Teams hold spring games Friday night
At Sonoraville and Gordon Central High Schools, it’s football season — spring football season.
Both the Phoenix and the Warriors have wrapped up one week of workouts and each are set to complete their fortnight of practices this Friday night with their annual spring game.
For Sonoraville, the Phoenix will start their Night of Champions celebration at 6:30 p.m. and at Ratner Stadium, the Warriors will hold their glorified scrimmage at 7:30 p.m.
SONORAVILLE
The Phoenix football team has withstood the heat and completed its first week of practice, going in full pads the last couple of days.
The Big Red started out in helmets, shorts and shoes and made the progression to full pads to close out what looked to be a solid first four days of work this past week.
They will work out Monday and Tuesday this week and then hold a final tuneup Thursday before they have their red-andwhite game Friday evening at The Furnace.
It was also the players — both the veterans and the newbies from the recent successful freshman sign-ups — first chance to work with the new coaches that have joined head coach Denver Pate’s staff this fall.
While the offense has a good number of returners coming back, especially at the skill positions, there are three new assistant coaches on that side of the ball for the Phoenix.
Quarterbacks coach Justin Smith along with tight end/H-backs coach Colby Morris and offensive line coach David Gann are all in their first year on the staff and each has some talented players to work with.
The Phoenix definitely have some solid pieces in the fold offensively with quarterback Jaxon Pate, running back Zach Lyles, wide receiver Brant Bryant, tight end Ridge Redd, running back Wyatt Springfield, lineman Preston Gilbert and a few others back from a team that won six games last year and didn’t have trouble moving the football.
And they ended last season on a high note with their offense, scoring 48 points in the last game of the year in a 48-18 win over Coahulla Creek to end the season at 6-4 and 4-4 in Region 6-3A, leaving them fifth in the nine-team division.
Defensively, line coach David Gann is getting his first opportunity to work with his guys and the team’s heartbeat on that side of the ball returns in junior Tristan Mullins, who led the 6-3A in tackles last year with over 110. And he was a one-man wrecking ball for the Phoenix with his sidelineto-sideline presence and the hard knocks he delivered when he got to the ballcarrier.
The Phoenix football team is also the first one in the school getting ready for their rise to the 4A classification, starting this fall. After being in 6-3A for the past few years, they are now members of the much-smaller six-team 7-4A Region.
And that means that if this team can win three Region games next year, they will likely be in the 4A playoffs, which would be an outstanding accomplishment in their first year in that classification.
In the Region 6-3A with its nine teams, the Phoenix had to win five or even six games to get into the playoffs and now half as many as that would make it very probable, although obviously, if they’re playing five region games, which they are, they working to win them all.
Their new mates in the 7-4A will be Southeast Whitfield County, Carrollton Central, Cedartown, Heritage (Ringgold), and Northwest Whitfield County.
GORDON CENTRAL
The Warriors have finished up their first week of spring football and the hope is that a coaching shakeup will help shake up a team that is hunting for success on Friday nights.
The Warriors were 0-10 last year with really only one chance to win a game, but head coach T.J. Hamilton has brought on new offensive and defensive coordinators and the team has been working hard to get bigger and stronger during the offseason.
Longtime and former head Woodland coach Tony Plott will be the new man in charge of the offense, replacing Mike Wilson, who ran the show last year.
That group scored 130 points last year, but had a lot of younger players who have learned from the experience and are ready to break out in their production.
These guys will all be moving up a grade for next year but freshman Matthew Hammock, sophomore Braxton Carnes, freshman
Jayden Sibley, junior Skylar Hill, sophomore Peyton Chastain, and junior Peyton Wilson are back after being pivotal cogs last year. And Wilson started 10 games at quarterback for the Warriors.
One area the Warriors are definitely looking to shore up is in the trenches as they lost just about all their starters up front on both sides of the ball due to graduation.
Billy Blizzard is now the new defensive coordinator and he will be trying to light a fire into a defense that really needs to step it up if the Warriors are to turn things around.
The Warriors have solid secondary players like junior Blake Broome and Hill returning, but are hoping to find some guys up front who are ready for the hand-tohand combat every play that is varsity high school football in Georgia.
Gordon Central also finds itself gearing up for some new competition as they are still residents of Region 7-2A, but a few of the teams that have been members are now gone and because of that, it’s gotten much tougher.
In fact, of the seven teams in the Region, three, or nearly half, were Region champions last year.
Rockmart, Haralson County, North Murray, and Murray County are the newcomers to the league and Rockmart and Haralson County were Region champs in their 3A Divisions. And some forecasts have already come down the pike that Rockmart will be in contention for a 2A state title.
Besides Rockmart and Haralson County, North Murray made the playoffs last year as a member of the 6-3A. Murray County is the other new school and the Indians were 1-9 in 2021 and gave up nearly 500 points in their final season in the 3A division.
Besides Gordon Central, Fannin County and Model are the only schools currently in the 7-2A that will be the for the next two years and Fannin County was the Region champ last year.
The Warriors will play a former Region rival in non-district play next season when they take on Coosa Friday, Sept. 2, in their next-to-last non-league game.