Eagles hope to take off in 2022 with move to GIAA

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — After a disasterous 2020 campaign that was canceled due to COVID, the good news for Riverside Military Academy is that the program returned to action in 2021.

The not-so-good news was that the numbers were at a historic low and they struggled to a 1-6 record.

The biggest question for the Eagles coming into the 2022 campaign was which direction would the program follow: a continuation of program erosion or a move back toward the 2018 and 2019 seasons when they went 11-11, including snagging their first-ever Georgia High School Association playoff win in 2018.

Sixth-year head coach Nick Garrett says they may be ready to turn the corner on bringing the program back to consistent competitiveness. For Garrett, it may be more a matter of quality over quantity.

As the season-opener approaches, the Eagles will carry 30 on the roster, with six returning starters on both sides of the ball. As things go, that’s a much better start to the season than in 2021.

“We’re very appreciative of the guys we have back,” Garrett said. “At a place like Riverside, where turnover is more the norm than other places, it’s always challenging building back the roster every season.”

However, the Eagles are coming off a season where most of those on the roster were thrown into the fire after having not played a game as a program for nearly two seasons. They had three games canceled due to COVID and did not play their first game until Week 3 of the season.

“We had a very challenging schedule when you consider we didn’t have hardly anyone that had ever played a game for the program,” Garrett said. “This year, we have a lot of guys with experience that are coming back to help us keep the momentum going. Our expectations are to build off last year.”

If anything, change is a constant at the small private school in Gainesville, and beginning this season, at least for the next two seasons, the Eagles have moved over to the Georgia Independent Athletic Association (GIAA). But they will not face a season of unknown opponents.

The Eagles will open against Lumpkin County on the road and also have a road game at longtime rival Georgia Military College in Milledgeville. In their new GIAA Region 4-4A, they will take on old foes George Walton and nearby Lakeview Academy on the road.

“Putting the schedule together with the move to GIAA was somewhat of a challenge but we were able to keep our rivalry with GMC and of course Lakeview is in our region again so that will be fun for local fans,” Garrett said. “We feel like the schedule overall will be much more competitive for us now that we don’t have teams like Elbert County and Rabun County that just have more numbers than we do, especially after not playing for nearly two seasons.

“Our goal is to win our region and we feel like with the kind of talent we have back, that is a realistic goal. But it definitely will be important for us to get some wins early to show ourselves that we can compete.”

On offense, the Eagles return four on the offensive line, led by senior center Zach Miller. Seniors Zichen Zheng and Brady Kriegel, and junior Stone Phillips also are back to give them a solid unit. Line depth is always an issue and Garrett said development is a high priority during the fall.

Senior Rodney Robinson returns to anchor the backfield. Meanwhile, the strength of the offense will be at wide receiver with a plethora of seasoned talent in seniors Anthony Chirombo, Idan Azani, and Wallace Kerr, along with junior Jhai Ballard.

The key, however, may be senior quarterback Jeremiah Shaw, a Meadowcreek transfer, who had to sit out in 2021 but has been in the program for more than a year waiting for his chance.

“We have a lot of playmakers in Robinson and the entire receiver group,” Garrett said. “Shaw is as talented of a quarterback as I’ve ever been around. He can run and throw and gives us that balance that we just didn’t have last year. 

“All of those guys, no matter who has the ball, have big-play capability on every play. We will need to give Jeremiah time, and we feel like the guys up front can be really good. We’re excited to see what these guys can do.”

The defense also returns six but will need to improve on a unit that allowed 42 points/game last year, and that was without playing Region 8-2A champion Rabun County and Gunnar Stockton.

Garrett and his staff have switched to a 3-3-5 in 2022 in order to take advantage of what should be a solid secondary and depth along the defensive line.

Robinson, Shaw, Chirombo, and Ballard may be one of the more athletic secondaries in the area with experience and speed. Miller, Zheng, and Phillips will be a tough matchup up front.

The biggest question on defense will be at linebacker where only returner is back in sophomore Gus Twenge.

“The switch to the 3-3-5 was so we could just get more speed and athleticism on the field,” Garrett said. “What we hope is that this will allow us to show a lot of different looks and put the opposing offense in a bind by bringing pressure from a lot of different places. That was something we just weren’t able to do last year.”

Garrett and staff got a good glimpse of what could be during their spring game with North Cobb Christian. It was a 14-7 loss but a far cry from the East Hall scrimmage just before the start of the 2021 season, a rough 52-14 outcome in their first action since the end of the 2019 season.

“Never like to lose, no matter what kind of game you’re playing, but we were very pleased with how we looked and played after the North Cobb Christian game in the spring,” Garrett said. “Of course, we didn’t have everyone we think we’ll have during the season, but we showed a lot of progress overall.

“We had about 25 guys and (North Cobb Christian) probably had double that. There were a lot of positives we can take into the season from that spring game.”

It seems like another era when the Eagles finished 6-6 in 2018 and snagged their first-ever GHSA playoff win. They backed that up with a 5-5 campaign in 2019 and Garrett appeared to have the program ready to take the next step.

Garrett said he never compares one team to another. But he said this group could be similar to that one in helping them get back in the winning conversation around the state.

“It’s not fair to the kids in the past or the current players,” he said. “There are so many factors and every team is different from year-to-year. But the talent on this team and how they go about their work and trying to improve, they are a lot alike in that sense.

“The thing as a coach is to see the guys improve each week and help them maximize their potential. But it’s important I think for this group to get some wins. If these guys can get a couple of early wins in non-region heading into the region games, that will be huge.

“Just trying to build that momentum for the program again is a big priority. I’m really excited to get this season going and see how good these guys can get.”