The Gordon Lee Trojans were more like the ministers of defense over the last eight games of a 2025 season that was historic for the Chickamauga football program.
Led by the overpowering senior duo of Garrett Ross and Layne Vaughn, the Trojans held their opponents in that stretch to a mere 73 total points and never allowed more than 17 in a single game during the dominant run, which ended in the GHSA Class A Division I state quarterfinals.
That tenacious defense helped Gordon Lee secure its first region championship since 1978 as no one came close to the Trojans, who demolished league opponents by an average score of 48.3-10.9 and averaged 12 tackles for loss and three sacks per game in those seven contests.
In the postseason, they ultimately fell 17-7 to Worth County, which went on to win its second state championship to cap a 15-0 season. Gordon Lee’s 12-2 finish still set a program record for single-season victories, marked the Trojans’ first year with double-digit wins since the 2020 team went 10-2, and was their deepest playoff run since also making the quarterfinals in 2002.
While nine all-region selections were lost to graduation, Josh Groce’s team returns enough playmakers on defense to feel good about making a run at what would be Gordon Lee’s first back-to-back region titles in football since 1948-49.