Today’s interviewee is Fitzgerald coach Tucker Pruitt, whose team defeated Thomasville 29-28 on Friday to clinch Region 1-2A. Fitzgerald also moved up to No. 1 in the Class 2A rankings after what was the team’s fifth victory over a top-10 team out of nine games, all wins. Pruitt is a former Fitzgerald player who became the school’s head coach in 2017.
Tucker Pruitt, Fitzgerald head coach
1. How did the Thomasville game play out, and what gave your team the edge? “It was back and forth all night long. We were down 28-21 in the fourth quarter and they intercepted a pass on the 1-yard line. We got a safety on the next play to make it 28-23 and scored on the following possession to make it 29-28 after failing to convert on the two-point conversion. That was the break we needed, and it was a huge momentum shift in the game. We didn’t play our best game. We lost the turnover battle 3-0, but I was really proud of the resiliency our kids showed to continue playing and find a way to win.”
2. The win clinched a region title. Why was that significant for the team? “First and foremost it was significant because it was one of our team goals this year to win the region. It’s also significant because it gives us home-field advantage in the playoffs, and we feel like the bracket is set up to where we should have an opportunity to make a deep playoff run.”
3. What would you want fans to know about your team? What’s the team’s makeup, its identity? “We’ve got a bunch of great kids. We have a big senior class with 22 seniors, and those guys have been with us all four years now and they know how we do things. They have high expectations and work their butts off. They want to be special and want to win a championship.”
4. Fitzgerald has been a consistent winner for two decades and come close to state titles with three runner-up finishes this century. What might this team have that may give it a better shot of winning than some that have come before it? “I think it’s probably the fact that we have been battle-tested and been in a bunch of really close games and found a way to win. We beat Cairo by four, Jefferson County by two, Thomasville by one and Pierce by 10, but we scored a really late touchdown in that one, so it was a lot closer than that. We actually began that game by getting down 10-0 and had to come from behind. We have been ahead and we have been behind and our kids just keep fighting. We have found ways to win games even when we didn’t play our best football, and I think that’s what championship teams do, and if we want to win a championship, we are going to have to continue to do that.”
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