This week, Dear Reader, as most of the state is heading into region play (if they’re not already there), we’ve had more streaks broken (in good ways) and a team out of the blocks that has already won more games this year than the last two combined... 

Let’s start with Jordan in Columbus... I know what you’re thinking... 

It’s pronounced “Jer-dun” and the Red Jackets snapped their 59-game losing streak with a win in Greenville last week. The last time they won a game beforehand? Oct. 9, 2020.

Jordan

It had been 59 games since Jordan's last victory until Friday's win over Greenville.

Credit: Joseph Miesch

“Because of a quirk in the schedule, there was only one football game going on in Columbus Friday night,” WRBL-TV Sports Director Jack Patterson tells me. He’s sprinting to the Braves playoff game to keep the audience up-to-date on post-season baseball. “That meant we got to send a camera to Greenville to shoot highlights of the game. We were the only station there and got to see a really special moment. 

“Over the last decade-plus, a lot of the students there haven’t experienced a win in a football game.” Since 2000, to give context, Jordan has had 12 winless seasons and since 1975 it has enjoyed only had two winning seasons. Period. 

“To see the joy when the clock hit zero is the essence of what high school football is all about,” Jack continues. “It’s about having fun. To see that team work as hard and as long as they have is really special.” 

Chad Martin is in his first season as head coach there, having spent the last decade in the system moving over from Hardaway. He’s got 40 players, half new to the SPORT of football.  

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Martin admits, still giggling a bit as we talked. “I was talking to my wife about it and there are times that you really don’t know how to feel. I didn’t expect the reaction we’ve gotten from the community, but it has touched so many and you’re just in awe of the moment. One of our players hadn’t won a single game in middle or high school. He’s a senior this year and you look at him after the game and he just breaks down crying when we won.” 

Martin tells me he’s always been one to dream big when a season begins and when you take a job for the first time. The history of his time at Chattooga under John Starr and how he turned that program around from 1997-2007 rubbed off on him and stayed. When you have that kind of impact, you can see it directly and it sticks with you. 

“The philosophy we have here is one of ‘Eyes Forward.’ You get them to move forward now,” Martin says after he gets practice underway. “The streak was there and it lingered. Now you have a different kind of streak. We’re talking to the players now about going onto the next play, the next part of the game, the next score, and so on. How do you build from here? That’s what we’ve been focusing on this week.”  

Chad had to start from zero since he was hired at the end of May. It has been a lot of fundamentals since a lot of student-athletes really haven’t played organized football outside of, maybe, rec league. 

“They caught on quickly,” he tells me. “We had goals in the summer and we wanted to set a good foundation. They hit all those marks early. First thing we wanted to do was get the numbers up. We grew from 10-15 players to 25-30. Offensively, we were looking to have them master five basic plays. They can run them now with their eyes closed. In the weight room they’ve made huge gains.” 

So, this week, it’s a trip to Edison and Calhoun County.  

“People are telling me this will be the hardest week of coaching I’ve had in my life. You’ve got to bring them back to earth. We now have to have them understand winning. It’s about character education- how you act with class when you win, how you prepare, and how you carry yourself.” 

With the next marker of winning two in a row for the first time since 2010 right in front of you now...   

25-game losing streak ends for Johnson 

Donavon Odom is at the helm for Johnson-Gainesville as they won for the first time since Oct. 27, 2003, with a win for the Knights over Cross Keys. That snapped the 25-game losing streak, the only wins in the 2020s were the four back in 2023.  

That’s it... until now... and it’s Odom’s first win in a season and a half. 

Johnson wins

The Johnson players stand victoriously in front of the scoreboard at Adams Stadium after their streak-breaking win.

Credit: Johnson Facebook

“The kids played their hearts out,” he says after practice this week. “We’re better than we’ve been in the past and I’ll admit we’re not where we want to be. But it’s always a challenge with most of the 31 on the roster not ever having played football. And I mean... never... played football. They’re having to learn the basics and go from there.” 

Coach Odom thinks, as he was doing the math with me when I asked, all but three on the roster have never... played... football. Literally, you’re learning from scratch. Some may have played once or twice in middle school. 

“But most of them just come to you and say they just want to try it. Usually, we’ll look at a student and give the eye test in figuring out what position might be the one for them. Literally, we think the student might be good at ‘this.’ They’ll come and say they just want to play but when we think they would be at right tackle for us, they’ll have no idea what right tackle is and does. 

“We tell them ‘you’ll be good right here.’ Then, you have to explain to them why it’s ‘right here.’ From there, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. It’s steps. It’s plays. It’s blocking.” 

Odom has always thought he had the ‘builder’ mentality. “I have always wanted to go: Let me take something and build it. I have always thought those were really fruitful things to do.” 

And, then, he said something that stuck with me as to where he and the Knights staff are coming from with this roster. The players are still learning what success is, when it’s OK to celebrate, when your team scores is a good thing, and when something is negative- learning how to react there as well. You’ve done well because... you’ve done badly because... 

“I would say this is the hardest job in the state,” Odom tells me matter-of-factly. “I will say, though, the Good Lord put us here for a reason and we’re blessed to be here to teach.” 

LaFayette turns uncertainty into a 5-0 start

Lee Bohannon is an alum of LaFayette High, class of 1983... 

His last five years leading into the spring were at Ringgold and Chattanooga Christian but he was brought in to be defensive coordinator for the 2026 season. But three days before summer workouts, the then-head coach left the school for a job in Arizona. The administration asked Bohannon to be the interim head coach. He agreed to a “one year deal” to be head coach and the Ramblers are 5-0 for the first time since 1986. (That year they would go 9-0 before losing in the regular season finale to Villa Rica.)

LaFayette football

The LaFayette Ramblers have played a spirited and successful style of football this fall

Credit: LaFayette Facebook

“I would tell you we’re very pleased about where we are right now,” when I asked him what he would have said if I told him at the beginning of the season if this is where LaFayette would be after Week 5. “With all the time I have spent here in this part of the state, I know this region. Our talent here on campus is 50-50 or 60-40 when it comes to going head-to-head against everyone this side of Rockmart. We have a good chance to play really well against the teams we play against.” 

Bohannon and his staff have brought in a wing-T offense, with spread twists thrown in, that have put up a lot of yards and is averaging more than 34 points a game. Coach Bo and the staff saw some of the parts coming together in mid-July with padded camps and some 7-on-7 competitions they entered. He’ll be the first to give credit to both lines and his skill position players learning the merging of the two divergent styles.  

“One of the biggest things about success on defense is that we’re coaching not to give up the big play this season and we’re not,” Bohannon says proud of the discipline he has seen. “We’re making teams throw in front of us and we want them to drive the field. That’s the buy-in for us and, I’ll tell you, we’ve got some studs on defense.” 

LaFayette is “on fire” as a town right now. It reminds Bohannon of the early 2000s when basketball ruled campus. “And they love football and supporting the kids. We had a fundraiser for basketball last weekend and people were talking about the football team. They’re embracing it and know they’re seeing something special.”         

“This is a historic mark that hadn’t been touched at LaFayette since 1986, and it’s been an unbelievable run to watch,” SESN play-by-play voice Gabe Schray tells me. He has called football in northwest Georgia and Tennessee for a spell and was at win No. 5. “This is a hard-nosed, tough, disciplined football team with tremendous character and pride. I’ve been extremely impressed by the players and coaching staff. There’s still a lot of football ahead, but you can feel it around this program. This is a new era of LaFayette High School football.”  

So, I asked... 

Coach Bohannon is the veteran of the three. With the streaks broken at Jordan and Johnson now, what advice would he give to Coach Martin, Coach Odom, or any other coach about their builds... 

“First, set the culture,” Bohannon said. “Make sure everyone knows how you want to run your program and how you’re running the program. Make sure everyone knows how you structure things. Show that love and care mean more than the sporting part. Show them love as a person before you show them love as a coach.  

“Second, it’s about the collective mindset on the field. Make sure you import the way to do your day-to-day. Make sure there’s attention to each detail and the students are attentive to those details. Some environments have athletes that aren’t practicing hard since they think, as an athlete, they can just do that and go out and play. Make sure those athletes practice just as hard as you want them to play. In a region like ours, as an example, you have to make sure everyone is on the same page because of how even it is and how difficult it could be.” 

At that point, I was legitimately worried about Coach Bohannon’s voice. It was squiggly, scratchy, and high-pitched from all the work at practice so far this week. He assured me that if we caught up first thing in the morning, he’ll be fine. The only thing that’ll get it back is time -- and that’ll come after basketball season... 

Safe to say, we’re all looking forward to seeing these programs as they build from what we saw last week- and what they all want to accomplish going forward. 

What is it they say about rising tides...? 

Play it safe, everyone...