Sometimes the pairing of coach and program can produce magical things.
One such place is Rockmart, where Biff Parson has turned the Yellow Jackets into a Georgia prep football power after years of mediocrity prior to his arrival. As he enters his ninth season, his teams have won 83 games and seven region championships, with Rockmart finishing as the GHSA Class AA state runner-up in 2018 and again last year.
The program’s previous six coaches were a combined 109-161 with zero region championships.
Not surprisingly, Parson’s 2024 team, despite major graduation losses, is the preseason favorite to win Region 7-AA — a rather vagabond league spread out from Cobb County to Polk County to Union County that includes four former 6-AAA programs.
Only one of the current region’s eight other teams has defeated Rockmart. Sonoraville, moving down from AAAA this year, beat the Jackets in 2014 and 2015. The Phoenix paid the price in the next two meetings, however, falling by a combined score of 118-35.