Today’s interviewee is Trinity Christian coach Kenny Dallas, whose team defeated then-No. 4 Athens Academy 59-7 on Friday. Dallas began coaching in Georgia at Landmark Christian, where he won six consecutive region titles (2002-07) and reached a state championship game in 2011. He had been Eagle’s Landing Christian’s defensive coordinator before taking the Trinity job in 2017. Trinity made the GISA Class 3A final that first year, joined the GHSA in 2018 and now is ranked No. 1 in a GHSA classification for the first time.
Kenny Dallas, Trinity Christian head coach
1. The score of Friday’s game against a traditionally strong opponent probably surprised a lot of people. What happened, and where was the game won? “First of all, let me say that it is an absolute honor to get to compete with a program like Athens Academy. They have been so good for so long. Their tradition of winning absolutely speaks for itself. It is highly motivational for a program as young as ours to get the privilege to open up with a program that has the tradition of an Athens Academy. That said, we regularly tell our players that earning the right to win games against great opponents does not happen in your preparation, dedication and hard work over the last few days in practice but rather what you have done over weeks, months and even years in your preparation. Our entire culture inside Trinity football can be defined in one statement: Champions are built when no one is looking. This is about to be my fifth season at Trinity, our fourth in the GHSA, and in that time I have seen this group of young men consistently and willingly work year-round when no one is looking. I have been watching this group of young men train year-round since middle school. I believe 19 of our 22 starters have been at Trinity since middle school. I was extremely happy for our young men this past Friday night, but I was not surprised how they performed because I have been watching them train for the last four years.”
2. How much of Friday’s performance was mental, meaning your players have gained a sense of confidence, even swagger, from their success and playoff run last year, and how much is simply that Trinity has a bunch of good players, and it’s just their time to shine? Scripture says, ‘As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.’ There is no doubt that we broke some ‘ceilings’ last year, such as our first GHSA region championship, first third- and fourth-round playoff wins and of course the opportunity to play in the state championship game. But any coach who has been around will tell you that in order to consistently win you have to have great players, great support and a great staff. I am blessed to have all three. We have a roster of 70 outstanding young men, eight of whom have already received college offers. Our parents and administration all bleed purple, and my staff is led by two men that could easily be head coaches, Roby Ross [assistant head coach/defensive coordinator] and Lance Duncan [offensive coordinator].”
3. Trinity Christian is a school that many GHSA followers had never heard about when the school entered the GHSA, and many didn’t know you until you played Prince Avenue Christian for the championship last year. What would you want people to know about the school and the football program? “Trinity Christian School is an extremely special place whose mission is to prepare today’s student to impact tomorrow’s world. I love it because it is a place that is unashamed to recognize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. Our high school has only had 12 graduating classes, but we are proud to have a diverse group of students who have gone on to everywhere from Ivy League schools and the military academies to four-year universities and trade schools. The goal of the school is to train up each student in the way he or she should go.
“As for our football program, we have two words that form our foundation of who we are: Preparation and Brotherhood. Preparation is simply the word we use for hard work. We strive to be the hardest-working team in the state of Georgia. Brotherhood is the word we use for love. We want our players and coaches to love each other deeper than any team in the state of Georgia. I am a firm believer that state championships have been won by using all different type of schemes. We are not building our program on schemes. Our formula is simply hard work and love. That said, I would like to invite everyone to come out to Trinity on a Friday night and see how we do it in Sharpsburg.”
4. Multiple polls had Trinity ranked No. 1 in preseason. Now that defending champion Prince Avenue has lost, and your arch-nemesis Eagle’s Landing Christian has lost, does Trinity deserve to be No. 1? And why or why not? “Polls are fun for players, parents and fans to look and discuss, but we all know that what really matters is what happens on the field. I don’t know how ELCA would not be ranked No. 1 in the state. I know they barely lost last Friday, but it was to a great Woodward team that will probably compete for the AAAAA state championship this year. Also, it was just two weeks ago that ELCA beat Lowndes in their scrimmage. On top of all that, ELCA has won five of the last six A Private state championships. All that said, for the last five years at Trinity, we have been working hard every day to ‘CLIMB’ to the top of that mountain! Our goal is to reach the top! We preach to our young men that there are three types of people on the mountain: those who CAMP, those who QUIT and those who CLIMB. I am blessed to lead a group of young men who love each other enough to get up every day and CLIMB together! #748CLIMB.”
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