HOMER — Banks County football players and coaches thought they had seen everything.
From going 0-10 three years ago, to losing their head coach after last season, to storming back from a 2-4 start to win four straight and clinch the No. 2 playoff seed from Region 8-AA, the Leopards (7-4) had not only seen plenty -- but thrived because of it.
Then came Wednesday and the kind of curveball no one in the state saw coming, let alone Homer.
While eagerly prepping for a first round Class AA showdown with KIPP Atlanta at Leopard Stadium -- for a shot at the program's first ever state playoff win -- Banks was shocked to discover that its opponents voluntarily forfeited the playoff game.
It was the first such instance in Georgia High School Association history. (There have been playoff forfeits in the past, but this was a first voluntary forfeit; and it came about due to a brawl between KIPP and Hapeville Charter in the two teams' regular season finale.)
Yet like every other road-bump thrown into the Leopards' path, they aim to roll with it and come out better because of it.
"(We) were actually talking earlier (Wednesday) when we found out about this and were like, 'Oh man we want to play and stuff like that," said Leopards senior quarterback Griffin Goodwin -- who added that it didn't take long for Banks players to re-focus on just what it meant.
"We also said that this might be the turning point for the program. I'd enjoy to look back 20 years from now and say, 'That was the season that turned it around for Banks County, and that's the season that started the playoff seasons.' And we just hope that that happens. That's something that we as seniors really want to see that happen, just building the program and making everybody better -- not just us, the younger kids too."
Certainly the Leopards have already made history -- they will now be the first team in program history to reach the second round of state. And, frankly, that's all that matters.
"To go from 0-10 to, now we can say, a second round playoff team -- regardless, again, of how we got there. I don't care about that -- it speaks volumes about our kids is what it does," said Banks coach Josh Shoemaker, a former assistant still in the midst of his first season as head coach.
"We've lived through a lot of situations, this team has. And so it's been great for us to live through all those and play through all those -- because these seniors lived through 0-10, and we learned a lot from that four years ago."
And Banks County players continued the learning curve this season, developing a deadly offensive attack and an opportunistic defense. Goodwin (1,814 yards passing, 18 TDs, 9 INTs), running back Clayton Dykehouse (1,026 yards rushing, 11 TDs) and receiver Bryce Bennett (46 receptions, 908 yards, 11 TDs) form an impressive triumvirate that has only been boosted by an offensive line that has rounded into impressive form.
"We definitely had a rocky start, going from losing our first two games -- one of them by 43 points -- to where we are now," said Banks County senior lineman Zack Lehotsky. "This group -- we may not be the most talented group, but we have gelled very well. And we've all played together for a long time."
The Leopards hope to keep on playing together and are now looking forward to a second round match-up with the winner of the Benedictine vs. Glenn Hills first round contest (Benedictine is ranked No. 1 in Class AA and won the 2014 Class AA title).
But before they look to next week, the Leopards will take a moment to enjoy this season and their new historic status.
"What I want to do is I want to keep our routine. We're a routine team, as most football coaches are. We've got a schedule, so I'm going to stay on schedule as best we can," Shoemaker said. "But on Friday I had no doubt that the entire Banks County community and a bunch of people around here were going to show up, so I'm hoping they still show up because at six o'clock that's what we're going to do. We're going to take the field and do a little pre-game and let our kids run around and break a little sweat -- to celebrate this season. Again, the first time in Banks County history that we've been to the second round as a football team, regardless of how we got there, we're in the second round. So we're going to celebrate these kids and the effort they put all the in all the way from July 25th -- even as far back as spring practice, so we don't want to miss that part about the effort these kids have put in and what they've accomplished."
