ITG Next South Georgia October/November 2022 Magazine

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History

Grove Middle Student-Athlete

Williams Has the Vision

Academy Volleyball Enjoys Spike

Coach

Turned Trojans

Football Powerhouse

40 Years

Mitchell

Jordan

Burley

County

Dougherty Football Rebounds From Depth of Losing Seasons and a Lot More

Written by: Phil Jones | Photography by: Brandon Pham

In 2019, Johnny Gil bert was the head foot ball coach and athletic director at Creekside Christian Academy and had led the Cougars to a 33-20 record and two trips to the state champi onship game. He actually gave up the stress and rigors of a head coach position, allowing him to devote his time to over seeing the Cougars’ ath

letics as their AD. He was at a great school with ac cess to all the amenities that the big city had to offer within a short driv ing distance. Yes, life was good for Gilbert.

Then the call came.

It was Eddie Johnson, principal at Dougherty Comprehensive High School in Albany, Geor gia. The Dougherty Tro jans had just suffered

through a 0-10 season.

They hadn’t had a season finishing above .500 since 2005, when the Trojans finished 13-2 and made it to the Class 3A state finals game (a 35-14 loss to Peach County). Start ing with the 2006 season, the team went on a streak that no school wants its football program to go through: 14 consecutive seasons without a win

ning record. Their record was 32-100 from 2006 to 2019. Only in 2008 when Dougherty finished 6-6 did Trojan football fans have anything remotely good to cheer for.

Obviously, the foot ball program was in need of an overhaul.

“Principal Johnson called me one day and mentioned that he was aware of the job we had

done at Creekside,” Gil bert said about that ini tial phone conversation.

“He then asked me if I would come down and meet with him to talk about possibly joining him at Dough erty to help get things turned around.”

He agreed to come down, and the two men sat together for hours talking about the prob lems that Dougherty had faced over the years with its football program. The more Gilbert listened, the more he realized just how big the challenge would be if he indeed decided to accept the head coaching job at Dougherty. But Gilbert

said that as he and John son walked around the school and he saw and met the students and the players, he began to real ize that Dougherty was a place he wanted to be.

“In my heart, I just felt that they needed a leader, someone to show them the way, and I want ed to be that person to come here and be that leader and positive influ

ence on them,” Gilbert said. “So I accepted the job.”

Gilbert knew the challenge that awaited him.

“I knew right away things would be tough coming here,” he said. “The program had been down for years, and they had finished 0-10 the season before I got here.”

The new Trojans coach said the first thing he and his staff did was to instill discipline in the program and begin lay ing a foundation for the future. In the meantime, there were still struggles.

“We finished 2-8 my first season, but lost some close games in the fourth quarter, so despite the re cord, I was pleased with where we were headed,” Gilbert said. “We felt that we had set a solid foundation, and the kids were believing in us as coaches, and they could see that we cared about them as players, as kids, and as students. We real ly began to pay attention to their grades. We were definitely headed in the right direction.”

Then, COVID-19 hit.

Dougherty’s football team was affected in more ways than one by the pandemic that was ravaging the entire coun try. The football team was featured in a Sports Illustrated cover story that talked about several players' families battling the pandemic, as well as the socioeconomic struggles that living in Albany brought, with a deadly virus adding to those struggles. Sudden ly, just as the Dougherty football program was be ginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, they had to deal with the reality of becoming the poster child for all of the struggles brought on by COVID-19.

Just as Gilbert was seeing a turnaround with his team and players, real life hit.

“COVID hit us hard and from a lot of differ ent directions,” he said. “We had players who had family members that were sick and suffering, and they weren’t able to come to practice.”

For the ones that could practice, the GHSA

had placed statewide restrictions on the num ber of players that could practice at one time to gether as a group, which made for all-day practic es, according to Gilbert.

“Despite everything going on, I’m trying to get this football program turned around,” Gilbert said. “And it would have been tough under nor mal conditions, but this made it a real challenge.”

Gilbert was worried.

“I was thinking, ‘How am I going to do this?’,” he said.

Football actually be came an escape for his players from everything life was throwing at them, according to Gilbert.

said. “They really devot ed themselves, and the seniors told the returning players to carry on what they had started.”

They heard their grad uating mentors loud and clear. Gilbert said the change was clear for ev eryone to see as work outs began for the 2021 season.

But the Dougherty Trojans had to wait. As the 2020 season ap proached, the GHSA was allowing member schools to decide if they wanted to play an entire season or if they wanted to even have a season at all. At Dougherty, school administrators were still undecided.

“Our superintendent, Ken Dyer, told us that we would not play the first five games of the season and wasn’t sure just yet about the other games,” Gilbert said.

The team was eventu ally allowed to play five games and finished 0-5. But it was something, and that was all that mattered to the Trojans and their new coach.

“Our kids just wanted to play football,” Gilbert

And turn it around they did. From what had been a team without a winning season in over a decade and a program that came close to losing a season due to a world wide pandemic came a coach and group of kids that made the ultimate comeback.

In 2021 the Dough erty Trojans won as many games as they had in the last six seasons com bined. They finished the regular season 8-2 and then won two playoff games before losing a quarterfinal matchup to finish 10-3.

So far this season, the Trojans are unde feated through their first seven games as they head into the final weeks of the season.

“It’s just been phe nomenal,” Gilbert said of the last couple of sea sons. “I’m so proud of these kids and everything they’ve accomplished.”

The Dougherty foot ball team is back and ready to take on the whole world. Again.

“I know this sounds crazy, but everything these players went through actually made them appreciate football even more, and they couldn’t wait to start playing again,” Gilbert said.

“The weight room was packed that summer, and our roster grew from 45 players to 75 players,” he said. “These kids actually got together as a group, and they told me it was time to turn Dougherty football around.”

Providence School of Tifton Celebrates 2 Years of Serving Students

Written by: Phil Jones Photography submitted by Victoria Harris

Victoria Harris serves as Head of School for the Providence School of Tifton, which is ready to launch its third year of operation since open ing its doors in August of 2020. Harris said things have gone as planned so far.

“We started with 35 students when we opened our doors, and currently we have 97 students en rolled in the school,” Harris said.

The classical Christian school started with grades junior (pre-) kindergarten through sixth grade in year one, then added grades seven and eight in its second year, which then increased the student count to 68. This past year, the school added the ninth grade and in the process raised the student enrollment to its current number of 97 students. Harris said the plan is to add one grade per year moving forward. The school cur rently offers golf and tennis for the logic (middle) school students, but hopes to add more sports this year.

That’s quite an accomplishment for a school that was born from a vision that Harris had stand ing in her garage one day back in 2018. It all started when Harris and her husband were look ing for a school that could fit the needs of each of her children: an infant, a 3-year-old, and an 11-year-old whom Harris said had some “learn ing differences.” The Harris family decided that they wanted their three children to attend the same school, but felt that public schools simply could not offer what they were looking for.

“There are great teachers that do a great job of teaching, but I wanted my kids to go to a school where they could defend their faith,” she said.

Harris went online and searched for a classical Christian school in the South Georgia area. She found a school that she and her husband liked, but there was just one problem.

“They could not devote the level of time and attention that our 11-year-old would need,” she said.

Frustrated, Harris returned home with no idea what she wanted to do next.

“I just remember standing there in my garage thinking that here I was dropping off my pre schooler for four hours every day with someone who may not share the same beliefs as our fam ily does, and there was my 11-year-old who we had decided would need to be homeschooled because of his learning difficulties,” Harris said.

Standing in that garage, holding her infant daughter, that's when the vision came to her.

“I thought, ‘There has to be a better way. There has to be more than this when it comes to education,’” Harris said.

She leaned on her faith, the needs for her family, and her skills to establish a school that fit the criteria she and her family were seeking.

“I have a masters degree is Christian apolo getics, and having gotten a glimpse of the clas sical Christian school that we had toured, we prayed about our next step, and that's when we decided that Tifton was the place for us; it was our calling,” Harris said.

Thankfully for Harris, she didn’t have to go it alone.

“There were four founding families at the be ginning, and we met weekly,” she said.

She knew they would need guidance from those who had been down this road already, and that included the head of the school that Harris and her family had toured a few weeks earlier.

“I reached out to Kelly Coyle, who is the head of Colquitt Christian Academy, as a mentor to call on, and she is one of those mentors that has been very helpful to us,” Harris said.

Along with their 97 students, Providence School of Tifton operates with 16 staff and fac ulty members and is overseen by a board of di rectors, head of school (Harris), director of op erations, administrative assistant, lead classroom teacher, and an associate teacher.

Harris said the ideal class size is 12 students per class for the Grammar level classes of kinder garten through fifth grade and 16 students per class for the Upper level classes of sixth grade through ninth grade.

The school’s official mascot is the Lion.

“The lion is king of beasts, and it symbolizes power and majesty,” she said.

Haris added that the school considers them selves to be “defenders,” as in defenders of the faith. She credits one of the school’s students, sixth-grader Gabriel Melton, for suggesting the name.

“Being a defender means being a fighter,” Melton said.

With the Providence School of Tifton mascot established and the Lions ready to “fight” and “defend,”

Harris said the school’s hope is to add more athletic choices for the school’s current and future students to realize their competitive sides.

“Trust me, classical Christian schools are vastly competitive,” Harris said.

In addition to offering golf and tennis, the Providence school of Tifton has recently added girls and boys basketball teams, as well as co-ed clay target club, 100 mile club (running), and tennis club.

Harris said she would like to add swimming, wrestling, cheer, and vol leyball soon.

“If we continue to grow our student count at our current rate of 30% per year, we hope to eventually add baseball and soccer,” she said.

Of course, with the school serving South Georgia, the inevitable ques tion of adding football is sure to come up, and Harris said that would be a little further in the future.

“For us, football is more of a 12-15 year goal,” she said. “If the interest is there and if the players are there, then it could be sooner.”

Whatever and whenever more athletics are offered at the school, the Lions will be ready: They are already accredited members of the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools and the Georgia Independent Schools Association, and they have just announced the hiring of Kim Royal as the school’s athletic director.

For more information about Providence School of Tifton, visit their web site at providencetift.org or call them at 229-445-8180. The school is locat ed at 4144 US Hwy 41 South in Tifton, Georgia.

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The History of the Winnersville Classic: Valdosta, Lowndes and a Community-Wide Celebration

Written by: Phil Jones Photography by: ITG Next archive

These Crosstown Competitors Form One of High School Football’s Greatest Rivalries

What do you get when you combine the winningest high school football program in the country with one of the most consistent ly winning football programs in the state over the last three decades? You get what is known as one of the greatest rivalries in all of high school football – so great that it’s in cluded in the Great American Rivalry Series, which recognizes the top high school foot ball rivalries across the nation. This is the story of the Winnersville Classic, the annual showdown between Valdosta High School and Lowndes High School.

The

In 1977, Valdosta Daily Times sports editor Mike Chason, a native of south Georgia and recent grad uate of Valdosta State University, wrote a story for the paper comparing the pro sports teams of Atlanta to the sports scene in Valdosta. While Atlanta was being called “Loserville” by mostly state and national sports writers, Chason replied in his column that Valdosta was doing very well with the success of its local sports teams and was worthy of the title “Winnersville.”

That term remained dormant until 1981, when the late Johnny B. Lastinger, a Valdosta High graduate and the executive vice-president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, decided to take ad vantage of the Winnersville designation. Even though Valdosta and Lowndes High had been playing each other every year since 1968, it was becoming obvious to everyone, including Lastinger, that the game was becoming much more competitive, especially with the arrival of head coach Joe Wilson at Lowndes.

Lastinger decided he wanted to make the annual football game more of a community-wide event and celebration, so beginning with the 1981 Valdosta vs. Lowndes game, he called it “The Winnersville Clas sic.” What had been just a game between the two lo cal schools would become a week-long celebration involving the community, fans, players, and coaches, and the game would never be the same again.

The Early Years

The Valdosta Wildcats have been playing football since 1913, and with over 900 wins, 24 state champi onships, six national championships, and a bunch of region titles, they remain the winningest high school football team in the country. There were coaches be fore him, but it was Wright Bazemore who took over as the Wildcats’ head football coach in 1942 and built the foundation for the winningest football team in the country. The ’Cats still maintain that designation. Lowndes High School opened its doors to stu dents in 1966, and by 1968 was able to field a football team. The Vikings would begin playing crosstown rival Valdosta that same year, but it was a David-vs.-Goli ath mismatch for the first decade or so, with Valdosta, boasting all those state and national championships –not to mention a 50-year head start – defeating the up start Lowndes High in the teams’ first 11 games. Truth is, Lowndes would struggle against everyone else too, winning just 31 games in that first decade of football with four different head football coaches. But that was about to change.

Photography by: Eric Vinson

Photography by: Mandy Rodriguez

Here Comes Joe

Tired of losing to their city school rival, and tired of just losing in general over the first decade of the team’s existence, Lowndes County school superintendent Sonny Martin decided to reach out to one of the “enemy,” longtime Valdosta assis tant coach Joe Wilson. Martin brought in Wilson for an interview after hearing that the coach was not exactly happy with the Wildcats at the time.

Owen Prince, Lowndes County Schools’ director of information and athletic business, and a graduate of Lowndes High School, recalled what led to Wilson’s unhappiness at Valdosta.

“Joe had been passed over for the head coaching job at Valdosta twice,” Prince said. “The first time was when Bazemore retired, and they hired Charlie Green. Then, the second time was when they brought in Nick Hyder from Rome.”

Prince said that’s when Joe Wilson decided he would accept an invitation to go over and meet with Martin.

“So, Joe sits down with Martin and Sonny asks him, ‘Joe, why should I hire you?’” Prince said. “Joe told Martin, ‘I’ll give you three reasons: One, I’ll give you a winning season, which you’ve never had. Two, I’ll beat Valdosta, which you’ve never done. Three, I’ll win a state championship, which you’ve never won.’ Joe Wilson accom plished all three within three years.”

Former Valdosta assistant coach Jerry Don Baker, who played at Valdosta in the ’60s and coached at Valdosta from 1976-2006, said he was there when Wilson told Valdosta he was leaving.

“I was in the office when Joe Wilson threw his keys on Nick Hyder’s desk and told him, ‘Coach, we are going to whip your [butt] when you come to our place in two years,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Baker said.

The Turnaround

Joe Wilson took over the Vikings football team in 1976, and right away encour aged the players to embrace their “country boy” personality and call themselves “Plowboys.” He led the Vikings to an 8-2 season, which included upset victories over Tift County and Thomasville High. Wilson had fulfilled his first promise to Martin: A winning season in his first try, something Lowndes had never before experienced.

That first Valdosta game with Wilson as coach of the Vikings didn’t lead to a win, but the effort was there, and it signaled that things were going to be differ ent. Lowndes led 3-0 after the third quarter, and although Valdosta would score twice in the fourth quarter to win 14-3, it was obvious that things were indeed about to change.

A Community Celebration

Despite having played each other since 1968, the Lowndes vs. Valdosta game didn’t become the Win nersville Classic until 1981. It came a year after the Vi kings had won their first state championship in foot ball, which gave the event a whole new perspective.

In 1977, Wilson’s second season, he made good on his assurance to Martin that he was finally going to beat Valdosta, and on his boast to Hyder that he was going to ‘whip your [butt],’ by leading the Vikings to an incredible 7-2 win over the Wildcats in front of a frenzied Lowndes home crowd. That was Lowndes’ first win ever against Valdosta, whose quarterback was Buck Belue, the future Univer sity of Georgia star. According to Baker, the win inspired a year-long rally cry: “7 to 2 we beat Belue.”

John Lastinger, the son of Johnny B. Lastinger, played receiver at Valdosta and would be the guy who succeeded Belue at quarterback. The Wildcats’ loss to Lowndes and the close game the year before “were the turning points of the se ries, and turned it into a true rivalry,” Lastinger said. “That place [Lowndes’ home stadium] was rocking before the ’77 game, but we had known after that ’76 game that this game was going to be different, and it was.”

Joe Wilson had accomplished two of his three goals. When he knocked off the third one – a state championship, which Lowndes won in 1980 – Johnny B. Last inger was prompted to concede this was more than just a game – it was a com munity event. The Winnersville Classic featuring Lowndes vs. Valdosta was born.

Lastinger’s vision was to bring the two fan bases together all week long for community-wide events. There was a golf tournament involving fans and coaches from both teams. Hyder, a devout Christian, brought fans and players from both teams together for an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) banquet on Thursday night prior to the big game, allowing the two sides to fellowship over dinner. The coaches would each speak to the crowd during the banquet.

Baker said the cheerleaders from both teams would usually meet at one of the girls’ homes, and the groups would alternate each season. Bobby Green, a local business owner and Valdosta High supporter, would also host a lunch on a first come-first serve ba sis at his home, with fans invited. The head coaches would always come and speak to the small gathering. Baker said the bands from both schools began join ing forces on the field before each game and would play the National Anthem together. Those were the low-key celebrations of Winnersville.

Game-winning drives start

with hard work under the hot

under the bright lights

Here is where practice, preparation

perspiration

to cheering fans, game winning drives

character

to support

last

Plowboys vs City Slickers

When Wilson arrived, he saw that many among the Lowndes faithful were not too crazy about the references to the Vikings being known as the “coun try” school.

“Joe wanted us to embrace the country boy label,” Prince said. “He was a country boy and proud of it. So he came up with the name ‘Plowboys.’ He and thenband director Billy Martin ordered straw hats with ‘LHS Plowboys’ across the front, which the band wore during their halftime performance.”

Then, Prince said, prior to the 1979 game, Lown des was warming up in their traditional crimson jer seys. When the teams returned to the locker room to get ready for the game, Wilson told his team to take off the crimson ‘Vikings’ jerseys, and the players were then given a dark black jersey with “Plowboys” across the front to change into. The Vikings ran onto the field with their new Plowboys jerseys, and the home crowd went nuts. Lowndes won the game 15-14.

The Plowboys name would serve as a rally point of sorts for Lowndes, establishing and embracing their underdog status, especially against the football WIld cats. Not to be outdone, Valdosta would come back with its own persona to counter the country boy image of Lowndes.

“The Valdosta fans had bumper stickers that read, ‘City Slickers’ and, ‘Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be plowboys,’” Prince said. “Lowndes came back with, ‘My heroes have always been plowboys.’”

Those Crazy Fans

Lowndes and Valdosta fans certainly embraced the Winnersville rivalry, show ing their love for the home team and their disdain for the other side. For the most part, things were harmless. Occasionally, however, things got a little out of con trol. Prince recalled a prank that took place the week of the 1974 game.

“A few of the Lowndes students got together and built a Viking ship,” Prince said. “They worked on it all week. They hauled the ship over from Lowndes to Val dosta High in the middle of the night and put it in the pond in front of the school. A couple of students jumped in the water and secured the ship so that it would not float over to the shore.”

That next morning, as Valdosta faculty, students, and parents begin arriving at the school, they saw the huge Viking ship floating in the pond in front of their school. Prince said a few of the football players jumped in to try to bring it over to the shore, but that didn’t work. Their next option?

“They just burned the thing,” Prince said.

Around that same time, Prince recalled: “In the mid-’70s, a Lowndes student went to Cleveland Field and attached a Lowndes Vikings flag and hoisted it up to the top, but he wasn’t finished. The student then greased the entire flag pole from top to bottom, ensuring that it would not be very easy for Valdosta High maintenance to climb up to detach the Viking flag. So the Viking flag flew high and proud over the Valdosta stadium property, for at least a little while.”

Doug Henderson, whose sons Ashley, Justin, and Doug all played at Valdosta, recalled a prank in the mid-’90s that was designed to fire up the Wildcat players. But it missed its mark – literally.

“We had about 500 flyers printed with a nasty message directed at our play ers,” Henderson said. “It was designed to look like it was coming from Lowndes fans. We had a Valdosta booster, Charlie Whetherington, who knew a pilot, and they flew over a Valdosta practice the week of the game against Lowndes and dumped those flyers. The problem was the plane didn’t get low enough, and the wind blew the flyers all over the neighborhood next to the practice field.”

Henderson said neighborhood residents called the police, who came over to the Valdosta fields where he and other fans were watching practice.

“The police asked us about the flyers, and coach Jerry Don Baker came walk ing over and told the cops the plane had a Lowndes County Vikings license plate,” Henderson said with a laugh.

Lowndes athletic director Danny Redshaw said things have calmed down con siderably between the two sides today, but there was a time when the Winners ville Classic put both Lowndes and Valdosta on high alert.

“We would have to hire extra security guards for the entire week of the game, starting on Sunday night, and it would last all week long until the game was over,” Redshaw said. “We still do that now, just not as much.”

Redshaw also talked about the days just before the game, when fans of both teams would cruise up and down Ashley Street, hurling insults out the window at each other. In some cases, the insults would turn from verbal to something more physical.

“It got to be a normal thing to see fans pulling over off of Ashley Street and Patterson Street and getting out of their cars to fight,” Redshaw said. “Fortunately, that didn’t happen too often.”

A Bounty on Buck

In the 1977 game, there were no fights, but there was a bounty placed on Buck Belue – not to hurt the Valdosta QB great, but to take a piece of his number 8 jersey off his back and to the Lowndes sideline. $100 would be given to the Lowndes player who could produce a piece of Buck’s jersey. Coach Jerry Don Baker confirmed the rumor.

“Oh yeah, they had a bounty out for Buck’s jersey,” Baker said.

John Lastinger remembers that game and the play.

“One of their defensive linemen, Charles Bergman, got hold of Buck’s jersey at the sleeve, and ripped it right off his back,” Lastinger said. “I remember Buck had to go to the locker room and get another jersey. I think it was number 1.” Baker, who coached from 1976-2006, recalled showing up on Monday morn ing the week of the Lowndes game, year after year, to a Valdosta High campus

awash in hundreds of rolls of toilet paper, and walls and windows painted with pro-Lowndes messages.

“It was a real mess,” he said. “Our maintenance folks earned their pay that week.”

Prince recalled how, prior to the 1985 Winners ville game, an idea was hatched to have someone ride a mule out to midfield before the Valdosta game, staying true to the plowboys image Lowndes had cul tivated.

“We had a fellow by the name of Freddie Steedley who had a mule, and he agreed to put on the overalls and straw hat and ride the mule out to midfield be fore the game,” Prince said. “We just knew the crowd would go crazy, and it would fire up our players.”

Well, the only thing that went crazy was the mule.

“Even though we had practiced riding the mule out there on the field several times, we had not done it with 12,000 screaming fans,” Prince recalled with a laugh. “So, we brought the mule out, with Freddie riding the thing, and that mule started out toward midfield just as we had practiced, but then the crowd roared, and it scared the poor mule so much that he just stopped in his tracks and Freddie went flying off over the front of it.”

But the mule wasn’t done.

“That mule then took off, without Freddie to guide him, straight towards the Valdosta sideline,” Prince said. “Their entire sideline of players and coaches tried to climb the wall to get into the stands, and some just took off running towards the opposite end of the stadium.”

A couple of the mule’s handlers were able to catch the mule and bring him back to the field house.

“That would be the last time we tried anything like that,” said Prince. “The Lowndes administration was not happy about our little stunt.”

Calvin McGuyrt, who claims to have attended more Wildcat games than any other living person since #1 Wildcat fan David Waller passed away, founded and hosted The Wildcat Tradition TV show for 33 years. The show was a weekly production fea turing McGuyrt and the Valdosta head coach talking about the previous game and looking ahead to the upcoming game.

McGuyrt also emceed the FCA banquet that was held the Thursday before the big game. He recalled how Valdosta supporters would take the opportunity in front of a full house of fans from both sides to get the ’Cats fired up just one more time.

“During the banquet, Valdosta police would bring in a black wreath that said, ‘Death to the Wildcats from the Lowndes High Vikings,’” McGuyrt recalled.

Tales like McGuyrt’s are part of a timeless record shared by Valdosta-area locals. It’s an oral history that will never die – in fact, it just keeps growing, year after year, down there in Winnersville.

Top Performances

Those who were part of the game shared the plays and players they remember the most.

Randy McPherson, Lowndes Head Coach, 2002-2019

The longtime Lowndes coach was quick to offer his memory of the best performance he saw in the Classic.

“Tevin Tisdale in the 2018 game,” said MacPherson. “No question about it.”

The talented running back rushed 21 times for 414 yards and 6 TDs, leading Lowndes to a 71-35 victory.

McPherson’s own performance is one of the best among the head coaches in the Classic. He won 12 of his 18 games against Valdosta. He was the most successful Lowndes coach against the Wildcats in the series.

Mike O’Brien, Valdosta Assistant Coach, 1981-2006; Head Coach, 1997-2003

“There were so many, but I remember Todd Peterson in the 1987 game kicking a 47-yard field goal to beat Lowndes at their place,” O’Brien said.

Ashley Henderson, Valdosta Offensive Lineman, 1994-1997

“The best player that I played with was our quarterback, Kareem Wilson, in 1995,” Henderson recalled. “The best players I saw play in the game were quarter back Cedric Hatten for us, and for Lowndes it was Greg Reid. He was unbelievable.”

Reid is forever known for “The Run” against Valdosta in the 2007 game. The 55yard scamper, with Reid zig-zagging his way through the entire Valdosta defense on his way to the endzone, sealed the victory for the Vikings against the visiting Wildcats.

Jerry Don Baker, Valdosta Assistant Coach, 1976-2006; Player, 1967-1970

“I remember in the 1981 game, quarterback John Bond took off down the Lowndes sideline and ran for an 80-yard touchdown,” Baker said. “After the game, Joe Wilson told me, ‘Baker, as John Bond was running down the sideline, I came real close to sticking my foot out and tripping him, but I changed my mind.’” Baker said of all the great players he coached against in the Winnersville Clas sic, none was better than James “Wildman” Carter.

Marcus Rogers and Johnny Holcolmb

Rogers was the Wildcats’ team manager in 1994 and a top Wildcat supporter. Holcomb oversees the Wildcat Football Museum and sits on the Board of Directors for the Valdosta Touchdown Club.

These two Wildcat backers agree on their most memorable moment: “The Comeback.”

In the 2011 game, Lowndes was leading 17-7, and with only 1:14 remaining in the game, looked like they were on their way to their eighth straight win in the Winnersville Classic. Following a Lowndes punt, Valdosta took possession around midfield. Wildcat quarterback Shelby Wilkes leads the ’Cats on a three-play drive, highlighted by a 47-yard screen pass to Charlie Albritton that took the ball to the Vikings 6-yard line.

On the next play, Wilkes found Sherrod Inman in the back of the end zone to cut the lead to 17-14. Then, with only 49 seconds remaining, Valdosta recovered Dale Kent’s onside kick and from the Valdosta 47-yard line, Wilkes lead his Wildcats down the field with another TD pass, this one to running back Avery Burney, to put Valdosta on top 21-17 and leave everyone in the stadium stunned.

There was still a chance for the Vikings if they could return the kickoff, but they never got the chance. Kent’s second straight onside kick was again recovered, Wil kes took the snap and a knee, and that was that. The most improbable win for either team was this one, with Valdosta overcoming a 17-7 deficit in just 1:14 to win the Winnersville Classic over Lowndes.

The current Winnersville series record stands at 36 wins for Valdosta and 24 for Lowndes heading into the 2022 season.

JACK LUTTRELL Colquitt County

Pine Grove Middle Student-Athlete

Caitlyn Williams Has the Vision

Written by: Phil Jones

Caitlyn Williams is a seventh-grader at Pine Grove Middle School and is getting ready for her second season as a point guard on coach Amy Broad’s squad. Despite playing for the first time last year as a sixth-grad er, as well as playing up with the seventh-graders, she isn't at all intimidat ed. In fact, according to her coach, she is playing just like she belongs, and she’s proving it.

“Caitlyn played for me last season as a sixth-grader on a team that had to play both sixth- and sev enth-graders,” Broad said. “She ran the point for us and did a great job of handling our offense.”

That experience likely helped Caitlyn make this year’s team.

“We just had our try outs, and Caitlyn made the final cut, so I’m happy to have her back again,” her coach said. “Caitlyn is considered a combo guard, and that means she is the one that runs

the offense and has to see the plays developing in front of her.”

While she obvious

ly has the talent to play, Caitlyn’s work ethic and drive are really what sep arate her from the aver age player.

“She comes to prac tice ready to work and works hard in the off season,” Broad said. “No one’s going to out work her. She will work as hard as she has to to get better at her game.”

Of course, any great player can’t be one di mensional, and that means being able to play both ends of the court equally well. So, how is her defensive play?

“The thing about Cait lyn’s defense is she does a great job of reading and watching the ball and then knowing how to react,” Broad said.

As Broad is prepar ing to work with Caitlyn for their second season together as player and coach, Caitlyn is also working with someone who probably knows her better than anyone.

Camaron Williams, Cait lyn’s older brother, also played under Broad at Pine Grove middle school before playing with the Lowndes High School varsity squad during his freshman season. An inju ry derailed his basketball career, but, according to Camaron, that allowed him to devote more time to helping and teaching his little sister.

“I enjoy helping her get better,” Cameron said.

What does her big brother think about Cait lyn’s strength on the court?

“I think it’s her vision,” he said, echoing some of the same skills that Broad sees in Caitlyn.

The Pine Grove stu dent is also continuing to learn the game and im prove her skills by play ing with local AAU team VLC Thunder, coached by Chris Mays. With her AAU 12-U team, Caitlyn is averaging 8 points, five assists, and three steals per game.

Prior to playing bas ketball, Caitlyn was in volved in gymnastics, but said she wanted to de

vote her time exclusively to basketball.

“I like the pace of the game, and I love getting others involved,” Caitlyn said.

She says she enjoys math, hopes to continue playing basketball with Lowndes, and would love the opportunity to play in college, and beyond, if the chance comes. If not?

“I would like to be an orthodontist,” Caitlyn said.

She is the daughter

of Cedric and Dutchess Williams.

The Pine Grove Mid dle School seventh-grade team will start practice soon, with the season set to start in late October 2022. Caitlyn’s AAU sea son will pick up in Janu ary 2023.

5 Winningest Teams in Georgia High School Football History

Written by: Dhruv Mohan Photography by: ITG Next archive

1. Valdosta Wildcats

936 wins

The Wildcats are the winningest high school football team both in the state of Georgia and na tionwide. They claimed their first victory back in 1913 against Sparks Col lege and have not looked back since, racking up 24 state titles and six nation al championships in the subsequent years. Valdo sta has posted 22 unde feated seasons, with 18 coming under legendary head coaches Nick Hyder and Wright Bazemore.

Their claim to the winnin gest national program is in jeopardy, however, as Louisville Male (KY) is only nine wins away from tying the Wildcats’ mark.

2. LaGrange Grangers

783 wins

Far behind Valdosta in second place is La Grange, who have won six state titles and one national title in 1991. The Grangers’ first sea son of organized foot ball debuted in 1905, but it wasn’t until Oliver Hunnicutt’s 26-year ten ure as head coach that LaGrange truly became a consistently success ful squad. The Grangers won three state champi onships in four years at the turn of this century, but fell off after, reach ing a rock bottom 0-10 record in 2017. With 17 wins in the past two sea sons though, a revival might be possible.

3. Gainesville Red Elephants

758 wins

Gainesville only has one state championship to its name, the least of any top 10 winningest Geor gia high school football team. However, the Red Elephants’ consistency in winning seasons has helped them become the third-winningest pro gram in the state.

Just like LaGrange, Gainesville began play ing football in 1905, but it took a 33-game win streak from 1922 to 1926 to finally establish the Red Elephants as a con sistently victorious team. From that year onward, Gainesville rattled off a plethora of seasons with seven or more wins that led into head coach Bob by Gruhn’s dominant 30year campaign.

T5. Marist War Eagles 747 wins

What are the odds of a tie at 747 wins? Marist wasn’t impressive by any means until the reign of head coach Alan Chad wick. After his introduc tion in 1985, the War Eagles have won over 400 games, 20 region titles, and three state championships. Defense became Marist’s calling card, as the War Eagles allowed over 200 points in a season only thrice during Chadwick’s ten ure.

Marist’s most recent state championship run in 2020 featured eight shut outs and eight ranked victories. The War Ea gles will only continue to climb this list in the future.

T5. Thomasville Bulldogs 747 wins

Had the Bulldogs de feated Fitzgerald in last season’s 2A state cham pionship, they would have had sole possession of fourth place. Instead, they remain tied with Marist.

Thomasville began its football program rather late in 1914, but thrived under several strong head coaches, includ ing Joe Sumrall and Jim Hughes. The Bulldogs surprisingly haven’t had many 10-win seasons, but make up for that deficit with repeating eight- and nine-win campaigns in each decade.

Interestingly, Thomasville also holds the record for most ties in a season (six) and in GHSA history (46).

ALANI

When Frederica Academy volleyball coach Brittany Griffin took over the Knights program three years ago, she wasn’t exactly start ing from scratch, but she also wasn’t inheriting a team with a lot of experi enced volleyball players either. Yes, there was a volleyball team at Fred erica, but just not much interest.

According to Griffin, Frederica sits in a “pock et” of sorts, where volley ball is overshadowed by another sport.

“Volleyball is very popular to the south of us – in Jacksonville and below – and to the north of us – in Savannah and above,” she said.

That leaves Frederica in an area where soccer has been the dominant and more popular sport. But Griffin knew that

Frederica Academy Volleyball Enjoys Spike in Wins

Written by: Phil Jones | Photography submitted by Brittany Griffin

there was an interest in volleyball; she just had to go find it.

“My first year at Fredri cia, I really had no expec tations of what kind of team I was going to get,” Griffin said. “I decided to put together a camp to see how much interest there was and to see how much height we had. I saw some of the girls that were going to be coming to Frederica, and I de termined that we didn’t necessarily have a lot of volleyball players, but what we had was just a bunch of athletes, which is a good thing.”

That at least gave her an idea of what kind of the team she would have and what she could build around.

The new coach re alized that in addition to the overall lack of ex perience, she would be

facing other challenges. There was also travel soccer, which many lo cal girls played, and that season was happening at the same time as Fred erica’s volleyball season. Despite these obstacles, Griffin was eager to get started building the Fred erica volleyball program.

The Lady Knights started with 16 or 17 players in Griffin’s first season as coach and won just four matches, finish ing 4-10. They retained that same number of players heading into the next season, when they won six matches, finish ing 6-10.

This past season, the third with Griffin at the helm, Frederica nearly tripled their win total of last season, finishing 16-8 overall. They lost to an experienced Strong Rock Christian School team in

the play-in game, but it’s clear to everyone that the Frederica volleyball program has taken major steps under coach Grif fin over these last three seasons and is certainly headed in the right direc tion.

“We have spent the last three years building the team here and show ing the girls that they are good at volleyball and (that) if they are commit ted, then we can contin ue to grow,” Griffin said.

“As the girls have grown into the sport over these past three seasons, they began to realize that they can compete with the more experienced teams. They really came around to that belief system and confidence this season, and they now believe in themselves.”

Griffin is now pre paring for the 2023 sea

son and will return nine seniors from this year’s roster of 18 players. She has a no-cut policy, meaning if a Frederica student wants to be a part of the team, they are in. The Lady Knights are in a three-team region along with state pow erhouse Valwood and St. Andrews. Griffin said that her team will seek out mostly public school opponents, which should make the Knights that much tougher as the reg ular season rolls toward the playoffs.

“I feel like we had a great season, and we want to continue to get better and grow as a team, and playing the tougher teams will help us do that,” she said.

Griffin and her Fred erica Lady Knights will kick off the 2023 season next August.

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Apparel Banquets

Head Coach Has Turned Trojans into Football

Powerhouse Following 40 Years of Futility

Written by: Phil Jones

If you’re a first-time visitor to Lee County High School, you can’t miss the by-product of a successful football pro gram: A nice stadium with a turf field and the capacity to hold 10,000 fans. It’s an outward sign that high school football at Lee County is alive and well under head coach Dean Fabrizio, now in his 14th year at the Leesburg school.

More evidence that Lee County is an elite institution is the 45,000-square-foot multi-purpose facility that serves all Trojans athletic programs. It was built in 2017, just as the football program was reaching heights it had never ex perienced before. At a price tag of $8 million, the facility houses coach es’ offices, a players’ locker room equipped with USB outlets at each locker, classrooms, a lec ture hall for college-level classes, a trophy room, a training room, and a 9,000-square-foot, worldclass weight room with 23 weight stations.

Max Preps ranks the Lee County weight room as the third-best high school weight room in the country. Inside is also a 30-yard turf field that can be used by the team and individual players for any number of purposes. On the facility’s exterior walls, the school’s region championships and state titles are recognized. You’ll see region cham pionships were won in 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and the school won its first-ever

state titles in football in 2017 and 2018. In 2020, Lee was knocking on the door of a third state championship in four years, but fell short in a tough overtime loss.

The bottom line is this: Under Fabrizio, the Trojans are positioned to be in the hunt every year.

Four Decades of Futility

It wasn’t always like this. In fact, things were actually pretty bad. For a long time. In its 40-year history of playing football prior to Fabrizio’s arrival, Lee County High School had experienced just five winning seasons and had never enjoyed consec utive winning seasons. Not only was the on-field product suffering, but the football program was thousands of dollars in debt. There was a lot of good coming out of this South Georgia bedroom community, but high school football wasn’t one of them.

In 2009 the Lee Coun ty High administration decided that a change was necessary. Officials reached out to a longtime assistant coach who had spent time in the Orlando area but was now serving as the de fensive coordinator for Chad Campbell’s Peach County Trojan squad. The new Lee County Trojan football coach was Dean Fabrizio.

Fabrizio was eager to get started, but the pro

Photography by: Eric Vinson

cess of rebuilding such a struggling football program would take pa tience and a plan.

Lee County had been known for its baseball program and had expe rienced a lot of success in it. The community as a whole was heavily in volved in the game; what it was not involved with very much was football. Especially at the high school level.

The year before Fab rizio was hired, the Tro jans finished 0-10, and they had lost 19 of their previous 20 games. In addition to the varsi ty program’s struggles, the entire feeder and support programs were all winless –the middle school, 9th grade, and ju nior varsity teams did not

manage a single victory in 2008, the year prior to Fabrizio’s arrival.

An Uphill Climb

“There were numer ous things that needed to be addressed, but get ting the numbers up at all levels was one of the first things we set out to do,” Fabrizio said. “We went from having 25 8th grad ers out for football my first year to 60 kids that came out for football. We went from 30 freshmen to over 50 in year two. We had 65 players on the 10th-12th grade varsity squad when I got here, and we grew that number to over 120 in five years.”

The coach added that he was very fortunate to have support from the Lee administration in his quest to build the football program at Lee County.

“I was blessed to have had a lot of stability in our leadership,” he said. “I have worked for two superintendents in Dr. Larry Walters and Dr. Ja son Miller. Both are great advocates of what we try to do, and they fully sup port everything. I have two wonderful and sup portive principals in Keith Dowling and Dr. Karen Hancock, who have both been a big part of our success, and you will not find two finer men to work for than the two ath letic directors, Rob Wil liams and Hank Wright.”

Steve Glover, the cur rent Trojans Booster Club president, has lived in Lee County since 1999 and has seen the best and worst of times in Trojan football over the years. He described how things were before Fabrizio ar rived at Lee County.

“For the longest time, high school football was a social event, where you met your friends, but there were no ex pectations as far as wins and losses were con cerned,” Glover recalled. “We were a baseball-first community with a strong recreation baseball pro gram, and that carried over to the high school level. We were turning out really good baseball players, and everyone was fine with being a baseball community.”

High school football just wasn’t on a lot of peo ple’s minds. That’s part of the challenge Fabrizio faced when he arrived.

“Fabrizio knew he had to change the cul ture, and that meant get ting the young kids and their parents believing that football could be as much a part of their lives as baseball had been,” Glover said.

That included a reor ganization of the middle school program that had suffered through three con secutive winless seasons pri or to Fabrizio’s arrival.

Culture Change Takes Hold for Good

Changing any culture or mindset doesn’t hap pen overnight. It would take Fabrizio a few years of rolling up his sleeves and going out to talk with parents, kids and youth coaches in order to change a long-existing mentality.

Fabrizio averaged 7 wins per season in his first eight years at the school, from 2009-2016. Then in 2017, after working so hard to change the foot ball culture at Lee Coun ty, things finally began to pay off. The Trojans won the 2017 1-6A region championship and the 6A state championship with a 14-1 finish.

Dean Fabrizio, Lee County head football coach, holding the 2017 Class 6A Football State Championship trophy

The next season they followed that showing with another region title and a perfect 15-0 record for a second straight state title. The Trojans finished 12-2 in 2020 with another trip to the state champion ship game, but Lady Luck would not shine down on the Trojans that night.

The win totals say a lot. Just look at this de cade-by-decade com parison of Lee County football in the pre- and post-Fabrizio eras:

1971-1979: 28 wins 1980-1989: 28 wins 1990-1999: 38 wins 2000-2008: 27 wins Fabrizio arrives in 2009

2009-2019: 90 wins 2020: 12-2 record 2021: 11-2 record 2022 (through 6 games): 5-1 record

There’s no guarantee you’ll see Dean Fabrizio on one of those signs at the county line, along side Luke Bryan and oth er notable Lee County personalities. But you can bet a lot of people certainly believes that he belongs there.

Photography by: Micki K. Photography

ARMAR GORDON Perry

15th Annual ITG Next

South Georgia High School Football Banquet

Presented by:

Cook High School

Main Awards

Colony Bank Offensive Player of the Year

Valdosta Toyota Defensive Player of the Year

Special Teams Player of the Year

Wolfson Children’s Hospital Middle School Player of the Year

Scholar Athlete of the Year

Hughston Clinic Coach of the Year

Farah & Farah Forward Progress Award

Preferred Rental Community Involvement Award

12th Man Award

Top Offensive and Defensive Players From Over 40 South Georgia Teams

Presented by:

Valdosta High School

Presented by:

Cairo High School

Presented by:

Clinch County High School Lowndes High School

Presented by:

Coffee High School

Irwin County High School

Presented by:

Brantley County High School Brunswick High School

Camden County High School

Frederica Academy Glynn Academy

McIntosh County Academy

Presented by:

Crisp Academy

Crisp County High School

Doooly County High School

Presented by:

Brooks County High School

Colquitt County High School

Mitchell County High School

Pelham High School