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Finally healthy, NC State commit Jayden "Bull: Scott has rushed for nearly 2,000 yards.
Credit: Sam Crenshaw
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Stockbridge Made Its Thanksgiving Plans Many Months Ago
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It’s an extra special week for high school football in Georgia. It’s quarterfinals week, which falls during Thanksgiving break. There are no classes, so if your team is among the fortunate few, they get to practice in the mornings. Yes, even today, there will be football practice before enjoying the Thanksgiving meal. It may be a new experience at some places but not at Stockbridge. Just ask head coach Thomas Clark.
“We’ve been here before,” says Clark. “I have some new members of my staff and it’s their first time coaching on Thanksgiving break and being in quarterfinals. At Stockbridge, that has become the standard, to be practicing at Thanksgiving. Before the season starts, in my first parents meeting, we tell them don’t make plans for Thanksgiving break, because we plan on being in the third round and that means we will be practicing.”
Football practice on Thanksgiving Day is an honor. It signifies a very successful season. You can tell that Clark has done it a few times. Here is the plan.
“We go in the mornings,” says Clark. “We bring them in to watch film, we practice, we lift and we get them out to spend some time with their families. On Thanksgiving Day, we have a short, walk through-type practice and try to get them home by 11.”
Friday, while shopping centers try to find ways to shoehorn cars onto their lots, buses with football teams will be criss-crossing the state to arrive at the site of their quarterfinal match. No. 7-ranked Stockbridge will have no such worries for its Class 4A date. Its opponent will be unbeaten and third-ranked Spalding and the bus ride won take long.
“We are playing at Griffin Memorial,” says Clark. “It will take us about 45 minutes to get there. You can live with that compared to having to get a charter bus and spending money on making a two-hour or three-hour trip, so we are fortunate on all of that.”
Fortunate, yes, but this edition of the Stockbridge Tigers is very well-prepared for long trips this time of year. I got my first look at this crew back during the summer at the Robbie Roper Memorial 7-on-7 Tournament at Roswell High School. It was unchartered territory for Clark’s team, but it figured into preparation for the fall.
“This year we went up to Roswell,” recalls Clark. “We had never been to a 7-on-7 tournament on the northside. Most of our tournaments are played on the south side. For us to get up there and face some bigger schools was a great opportunity. We had never competed against Roswell. I think it prepared us for the type of competition that we would see in the playoffs.”
There would an early season trip to South Georgia. Not only was there a long ride to Moultrie, there was a date with Class 7A powerhouse in one of the most intense environments in the state.
“We took the long trip to Colquitt,” says Clark. “It was good just to take the three-hour bus ride, so if we had to travel for a playoff game, we would know what that day looked like. It helped us tremendously to get that experience.”
The overall experience may have been positive, but the 47-27 setback to the Packers, not so much. The loss to Colquitt came a week after a heartbreaking loss to Class 6A Douglas County in the season opener. Both Colquitt County and Douglas County have also reached the quarterfinals.
“We battled with both of them,” recalls Clark. “Unfortunately, we came up short of winning both of those games. We had a good battle with Douglas County. We played them in the Inner City Classic. We had a penalty take a touchdown off the board and they ended up beating us by a touchdown 35-28. The next week we had to go down to Colquitt. We had our loses back-to-back early and we have been on the run ever since.”
That run would reach ten straight last week after a tough 28-24 win over a stubborn Westminster team. Clark and his staff expected the Wildcats to be difficult.
“They had a great game plan.” says Clark. “They ran the football well. We knew that they would try to play keep away, and keep the ball out of our offense’s hands, and that’s what they did. We knew in the second half we had to get them off the field and the defense had some three-and-outs. I think our offense only had eight possessions that game. We scored on four of the eight possessions. It should have been five, but we missed the field goal in the opening drive.”
The fact that the defense saves the day for Stockbridge is really nothing new. Five of the Tigers’ 10 wins this season have been shutouts. Senior linebacker Jeffery Smoot recorded 12 tackles last Friday night. Junior linebacker Chase Taylor made big second-half plays along with senior defensive end Kam Reese, who has 14 sacks.
It was the short touchdown run by Jayden “Bull “Scott that secured the victory over Westminster. It raised the Tigers’ record to 10-2 and earned a spot in the quarterfinals for the season straight season. Clark can’t help smiling when he talks about Scott, an NC State commit who ran for 218 yards and had 21 receiving yards in the win.
“When we got the ball down inside the 10, everybody knew who the ball was going to,” Clark said. “I can’t say enough good things about him. He has had to overcome some adversity during his time here at Stockbridge. He had over 1,000 yards his freshman year. I took over as head coach in his sophomore year and he got hurt in the second game. Last year he got hurt in a padded camp and missed the first five games of the season. He is right at 2,000 yards for the season. He is truly a remarkable young man, his character, his integrity and everything that he brings to the game. I wish I had him for four more years.”
So, with thankful hearts, the Stockbridge Tigers will practice on Thanksgiving Day. It’s something they expect to do. It’s a different story for their opponent. Spalding last played in the quarterfinals in 2016. The Jaguars are also 12-0 for the first time ever. Clark, his staff and his team have done their homework.
“They’ve done a good job,” says Clark. “They’ve a got a very talented football. They play hard and play with confidence. It’s what you need to be a good team. They are undefeated, so they have found ways to win ball games. We have to start fast. We will have to tackle well, and we will have to match their intensity.”
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