Today’s interviewee is Ware County coach Jason Strickland, whose team is 4-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 5A after beating three straight ranked opponents, including Bainbridge 35-30 last week. The Gators will face a fourth top-10 opponent, No. 3 Benedictine of Class 4A, this week.
Jason Strickland, Ware County head coach
1. What have you done well this season to put you in this position? “I think one is the maturity level of this group. It’s just a close group. A few weeks ago, they didn’t know if they were going to have a season, so they’re taking each day seriously, like it’s a gift. They’re having a lot of fun and trusting each other, more so than last year. I don’t want to say there was selfishness [last season], but there was concern about stuff they didn’t have control over. This year, they’re playing football and having fun.”
2. Your quarterback, Thomas Castellanos, is having a great season, averaging well over 250 yards passing and 100 rushing per game. What does he do that gives opponents trouble? “His escape-ability is as good as probably anybody in the state, but he can make every throw, too. For the first two years of his career, he was an athlete running around in the quarterback position, trying to survive and make plays. I’m not sure how much he understood football. This year, he’s really become cerebral as far as his understanding of football. Thomas is a film junkie and a football junkie. We’ve put a lot on him, probably more than anybody I’ve ever coached, and now he’s become a heck of a quarterback who happens to be athletic.”
3. You’ve played different kinds of teams. What does Benedictine bring that’s different? “Offensively, they are probably more like us. They throw the ball really well. They have a highly recruited quarterback [Holden Geriner]. Quayde Hawkins [of Bainbridge] last week was terrific, and this guy, he might be the best one we’ve seen so far. And it looks like they have three mountains sitting there on their offensive line. The other thing that group of kids has had for several years is the expectation of playing for state championships. There’s just a tremendous source of pride there, which is what we wanted to schedule. We wanted to play teams that really cared about football and were well-coached.”
4. Four of the top seven teams in the rankings [No. 1 Warner Robins, No. 3 Ware County, No. 5 Veterans, No. 7 Coffee] are in Region 1-5A, and the fifth team in the region, Wayne County, has won playoff games each of the past three seasons. How do you feel about being in a region like that? “You’d better feel good about it because if you don’t, you’re going to get your feelings hurt. I’d rather play three cupcakes and roll into the playoffs, but you don’t get to do that. There’s going to be a good football team that doesn’t make the playoffs. The other thing is the coaching. Robby Pruitt at Coffee has 300 wins. Marquis Westbrook [at Warner Robins] just played for a state championship. Milan Turner at Veterans played for state championships and won them. You see what Coach [Ken] Cribb has been able to do the last few years at Wayne County. It’s a psycho level of coaching in the region. Add that to some really talented players and you’re going to have to show up and play because it’s a matter of getting embarrassed if you’re not careful.”
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