Oconee County entered Class 3A this season after the reclassification cycle that followed a loss to Blessed Trinity in the 4A state championship game last season. The Warriors are 4-0 for the first time since 2016 as they enter a big week against Class 5A No. 5 Veterans.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Oconee County head coach Travis Noland said. “We’ve had a lot of things go our way early in the year, and our guys have done a nice job of adjusting to each week for what it is, and we have been trying to prepare the best we can for that week.”
Undeterred following the end of the 2019 season, No. 3 Oconee County opened with a 27-7 victory against then-No. 10 (4A) North Oconee. It blanked Cedar Shoals 35-0 in Week 2 and beat 5A No. 9 Clarke Central 24-7 in Week 3. Last week, the Warriors beat Class 2A No. 5 Thomasville, 44-14.
“We’ve been fortunate to get off to a good start,” said Noland, who has been at Oconee County since 2014.
The Warriors have outscored opponents 130-28 in four games, and Noland says the defense has been the key to such a dominating performance.
“The defense is making us tick, so far,” Noland said. “We have several guys back from last year’s defensive team, and they have played well to this point. And the places where we have new starters, they’ve all done a nice job.”
Senior linebacker Justin Coleman has 43 tackles and three sacks. Senior linebacker West Weeks has 29 tackles; senior safety Elijah Hamm has 26 tackles and one interception, and sophomore safety Whit Weeks has 25 tackles and two interceptions.
But there have been struggles on the lines for the Warriors.
“We haven’t played with the same five linemen in any game yet,” Noland said, citing ankle and hand injuries to several players. “So we are just trying to find health and to find our way through each week. It’s hard to build consistency and continuity in any part of an offensive plan when those pieces up front change from week to week. That has been our struggle up to this point.”
To sum it up.
“One player might be a guard this week, but next week he’s playing tackle and stuff like that. So it has just been a work in progress for us,” Noland said.
Offensively, Oconee County is relatively balanced, but leans toward the run. The Warriors average 177 rushing and 133 passing yards per game. Anchoring the running game is sophomore C.J. Jones, who has 62 carries for 290 yards and four touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Jacob Wright is 20-for-32 passing for 403 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Junior wide receiver Jake Johnson has 11 catches for 271 yards and three touchdowns.
The Warriors will host Veterans on Friday (look for a breakdown of that game in the 3A weekend preview blog Thursday).
“We have our biggest challenge ahead of us this week,” Noland said. “The Veterans quarterback passed for 330 yards last week and they have a great running back. It will be a big challenge for us on both sides of the ball.”
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