Football Fridays in Georgia: Is Region 1 7A the SEC of High School Football?

• A recap of the Winnersville Classic - Valdosta vs. Lowndes
• The player who refused to answer Jon Nelson's question
• Roswell's huge win over Lassiter - Was it too much?
• GPB Game of the Week: Hiram vs. Cartersville
• What makes South Georgia football so special?

Valdosta Head Coach Shelton Felton on South Georgia football

Valdosta Head Coach Shelton Felton: I tell everybody that our region is the SEC of the South; there's no games off, no soft day. Every opponent could beat you any Friday. So you got to bring your A-game every Friday and ready to play.

Jon Nelson: I was going to say, I mean, you look at this region, I would maintain it's one of the toughest, not just in the state, but in the Southeast. For someone who has never seen Region 1-7A football, how would you — you broke it down a little bit, but I mean, how difficult is Region 1-7A across the board for anybody who's never seen it?

Valdosta Head Coach Shelton Felton: It is very difficult because any — any Friday night you're going to get four different to five different styles of teams that play. You have some teams are run-heavy, some teams are pass-heavy, some teams are quite balanced. You'll get different styles of defenses and you got great coaches at all levels. You going to have to be able to adjust and to make adjustments. All coaches in this region are really good. And I'm not saying coaches in other regions are not good. But I really — I'll put us up against any region as far as, from coast to coast. It's a lot of talent that coaches in this region so you got to be prepared every Friday for adjustments and things they do. So it makes it a challenge and I look forward to it every Friday night.

Hannah Goodin: Coach, where are you calling us from exactly? And how special is South Georgia football? Describe your community and what football means.

Valdosta Head Coach Shelton Felton: Right now I'm at the board building, as you kinda can see a little bit. I stepped out of a meeting because this phone call is important. Very important. But South Georgia football in South Georgia it's a lot. And people ask me why I say that because South Georgia, we're starting to grow and do more. And you go to the city and there's a lot more to do a lot more sport, a lot more opportunities. But football has been king in South Georgia for a long time, and we use football to help a lot of sports. Football — the biggest thing is that football brings community together. Black, white, Hispanic — it doesn't matter. We all come together on Friday night. We cheer for our team. And it has been a walk, a path, a walk of life in South Georgia and football's just been king in South Georgia for a long time. And I love it.

Caption

Valdosta scores a touchdown during its spring game versus Jones County.