A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s an old adage that is constantly reaffirmed in today’s social media age. An image well placed, at the right time can tell a story or stir the curiosity of the storyteller. That would be me. I happened upon a photo posted by Temple Head Coach Cory Nix after last Friday night ‘s game. It was a picture of an empty stadium with no players, no spectators, no cheerleaders or band. The lights were still on, and the coach just wasn’t ready to leave.

“That last minute I’m there by myself,” recalls Nix. “My wife could text me. Usually, I take a while anyways on Friday nights. I sat there and just soaked it up.”

The Temple Tigers had beaten the Darlington Tigers 51-7. The crowd that came out Friday night to watch the game witnessed Temple High School history. It was the Tigers’ seventh win of the season, marking the first time a Temple football team had ever won that many games. Word got around the state about Temple’s seventh win and by the time I caught up with Nix Sunday afternoon, his phone had been buzzing nonstop.

 “The last couple of days have been blowing up with congrats,” says Nix. “I’ve been doing this for 21 years and made a lot of connections and relationships, coaches, parents, families at different stops along the way. I tried to respond back in a timely manner, to at least tell them thank you whether it’s been social media, text message, or phone calls. I’s been a lot. “

Nix is happy to receive congratulations and well wishes and doesn’t mind sharing the credit. In many ways it has been a dream season at the school located in the West Georgia community. The days leading up to the historic win cause the coach to reflect.

Temple

Senior C.J. Gray has rushed for 1,021 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“It’s been outstanding honestly,” says Nix. “I give credit to the senior class and the coaching staff. I was emotional all week long because it was senior week for us. I thought we would win, but you never know until you play a game on Friday night, because kids will be kids. We have got two coaches on my staff; one's been here for 19 years. He's never experienced seven wins as far as at Temple. Then another guy who’s special to our community, that is one of my coaches, had been here nine years and had seen a lot of bad, but very little good.

“Thursday night I let my senior parents decorate the senior’s lockers. We had a middle school game that night and I usually don't go in locker room when the parents are there, but man, it hit me like a storm. I just started emotionally tearing up. Before we got here, they were 1-7. They had lost two games to COVID, so they didn't have a whole 10-game schedule. It was nobody's fault; it was just at a low point. To go 4-7 to 5-6 to 7-2 right now, and have a good shot at the one this week and hosting a home playoff game for the first time. It's just a lot of special feelings.”

The seeds for the successful 2024 season were planted early. Real early, like a few days after the 2023 season ended.

“We got put out by Irwin County,” recalls Nix. “We gave them a week and I think we had Thanksgiving break. As soon as we started to flip the page and came back to start lifting, that's when our off season changed. We continued to do the same things we did in the past off season, but we just amped it up more. We do a lot of mat drills in the off season.”

But the difference may have been the mental approach. The team just got mentally tougher.

“If we had cool weather in January or February, instead of going to the gym, we'd go on to the field at 6 a.m.,” Nix said. “We had a wonderful off season in the weight room. But another thing that contributed to our success was speed development. We had good participation in our track program. We started to do at least one speed day a week in weight training classes, sometimes two, and we also added yoga.”

The season started well, and the Tigers were cruising at 5-1 going into a region showdown with Heard County. The 31-14 defeat was a stinging setback that saw their chance for a first-ever region championship vanish.

“We just told them that there was a whole lot in front of them,” recalls Nix. “There were still a lot of opportunities to meet their goals and make history. We just kind of flushed it. We've got two losses, and we've played a very good Trion team. We just had a bad third quarter, and you learn from that loss and those mistakes that you made. Then the same thing happened against Heard County. I think we're down by three and come out and have a bad third quarter again. Hopefully those two losses have ignited some hunger and some passion to take the next step and to take care of business. We're thankful for those two losses as coaches because we think that's going to make us better in the playoffs.”

Let the record reflect that two bitter defeats could be building blocks for the postseason. You heard it here first! Goals remain for the team and the coach. Goals that Nix set when he arrived at Temple four season ago.

“It has been a 1,047 since I took this job,” says Nix. “When you take a job and you’re goal oriented, the first thing you look at is the history of things. Temple had won six games four or five times and had never won seven in the whole history of the program which started in 1989. There are 14 seniors on this team and this senior class turned it into their own goals not just coach Nix’s goals. Starting last week in practice on Monday. We reminded them what's at stake and that they could win their seventh game right now and make school history.”

This year’s Temple team has a sizable number of juniors and sophomores making key contributions. There is a senior in the backfield that makes the offense go – C.J. Gray, who has rushed for a region-leading 1,030 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Sophomore Jo Jo Jones has rushed for 622 yards and 13 touchdowns. On defense, sophomore linebacker Hudson Nix – the son of the coach – leads the team with 100 tackles, 11 of them for loss. 

Temple

The entire Temple community has reveled in the team's success.

This week Temple will wrap up the regular season and go for an eighth win at Model. Regardless of the outcome, Cory Nix and his Tigers have given the school and community a season they will long remember.

“It was a very special and electric night,” says Nix. “There's been some people here that hired me, like Mr.(Tim) Gribben, our principal that hired me and now works in the county office. It's been a special season because they've never beat Bremen here in like 25 years. So, some of these people that have been here during that time have never even had an opportunity or even got close to beaten Bremen. (Temple beat Bremen 34-18 in September.)

“And then, to make history Friday night for some of these people who have been lifetime loyal Temple fans. My principal is Seth Rodgers. He was the coach here for nine years. It was a very special night for him, and I presented him the game ball. I presented my AD with the game ball. I presented two of my assistant coaches that have been there for a while the game ball. You talk about a lot of tears flowing. It was a really special night.”

This week Football Fridays in Georgia will feature Carrollton at Douglas County. It all starts at 7:30 p.m. on the great GPB!