Why the Cass football coach says he’s ‘never had a team like this’

Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Cass coach Steve Gates, whose team is playing Bartow County rival and No. 1-ranked Cartersville in a Region 7-5A home game Friday. Gates is a former McEachern and Georgia lineman. In his seven seasons as Cass’ coach, the Colonels have achieved their first winning season in five years (2020); first playoff berth in 15 years (2021); first playoff victory in 39 years (2022); first quarterfinal appearance in 40 years (2023); first Power 4 signee, Sacovie White to Georgia, in 15 years (2024); first nine-win season in 42 years (2025); and first 6-0 start in 43 years (2026). Cass is ranked No. 7.

1. We’ve asked you in past years what you did to make Cass a winning program. Now that you’ve been with the Colonels seven seasons, what have you and your staff done to keep it there?

“I believe we have finally created depth. Yes, it has taken seven years to have a roster that is deep, with good solid football players. It’s taken countless hours in the weight room and our staff coaching Cass kids from middle school on up. Most all of the seasons I’ve been here, we’ve had a handful of players that were either better or just as good as our opponents’ top three, four players, but that made us rely on those few guys to carry us. If one or two of them went down, we were in big trouble, which actually happened a couple times in big games. And quite frankly, opponents’ eighth to 15th players were just much better than ours.

“And as a wise man, Tripp Allen (now Blessed Trinity’s offensive coordinator), told me years ago: ‘It doesn’t make a hill of beans what coaches call. You’ve got to have the players to execute what’s called.’ To me, it’s easy to coach really good high school players. A true measure of a successful coach is what you do with the below average and average players. Do you make them better every day? I think this staff has done that here at Cass. I believe we have four different receivers that have caught touchdown passes in the first six games. We’ve got five or six defensive backs that can play at any given time. We’ve got four running backs that I have no problem touching the football on Friday nights. Those type of things are astronomical in the big picture of a program. And of course we can always use more lineman, on both sides of the ball. That’s an area that we are still diligently working on: creating depth and adding lineman.”

2. How would you describe the Cartersville rivalry and its importance? Do you feel more pressure to perform well in that rivalry than other games?

“I personally don’t. They are one game on our schedule. The other nine games are individually just as important in making the playoffs as this game. I grew up and played in Cobb County, I coached for 10 years in Cobb. There’s 20 high schools in Cobb. Every week was a ‘rivalry game’ because the schools are so close to each other, and everyone knows everyone, similar to this game. We prepare just as hard for this game as we did in Week 2 and as we will for Week 9. We have to concentrate on us and making sure we put our players in the best possible position to make plays and be successful on Friday nights regardless of the opponent. Cartersville is Cartersville. I’ve said it before. They are a machine; coach (Conor) Foster has, does and will continue to do an incredible job coaching those kids up. They are No. 1 in the state for a reason, and it starts with him, and having the wide receiver in the state, Madoxx Davis. And the best box in the state doesn’t hurt, either. Their defensive line reminds me of the Rome defensive line in 2016 with Jamarcus Chatman, Ja’Quon Griffin and Adam Anderson. Grayson Villar, Elijah Peeks and Kylen Pope (of Cartersville) are as good as any high school front I’ve ever seen.”

Note: Rome’s trio of Chatman (Florida State), Griffin (Georgia Tech) and Anderson (Georgia) went on to college stardom. Cartersville’s Peeks is committed to Georgia State. Pope, an edge, and Villar, a defensive end, are juniors. Gates referred to receiver Davis, a 5-star junior prospect, as Sacovie 2.0, comparing him to the Georgia slot receiver and punt returner.