INDIANS THRIVING
♦ Head coach Jeremy Green is seeing positives in his second year at the helm.
When Jeremy Green took over the Armuchee football program more than a year ago, he sought out to change the team culture.
Now coming into his second year, Green is seeing the benefits of what he’s been trying to do.
“The only kids that are left are the ones that have bought into that culture change,” Green said. “When you change the culture, your numbers drop, but then when people buy into it, they
go back up. Because they believe in what you’re trying to do. I feel good about every kid that’s coming to practice because they’re living up to the things that we ask.”
Green said the Armuchee community has had a lot to do with helping the team. This past Saturday, the school hosted a “Meet the Tribe” event which put the spotlight on all the athletic teams at the school. Green said events like that and the support they received are integral to keeping the kids on the team in good spirits.
“The best community in Northwest Georgia is Armuchee High School,” Green said. “I don’t know how many hundreds of people were here. It looked like a home football game. The community support is always good at Armuchee. It’s big because you can’t build today without community. The people in the community have to buy in and they have to respect what you’re doing. That does something to the kids.”
Green added a big motivating force comes from fans filling the stands at Lindsey Stadium on Friday nights.
“When the kids know they’re loved and there’s people there looking out for them, they’ll give a little bit more,” Green said. “Nobody wants to come to empty stands and bust their butts. Nobody wants to think people don’t care. I want our football team to have a relationship with the community. We can’t survive or thrive without a great community, and we’ve got it here.”
The Indians will get a chance to get a taste
of the season Aug. 16 when they travel to face Southeast Whitfield in a preseason scrimmage.
“Every scrimmage is about you and not the other team,” Green said. “We’ll go in and do base things, see how hard we play and see what we need to work on.”
Also on that day, Rome High will host New Manchester at Barron Stadium, Coosa will host Bowden, and Pepperell will play the second of its scrimmages in Lindale against Class 5A Cass. The Dragons’ first scrimmage will take place Friday at home against Temple.
Kicking off the scrimmages will be Darlington traveling to face Whitefield Academy on Thursday. Because of a scheduling conflict the Model at Mt. Zion-carroll scrimmage has been moved to Aug. 15.
On Aug. 23, Armuchee opens its season at Murray County, Coosa travels to Trion, Model welcomes Lafayette, and Darlington hosts Pepperell. Unity Christian plays its second regular season game that night as well, hosting Peachtree Christian, following its season opener at home against The Oaks School on Aug. 16.
The Corky Kell Classic returns to Barron Stadium on Aug. 22 which will see Rome and Calhoun get its seasons underway. The Yellow Jackets will face Ridgeland at 5:30 p.m., and the Wolves will take on Marietta at 8:30 p.m.