REGION 6-A AT A GLANCETeam on the rise: Trion. The Bulldogs went from three to six wins last year and return quarterback Hayden Tucker and a physical group of offensive and defensive linemen.Nightmare schedule: Trion has to open against Class AA Armuchee and AAA LaFayette, both on the road, and has to play rival Gordon Lee on the road.Dream schedule: Gordon Lee gets a head start on the rest of the region with an Aug. 20 game against Silverdale Academy, then gets weeks off after a date with Dade County. The Trojans also host rival Trion and preseason favorite Darlington.Best game: Though Darlington-Bowdon might be for the league championship and Bowdon-Bremen a hate-filled rivalry, the Gordon Lee-Trion affair Oct. 29 is a must-win on each team’s schedule.Biggest shoes to fill: Gordon Lee linebacker Austin Goodlet tallied nearly 300 tackles the past two seasons. Tanner Sexton is one of three sophomore linebackers who will have to make up for Goodlet’s absence in the team’s new 4-4 alingment.Playoff bound: Darlington, Bowdon, Bremen, Trion.
Once upon a time, Georgia Region 6-A football teams had four teams, and each had a punched ticket to the playoffs before the season even started. As the 2010 season approaches, league coaches can only wish it were that easy now.
Eight teams, double the number from just a few years ago, now make up the region, including three teams – Darlington, Bowdon and Bremen – that won at least one playoff game a year ago. Darlington, led by quarterback Brad Butler, reached the Class A semifinals. Butler, along with several other playmakers, return to make the Tigers easily the preseason favorite.
“Bowdon and Bremen are always tough, but you have to start with Darlington since they went to the final four and bring a lot of kids back,” said Gordon Lee coach Kevin McElhaney, whose team missed the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. “Bowdon has one of the top three or four running backs in the state (junior Mauricio Askew). Bremen is as physical as ever, and Trion is up and coming.”
As good as Darlington might be, the team’s lone region loss last year was to Trion. David Humphreys’ Bulldogs rallied from their own non-playoff season to not only make it last year but also gave perennial Class A power Lincoln County a tough playoff game before falling 14-0. Despite being down a handful of starters, Trion held Lincoln to a mere seven first downs.
Humphreys, whose team returns dual-threat quarterback Hayden Tucker, good receivers and most of its linemen, agreed that Darlington should be the preseason pick.
“You start at the top with Darlington,” the former Rome High coach said. “They were young last year. Bowdon is so athletic and they play hard every game. Bremen is as solid a football team as you will ever face. Two years ago they totally dismantled us up here. The rest of us kind of fall behind those big three.
“It reminds me of when I was in 7-AAAA, you had to play every night. If you get through this region and make the playoffs, you will have been through it all. When you’ve gone through those big games and then you get into the playoffs, all of a sudden it’s just another game.”
Making those playoffs, though, won’t be a cakewalk as several young programs, including Walker, Mt. Zion in Carroll County and newcomer Mt. Paran, are on the rise. McElhaney, whose team is switching to the spread offense after a rare 1-9 season, will likely start several sophomores and freshmen. He knows the days of going 3-7 and making the playoffs are long gone for this region’s teams.
“I think the four teams who go will be really, really good,” McElhaney said. “Look at our groups that went to the playoffs and we won three of four in the first round, with Trion falling in a good game at Lincoln County. So, it’s not like it used to be when you only had to win one or two games to get in. Now, you have to have a really good year, and, if the kids grow up, we are capable of doing it.”