we don't know a lot about them. Win, lose or draw, I feel like we're going to be better having played them in the long run."
Class AAAAAAA's top-ranked Marietta Blue Devils have front-loaded their schedule with quality opponents. They will play host to Edgewater (Fla.), ranked No. 4 in AAAAAAA, on Oct. 4.
"I like these matchups because you go in with little familiarity with the other team," Blue Devils coach Richard Morgan said. "It's like the playoffs. You don't have much film on them, so it's hard to study coaching tendencies, player tendencies, and you only get about a week to prepare."
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
A shining example of a Georgia team playing a Florida school and having it pay huge dividends came in 2013, when Booker T. Washington of Miami, the nation's No. 1 team according to USA Today, traveled to play the Norcross Blue Devils, ranked No. 6 in the same poll, in the opener for both teams. The Blue Devils were coming off an undefeated championship season. They lost 55-0 in a game televised on ESPN.
"I feel like this was a reality check for us," Norcross defensive end Lorenzo Carter, who played at Georgia and is now with the New York Giants, said at the time. "This just brought us back down to earth and let us know we can be beat."
Norcross won 13 of their next 14 games, including another state title.
About the Author
