It’s easy to forget that the LaGrange High football program is the second-winningest in Georgia history, behind only Valdosta. The Grangers have recorded 783 wins, six state championships, and even a national title back in 1991.
However, their play in the past decade doesn’t necessarily indicate that dominant history. In 2017, the Grangers failed to win a single game, marking their first winless campaign since 1974. After hiring Matt Napier as head coach in 2020, though, the LaGrange High football team has drastically improved, with the Grangers winning 17 of their 24 games under Napier after two consecutive 2-8 seasons prior. This turnaround is eerily similar to one that began in 1994, when LaGrange hired Steve Pardue to be their head coach.
There was no doubt that Pardue had massive shoes to fill. His first head coaching job came as the replacement to Gary Guthrie, who had led the Grangers to the national championship just three years earlier. Inheriting a program with steadily decreasing win totals, Pardue arrested that downward slide and led LaGrange to an undefeated regular season in only his third year at the school. The Grangers worked their way up to second in the polls, but fell in a shocking second-round upset to Benedictine.
As head coach, Pardue reinforced the standard of defense that LaGrange High football once possessed. In fact, the Grangers were one of the best defensive teams ever; the first time they allowed more than 200 points in a season was in their 70th season of existence. Pardue believed that regaining that style of physical defense would bring about the same success as past teams had experienced. He was right.
Under Pardue in 2001, 2003, and 2004, the Grangers won state championships with a suffocating defense, recording a whopping 16 shutouts during that span. LaGrange lost only one game during those championship runs. However, one year is missing from this stretch of supremacy: 2002.
Not surprisingly, expectations were high for LaGrange in 2002, following their first state championship in a decade. As the consensus preseason top-ranked team in the classification, LaGrange rolled through their first three games, winning by a combined score of 92-0. Through the first six games of the season, the Grangers had only allowed 14 points and had not been remotely challenged.
This dominance came despite a tougher schedule than that 2001 championship team had faced in the regular season. In fact, none of LaGrange’s three title-winning squads would start off better than the 2002 team. Future Tennessee Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard anchored this legendary defensive squad, which held 3rd-ranked Cedartown to only nine points in the de-facto region championship game. Entering the playoffs undefeated at 10-0, it was clear that the Grangers were favorites to repeat.
LaGrange’s had held the top spot in the rankings for 20 consecutive weeks dating to the previous season. Once again, with defensive prowess, the Grangers stifled Johnson-Gainesville and Elbert County, holding those overmatched opponents to only 18 points while scoring just over a hundred themselves. That set up a quarterfinals matchup with 2nd-ranked Screven County, which had earned its way to an undefeated season with a blowout over 4A’s top-ranked Statesboro.
As expected, the game was a defensive showdown, with both teams’ defensive lines making statements on every possession. LaGrange jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but with just over three minutes remaining in front of a capacity home crowd, Screven County kicked the go-ahead field goal to complete a shocking comeback. They didn’t relinquish their slim 15-14 lead for the rest of the game.
Screven County went on to win its first-ever state championship, while LaGrange’s attempt at back-to-back titles was foiled. LaGrange’s 2002 edition could arguably be the best team in that four-year stretch, with only 86 points allowed and multiple top-10 victories, but it will go down as the only one without a state championship.
Following that 2004 state championship, LaGrange football began its decline. The Grangers have only won one region championship since, and Pardue stepped down as head coach in 2010 after a 5-6 campaign. Until that year, LaGrange’s defense had allowed 200 or more points in only five seasons (out of 106 seasons played to that point). After Pardue’s exit, the Grangers have had only one season allowing less than 200 points.
LaGrange High football may not reach the same heights it achieved in the early 2000s until it again embraces the power of defense. As for the 2002 LaGrange Grangers, despite all their historic accomplishments, they will go down as the forgotten squad, surrounded by teams that fill the halls with their state championship banners.
