Despite key losses, Eagles program ready to take next step

GAINESVILLE — When now-third year Riverside Military Academy football coach Nick Garrett arrived on Riverside Drive, his goal was to recreate the success the program experienced in the mid-2000s when it captured a GISA state title.

After the 2018 campaign, the Eagles may have finally found the right ingredients.

The Eagles are coming off arguably one of their best seasons in program history, advancing to the second round of the Georgia High School Association Class A Private playoffs in 2018 while capturing their first-ever GHSA postseason win.

The 6-6 overall record may not give off the glitter of the high-profile programs in the area, but for Garrett, it’s more about substance than style points.

“Part of having success for us is our guys getting scholarships, which helps raise our stock as a program and a school,” Garrett said. “All 11 of our (2018) seniors got scholarships, which is huge. Not many programs, if any, can say all of their graduates got scholarships.

“The younger guys see that and I think other people (outside the program) see that who may be interested in coming to Riverside. We have stability on our staff; more kids are becoming interested in Riverside football; there is just an exciting buzz around our program right now, which is what we wanted to accomplish when we got here.”

It sure didn’t hurt that the 2018 Eagles also had one of the best triumvirates of players in northeast Georgia in Isaac Teasley (All-Region 8-A in 2018), Khalid Duke (All-State (LB), All-Region 8-A in 2018), and now-junior Shad Dabney. They accounted for nearly 70 percent of the offense and sparked one of the biggest wins in program history knocking off perennial power Commerce (2019) during the regular season.

But gone are impact players Teasley and Duke, as well as All-Region linebacker Wookdong Kim, who is now off to play on Saturdays. Just six returning lettermen will return in 2019. However, the cupboard is not completely bare.

Dabney does return, as do five other starters on offense and five on defense. They also planned to be able to participate in their first 7-on-7 competitions during the summer.

“That’s something that we’ve never been able to do with the nature of how the school operates and most of our players not arriving until just a few weeks before the season,” Garrett said. “A lot of the kids have expressed wanting to do it. That would be a huge factor for us to be able to get some summer work.”

Dabney will move over to quarterback to take the reigns of an offense that also will be under a new coordinator in Jacob Smith, who was the line coach in 2018. Dabney is the leading returning rusher with 239 yards in 2018 and also accounted for 686 yards receiving. 

The Eagles will continue to work out of the spread and Dabney should have plenty of skilled targets to work with. It will be an athletic receiving corp but it’s also short on experience. Senior Kayman Jeffley is the leading returning receiver, other than Dabney, with just 3 catches for 25 yards. Juniors Jordan Thomas and Adriel Clark will fill the other two spots while junior Nic Hester will assume the main duties in the backfield, though neither saw much action in 2018.

“Some have asked how can we take a guy like Shad and take him out of those other impact areas,” Garrett said. “Shad played quarterback most of the time when he was younger so this is really more of a natural position for him. He can run, throw, make good audibles. He has a very high football IQ.

“He is our best player and now the ball will be in his hands every play to make something happen. It will take some time. You don’t replace guys like Khalid and Isaac overnight. But we can use more of a collective to make up for that and I think we have some guys who can do that.”

Dabney and the rest of the skilled guys will have a pretty good group up front to help make the transition smoother. Junior Lauren McDonald and seniors Lamar Gordon and Yaoxiam Liang also return.

“Yaoxiam missed all of last year, so to have him back, and McDonald returning as well, I think the line will be even better this year with some key pieces added,” Garrett said. “Lamar will be an impact player. Very excited about that group.”

The defense, led by Dabney, Duke, Teasley and, Kim, was better than expected in 2018 holding seven opponents to 19 points or less with a pair of shutouts. A system that likes to free up the linebackers to make plays may take some time to jell in 2019 with the losses of Duke, Teasley, and Kim at linebacker. 

The defensive line should be solid with juniors Jackson Aiken and Orlando Mayweather and senior Christian Pearson. The secondary, led by Dabney, along with senior Sean Whitley, and junior Jordan Thomas, will be an athletic group.

“Linebacker could be an issue just because of what we lost from last year,” Garrett said. “You lose that caliber of players and be able to jut immediately fill those holes. But we have some talented guys that should get better as the year goes on.”

What the Eagles will have going for them in 2019 is the belief, and knowledge, that they can compete in one of the toughest regions in the state and come out on the other side. It had been 10 years since they had advanced to the playoffs and now Garrett things they may be able to use the 2018 season as a springboard for the future.

It won’t be easy, though. Half of Riverside's schedule in 2018 was against playoff teams and they should expect another tough schedule in 2019. After opening at home against playoff team Christian Heritage, the Eagles hit the road for four straight contests, including Class A Private semifinalist Prince Avenue, who knocked them out on the second round in 2018 and culminating with their Region 8-A B Division opener against Towns County.

They will close out the regular season at home against perennial power Commerce, whom they knocked off for the first time ever in 2018, in what could be a showdown for the subregion title.

Six teams from Region 8-A once again made the playoffs in 2018 with three reaching the quarterfinals, two making the semifinals, and Athens Academy falling in the Class A Private championship game. The ability to win close games late may decide just how far they can go.

“Obviously last year was exciting, especially to see the hard work for guys like Isaac and Khalid and Wookdong pay off with the reward of the playoffs,” Garrett said. “They deserved to go out that way, though we all wish we could have gone a little further. They helped put us in the conversation this year.

“But our expectations are not to look too far ahead. We have to take things one at a time and just focus on the now. Our goal is for the older guys to take ownership and for the younger guys to their roles on this team.

“We definitely have talent, even after losing the guys we did to graduation. It is up to us as coaches to help them grow and up to the players to have the desire to be the best they can be. But I know that we have the talent to compete against anyone and make another playoff run.”