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Fourth-year coach Matt Jones has taken North Cobb Christian to its first trip to the Final Four.
Credit: North Cobb Christian
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Young North Cobb Christian team maturing at the right time
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The quarterfinal round of the GHSA state football playoffs will be remembered for the great competition on the field, but it will be remembered just as much for the back stories of what it took for the teams to arrive at game week. Remember, the Thanksgiving holiday week was supposed to be an off week for high school football. Hurricane Helene was a gamechanger. Vacations and trips to spend the holiday with family and friends had to be curtailed or cancelled all together,
I’m sure that some changes had to be made at North Cobb Christian, where the Eagles drew top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Savannah Christian. The result was a 30-27 win over the talented Raiders that sent shock waves throughout the state. When I caught up with North Cobb Christian head coach Matt Jones, his team and coaching staff had received Saturday off. The staff was about to hold a meeting to prepare for their semifinal game. I asked the coach to put the season into words.
“It's been a process,” says Jones. “It's been a tough season. We’ve got a lot of young kids. So, we have done well on the field. But that doesn't mean we haven’t had a ton of growing pains and just trying to figure it out. We've done just enough to win those games, and it just got better and as the season's gone on. The maturity, I think, probably is the biggest things that comes to mind. The growth and the maturity of our young kids over the course of the season has been fun to be a part of.”
To tell the story of this year’s North Cobb Christian team you have to flashback to a season ago. The Eagles captured the first region championship in program history but bowed out in the second round for the second straight season. It led to a super productive off season.
“We had a good summer,” recalls Jones. “Our strength, conditioning, speed and everything was the best our school has ever had. We had about 70 kids on the team, which is the most our school has ever had. So, that's led to a lot of energy around the program. Obviously, that's shown on the field, so that's been good.”
Jones’ fourth season as head coach saw his Eagles soar out of the gate, winning their first six games that included a 41-39 win in a shootout with Ringgold. The seventh game would bring a test against Rockmart, who played for the state championship last season.
“We were up 21-3 at halftime,” remembers Jones. “We ended up losing 24-21. We did not have a couple of defensive linemen who were injured for that game and that really hurt us. But it helped us in the sense of just the kids bouncing back. That stuff is always good for you if you're hit on the right way, bad for you if you don't.
“That was a challenge to the team. It's just moving on, getting better, taking it in and growing. Our kids were pretty upset because they wanted to win the region championship, and that was basically for the region championship. We were, one throw, one play away, until the end of the game basically. Moving forward was the hard part. Can you get back out there, practice, put it together and continue to get better? That was kind of a message following that week. Using that loss to propel us to be better. So far we've been able to do that.”
The Rockmart loss forced the Eagles to mature a bit. That’s important when you think about the makeup of the team. Youth is served at North Cobb Christian as there are just a few seniors on the team and none of them start on offense. And the offense is driven by sophomore quarterback Teddy Jarrard, who has thrown for 2,647 yards and 31 touchdowns,
“He's the key to it all,” says Jones. “He's done so much better this year, decision-making. I think last year he might have thrown 10 picks, but this year he's only thrown four or five. Then our receivers are all talented. It’s just getting them on the same page, getting them game experience. They're all athletic but some are playing their first whole season of varsity football. It’s been nice seeing the improvement and the growth. Teddy, the quarterback, is kind of the linchpin of it all.”
The senior leadership on this team can be found on the defensive side, where end Raymond Dixon has been a force. Dixon, who has committed to Army, has 63 tackles and a team-leading seven sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss. Defensive lineman Beedjy Guerrier has 14.5 tackles and mike linebacker Spears Martin leads the team with 89 tackles and responsible for getting the players lined up.
North Cobb Christian finished the regular season at 9-1 and opened the postseason with 40-6 win over Whitefield Academy. Football coaches and players are creatures of habit and lengthy delays between the games can get teams out of synch. The Eagles, who had a first-round playoff bye, were forced to improvise.
“We spent three weeks between playing our last game and them,” recalls Jones. “We did a few different things. We went bowling as a team to just hang out. We gave them a day or so off here and there. Instead of banging on each other physically, we did a lot of speed work, conditioning and sled pushing. It physically challenged them, but this also let their bodies recover from physical contact. We had probably the best three weeks of practice all season to be honest with you, which really surprised me how they bought in,”
Last week brought a break from classes, morning practices, Thanksgiving and then the long drive to Savannah. The Eagles broke the trip up with a stop in Forsyth.
“We went to Mary Persons High School for a walkthrough,” says Jones. “Once in Savannah, we played, and then we came back after the game and got home at 3:30 in the morning. It was a long day, but a great one. Our community did an awesome job. They showed up, and that's what I felt was the coolest part of the whole thing. We went down 13-3 in the first quarter, but our kids never quit. Then, in the second, third and fourth quarters, you could really tell. I got the sense that our community and our kids wanted to win the game. There was a lot of energy coming from our fans to the team and that helped pull us through.”
Facing a Savannah Christian team that had several highly touted and highly recruited players, the Eagles didn’t blink. Jarrard completed 31 of 51 pass attempts for 327 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-27 victory .
“Teddy was connecting with receiver D.J. Huggins,” says Jones. “He's a sophomore and he had seven catches in the first quarter. They had trouble covering him in the first quarter and had to do some things different the rest of the game, which opened some other kids up. Our offensive line was outstanding. They have three kids on their defensive line that are just unbelievable. The challenge to our offensive line was to just body everybody up. Stay on blocks as long as you can and they did a great job of that. It gave Teddy time to find some receivers, so it was fun. Fantastic. “
The win over Savannah Christian provided more history for the North Cobb Christian program. It’s the first time for the Eagles have won 11 games and first time advancing to the state semifinals. There is little time to admire that work, as there is more work ahead against a Prince Avenue Christian program that has made some history of its own.
“We are excited,” says Jones. “Prince is an unbelievable football team. They have won three state championships and that’s pretty good. The task ahead is pretty tough, so it's a matter of just trying to stay focused. We talked to the kids about having blinders on, staying in your lane and focusing on what you can control. That was a great win for us, right? But then you’ve got to turn around and face an opponent the caliber of Prince Avenue. We have to play three phases of football to be successful at this point. Prince plays really hard on every play, every player. Us matching that intensity and the level of play is going to be the key, and then the ball goes our way as well with turnovers and stuff like that.”
This week Football Fridays in Georgia will feature Carrollton at Buford. It kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on the great GPB!
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