Two undefeated teams ‘adds to the excitement’ of old South Georgia rivalry

Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Montgomery County coach Gabe Gay, who has led the Eagles to a 3-0 start in his first season as head coach. Gay played for and graduated from Montgomery County. The Eagles have already beaten two of their local rivals, Telfair County and Wheeler County, this season. They’ll face another one on Friday when Treutlen drives 18.5 miles to face them for the 70th time. Both teams are undefeated, and Montgomery County is ranked No. 8 in Class 1A.

1. How has the beginning of your tenure at Montgomery County been, especially after beating two rivals and starting 3-0?

“Oh, yeah, man, it’s been fun. In these small towns, these games are extremely important to these communities. In these small towns, there’s not too many things to do, and our Wheeler game that we won here, we actually had around an hour of lightning delay and rain, and I just happened to be walking in at halftime, and I couldn’t believe how many people were there, like, in the rain. So this has been really fun for the schools. There’s a lot of school pride going on right now, which is cool for the players.”

2. You’ve got another big rivalry this week against Treutlen. As a Montgomery County native and alumnus, what do you remember most about playing Treutlen?

“When I was in high school, we were going into my junior year in the 2002 season. It had been a pretty lengthy losing streak to Treutlen. I think it was around a decade, if I’m not mistaken, and we were able to win my junior year, and it was a really big deal because we hadn’t beat (Treutlen) in so long, and just coming back here as a coordinator for three years, we were able to find a way to win that rivalry all three years. Any time that you can find a way to win in this rivalry, it doesn’t matter who’s favored. I mean, you can kind of throw the records out the window. You’re going to get each other’s best, their best effort, for sure. I feel like it’s a really great, small-school rivalry, kind of one of the best-kept secrets in the state, in my opinion. And I’m not just saying that because I’m coaching in it or because I’m from here. It’s just simply an electric atmosphere.”

3. Is there something extra to this game this year since both teams are 3-0 and you’re coaching a top-10 team?

“I’m sure. I mean, it’s a game that both schools will get up for regardless, but both teams being undefeated coming in definitely adds to the excitement around the game. These kids grow up playing against each other from the rec leagues up. They are very familiar with each other. They play basketball versus each other. They compete in track versus each other. I mean, they’ve been competing against each other their whole lives, so there’s a lot of familiarity between the players on each side, and that just adds to the excitement.”