There’s not much to do in Homerville and Clinch County. Highways 84 and 441 meet in the center of town, providing the tiny hamlet with easy access to I-75 in Valdosta, I-95 near Brunswick, and I-10 in Lake City, Florida. Despite sitting at the intersection of two major thoroughfares and being within striking distance of three interstates, the community remains largely undeveloped. With a population in the city of just over 2,400, the total number of residents in Homerville has dropped over the last few years. Its economy is based in manufacturing and construction, and most folks there don’t go to school beyond 12th grade. It is nestled comfortably between Waycross to the east and Valdosta to the west, two communities that dominate the headlines in its neck of the woods.
Homerville and Clinch County, however, have something going for them that few communities can duplicate. They know how to play football and they know how to play it well. The Clinch County Panthers, playing mainly out of the single-A classification, have won 16 region titles and five state championships. That’s more than Lowndes County, Colquitt County, Ware County, Tift County, and most other programs in Georgia.
Clinch County has one more state title than the Charlton County Indians, more region championships than the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets, and more All-State players than all of the aforementioned programs. Donald Tison, after whom the Panthers’ stadium is named, was the head coach. It is he who built the Panthers into a small-school powerhouse.
Jim Dickerson, the current head coach at Clinch County, has been there for just about every championship the Panthers have won, either as a player or a coach. He was on the 1980 team that won Clinch County’s first region title and played for a state championship against Greenville. Clinch led the whole game but lost in the final minute when Greenville threw a Hail Mary from midfield. Greenville won the game 12-10.
“Until then, we were known as a basketball school,” Dickerson said. “That season put Clinch County football on the map.”
With the exception of 1992-1999, if you played four years at Clinch County, you won a region title. Also, with a state championship about every six or seven years since 1980, there’s a pretty good chance you were going to have an opportunity to play for a state title. Dickerson, a Clinch County native, played for the Panthers, and eventually came back as an assistant coach and teacher in the school system. He worked his way up to defensive coordinator and, in 2004, became head coach.
“I was honestly happy as defensive coordinator, but the head coach positioned opened up when Cecil Barber got out of it,” Dickerson said. “I didn’t have any desire to be head coach and I was nervous about taking it.” He eventually accepted the job and won a championship in his first year. He won another in 2010 and has won 97 games in 11 seasons. Last year, the Panthers quietly won a region championship in a tough region that saw two of its schools – Irwin and Charlton (both of which Clinch beat) – advance to the semi-finals.
So how have the Panthers done it? “We’re the only high school in town and our expectations are pretty high,” Dickerson said. “Our booster club is very involved and we have a great feeder program. Our middle school program has been really good for the last few years. We run the same schemes and use the same terminology at every level,” he said.
But it goes much further than that. The Clinch County offense has undergone several changes over the years. Last year, the Panthers went to a single-wing scheme for the first time. They are running the same thing this year. The defense, however, remains a 52 – the same thing they’ve run since 1980. To Dickerson, though, it’s not about the kind offense or defense his team runs.
“I’ve always said it’s about the ‘Jimmys and Joes’, not the X’s and O’s,” he said. “You’ve got to have talent to win. And for a single-A school, we’ve had more than our share of talented players. The folks around here can just flat out run. Our kids expect to win and they take a lot of pride in the program. But it starts with talent and we’ve had a lot of it.”
The Panthers have several Player of the Year Award winners and more big-time college players than a single-A school ought to. Currently, Fred Tiller is a starting cornerback with the Kentucky Wildcats and plans to stay at Kentucky as a graduate assistant coach after his playing career ends. One Panther – Jonathan Smith – made it all the way to the NFL. A seventh-round pick, he played for three years with the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots.
And this year, two players who could rival Tiller, Smith, and the best Clinch County has ever turned out are on the team. Junior Chauncey Manac, a 6’4,” 260-pound defensive end, and halfback/defensive back Octavious Johnson (6’1,” 190) both have offers on the table from all the major programs, including Florida State, Florida, Georgia, and just about everyone else.
No, it’s not easy making a living in Clinch County. It’s not easy getting college programs to notice Clinch County players, either. But when you win games and championships at the rate that the Panthers have, it’s a little less challenging than it is at other small schools. While all the attention has been focused on Lowndes, Camden, Colquitt, Valdosta, and the other traditional powers in the area, the Panthers have simply been doing what they’ve done since 1980 – winning football games at an alarming rate.
And that isn’t going to stop any time soon.
City-data.com and the Georgia High School Football Historians Association contributed to this story.
Special Feature/South Georgia/September 2014
Clinch County Football
Homerville, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
