I decided to take a bit of a tour around the state this week... 

Sylvester, Brooklet, and Trion ... it’s Worth County, Southeast Bulloch, and (well) Trion ... all playing in the quarterfinals here in 2024. Three teams coming from different directions and approaches to get here and be only three wins away from a title in 2024. 

Quoting my dear friend Jarrett Smith from the SDH Network -- let's learn together -- from these schools and find about where they are right now as they are practicing Thanksgiving Week (capitalization intentional) 

Worth County football

QB Lyndon Worthy (2,989 yards passing, 34 TDs) and running back Tre'shaun Jones (777 yards, 10 TDs rushing) have fueled an offense that has scored at least 49 points in the last six games.

Credit: Worth County Facebook

Jeff Hammond is in his third season in charge in Sylvester in Class A Division I for the Worth County Rams. Reclassification dropped them from 2A to Class A. The Rams picked up their first region championship since the run of Milt Miller in the 1980’s of four in six years. Because of the power rankings system, they’re the No. 4 seed and have won both of their matchups against Coosa and Dodge County by 40 points going into this week’s game with Fitzgerald. 

Last year, the team went 5-6 with a first-round playoff loss and this year is the first year since 1999 that they won nine games in a season. That’s how far they’ve come under Hammond and his staff. 

“I think we were close the last two years,” he admits. “In big games, we just couldn’t get over the hump. But this year, the win over Thomasville (28-27 on Oct. 4) was a turning point for us, I think. We’ve been good ever since. 

“We knew as a staff that the team had it in them and instead of wondering if they can they’re thinking they can.” 

For the last six weeks, the Rams offense has scored more than 49 points each time out and the smallest margin of victory has been 30. This week, it’s a region rematch with Fitzgerald -- a team that beat Worth in the region opener. 

“It’s fun when we can do that offensively and have the run and QB play at a high level. But our defense has done really well in this stretch. That’ll be the key against Fitzgerald. Our defense is going to have to make some key stops. There were some games we’ve been good, but we’ve given up a lot of points. There are other games where we get the ball and don’t give it back,” Hammond said.  

“Being here and practicing Thanksgiving week was the goal this year. It’s one of the reasons I took the job here -- the tradition. They have won a title in the past and it’s our goal to get back to that level. We want to bring something back to the community. With Fitzgerald coming, we’re expecting a packed house.” 

SE Bulloch

Junior Colby Smith leads Southeast Bulloch with 1,633 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns.

Credit: Statesboro Herald

Jared Zito’s son was waiting for my phone call to end so the Zitos could go home after practice. They were the last two at Southeast Bulloch High School to leave the premises on a holiday week. Colton is the holder on special teams for the Yellow Jackets as a sophomore. 

The Jackets have come back to where they were when Zito and his staff took over four seasons ago -- a double-digit win season and the school’s first quarterfinals appearance since 1974. 

“Coming into this season, we talked about it after a 4-6 year, that we needed more explosive plays on offense and we needed to take care of the ball,” Coach Zito tells me. “On defense, we needed to limit big plays and be better in the takeaway department. We were really young the last two years and played a lot of kids. Those ‘kids’ are now juniors and seniors and they’re battle-tested.” 

Coming out of Region 3-3A as the No. 3 seed, math comes in to play for their power rankings as Team 18 in the field of 32. SEB shut down Heritage, Catoosa and Harlem in their first two road trips, only giving up nine points total. 

“We only had the one non-region game with Statesboro and with them we wanted to restart a rivalry game,” Zito says. “In that game, we learned about intensity and what it’s like to play in a playoff atmosphere. In our two region losses -- Calvary Day and Jenkins -- we probably played our worst two games of the year. We had turnovers and missed tackles and reevaluated things after those two. And in the close game with Long County, we found the spark needed to play a full four quarters.” 

Zito admits this group is tough, resilient and has a chance to be a special group. 

“I think this group is getting dangerous. I mean, we’re not going to give you a lot of eye candy off the bus. But this is a good team and they’ve bought in to what we’re trying to teach them. There’s good leadership and maturity here and we’ve got a good staff to guide them.” He makes a point to give credit to defensive coordinator Jason Anthony and the defensive coaches for their work this season. 

Having traveled to northwest Georgia and the Augusta area in back-to-back weeks, Zito and the Yellow Jackets know about how important crowds can be. If you’re going to the Stephenson game, you’ll have both bands making a lot of noise. 

“Our band has cheered louder than the opposing fans this season, and they did last week,” he says smiling through the phone. “We’ll have an early Thanksgiving practice and then we’ll let the kids go. Friday morning, we’ll break it up making sure the kids get to sleep in their own beds.” 

Stephenson’s team speed is a concern for Zito. He tells me that, with their skill position talent, they have to prevent the big play and make sure to tackle in open space.  

“I know that sounds very coach-speaky and routine, but that’s how we’ve gotten to where we have this season.” 

Trion football

Trion has shown the ability to play at a fast or slow tempo, depending on the situation.

Credit: Trion Facebook

I texted Sean Patrick at Trion in the movie theater... 

“We’re watching ‘Gladiator 2’ in the theater with the team. I’ll call you after...” 

Okay, coach, I’ll bite... “Gladiator 2?” 

“It was awesome! They did a really good job of tying things back to the first one. There was a lot of build up and the kids enjoyed it.” 

There’s a story here ... a couple of weeks ago, when they played Schley County in Ellaville as the 3-seed out of Region 7 in Class A Division II they adopted a “Gladiator” theme like we saw in the Oregon-Michigan game. The team played on a Saturday and watched the original before going out to win. 

“So, then we’re going to Telfair and I told them, if we won, we would go to the movies. We win and hold them to six points,” as Coach Patrick relays the story. “And the kids all come up to me excited saying, ‘Are we going to the movies, coach? Are we going to the movies?’ So, we said we were going to the movies and we chose ‘Gladiator 2’ for them to see.” 

It’s Patrick’s fifth season in charge and this team has its first quarterfinals bid as a program since 2015.  

“The biggest thing we learned this season is that success is earned. You don’t win because of who we are and what we do. We’re a product of what we do every day and there’s no substitute for a lesson like that. I have to give credit to the staff and the kids.” 

Trion has won in vastly different ways this postseason -- the 45-40 win in Ellaville and the 17-6 win in McRae. Patrick sounds confident they can win either way as they go. 

“We were comfortable in the shootout against Schley,” he says. “Both teams were successful early throwing the ball. In that one, we played a lot of snaps and I think we wore them down over time. Telfair, on the other side, has a lot of athletes and we were worried we weren’t going to be able to stop them every time. 

“So, we slowed the game down. We had an early drive of 17 plays that took up more than 10 minutes on the clock. And we did it twice. We forced a turnover on defense as well. Frankly, it doesn’t matter to us if we throw it or run it 50 times. We’ll do what it takes to win.” 

Patrick knows Irwin County coming to town will be a challenge. He knows their pedigree. He knows they’re well coach by Casey Soliday, they’re physical on both lines of scrimmage, and Sam R. McCain Memorial Stadium “Will. Be. Rocking.” 

The last time Trion hosted a game this important this deep in the postseason? 

A win over Dooly County ... 2003. 

And we’ll be watching all the quarters all around the state alongside you... 

Happy Thanksgiving! Play it safe, everyone, and I’ll talk to you soon!