Today’s interviewee is Cass coach Steve Gates, whose team defeated fourth-ranked Jefferson 27-17 in the Class 5A first round Saturday. The victory was the first for Cass in the postseason since 1983. Cass’s record is 16-16 in three seasons under Gates. It was 5-25 in the three prior seasons.
1. How did you win that game? “Our coaches implemented a game plan last Sunday, and we worked on it throughout the week, and the kids executed it flawlessly. Jefferson was, in our opinion, so well-coached, almost to a fault. It’s a good thing to be well-coached, but it’s also something that can be predictable. They’d given up 35 points in their last eight games. If I was them, I wouldn’t change anything either because it worked. They gave us a lot of stuff underneath. They don’t like to get beat, but we cracked the code on the second play of the game on a 67-yard bomb to Sacovie White [a junior wide receiver committed to Georgia], but overall, we threw a ton of stuff underneath. Then obviously, we had to know where [Jefferson star linebacker] Sammy Brown was the entire game. If anybody wants to know what a five-star looks like, Google Sammy Brown. He’s an absolute monster. We knew in certain formations where they’d put him. We didn’t necessarily run away from him, but we knew where he was. We had great game plan on offense and defense and stuck to it. Even when we got up 20-0, we kept throwing the football, and it was a fun night.”
2. Sacovie had a good game and a big catch, as you mentioned. What can you tell us about him that not only high school football fans would want to know but also Georgia fans who will be seeing him in a couple of years? “Sacovie is a very unique kid. He’s very confident but not cocky or arrogant, if that makes sense. He feels he’s better than you, and he’ll tell you that, but he also shows you that. That’s just Sacovie. Each week when he watches film, he’ll tell me who their best player is, and that’s who he wants to line up across from him. Fortunately for us, nine times out of 10, he’s going to win that battle.”
As a college prospect: “He’s 5-9, and he’s not 5-10. My kids know that I don’t fib, I don’t lie, I don’t fudge. Coaches would reach out to me to watch his film. They would be excited, and they ask for his real height. For some, that was the end of the conversation. It wasn’t for Coach [Kirby] Smart. Coach Smart physically saw him play football this summer and offered him on the spot. He didn’t bat an eye on the height. So it doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’s going to Georgia. That’s Coach Smart’s M.O. on certain kinds of players, like Ladd McConkey. There’s not many 5-9 kids that can do what Sacovie does. The college scene will see him in 18 months. He’ll be returning punts day one at Georgia. You can put that down.”
3. Your region swept in the first round. What was your reaction to that? “I was not shocked at all. Having been in some very difficult regions before at Kell [as an assistant coach], there was Kell, Rome and Carrollton, so it’s nothing new to me personally. Then I came to Cass two years ago and got Calhoun, Cartersville and Blessed Trinity and I’m thinking good lord, this is difficult as well. Then realignment comes out this year, and we lost Blessed Trinity but pick up Dalton, so we’re back to where we were. And there’s Hiram. They beat our region champion [in the regular season]. I truly believe we have one of, if not the, toughest regions in the state, and it showed in round one.”
4. Changing the historic order of things in northwest Georgia with Cartersville, Calhoun and other top programs isn’t easy. What’s been the toughest thing, and what does this victory do toward that goal? “This victory is huge for the program. There’s all the records that go with it, the first time since 1983 that we’ve won a playoff game, so there’s a lot of accolades that go with that win, but in the big picture, we’re just still working toward the goal of becoming an elite program year in and year out. The difference in a Calhoun and a Cartersville and a Cass is consistency. This year is the first time in school history that Cass had made the state playoffs in back-to-back years. That’s never happened in 71 years. To me, that’s the start of consistency. And we’re still young. At any point in time, we’ve got five or six starting freshmen and five or six starting sophomores. We’re going to get 17 or 18 starters back. Both my tackles are 14-years-old. We’re doing this and still being extremely young. My O-line coach said it best. ‘It’s always been, oh good, we get to play Cass this week. I think the time is changing to where people are now saying, oh heck, we got to go play Cass this week.’ That means we’re making a name for ourselves.”
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