Mt. Bethel Christian readies to check off another first — a GHSA postseason game
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Mt. Bethel Christian coach Damon Dawson. The Eagles played their first varsity GHSA schedule this fall and at 6-4 will play in their first GHSA postseason beginning Friday against Darlington in the first round of the Private playoffs. Mt. Bethel Christian is one of three teams to be making their postseason debut this week. Dawson, a Westlake alum who went on to play at North Carolina and then the NFL, is in his first season as head coach of the private school in Marietta.
1. How did Mt. Bethel handle the transition to playing in the GHSA this season?
“I mean, we’re very small. So everyone had a tremendous part in our success this year, especially our seniors. I can’t say enough about them. We have seven tremendous seniors that brought a lot to the table. Most of them started, if not all of them, at least parts of the season. And we’re gonna really miss them dearly next year. But we also had tremendous, you know, juniors and sophomores, and even the freshmen. Everyone had to contribute. When you have a small team, everyone contributes. Our staff was locked in on trying to amplify our strengths by continuing to work on our weaknesses all year long. And the way our guys developed, the accountability and resilience they showed, I think that all that kind of showed up and helped us to have a successful year in our first year.”
2. Where do you think that leadership from the upperclassmen stood out throughout the course of the regular season?
“I think all parts about what we did. We picked it up in the weight room this year, whether it was meetings, whether it was film watching or studying the playbooks or watching your opponent on film. Definitely on the field, when things got tough, when we got down, when we needed some resilience, whether it was at Mount Paran or if it was in Puerto Rico when we played their national team or something like that, we needed guys to step up and to show leadership. I believe that’s exactly what our leaders — not only our seniors, but all our captains and guys throughout our program — did this year.”
3. You played high school football at Westlake, a big public school in Atlanta. How did that experience compare to being around a smaller private school program?
“Obviously the numbers are the biggest thing, but I think at most this year we maybe had about 31, 32 guys. We had about four or five guys go out with injuries. Having the ability to rest guys and to have guys play one side of the ball, I want you to know most, if not all, of our guys play both sides of the ball. All our guys play a part on special teams. That’s the biggest part. The other thing is, there’s obviously a difference in culture, but football is football. At the end of the day, it’s about football. It’s about — life is not football, but football is life. Meaning, the things you learn in football can definitely help you in life. You know, dependability, teamwork, accountability, responsibility that you have to learn. The ability to be resilient. You get knocked down, to get back up. To game plan, to plan not only for a short term but for the long term. Those are all things I think you learn in sports, and that’s what I learned at Westlake. I had an excellent coaching staff there, and I played with a lot of excellent players there. And I think I try to bring part of that with me when I’m here coaching these kids at Mt. Bethel. But understand our focus is not only developing these young men as athletes and student-athletes, but develop them as children of God to make sure that they have that first and foremost in their life as well.”
Note: Dawson was at Westlake during longtime coach Dallas Allen’s tenure.
4. What’s the early scouting report on Darlington ahead of Friday night’s first-round game?
“Super tough team. I remember playing Clemson in college when Woodrow Dantzler was there, and they had a super big offensive line that was really aggressive, and they had Woodrow Dantzler running that triple option, and it’s tough to prepare for that in one week. It’s really tough. And I guess with GHSA playoffs (using Post Season Rankings) … you really didn’t know who you were playing. You had an idea, not really knowing who you were gonna play. So it was like you didn’t really get an opportunity to really prepare. I think last year they had (an off) week in between the playoffs (and regular season) or something like that, but this year they started them a little bit earlier, and so it’s tough. I’m looking at them on film and they’re a very physical team. They have perfected this offense. They have a very physical and aggressive defense that they’ve got some really nice size on them, and we’ve got our work cut out for us. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve faced Goliath all this year, so why not another?”
Note: The winner of the Darlingon-Mt. Bethel Christian game will go on to play No. 1 Prince Avenue Christian in the second round.