Welcome to the extended week of regular season play for high school football in Georgia. Most of the games being played this week are make-up dates due to Hurricane Helene. There are a number of games where playoff seedings will be on the line.

Hapeville

The Hapeville Charter Hornets have won five straight games.

The Hapeville Charter Hornets will be playing for the championship of Region 5-2A against the Carver-Atlanta Panthers on GPB’s Football Fridays in Georgia. The fact that the Hornets are playing for the region title might surprise some. They started the season 1-3 and lost their first two games by a total of 90-6.

No worries for head coach Winston Gordon. He has seen it all before.

“Whoever the opponent is, it doesn't matter,” says Gordon. “Our kids have that mentality that they can play against anybody. Typically, when we play a bigger school, they will beat us on attrition. We go to (Class 5A No. 2) Lee County we jump out and score on them first. We just couldn't maintain it. I don't know a team in the state of Georgia that is better than Lee County. That's what a lot of people have said this year. They're going to be the best in the state regardless of classification. They had already played a game and that was our first game out of the gate. It’s just one of those things, nobody else will play us. I don't even worry about it and just go ahead and take those type of games.   I know they're going to get us battle tested.”

If the team from the little school on Buffington Road in South Fulton is nothing else, it is always battle tested. This is the third straight year that Hapeville Charter has faced Lee County as part of a challenging pre-region schedule. These Hornets are buzzing right along, without one of their major stingers.

“We have had adversity,” says Gordon. “We got several key injuries. Robert Henderson led us in rushing with over 800 yards in the first seven games, before he went down. He has a fracture of his foot. A cleat stepped on the back of his heel and fractured his heel. So, he's out for the remainder of the season. We just find the way to win the last two games without him. He has been a big part of what we do.”

After losses to Lee County and Class 4A No. 2 Cartersville, the Hornets got their first win against Heritage Conyers. Next came a much-anticipated match up with the Westlake Lions.

When we walked into Westlake, they were shocked,” recalls Gordon. “We almost shocked them and still had a chance to beat them at the end. It was 21-14. We were on the 15-yard line and the  backup center goes in because the starting center gets hurt on the play before and snaps the ball   over the quarterback’s head. That's the only reason they won. We marched it right down the field all day long. We had more yards than them.”

The game with Westlake was a big deal for the school and the community. The schools are about 12 miles apart. Because Hapeville Charter usually plays in a lower classification, they seldom play regular season games with their talent-rich South Fulton neighbors. The regular season game against Westlake was historic.

“No, we never played a regular season game together,” recalls Gordon. “That used to be our spring game. Epic battles. They beat us a couple of times and we'd beat them a couple of times. You’re on the southside, so you try to schedule them and Creekside and Hughes. A lot of times it just hasn't been able to happen because of how scheduling is. This time, right before the previous coach Rico Zachery left, he had an opening, he wanted to get it done. So, we got it done on a two-year deal. We went to them first. They'll come to us next year. It's fun for the people on the south side. That's what they want to see. They want to see the best of a little small school to see just how good we are. Everybody walked out of there knowing we can play with anybody on any Friday. “

Hapeville

Hapeville Charter's Jareq Johnson

A productive off season for Hapeville Charter was highlighted by a spring game against Douglas County. The Hornets lost 19-16, but Gordon saw positives. He also settled on a signal caller.

“We were shuffling between two quarterbacks last year,” recalls Gordon. “We just made the decision to go with K.J. Pope this year and he's been playing a lot better even though he just got injured Friday night. Our kids just have confidence in themselves and the belief in themselves. because they've seen what we do as far as getting kids to the next level.  You look at Hajj-Malik Williams at UNLV, one of the top quarterbacks in the country. You look at (running back) Marcus Carroll at Missouri.  It gives them that sense of confidence that they can be the next one.”

The next one to come from a team that doesn’t have a home field of its own. Friday’s game against Carver will be played at nearby Banneker High School’s Trojan Stadium. The Hornets practice on a field with no fence or lights. With the return to Eastern Standard Time this week, Gordon’s team took advantage of no school on election day to hold practice on Tuesday morning. His team is a portrait of resiliency.

“They don't fear anyone,” says Gordon. “That's the biggest thing that you'll probably see Friday, I don't know if it's going to be a shootout, but you will see some hard-nosed kids. We’re not as big as we usually are but it doesn’t matter. They will come out with that mentality that they can compete with some of the best kids in the country.”

Hapeville’s top player is cornerback Zack Smith, who has committed to Indiana. Running back Robert Henderson and cornerback Dylon Henderson are trying to make their college decision. Junior offensive linemen Chris Booker (6-4, 280) and senior Bruntavious Clark (6-4, 300) will both play on the college level.

That brings us to this week’s contest with Carver, a team that started the season 1-2. The Panthers have won their last six and bring a 7-2 record into their showdown with Hapeville Charter. The man who walks the opposing sideline is someone Gordon knows very well.

"Coach (Darren) Myles is a good friend of mine and that's why we’ve always played spring games,” recalls Gordon. “We both try to raise money for our kids to be able to travel to seven-on-seven tournaments, so our kids get exposed. We try to take them all over the ACC and SEC country and get them involved with playing the other teams from other states and just to compete. That's one thing that we try to do and that’s the whole purpose of us playing each other. This is the first year in a while that me and Myles are regular-season opponents, so we didn't play each other in the spring. We're very familiar with each other. We know each other’s tendencies and how we like to do different things offensively and defensively. I think Miles has a little more speed this year than we do but there are ways to offset that.”

Hapeville

Hapevillle's Kaleb Jackson completes a jarring tackle.

The game should be great one, but I hope that viewers will take the time to take a closer look at the men who lead these teams. Myles is in his 20th season at Carver and led them to the state championship game in 2021. This is Gordon’s 14h year at Hapeville Charter and they won a state title in 2017. You would think they both might have moved on to greener pastures by now. I’m sure that opportunities have presented themselves, but they have remained on the southside, winning games and changing lives.

“I had several opportunities that I could have left to go to a college.” recalls Gordon.  “At this point I just feel like we need to finish the drill with the kids on the south side.  I feel so vested in the community and my good friend Darren Myles feels the same way about his kids and that's one of the reasons why he stayed. We both have been coveted. We both have even flirted with those situations but we both just felt like these are programs we built to what they are. After all the kids that we have sent out from these programs go on and do great things, it just means more to us than that.”

This week Football Fridays in Georgia will feature Carver-Atlanta and Hapeville Charter. It all starts at 7:30pm on the great GPB!