At Grayson High School, winning is everything.

The Rams boast four football state championships since 2011, back-to-back girls basketball titles and a boys’ hoops title in 2024. Now head coach Jacob Parker’s flag football team appears to be on the cusp of adding more hardware to the school’s pedigree.

Since finishing with an 8-8 record in 2022, Grayson flag football has gone 40-12 in its last two-plus seasons, reaching the Division 4 semifinals a year ago. Off to a 2-0 start this season, Parker’s expectations have never been higher.

“We’re definitely excited for this season,” Parker said. “We’ve got a lot of returning players that built great experience last year, and I’ve got a great group of seniors that are going to use that to lead this team. I think what I’m most excited about is the wonderful balance of young and older players. The younger players are getting nurtured and brought up, and we’re going to get battle tested early.”

After a seven-point win over Jackson County and a 42-6 blowout of rival Norcross, Grayson has won 15 of 16 games since last October. Spearheaded by some of the best talent Parker can claim since the program’s inception, the Rams are becoming one of the premier groups from Gwinnett County.

“Sami Bradford is going to be a two-way player for us, and she’s as athletically gifted and physically dominant as any player I’ve ever had,” Parker said. “She pops off the film as soon as you see her and we’re going to be relying on her a ton this year. Outside of her, some of my younger players have really stepped up. Kiera Beacham at linebacker has an incredible nose for the ball. Deuce White on both sides of the ball, maybe a little quarterback and receiver, as well as safety. We’ve got a lot of young, talented kids that are ready to play.”

In two games, Mikayla Evans has thrown for 259 yards and four touchdowns, while Bradford has hauled in seven catches for 153 yards and a pair of scores. Beacham paces the stout Grayson defense with 11 tackles in the first two outings of her sophomore campaign.

Beginning in 2018 as one of Gwinnett’s pilot teams, Grayson has been playing flag football as long as anyone in the state. Parker has been through it all with the Rams, starting as an assistant under Rebekah McWhorter before taking over the reins in 2020. The veteran flag coach is determined to add another banner to the school, which is situated on an aptly named road: “Champions Way.”

“I take an incredible amount of pride (in adding another winning program to Grayson),” Parker said. “The support that we get from our athletic director, Brian DeBerry, is really paramount in how we’re able to build these successful sports. He allows us coaches to go out there and do their job and allows us the freedom to build successful programs. I’m very blessed by the opportunity to be at a great place like Grayson that has the infrastructure and the staff behind the scenes to make our programs successful.”

After Gwinnett’s fall break this week gives the Rams a nine-day break, they return to make their home debut Wednesday against Heritage and state-runner up Columbus