Haralson County winning ‘Ugly’

Haralson County coach Scott Peavey had a unique relationship with longtime coach Frank Vohun, who died last week at the age of 74, in that they took turns being each other’s successor and predecessor.

Peavey stepped down from his first stint at Haralson County following the 2004 season and was replaced by Vohun, who coached the Rebels until 2009, then returned in 2015 for a second stint. When Vohun retired following the 2016 season, Peavey was named his successor.

Each time the program exchanged hands, they followed the same process. The successor shadowed the predecessor at school for a month as they evaluated equipment, talked about players and shared philosophies.

“We had a mutual respect toward each other,” Peavey said. “Coming in and out of jobs, a lot of times that’s really awkward. I went out of my way to help him, and he remembered that and made sure to do the same for me. He went above and beyond to make the transition easy for me.”

On Oct. 7, Peavey announced Vohun’s death to the public on Twitter after receiving the news from Vohun’s family. The next day, the unranked Rebels went on the road and beat No. 5 Callaway 42-14 in their Region 5-2A opener, resulting in Haralson County (6-1, 1-0) debuting in the polls this week at No. 9.

Now, the Rebels are in the driver’s seat for the long-elusive region championship. It would be the first in a program that dates to 1968.

Building a consistent winner at Haralson County always was the goal for Vohun and Peavey, yet success was hard to come by for the school in Tallapoosa. In 21 years coaching four schools, Vohun’s only 0-10 season came with the Rebels in 2009. In his first stint from 2002-04, Peavey went 4-27. The Rebels are 0-6 in the playoffs since making their postseason debut in 2005 with Vohun.

When the Rebels finished 2-8 in 2017, Peavey’s first year back after Vohun went 4-16 the previous two seasons, Peavey decided the team needed to go in a radically different direction.

“In our region at the time (6-3A), everyone was (using) a 3-4 (defensive alignment); everyone was (using) a spread (offense),” Peavey said. “Well, so were we, and we weren’t good. I’m like, ‘You don’t even have to watch film on us because you saw it every week, because everyone else was running it.’”

His search for a new identity led him to California, where three-time state champion coach Tim Murphy perfected a double-wing offense dubbed “The Ugly Eagle.” Peavey traveled west to meet Murphy and also attended a camp with him in Missouri.

The offense isn’t complicated. The Rebels have rushed 179 times while attempting 16 passes, and Peavey estimates 95% of the run plays are to the right. It’s a throwback, smash-mouth style of play that fits the Rebels perfectly.

“We don’t have the athletes other teams have,” Peavey said. “They want to spread the field out. We’re the opposite. We want to get into a fight in a phone booth and see if we can win that battle. It’s a completely different style that’s worked really well for us at a place that’s never really had an identity.”

Playing in a new system, the 2018 Rebels went 8-3 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2010, and that streak is three years running. Previously the Rebels had never enjoyed back-to-back playoff appearances.

The Rebels went 8-3 again in 2019 and last year, after reclassifying to 2A, they finished 7-3, playing nine regular-season games.

The Ugly Eagle’s pinnacle is the long scoring drive. Against Callaway, the Rebels used a 10-minute drive that ended late in the second quarter, giving them a 28-0 lead heading into halftime.

“It’s demoralizing to a defense,” said Clay Hyatt, an AJC preseason all-state selection who plays quarterback and linebacker for the Rebels. Through seven games, Hyatt has 729 yards and seven touchdowns on 82 carries. On defense he has 57 tackles, six tackles for loss.

“If you can string along a 10-minute drive,” Hyatt said, “the defense starts looking at the clock, and you can tell they’re thinking, ‘Man, when is this going to stop?’ It takes something out of them.”

Said Peavey: “What it does, is when (a spread) offense comes back on the field, they’re really pressing. For fast-paced teams, now every throw matters, and they’re not free-wheeling because they don’t have any plays to give up. It can be a huge advantage.”

In each of the past three seasons, the Rebels have been in the region-title hunt late but came up short. Last year, they needed a victory against crosstown-rival Bremen in the final game but lost 28-14. Haralson County has remaining games against Temple (1-4, 0-1) on Friday, followed by Heard County (4-3, 1-0) and Bremen (4-2, 0-0).

“Before the season all the seniors wrote down goals,” Hyatt said. “Everyone of us wrote they wanted to win a region title, and I think that goal continues throughout the rest of the team. I think this year’s team has a little more of a chip on our shoulders, something that wasn’t there last year.”

The Rebels will honor Vohun at Friday’s game. His family will read a tribute while photos from his career are featured on the stadium’s video screen.

“We recognize the tremendous impact he had on and off the field for so many,” Rebels athletic director Lisa Warren said in an email exchange. “The lifelong relationships he built with so many students at Haralson County, other high schools and colleges is everlasting.”