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Four-and-oh what a feeling: Swainsboro, Worth County and Temple enjoy early success
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One has been there before and is trying to get back, one has been there and is trying to get even better, and one hasn’t ever been there at all...
Swainsboro, Worth County and Temple are all in the same place right now -- a 4-0 start -- and they now get to see where they go from here.
Swainsboro Tigers
The Swainsboro Tigers, under head coach Scott Roberts, made back-to-back finals appearances in 2022 and 2023 but went 4-7 last year after a first-round playoff loss in Class A-D1. This year, with the 14-0 win over Appling County last week, they are perfect so far.
In the papers they’re perfect... just not on the field... yet... once you ask...
“Obviously, last year was a disappointment for us,” Roberts admits. “We thought that the approach would carry over to the younger players and to the older players that had been a part of the successes. But it ended up being like we were starting completely over. We just had to get back to work.
“The kids grew up in the off-season and we held their feet to the fire. Unlike some of our other teams that were very successful, we all realized it was not going to be as easy going forward.”
With only four region games in Region 3-D1, they’ve had to do all of this work against quality opponents -- Dublin, ECI, Metter and Appling. The Metter win is the only one of the four with a winning margin of more than two touchdowns.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of this bunch,” Roberts said. “The kids fight and hustle like crazy. There is a lot of room to improve, but starting with the second half against Dublin, they have showed a lot of fight.”
Roberts tells me that a hallmark of the team this year is the defense. They have played hard for the staff and they’re not a group that will give up on a long play. They’ll make a point to hustle back and make sure a long-gainer is just that and nothing more.
“Against ECI, we were behind 14-7 at the half,” Roberts continues. “We kept telling our players they had a chance to win that game and they did. In the game against Appling, Tucker Pruitt will test your manhood.”
He says that over the phone and you can feel Roberts bow his neck, tilt it to the side, and show off a warning to everyone else on Appling’s schedule.
“He’ll run right at you with power. And he’ll sit there and do it over and over on you. We were able to bust some plays of theirs up. They ran a reverse pass for a 30-yard gain. But because we hustled back, that’s all it was. We made some mistakes but we played hard. They had another gain of 20 yards against us, but it wasn’t a TD. We stopped them there as well.”
From here, though, on the schedule is a trip to Thomson.
“It was either that or travel to Atlanta. With our success, it’s hard to get anyone to play you. When they re-did the regions last time, a lot of our traditional rivals went into a larger, newer region. Dublin, Washington County, East Laurens and Jefferson County all moved over and we lost all those games. They all only had one spot available on their schedules and it was at the beginning of the year.”
So, it ended up as Dublin. And Roberts was forced to fill out a schedule with the teams he’s played so far, Thomson and Crisp before region play even starts. The Thomson series came about after casual conversation after the quarterfinals in 2023 with Bulldogs head coach Michael Youngblood.
“It’s been a rough road for us as we’re young,” Roberts says. “But the same thing happened in 2020 with us before the years that followed. So, I hope last year is the beginning of something like that again.”
Worth County Rams
Jeff Hammond is in his fourth year as head coach in Sylvester with Worth County. The Rams have gone to the postseason each year in Class A-D1. Last year was the first outright region title for the school since Milt Miller was head coach in 1987 -- the year they beat Marist in the AAA title game -- and the run in the 2024 season wrapped in the quarters in a shootout loss to Fitzgerald.
They are top-ranked in some polls, including the GPB Sports poll, for the first time since 1990 and took care of Brooks County last week by 19, 44-25.
“It’s good to see that people are respecting us enough to get that top ranking,” head coach Jeff Hammond says, “and we’ve gotten a lot better. But it’s only game four. Our goals are further than game four.”
The non–region schedule ended with the win over Brooks. That was the only game this season to date that Worth has given up points. The wins over Turner, Irwin, and Dooly were all shutouts.
“Those first three games we had running clocks in the second half,” Hammond tells me. “We played the way we should have in those games. Brooks was the first four-quarter game we’ve played all year. We just look to keep improving every week. We need to be stressed and be in pressure situations and last week gave that to us to learn about ourselves.”
Hammond admits that playing deep into a fourth quarter is needed for his team. It might have been an Achilles heel in the past where you play well early but, like in last year’s quarterfinal against Fitzgerald, you don’t get the win. It’s good to know where you are and, in the fourth quarter last week, they were playing fast against Brooks in the win.
“We gave up three plays versus Brooks and the last TD was on the last play of the game. I was really impressed with them and we got to handle some adversity along the way. We gave up a long touchdown in the game and we responded well. Our offense went down and scored to restore the margin on the scoreboard.”
Worth gets to watch everyone else before getting ready for the Fitzgerald game next week. Hammond admits there are mistakes to clean up in the interim.
“Everyone’s expectations around here have changed now,” Hammond says. “As a community it used to be hungry to have a winning season.” Since the turn of the century, Worth had only four of those before Hammond took over on the sidelines. “We’re now looking to make a run and get back to those glory days like under Coach Miller.
“We want to get back to where Worth County has a say in the playoffs every year.”
Temple Tigers
Before Cory Nix and his staff went to Temple the Tigers had never won as many as seven games in a year. Last season, they finished 9-3 before losing to Thomasville in the second round of the Class A-D1 playoffs. Coming into this year, Temple had never started a season 4-0.
Well, now they have.
The offense is one of the most prolific in the state with an average of 50 points per game so far and they knocked off South Atlanta 27-14 last week leading into their bye. The very tough, Region 6 schedule awaits with Heard, Haralson, Bremen, Darlington, Model and Pepperell coming up to fill out their grid.
“I learned that we, obviously, put it together and made a nice run for a historical season last year. But I also understood, on the other end, in the second round that there's somebody bigger, better and badder out there. And we still have got a way to go, honestly.”
And, this year, the head coach has a large stable of running backs to handle that part of the offense -- some games early on as many as ten -- one of them happens to be his son, Hudson, a junior. I asked what it’s like to have him along for the ride this year.
“I think it depends on the day, to be honest,” Cory tells me. “I'm being truly honest with you and transparent with you. It's supposed to be the greatest time of your life, obviously, coaching your own son, but it's a lot and it's tough. And I know (Heard County) Coach (Shane) Lasseter talked about this, too, to everybody. But you know it's a tough gig.
“It's not as easy as people think it is. But it's very joyful when it's clicking and you're getting along, but it has been a blessing. But there's tough days, too.” Admittedly, you have to be four different people- the dad, the coach, the coach-dad, and the dad-coach part. “And that's really the toughest part of it, to be honest with you. But all those hats and, then to make sure it's balanced, and there and from the outside looking in- it's a tough juggle, but it's worth it.”
The Nix’s and the Tigers get the week off as well before region play starts with Pepperell. And, I’ll tell you right now, this is not a region that is going to be easy for anyone...
“I think anybody can beat somebody on Friday night,” Cory says. “And you better bring your A-game. And it doesn't matter if it's Heard, Bremen, Haralson, Pepperell, we can go on... and Darlington, too. You better be ready and prepared and then be ready for the physical part of the game too, because it is a very tough region.”
Get your rest, everyone... region play is coming... and business is about to pick up...
Especially, if you’re 4-0 and folks are waiting for you. Time to test yourself and everyone around you going forward...
Play it safe, everyone... I’ll talk to you soon!
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