There are just 23 days remaining until the kickoff of the 2018 high school football season. But make no mistake, preparations for the upcoming campaign got underway months ago in weight rooms, sand pits and practice fields throughout the state. And teams throughout northeast Georgia are in full countdown mode.
With that in mind we spent the last couple of weeks catching up with programs around our area to get a feel for how spring practice went, how the summer is going and what coaches believe the fall will look like. We call the series "Two-a-Days" in honor of those old-school grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall, asking each area coach two key questions about the state of their respective programs.
Over the next two weeks, AccessWDUN's Friday Game Night will get you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. (Teams run in alphabetical order)...
NORTH HALL
Coach David Bishop's Trojans have been nothing short of solid over the last three seasons. Putting an uncharacteristic losing campaign from 2014 far behind them, the Trojans have made three straight state playoff berths, including last season -- which proved impressive in itself considering the paucity of senior veterans they fielded. Yet North Hall wants more than just reaching state; they want to get back to the position they occupied so recently, winnning region titles and making postseason runs. The Trojans are not about to start making predictions, but they feel they have the make-up to make some noise in 2018 -- and that's largely down to the growth of those young players that stormed down the back stretch of the 2017 campaign and are ready to continue their ascent.
QUESTION: The program has been largely consistent the past three seasons, reaching the state playoffs in each of those campaigns. What is the next step? How is your staff looking to elevate this team to the next level?
ANSWER: The next step is to get that win we have been needing for some time now. We have only advanced in the playoffs one time since 2010 and we need to get that first road win in the playoffs as a program, but home has always been good to us. In order to do that, we need to finish No. 1 or 2 in the region. Each one of us is doing what we can to be positive, motivating yet tough on the little things like discipline and meeting the standards we set for each drill, practice or meeting.
Q: It was a relatively inexperienced team in 2017 that grew up as the season progressed. How many of those key players are set to become seasoned leaders this time around and how much farther along are you as a team at this point this season versus the same period last campaign?
A: Well you have Daniel Jackson and David Seavey back, and that's two of our three team captains from last year. We're going to be able to do some stuff this year that we haven't been able to do since I became head coach, and I'm excited about that. Offensively, we will have seven kids that got playing time last year that will help this offense succeed and defensively about the same. One of the big places we finally have experience and depth is on the offensive line, and that's where you build your offense. We have three starters back, but a lot of the other kids that are playing are bigger and stronger too, and that can make a difference. We have both of our guards back too, and that makes a huge difference in our offense (the wing-T). We also have the ability to be more competitive in practice, and that makes every team better.
- Previously in Two-a-Days: LUMPKIN COUNTY
- Up Next in Two-a-Days: RABUN COUNTY
