Current Elephants stomping on sacred ground

GAINESVILLE - The 2003 Gainesville High football team is treading on sacred ground.

Not since the days of Bobby Gruhn, Chris Carpenter and Junebug Hester have the Red Elephants been where they stand right now:

Ranked No. 1 in the state.

The Red Elephants, who travel to Pickens County Friday night for a critical Region 7-AAA game, will carry their new ranking like a bullseye on their backs.

Gainesville (7-0, 7-0) is injury-riddled with four starters out. Pickens (4-3, 4-3) is battling for a playoff spot and has won four straight.

Coach Bruce Miller said they were lucky to get by West Hall last week despite what the 40-13 score indicates.

"We turned the ball over seven times and you just can't do that and expect to win," Miller said. "Our defense really stepped up at the right times and saved the game for us."

GHS Athletic Director Wayne Vickery, who remembers the 1983 team, said rankings are nice but results are what matter in the end.

"That 1983 was a great team with a lot of great players but they didn't win the championship and probably feel like they underachieved because of where they were ranked," Vickery said. "The only time you really want to be ranked No. 1 is after the last game. That means you won it all."

Vickery should know. He has led the baseball program to a half dozen titles in the last nine years. Some of his teams were ranked No. 1 and some weren't.

"I don't like to compare teams, but some of the teams that lost in the playoffs (in baseball) were better than some of the ones that won it all. So the rankings don't really mean that much right now," he said.

But he did say that it's always a great compliment to the program and the players.

"These guys have worked hard all year and in the last four years to get to this point. I feel great for them to be recognized for their effort," he said. "But now it will mean added pressure of living up to that ranking. That's always a hard thing to do."

The 1983 team was rolling heading into its semifinal game against Marist, sporting a gaudy 13-0 record.

But Carpenter, who later went on to play for Georgia and then the St. Louis Cardinals in Major League baseball and who is now an assistant coach at Gainesville, said it wasn't meant to be.

"I got hurt, our tailback (Mike Byrd) got hurt, Ed Waller got hurt. All that happened in the first half and we were down 10-0. I tell people it's a good thing I was hurt because we might never had scored," Carpenter said. "Avery Niles came in and took us in for two touchdowns and we had the lead with about three minutes left. But Marist came down and scored on the last play of the game to beat us 17-14. But we would've lost the next week anyway because we were so banged up."

Vickery and Carpenter both think the 1982 team, which never got close to being ranked No. 1, was probably better than the 1983 team. The 1982 team advanced to the championship game against Bainbridge but lost 7-6 in a monsoon.

Bainbridge led 7-0 before Junebug Hester returned a punt for a touchdown. On the point after attempt, Carpenter lost control of the ball and scrambled for the end zone. He was stopped less than a foot shy of the goal line .

"It was a great play on Chris's part just to get control of the ball and be able to get near the end zone. It was a tough way to lose but that's how sports is sometimes," Vickery said.

Carpenter said the image has stayed with him throughout the last 20 years.

"In all my years of sports, it's the only thing I wish I could take back. I did everything I could to get into the end zone but just missed. I still think about it from time-to-time," he said. "It was a sad way to end it. To get that close...it was tough."