In 2018, former Dougherty football head coach Corey Joyner took a job at Carver in Columbus. In four years there, he amassed a 42-7 record along with a state runners-up bid in 2021. There’s no doubt Joyner was and is a top-tier coach in any classification, and he’s spent the last four years proving it. But despite Joyner’s excellent coaching, he could never get Dougherty off the ground. His record there? 10 wins and 48 losses.
It’s no fault of Joyner’s; Dougherty has a history marred with struggles no matter which coach is at the helm. Since winning the state championship in 1998 as a “Cinderella” team, the Trojans have won 10 games in a season once. This last decade has been especially painful for the Dougherty faithful: a 15-83 record through 2019. Former Baldwin head coach Jesse Hicks couldn’t turn this program around and neither could Joyner or former Georgia Bulldog Damien Gary, who lasted one 0-10 season before being replaced. It seemed that Dougherty was a lost cause.
Even with current head coach Johnny Gilbert, the Trojans went 2-13 in 2019 and 2020. As usual, expectations for 2021 weren’t high, especially considering Dougherty started a sophomore quarterback and a junior running back.
Dougherty rolled through the first two games of the season, outscoring Kendrick and Lithonia 79-14. But these were extremely weak opponents. They surely didn’t stand a chance against a top 5 Northeast squad.
Or that’s what everyone thought.
Northeast led 7-0 until a fourth quarter Trojan rushing score tied the game. Then, with under 30 seconds left in regulation, Dougherty kicker Miguel Vargas booted the game-winning field goal to give the Trojans their biggest win since the 2005 state semifinals. With blowouts over Turner County and Westover in the following two weeks, Dougherty’s football team stood at 5-0, already the most wins in any season since 2008.
Still, Dougherty had to survive one of the toughest regions in 4A. With Bainbridge, Cairo, and Thomas County Central virtually guaranteed playoff spots, the Trojans’ best hope would be the fourth-seed. After losses to Bainbridge and Cairo, the winner of Dougherty’s matchup with Thomas County Central would clinch the third seed. The Trojans won 23-15.
At 8-2, Dougherty football had already made history. It was the school’s fourth playoff berth since that impressive 2005 season, and only the second appearance with a winning record. It was the first time they’d beaten TC Central since 1999 and Westover since 2009. But the Trojans weren’t done yet. After routing Jenkins in the first round, Johnny Gilbert’s squad stunned 1-seed Riverdale, 7-0.
In the quarterfinals, Dougherty finally fell to 1-seed Carver-Columbus and former Trojan head coach Corey Joyner. Dougherty fought hard, but lost 16-14 to the eventual 4A runners-up. They had completed their historic turnaround with a 10 win season and the school’s sixth ever quarter finals appearance. The Cinderella spirit of that 1998 state championship team was reborn in a promising bounce back twenty-three years later.
