Savannah Country Day head football coach John Mohring is this week’s guest in our ITG Next Georgia 4 Questions with the Coach feature. Coach Mohring has just completed his third season at the private school, where he led the football program to another successful campaign.
The 2023 season ended with a heartbreaking one-point loss, 46-45, to Upson-Lee, but the Hornets have shown improvement in every season and every area of the program on Mohring’s watch. When he arrived, Savannah Country Day had finished 3-7 the prior year. Mohring led the team to four wins in year one, then in his second season, the Hornets finished 5-5, and this year saw the team finish the regular season with a 7-3 record. The playoff loss gave Coach Mohring’s Savannah Country Day football team a 7–4 final record. For more on the coach and where his team is headed, let’s catch up Savannah Country Day’s John Mohring.
Q. Coach Mohring, before we ask about the coaching part of your life, tell us about your time as a player. Where did you play football in high school and beyond the prep level?
A. I played my high school football at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Florida. I went to Georgia Southern and was a two-time All-American at linebacker. I had some free agent opportunities in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Buffalo Bills. I played for the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL for one season and won a Grey Cup Championship. I also played for the Iowa Barnstormers and Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League.
Q. Let’s talk about your current situation. You have done a great job of leading the Savannah Country Day football program since taking the job three years ago. How has the GHSA “Multiplier” affected your program over that time?
A. Being a small, academic private school, the multiplier had a big effect on us. We only had 41 kids in our school who lived in our service district. So, most of our students counted as a (x3) according to the GHSA multiplier, which resulted in us playing in 3A. We traveled 30 kids to our playoff game versus Upson-Lee, and we only have about 48 total in grades 9-12.
Q. I mentioned the tough loss to Upson Lee last week in the opening round of the Class 3A state playoffs. That game had some crazy turn of events, right?
A.The game versus Upson Lee was a wild one for sure. As 28-point underdogs, our team battled for four quarters and took it down to the wire. Upson-Lee jumped out to a 14-point lead, but we were able to block a punt for a TD to get some momentum. We also had a first-half scoop-and-score defensive TD to take a 28-22 halftime lead. We came out hot in the second half, building a 45-22 lead in the third quarter.
But, credit to Upson-Lee, they were able to claw their way back into the game. The Upson Lee kicker was out of the game due to injury, which we thought was an advantage we had going into the game, but it wound up being what hurt us the most. The Upson Lee staff went 5-of-6 on 2-point play calls, which ended up being the difference. They ran a muddle huddle, reverse pass, Tim Tebow-style jump pass, and a tackle-eligible throwback for the walk-off 2-point play. I can’t even really be mad, as we weren’t close to stopping any of them. It was definitely an instant classic of a game.
Q. What will your Savannah Country Day football team look like next season? How many starters and contributors from this year’s seven-win team return?
A. We lose some key contributors on offense and defense, but we still bring back seven starters on offense and roughly seven starters on defense. We will have some big shoes to fill replacing some of our offensive and defensive lineman, but we had 20 freshmen on our team this year who will need to have a great off-season in the weight room. Our goal is to improve each year, and the plan won’t change. Next year’s seniors were my freshman when I started at Country Day, and I look forward to sending them out the right way. Go Hornets!
