Heritage, North Murray not surprised they’re still playing
For a pair of teams that will make history tonight, there was very little surprise among the players at Heritage and North Murray in making the GHSA football postseason for the first time.
The schools had combined for 14 nonplayoff seasons and just one winning year heading into the 2016 season, yet confidence never was lacking with either team from the start.
“We are confident in the talent we have and have been since the summer,” said Heritage senior quarterback Corbee Wilson, whose 2,340 passing yards and 28 touchdowns have paced one of the state’s most prolific offenses. “This group of seniors is small, but we’ve played together since rec ball and we’ve known we’re capable of this.”
Echoed North Murray senior running back Brady Harper, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards and scored 30 touchdowns: “Coach (Preston) Poag, the first time he talked to us, said he expected great things out of us. He just beat that into our heads every day, and we’ve worked hard to make it happen.”
Each program has gotten close before. Heritage was 7-3 in 2011 under coach Tim James but lost out on a postseason berth due to playing in a subdivided region. The Generals were one win away in current coach E.K. Slaughter’s first two seasons, even tying for fourth place in 2014 and losing out in a region mini-playoff game.
North Murray twice finished 5-5 under former coach David Gann before bringing in Poag, who led Christian Heritage to its first postseason last year. Understandably, both programs and their communities are embracing the hard-earned moment.
“I’m really happy for this group because they’ve worked for this for three years,” said Slaughter, whose team plays at Stephens County tonight in the Class AAAA playoffs. “Obviously they’ve enjoyed the opportunity to make history and to set the program on track to hopefully continuously make the playoffs.
“This isn’t a great season because we went 7-3 and made the playoffs. It’s more about how we’re doing it, the relationships we have built with each other and just spending time with people who genuinely care about each other. Winning just makes it more special.”
In arguably the biggest win in the program’s short history, the Generals earned the Region 6-AAAA No. 3 seed last week with a 48-35 win at Pickens. The outcome didn’t surprise Slaughter, but the way the team approached the game did.
“The last two weeks they’ve had a confidence about them that’s just cool to see,” he said. “I don’t know if it was because we had already locked up a playoff spot, but it was great and I hope we approach Friday the same way.”
North Murray, which had to win at Adairsville last week to reach the postseason, will host Jackson County in Class AAA. The game will be the first playoff game in Murray County since 2000. Needless to say, the excitement in Chatsworth is overflowing.
“After we beat Adairsville I’ve never seen so many happy people,” Poag said with a smile. “When we got back, cars were lined up on the road that goes around our stadium. It was a really cool deal for the kids, and we expect a crazy crowd Friday.”
There’s only one first time, and while each program won’t be happy with just making the postseason, the sense of accomplishment already is sinking in to the players who made the playoffs happen.
“It’s a really great feeling, though it’s hard to explain how much it means to us,” Harper said. “We will remember these times for the rest of our lives.”