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Magical days for these South Georgia football programs
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Different numbers mean different things to different people...
If you’re into numerology, like a recent podcast guest that became engaged to the co-host of the show she appeared on, it’s 13. For me, it’s 11. I found eleven cents on the 11th of the month once. For the schools we catch up with this week, it’s 1998, 1973, and the number 1. And they all mean a lot to the teams that are here...
Kip Burdette is the head coach out at West Laurens. They're 6-0 after taking part in the 15th highest-scoring game in GHSA history, a 70-55 win over Baldwin (where I think someone just scored again...) and we talked about the massive offensive numbers hit earlier in the week here at GPB.
Burdette is in his fourth year there where the wins have increased each time out -- 1, 2, and 8 -- last year ending in the first round of the playoffs. The last time West Laurens had a 6-0 start like this year was all the way back in 1973. They played a non-region schedule then and wrapped at 8-2 under coach Allison Manning when the school was only two years old.
The last time the program was 5-0 was back in 1990, and one of the themes Burdette mentioned to me about this season was “to make history.”
“We had the chance to have a few feathers in our cap with some quality wins the last two years,” Burdette tells me. “But it is hard to eat an elephant in one bite. We had the chance to redeem ourselves with the win over Harlem this year from the loss we had last year. And with Baldwin, we do have some history. They were our make-up game with Hurricane Helene last year and had to play them twice in ten days -- regular season and again in round one of the playoffs. We got to redeem ourselves there as well.”
They’re in their bye week and the main task is trying to get everyone healthy for the stretch run. “Our staff was saying ‘we need it.’ We have 20 seniors and with two scrimmages plus the season to date, we’ll take it.”
When you have a performance like last Friday where Ty Cummings runs for 615 yards and eight touchdowns, I asked Coach Burdette if he ever gets to enjoy a game like that when it goes off the rails.
“Our sideline guy was talking to me at the half on radio,” Burdette admits, “and he asked, ‘Are we going to get a record tonight?’ Ty has 350 yards rushing.’ We were three scores up at times and it would go back to two scores for a lead. It was a crazy game and it’s hard to wrap your head around it at times and we only had three other first downs in the entire game.”
It did lead to stresses on defense and Burdette admitted he was trying to go to a “heavy” package to slow things down. But, on the first play in that formation, Cummings scored anyway. It’s almost like you want to throw the ball to slow things down.
West Laurens has some time to prep for Richmond Academy, but if he ever has any questions, he can reach out to Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson, Randy McPherson, or his dad in Forsyth. And, so you know, his grandfather was legendary coach Dan Pitts, so coaching has always been a part of his DNA...
But that’s another story for another day as the Raiders rest...
Wheeler County
We remember Alamo here at GPB Sports as the number 6 is just as important to Wheeler County in Class A-D2. They’re 6-0 for the first time since 1998 after a big win over a tough Hawkinsville team.
“The biggest thing that has helped in our improvement as a team has been our physicality,” head coach Thomas Smith admits. “If you keep landing body blows, eventually you’ll get things to break for you. Special teams has come up huge and I have always thought you need to win two of the three phases of play. Our defense communicated well with each other against a team that comes at you in a bunch of different ways.”
Last year, Wheeler lost their starting quarterback in July and had to run a lot of “wildcat” formation that teams had problems stopping. They matched their win total of seven for the first time since 2003. Justin Culver has been causing problems on defense this year and Jah Dinkins had two scores in two different phases last week to draw attention to the Bulldogs. A focal point for success this year, Smith points out, is the offensive line for him.
“Our offensive line graduated four of five starters,” Smith says. “Our center returned and we had sophomores and a junior that are a year more experienced. Each week, they have gotten a little better this year. Our tight end helps out the younger linemen and a freshman tight end is now a sophomore guard.”
Smith admits that he does hear about 1998 from the administration. But, for a program that has accomplished what it has in the short term, there is a message with this start.
“The message is ‘don’t settle.’ And we have that on a bulletin board in our weight room. We remind our team to be hungry but staying humble and we remind them that we haven’t arrived as a program yet. As a group, we can get better. But we have to look at the small stuff.”
Next up for Wheeler County is a home game against Montgomery County as they try to accomplish something they never have in program history- a 7-0 start.
Dooly County
We mention history here a lot and seasons that mean a lot to program histories.
But, for Dooly County head coach Tony Alexander, we focus on the number one...
He got his first-ever win as a head coach in Vienna with a big win over Montgomery County ending a 15-game losing streak for Dooly along the way. It was their first win since the 2023 playoffs. Alexander knows what south Georgia football means as a Crisp County alum.
“The proximity to Cordele and the chance to be close to home was why I wanted to be head coach here,” Alexander admits. “There have been great athletes and tradition here in the past. With that, I wanted to start out at a smaller program. The administration here has invested in a new turf surface, a new fieldhouse, and a new weight room. I saw all the support for the program and took a leap of faith.
“First to just to interview and then to be given my dream job. In the 229, it’s a bit different.”
At the age of 30, Alexander didn’t even expect to get a call back in the interview process at first. But he now gets the chance to put his own blueprint on a program.
“You get the chance to gain the trust of the upperclassmen along the way and you get to work on unifying a staff. If a toilet goes bad in the locker room, you have to be the one to fix it. I get to sweep the field and be, kind of, like a CEO talking to vendors, scheduling buses, and lining up all the gear.”
Alexander also has had to manage multiple weather problems this season and facing a team he thinks will be the state champs in their class. It’s all about the growing pains and everyone gaining all the experience they can.
He can catch up with Coach Boone and former Northside coach Ben Bailey on his old campus for advice as well as William Richardson at Luella and the current head coach at Booker T. Washington in Atlanta, Lawrence Smith.
And he gets to share with all of them the smiles of his roster after the win last week as they prep for a rival in Rochelle next weekend.
“Just to see the smiles and belief in their eyes now was awesome,” he says as he’s looking over the defensive part of practice. He’s an offensive guy and I could hear the whistles behind him. He was giving himself an excused absence for the time being.
“I got the ice bath and everything. But you’ve had to be with the emotions of the staff, the community, and the administration all at once. At practice now, there’s a different energy. Now we have to bring them back to earth a little bit over the next week. They now have to learn to deal with success. They’re walking upbeat and confidently. We’ll now be at home in the Grove where we hope we can stack up some wins.”
So, at the end of the day, when you look at all the numbers in play right now it doesn’t matter how large or how small they all are. The impact is the same across the board...
Play it safe, everyone... I’ll talk to you soon...
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