Football: Friends Jones, Hall lead Bluff, Oconee Co. into crucial 8-3A showdown

For three seasons from 2018 to 2021, Tommy Jones (Cherokee Bluff) and Ben Hall (Flowery Branch) coached just 3 1/2 miles apart. However, their playing and coaching journeys have been even more closely entwined than that.

Jones, a 1991 Brookwood graduate, spent his college years playing at Furman. Hall was a 1995 Franklin County graduate, and also found his way to Furman. Both played offensive line. They had never met.

That changed on a recruiting visit by Hall to the Paladins his senior year.

“Tommy hosted me during that visit and we got to know each other a little bit,” Hall remembered.

Jones also never forgot.

“Ben was a major recruit we were trying to get and the main thing I remember was our position coach [Clay Hendrix, now the Furman head coach] telling me, ‘Don’t mess this one up! He’s a good one and we need him!’” Jones recalled. “I just tried to make sure he had a good time. Fortunately, I didn’t mess it up.”

Hall later signed with the Paladins and Hendrix’s assessment was omniscient. Hall would become a three-year starter at guard and would go on to be named the 1999 Southern Conference Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner for the best offensive lineman that season.

“Ben was a great player coming out of high school,” Jones said. “I know he started some his freshman year and then I think he was a starter the rest of the way. He was really good.”

"Tommy was a good mentor as player and a coach. He was a really good player, don't let him tell you otherwise," Hall said.

Jones and Hall remain close friends to this day. And both also eventually followed the same winding path to coaching.

After a year as a Graduate Assistant (GA) at Furman, Jones spent three years in the Campus Outreach ministry at Western Carolina before jumping back into coaching at the high school level.

“My life passion was to coach and after a few years with Outreach I determined that there was no greater ministry than coaching football to young people,” Jones said. “I could do both so I got back into it.”

Hall spent four years on the Furman staff after graduating, then spent three years in the private sector before also deciding coaching was his true passion. But first, he consulted Jones, who was at Lumpkin County at the time.

"Ben came to talk to me and I remember (Flowery Branch coach) Lee Shaw had called me wanting to know if I knew any good young coaches," Jones said. "I told Lee he had a good one living across the street (from Flowery Branch) and he called Ben and he got the job."

“We wanted to move closer to home and start a family. I talked to Tommy and then I got the opportunity to get back into coaching so that's when I started at Flowery Branch in 2008,” Hall said.

Hall moved to Jefferson the following year and later helped the Dragons win their only state title in 2012 as the offensive coordinator. He got his first head coaching the following season taking over the Dragons from Hall of Fame coach T. McFerrin. From there he landed at Branch in 2017 (Bluff opened a year later) and he is now at Oconee County.

Jones, meanwhile, landed his first head coaching job at Lumpkin County in 2006, moved to Dacula in 2013, and then took on the challenge of starting the Cherokee Bluff program in 2018.

Which brings us back to ... now.

The two long-time friends will meet each other for the first time as head coaches on the field on Thursday when Jones and the Bears head to Oconee County to take on Hall’s Warriors in what will be a hugely important Region 8-3A showdown for both teams. And both are volcanic hot right now.

The Bears (7-0, 2-0 Region 8-3A) have been dominant all season, outscoring their opponents, 284-102, none more impressive than last week's 52-24 rout of Monroe Area. The Warriors (4-3, 2-0 Region 8-3A) have won four straight in dominating fashion as well. They turned heads after an 0-3 start with a 35-10 demolition of then-No. 2-ranked Stephens County and they have averaged 44.0 points/game in that span while giving up just 24 total points.

However, neither Jones nor Hall said they have given much thought to their inaugural meeting on the field, other than maybe it should have happened before now.

“I haven't really thought about it,” Hall said. “When I was at Jefferson we scrimmaged Tommy’s team a couple of times. But you know, we should have played as head coaches. I mean, being at Flowery Branch and him at Cherokee Bluff, that should have happened. But it just didn't.”

Jones also felt their teams should have played before now but also said no matter when and where it was to happen, they won’t be playing against each other.

“This is not Tommy Jones vs. Ben Hall. This is Cherokee Bluff against Oconee County, and it's a big game for both teams, “ Jones said. “We both have a lot of people that are involved in our program, in our communities. This is way bigger than the two of us, for sure.”

The on-field problem, or advantage, for both will be the similar styles and philosophies employed by both Jones and Hall. Hard-nosed defense with offenses that look to punishing run games with play-action pass mixed in.

“The Furman coaching tree is pretty thick,” Jones said. “Ben and I go way back. We kind of view football the same way, because we both played offensive line and have a lot of the same experiences with our dads being coaches and that sort of thing. And from what we learned at Furman.

"So, yeah, there's a lot of similarities there, for sure. But basically it's going to come down to execution and which team does what they do better than the other.”

Hall said it will be a challenge.

“Cherokee Bluff is playing really well,” he said. “They're undefeated, averaging about 40 points a game [40.57 ppg to be exact] and not giving up much on defense [14.57 ppg]. They’re sound in all phases. We're going to have to play very, very well on defense and on the line of scrimmage.”

Oconee County has allowed more than 24 points just once on defense, and that was to Class 5A Clarke Central in a 37-36 loss. They held ranked teams North Oconee (21), Morgan County (24), and Stephens County (10) to season lows in points, as well as East Hall (7) and West Hall (0).

“Man, they are clicking right now,” Jones said of the Warriors. “They're playing their very best football. What they did against Stephens County shows you how good they really are.”

While the early domination in the region by the Bears, Warriors, and Jefferson has been impressive, this week begins the three-week sprint to the region title. All three are ranked in Class 3A -- Jefferson 3rd, Bluff 4th, and Oconee County 8th -- and both the Bears and Warriors will tangle with the Dragons over the next two weeks.

As a whole, 8-3A finished non-region play with a collective 20-9 record, the best winning-percentage (.690) in Class 3A. Both coaches definitely understand the importance.

“Really, and I know it’s cliche, it's just the next game,” Jones said. “They're all big to us. It feels a little bit more weighty but it's the next game and it's against an exceptional football team. We have to be ready no matter what.”

“It’s very important,” Hall said. “Every region game is important. But you want to create momentum heading into the remainder of the schedule.”

When the smoke clears, either Hall or Jones will be able to say they are undefeated against the other. But don’t expect either to mention it.

“Every win feels good, but I'll never mention it again to Tommy after we play, no matter what happens,” Hall said. “Some coaches may play for bragging rights but I’m not like that. I just play for the next (win).”

“I don’t worry about that kind of stuff,” Jones said. “When it’s over, we’ll shake hands and move on to next week. And we’ll talk again next week like we always do.”