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Kicker Daniel Chavez was a soccer player who was recruited to play football.
Credit: DeKalb County Athletics
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Chamblee Goes from Non-Region Nobody to Title Contender
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The distance between Chamblee High School and Tucker High School is nine miles through northern Dekalb County. It's a short drive by car, but when it comes to football the two programs have been light years apart if seems. It once was a football rivalry but was put on hold as one program became a constant state playoff fixture, while the other declined to non-region status.
That is what make's Chamblee's 15-10 win over Tucker such a big deal. It sent dust and cobwebs flying from the pages of the Dekalb County record books. The last time Chamblee had beaten Tucker in football was back in 1974 -- 48 years ago. All Chamblee head coach Bob Swank knows is that his team is 5-1 this season. But he has enjoyed the history lesson.
"I was surprised that it had not been a regular occurrence," says Swank. “I honestly didn’t know until after the game. The reporter telling me it was the first time since the ‘70s and 48 years. To us it was a regular game that we had to win. We really didn’t play that well in the game, but we just gutted out a win."
I attended the renewal of Chamblee vs. Tucker.. You kept waiting for the "Ghost of Chamblee Football Teams Past" to rear its ugly head. It became apparent to me that this group had neither read the book nor seen the movie.
"Our kids believe that they are going to win every time they go on the field, now," remarks Swank. "We’ve been known the past two years as an offensive team, but we have a pretty good defense, too. What happened on Thursday night was we kept getting put on a short field by turnovers and stuff like that. They just went out a battled through it every time."
The pause button was pushed on the series after 2011, when the Tigers slammed the Bulldogs 63-6 on their way to a perfect 15-0 record and state title in Franklin Stephens’ final season as head coach there. The Chamblee program floundered in the years that followed, and the administration made the decision to play a non-region schedule for two seasons. The fact that the Bulldogs have come out on the other side as winner is a pleasant surprise.
"I don‘t know of anybody who has done it this way," remarks Swank. "To move out of region and then come back this successful. I know that several in DeKalb County have made this decision for this season and I think it’s great for all of them. It seems some of them are following the same path that we did. The reason you do it is that you need to build confidence."
This is Swank's fourth season at Chamblee. He came there with then head coach Scott Schwarzer and is now in his second year as head coach. The program that they found was a far cry from the team that now shares the top spot in Region 4-5A.
"When we came into Chamblee they had been 3-27 over the past three seasons," recalls Swank. "When you are used to getting beat down every week, it’s just so hard to get over the hump and feel like you are good again. Going non-region and playing teams that are better competition than you have in your region got us better faster that we thought it would. That first year (2020), the COVID year, we went 5-1 and we were pretty good. Last year we were 9-1 and if we had been in a region last year, I believe we would have made the playoffs."
A new level of commitment has become the norm at Chamblee. The Bulldogs began spending early mornings in the weight room and conditioning throughout the school year. The numbers grew from 24 players when Swank arrived to now having 80 on the varsity roster with a growing middle school program. The hallways have been recruited as well, with players coming from the basketball, baseball and soccer teams. In fact, one of the team's top defensive players is defensive lineman Daniel Chavez. At 6-4 225pounds, Chavez came from the soccer team and is the punter and kicker for football.
One player he didn't have to lure onto the football field was his quarterback, Fabian Walker Jr. He is the son of one of the state's most decorated high school performers. Last season Fabian Jr. threw for 2,275 yards and 35 touchdowns. He makes the Bulldogs offense go.
"He's just a competitive kid and very athletic kid," says Swank. "Our team is a pretty loose group. We like to have fun and he is the leader of that fun. His dad is our quarterback coach. He was a great player at Florida State. I think he gains a lot of perspective from his dad. He’s a gamer and he made some big plays Thursday night. We were having some issues with our protection; he just took off on a couple 40-yard runs that really helped win the game for us."
Sure, a great quarterback is always a key to having a successful season, but for the Chamblee Bulldogs there is something else. If you want to see what gives this team it's fight, you have to show early. It happens right after the pregame meal.
"Every pregame we watch boxing matches from my era," remarks Swank. “So we watch Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. It's just helping them understand the toughness to win and the tenacity it takes to win. The greatest athletes in the world, at that time, were all in the same division at the same time. That was the theme we wanted to take into the region. I think it all comes down to who is the toughest team. We did pretty good in our first two. We got three really tough ones coming up, so we have to keep that same mindset."
Being a big fan of boxing in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, I had to ask what matches they had seen and was told both Leonard-Duran I and II had been viewed, along with Leonard-Hearns and Hagler-Duran. This is a bye week for Chamblee. Swank says the next week's pregame viewing may be Marvin Hagler vs Thomas Hearns, which for my money is the best three rounds of boxing ever! Talk about inspiration. Arabia Mountain, you have been warned.
This week Football Fridays in Georgia will feature Mill Creek at Buford. It kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on the Great GPB!
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