I was trying to catch up with coaches that are still playing -- and have something to play for -- in the final week of Season Two. Seven regions still have a champion to decide and four games actually can fix that issue. ... 

And, for a Tuesday, it was interesting to see where some of them were after practice. ... 

Long County’s Mike Pfiester was watching the school’s flag football game against Savannah Country Day. The Blue Tide started the season 6-0 before back-to-back losses to Jenkins and Southeast Bulloch by a total of four points. They hadn’t played in three weeks after Hurricane Helene went through that part of the state and the team has grown in levels of success since Pfiester and his staff showed up in Ludowici. 

Long County

Long County coach Mike Pfiester

Credit: WTOC

They won five games in year one, six in back-to-back years, and seven-and-hopefully-counting in 2024.  

“It took a couple of weeks to get over those two losses,” he tells me. “But we’re ready to finish out the season strongly.”

I asked him about any possible math that could be in play since they’re in Region 3-3A and Calvary Day shifts over to the private school postseason. Long County hosts Calvary Day in the season finale.

“We have a young guy -- our lead wrestling coach -- and he’s the one looking at all the decimal places that could be involved in the playoffs. Some schools in the Augusta region (Region 4), as an example, have two games this week to finish out their schedules. If we win this week, I think we’re in the top 12. If we lose this week, we could drop down to 15 to 18. It’s so hard to tell right now.” 

This is the first time in the 2024 season that Long County has had five uninterrupted games on their schedule. On a daily basis they’re looking at this week as “just another game week” and not anything different. The three weeks-plus they had off was a long time off by any estimate. But in a season Pfiester describes as “choppy,” it has been up and down no question. 

“We got off to that strong start, then had back-to-back losses. Against Jenkins we played well enough to win. I’ll admit it was frustrating even as we played as best we could. Against Southeast Bulloch, we played in a strong, physical game and lost by three. You had the devastation in the middle, too. We have had the chance to get our mind right and we’ve got a good matchup this week in front of us.” 

After that, they wait until Saturday night at 8 when he was told the brackets and matchups will be ready.  

One of those matchups to decide a region title comes in Region 4 in Class A-Division II where Wilcox and Telfair Counties square off against one another. 

Full disclosure: Rob Stowe and Matt Burleson, those two head coaches, run some good-natured smack on text chains toward one another. One was wondering how long the other was going to practice to prepare for the matchup. The other claimed he was running past the normal stopping time by four hours or so in an online quest to find a first down with his offense. 

telfair

Telfair County brings a seven-game losing streak into the finale.

Telfair is going into the matchup at 5-0 in region, 7-2 overall, while Wilcox is 4-1 and 6-3. 

“First off, with all the planning we were doing, I didn’t realize that there were only 50 or so games this week,” Wilcox County head coach Rob Stowe says. “I was kinda shocked to be honest. But the GHSA did what they needed to do in this situation. Here in Wilcox, it was bad enough that we didn’t have power for three or four days at the beginning. Over in Telfair, they didn’t have it in some spots for two weeks. 

“That first week, we couldn’t even go into the school and we had to turn around and play Hawkinsville with only two days of practice. We were really resilient and are trying to take advantage of it. You have to take care of your family and friends first. It was the right call and we’re ready to play.” 

Coach Stowe asked me for a favor before he hung up the phone... 

“Tell Coach Burleson he needs to cancel practice for the rest of the week...” 

Suffice to say Matt got a good laugh at the beginning of our phone call where he, too, was watching the inaugural season of Telfair flag football. One of his former assistants is in charge and Burleson admits it’s fun to watch the flag football team on Tuesday, much like watching the JV football team on Thursdays. The whole football team was in attendance watching their flag counterparts.    

“It should be a heck of a game,” he says. “Coach Stowe and I talked at the region meeting and we were both saying to the other, ‘I hope it’s you we’re playing for the region title.’ And ‘Yeah, I do, too.’ I hope we don’t beat each other up too bad right before the playoffs. We’re both fast and physical and they’re a really good football team. 

“It took us a whole to get back in rhythm after the hurricane. We were out of school for two weeks and are already almost at playoff time. You can feel the excitement building in the town here in McRae. It’ll be Senior Night for us. You can already feel the energy here as we both get ready for the playoffs.” 

Oh, and the first year of flag? They’ve only lost once so far.

Let’s see what the last week of Season Two holds. ...  

Play it safe, everyone. ... I’ll talk to you soon!