LaFAYETTE, Ga. — For a prep football program that appeared to be in disarray just a few months ago, the LaFayette Ramblers have completely changed the narrative, and in turn have energized a community hungry for gridiron success.
Prior to the start of spring practice, head coach Ethan Thompson was offered and accepted a coaching job in Arizona. His departure in late April, before what would have been his third season leading the Ramblers, left a void that couldn’t easily be filled at a time when the great majority of coaching candidates had been spoken for.
Fortunately for LaFayette, the available candidates included Lee Bohannon, a veteran assistant who had earlier been hired away from Ringgold to join Thompson’s staff. Just before summer camp started, Bohannon accepted what he termed a “one-year deal” to assume head coaching duties. The rest, at least three games and three wins into the 2026 season, is history in the making for a program that doesn’t have a lot of positive results in its past.
Bohannon’s first job was getting a core group of players who had endured an 0-10 season in 2024 before going 4-6 last year to buy into an old-school approach that would better take advantage of the athletes on hand.
“My job and the staff’s job is to find ways to get our explosive people to make plays, and that means having one-on-one matchups,” said Bohannon, who installed what has turned out to be an explosive wing-T offense that has produced 116 points.