After putting the wraps on the 2015 campaign on Saturday, we wanted to take a quick look back at the season that was with our “5 things” column. We’ll bring you a more in-depth look at the latest gridiron year later in the week.
Here’s a look at five things we learned from the 2015 high school football season...
1. Just because there are no titles to show doesn’t mean this wasn't a great campaign
OK, so it stinks we don’t have any area teams celebrating state championships this week -- and we’ve been a little spoiled with that, as this is the first time since 2011 that is the case. But there was still plenty of huge storylines, teams and players to make this an incredible campaign. We had three teams reach the state semifinals -- one for the very first time in Mill Creek -- and there were plenty of other firsts at play. Dawson County put together the most impressive season in program history, winning its first region title and reaching its first state quarterfinal. Rabun County also made its deepest playoff run since 1998, coming up just shy of its first-ever semifinal berth. The aforementioned Mill Creek made its deepest ever postseason run and won its first-ever region title. Commerce came up just yards short of its first state championship game since 2000, and Buford -- despite a hardfought loss in the Class AAAA title game -- claimed its ninth straight championship berth. There were also some incredible performances from teams like Gainesville, which so nearly stormed back into the state quarterfinals (falling in overtime on the road to the No. 1 team in the state); East Hall, which played host to its first playoff game since 2000; West Hall, which bounced back from a five-game losing skid to make the playoffs; North Hall, which stormed back into the postseason after the transitions of 2014... The list goes on long enough that we don’t want the football to stop, and we’re already looking forward to 2016.
2. There is balance around northeast Georgia like never before
There have always been a few dominant programs in northeast Georgia (teams like Buford, Commerce, Gainesville, Jefferson have all had state title seasons and runs of excellence) -- but there is now perhaps more balance amongst the area’s programs than ever before. Just look at the teams in the state playoffs this season, and how region races shaped up. Dawson County and Rabun County showed they are top 10 programs, while Lanier continued its run of Region 8-AAAAA dominance. Winder-Barrow also showed it is here to stay, and the muddle of playoff races in regions throughout northeast Georgia showed that plenty of teams now have programs capable of competing at high levels. And we expect it to stay that way.
3. Wave good bye to a huge crop of talent, but a new group is already stepping in to take its place
There’s no doubt that we will miss seeing players like Derrick Brown (Lanier, defensive lineman), Charlie Woerner (Rabun County, safety/receiver), Ben Cleveland (Stephens County, lineman), Shug Frazier (Buford, defensive tackle), Joseph Mancuso (Union County, quarterback), CeCe Green (Winder-Barrow, runnning back), Chris Byrd (Gainesville, running back/linebacker), Tucker Maxwell (Dawson County, receiver), Hunter Mitchell (Dawson County, running back), Cortez Davis (Flowery Branch, receiver/defensive back) and several others strut their stuff on the field. We wish these, and all the area’s graduating stars, well as they move on. But the crop of rising stars set to take their place should prove plenty exciting as well. Players like Bailey Fisher (Rabun County, quarterback), Colby Wood (Jefferson, running back), Coey Watson (Dawson County, quarterback), Austin Parker (East Hall, quarterback), T.D. Roof (Buford, linebacker), Zach Matthews (Lumpkin County, running back), Kyle Bacus (North Hall, running back), amongst others means that football will still be in great hands over the coming campaigns in northeast Georgia.
4. Results for programs under new head coaches ran the gamut
It’s usually a tough task for coaches in their first year in a football program, but that doesn’t mean that success is an impossibility -- as Dawson County learned this season under Sid Maxwell. The coach took the Tigers to unprecedented heights in his first year in charge. That was more the exception than the rule, however, and most teams undertaking new coaches experienced growing pains. But those pains could yield big gains pretty quickly, as this season also taught us. Look at North Hall in its second season under David Bishop, who got the Trojans back in the playoffs after going 2-8 in his first year in charge in 2014. There is now plenty of talent and commitment to go around northeast Georgia football, and new coaches can look toward this area with plenty of interest.
5. The last season of current regions left us with plenty of memories
This time next year we’ll be in yet another group of GHSA regions, some of which will be unrecognizable by current standards. There will be the dissolution of some rivalries and the start of new ones -- though fewer teams in most regions means there could be the renewal of some great local rivalries via non-region contests. That said, we enjoyed plenty about this last campaign, and we’ll miss some of the great match-ups we enjoyed in 2015.
