Lithonia football surged in 2025. Now, they are loaded and hungry for more.
Most players on the Lithonia football team have been together since they were freshmen and sophomores. Some have the memorable journey from being a one-win team in 2023 to last year’s 10-win season. And no one has shown a willingness to take a step back.
“The standard has been set,” senior receiver Armani Myco said. “Once everybody was thinking about the team and working as a unit with 11 guys on the field instead of as individuals, we started to succeed. Now we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
The Bulldogs were 10-3 last season, tied for the second-most wins in school history and the most since the 1982 team went 10-2. Lithonia advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1984, before losing to eventual state champion Creekside.
It marked one of the biggest turnarounds in Georgia football. Lithonia was 0-10 in 2022 and 1-9 in 2023. The transformation began when coach Kevin Barnes arrived in 2024 and led the Bulldogs to a 6-4 record, missing the playoffs by one game.
Barnes, who was honored by Georgia High School Football Daily for his team’s improvement, is a DeKalb County native and graduate of Redan High School. He played football for a couple of seasons at West Georgia before blowing out his knee, ending his career and prompting him to enlist in the Air Force. After his four-year enlistment was over, he earned his degree at Georgia State and began his coaching career. He was an assistant at Newton, Stockbridge and Monroe Area before becoming the head coach at Lithonia in 2024.
He dug in and started working, scouring the halls of talent and funneling them into the weight program. Last year it all clicked.
“We started to see some of the fruit of our labor,” Barnes said. “Now we’ve set the bar even higher. We have young men who are hungry and they’ve bought in to learning what a winning culture is about.”
Participation is up at Lithonia; even during the miserably hot summer the Bulldogs would have 85 to 90 players at each conditioning session. And the roster is full of high-end talent. Last year 20 earned football scholarships, including edge rusher Zae’Quan Jackson (Arkansas); linebacker Braylon Jackson (Air Force); and defensive back Deuce Butler (Georgia State). Barnes said seven players already have offers from Georgia.
“At the end of the day it’s all about the Jimmys and the Joes,” Barnes said. “We’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of young players with a lot of offers and aspirations to play. We’re just trying to motivate these young guys and teach them that football is one of the games that can teach you about life. The kids are excited about what we’re building and what we have built thus far.”
The top prospect on the team is 4-star Kennedee “KJ” Jackson (6-6, 300) who is ranked as the No. 9 offensive tackle in the nation by 247. Jackson has committed to Georgia. Fellow 4-star senior AJ Tillman (5-11, 175), a Louisville commit, is ranked as the No. 9 athlete in Georgia and will play running back and in the secondary.
The junior class is loaded, too, and includes defensive lineman Jamonei Edwards; receiver Anthony Flournoy; safety Edward Roberts; defensive back Aketris Thomas; cornerback TK Scarborough; and Myco, a receiver. All have college offers.
The seminal moment last year came against Tucker, a game that Lithonia would routinely lose. Lithonia, sparked by a 51-yard interception return by Roberts and the recovery of a muffed punt at the 1 yard line, won 27-20. The momentum from that win — Lithonia’s first against Tucker since 1992 — propelled the Bulldogs to the next level.
“Once we were able to beat Tucker, that kind of set the standard with the kids that we can get over the hump,” Barnes said. “That we can compete with the top teams in DeKalb County. After that, the mentality of the kids changed. Their confidence changed. Now they walk into games prepared to win, not trying to see how well we’re going to, but actually prepared to win games.”
And now that the Bulldogs are winning, the Lithonia football team has become a hot part of the community.
“People are walking around with Lithonia pride,” Barnes said. “We’ve sold so much Lithonia paraphernalia. The mayor of Lithonia is a Lithonia alumni and I’m always meeting somebody that says, ‘I graduated from Lithonia.’ It’s cool to just hear they love what we’re doing and they’re supporting us.”
The team has definitely noticed.
“Inside the school the culture has changed,” Flournoy said. “Everything has changed because of our football program.”
Thomas said, “The football program definitely brought new energy into the school. In the past it’s been nothing but negative coming out of Lithonia High School. We bring in the positive and we’re trying to bring our school up with us.”
Lithonia opens the season on Aug. 22 at 5 p.m. against King at Hallford Stadium in the second game of the DeKalb County Football Classic.