There are just 32 days left until the kickoff of the 2016 high school football season, but make no mistake, preparations for the 2016 season got underway months ago in weight rooms, sand pits and practice fields throughout the state. And teams from throughout northeast Georgia are in full countdown mode.
With that in mind we spent the last few days 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 the grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall. And for the next few days, AccessWDUN will get you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. (Teams run in alphabetical order)...
LAKEVIEW ACADEMY
The Lions have worked hard to build a program from the ground floor while fighting the numbers game that so many small schools face, yet Lakeview has come a long way in that time, and coach Matthew Gruhn believes his program is very much on the right path.
With that in mind, AccessWDUN sports editor Morgan Lee talked with Gruhn about the progress made, and the progress still to come as he preps for the 2016 campaign.
QUESTION: Your embarking on your 10th season in charge of Lakeview, playing a varsity schedule, how much has the program grown and changed in that time?
ANSWER: The time has gone by in a hurry; I can't believe I've been here so many years -- and they've been really, really good. We're still building a football culture, and that's challenging if you don't have a tradition -- especially with all the news out there about football and safety right now. But we're doing it the right way and keeping kids safe while developing a football culture and we're heading in the right direction.
Q: How close is the program to competing for a top spot in Region 8-A and a playoff position?
A: That's the goal; how far we are from it I'm not sure. But we head into each year believing we have a shot. We play in a great region. We had games last year that we felt we could have won and then certain games that weren't close. Is this the year to do it? I don't know. We want to be competitive in the region; that's the overall goal. We're a small school, but I think we can do it, and we are making strides. It's taking longer than I'd hoped, but one of those days it's going to happen. We just hope it's sooner rather than later.
Previously in Two-a-Days: JOHNSON
Up Next in Two-a-Days: LANIER
