Class 2A blog: Callaway, Fitzgerald meet in postseason again

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At noon on Tuesday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium, the No. 8 Callaway Cavaliers (11-1) and the top-ranked Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane (13-0) will play for the Class 2A state championship. The game will be a rematch from a season ago, when the Cavs hosted and beat the Purple Hurricane 50-31. The Region 5-champion Cavs are seeking their first title in a program that dates to 1996, and the Purple Hurricane, champions of Region 1, have just one title to their name from 1948.

To get to this point has been a challenge like no other season before and, hopefully, none after. COVID-19 affected all programs, and the Cavs and Purple Hurricane are no exception.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at each team’s road to the title game.

Callaway: The season of bye weeks

The Cavaliers entered the season with high expectations, returning a lot of key talent from a 2019 team that reached the semifinals for a second consecutive season and third time in the last four years — they also reached the quarterfinals in 2017. Though AJC Super 11 selection and 5-star running back Tank Bigsby is now at Auburn, where he’d ultimately win 2020 SEC co-freshman of the year honors, the Cavs entered the season with a more-than-adequate replacement in Charlie Dixon, a dynamic dual-threat quarterback in Demetrius Coleman and two-way playmakers Jalin Shephard and Keshawn Suggs among others.

The Cavs opened the season ranked No. 2 and after a 2-0 start, they jumped to No. 1, where they’d stay for three weeks. But COVID-19 would present a constant obstruction of their season, responsible in part for five bye weeks throughout, including in Round 1 of the playoffs when Banks County forfeited due to an outbreak.

With so much time off during the season — including individual player quarantines and cancellations of practice — the Cavs had no choice but to stay focused and push through the frustrating off-the-field setbacks.

“It’s been difficult but I think it speaks to the character of our football team,” said long-time Cavs coach Pete Wiggins, who took over the program in 2005. “Especially our 17 seniors...there’s been so many ups and downs...It started with losing some scrimmages (to cancellation), then moving the season (the GHSA was forced to delay the start of the season by two weeks), and we lost a couple of really major games from teams over in Alabama (Opelika and Dothan). (The players) had to handle that situation.

“A lot of people like bye weeks. We like to play...I feel like, week-in and week-out, being on the field obviously makes you better — there’s continuity. So, through the season, we dealt with (the cancellation of games) and quarantines and players missing games to COVID...but our kids handled that really well.”

One stretch of canceled games led to a pivotal Region 5 matchup at Haralson County being moved three times, eventually falling on Nov. 10, a Tuesday night. They Cavs hadn’t played in 11 days but would have to play again on just three days rest at Temple that Saturday. The Cavs lost 36-29 to Haralson County, but recovered to beat Temple and, six days later, Heard County in the regular season finale to claim their second consecutive 5-2A championship.

Because the Cavs didn’t get their tune-up against Banks County, they were forced to go into Round 2 cold to face the No. 4 Lovett Lions. The Cavs squeaked by the Lions 16-9 and from there, they’ve demanded the attention and respect of the rest of the state with blowout wins over No. 3 Thomasville (34-21) and No. 2 Rabun County (41-17).

Now, to complete their quest of conquering the state’s top four-ranked teams in order, No. 1 Fitzgerald awaits in a rematch from last year’s tournament.

“I know they’re going to be different and they made it this far,” Suggs said. “So, it’s going to be a tough challenge for us, but we’ve just got to play the best game we ever have and take home this ring.”

Coleman said that for the Cavs to beat Fitzgerald again, they can’t afford to focus on the 2019 win over the Purple Hurricane.

“We have to forget about the past,” Coleman said. “Just because we beat them last year, that don’t mean anything now. We have to come out now like we haven’t won anything, and we just have to play harder than them, and play our game and not theirs.”

For a Cavs team that came into this season having reached the semifinals four times since 2013 without breaking through to the title game, they could be contempt with what is already their best season in program history. And in the Rabun County blowout, not only did they limit Wildcats 5-star quarterback Gunner Stockton, they also found themselves on ESPN’s SportsCenter, with Suggs’ shoe-tip catch coming in at No. 3 on its daily top plays.

Wiggins believes the team will refocus like they’ve had to so many times before and be ready for the only game that counts.

“I think our coaches and players understand what we’re trying to do,” Wiggins said. “We have to keep preparing at a high level for our next opponent...We’re going to go back to work and do what we do.”

Fitzgerald: Coping with success

When Tucker Pruitt took over the Purple Hurricane in 2017, he was coming from Valdosta, where he’d just won a 6A state title as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator. For Pruitt, the Fitzgerald job was a dream come true, a return to his alma mater where he’d played under his father, Robby Pruitt.

Though the Purple Hurricane would go 4-7 in 2017 for their first losing season since 1999, Pruitt said the growing pains experienced that year helped get the program to the title game in 2020.

“A lot of that failure is part of the success that we’re having now,” Pruitt said. “We built the foundation of how we were going to do things and had some trouble getting everybody to buy in. We lost (three) of our seven games by three points, so we were in games and had chances to win them. I just didn’t think we had a tough enough football team, a disciplined enough team at that time. But we went back to work and tried to improve on our shortcomings. The next year, we went to the semifinals and last year we went 8-4 — and all four teams that beat us were in the championship (Irwin County in 1A Public, Brooks County) or semifinals (Thomasville, Callaway), and we had a lot players coming back from that team.

“Whenever you look at the success of this year, I think it’s easy to think about just this year, but I think it goes back to the 4-7 year and the foundation we had to build and the culture we had to develop. Four-and-7 is definitely not OK for Fitzgerald — I know that, everyone knows that — but I believe that was part of process and why we’re 13-0 right now.”

The Purple Hurricane have passed every test thus far, with the only close games all being on the road, starting with their opener against 4A’s Cairo (21-17), followed by Jefferson County (14-12) on Sept. 25, and finally, their thrilling 29-28 come-from-behind win against Thomasville on Nov. 6 that ultimately won them Region 1.

Their only loss came off the field, when Cook canceled the Purple Hurricane’s season finale and cost them a shot a 15-0. The following week they had a bye, which meant two weeks off before the start of the playoffs.

Chance Gamble, a senior who plays quarterback, running back, receiver, defensive back and serves as the Purple Hurricane’s return man, said the 15-0 mark wasn’t a big focus for the team.

“It gave us two weeks to heal up and that was big for us going into the playoffs,” Gamble said. “We were really never worried about the record or anything. We just took it one game at a time and ended up being undefeated.”

Apparently, the Purple Hurricane being well-rested going into the playoffs served them well. They won their opener 58-12 over Oglethorpe County and beat Northeast 35-18 in the second round. In the quarterfinals, they went on the road and soundly beat Region 7 champions Fannin County, ranked No. 7 and undefeated, by a score of 48-14. In the semis, their rematch with No. 5 Jefferson County was a 24-0 win — their first shutout of the season.

When Pruitt first arrived, it was about coping with adversity. Now, it’s about coping with winning.

“This year, we’ve been fortunate enough to have some success and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about that,” Pruitt said. “I’m a firm believer that you deal with success the same way you deal with adversity — you put it in the rearview mirror and you move forward.”

Now comes a rematch with a Callaway team that had their number last year. The Purple Hurricane haven’t forgotten.

“It’s definitely motivation,” Gamble said. “We’ve talked about it all year. We’ve wanted our rematch against them and now we have our opportunity for it.”

Said senior defensive end-lineman and captain De Harper, “(Revenge) is a big factor. They beat us pretty bad last year and they earned it, but we’re coming back stronger this year.”

Revenge aside, this is a Purple Hurricane program starved for another championship, going 0-5 in title games since winning their only one, including consecutive runner-up finishes in 2015-16.

“I don’t know if this is about revenge,” Pruitt said. “This is a different team and a different year. To me, it’s more about the motivation to accomplish our goal to win a championship, and they’re the next team — and the last team — standing in our way.”

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