With the GHSA reclassification process reducing the total number of classes from eight to seven starting with the 2024 season, the landscape for many Georgia high school football teams has changed. Along with changing classifications, many teams will see changes to their existing regions as new teams join and longtime region foes leave.
This week wraps up our look at each of the eight state champions from the 2023 season as we close with a preview of the upcoming 2024 football season for defending Class 1A state champions Prince Avenue Christian and Bowdon.
How did reclassification affect the Wolverines and the Red Devils, and what awaits these two teams looking to add yet another state championship to an already full trophy case?
Here are the changes for each school, a look at their 2024 schedules, and key players returning and departing.
Prince Avenue Christian Moves to Class 2A in 2024
The Wolverines made their final season in Class 1A one to remember. Prince Avenue Christian head football coach Greg Vandagriff’s team won their third state championship in four seasons, becoming just the eighth school in GHSA history to play in four straight title games.
This season Prince Avenue Christian will move to Class 2A and, thus, into a new region. As part of Region 8-2A, their new region mates will be Hart County, who went 3-6 in 2023; East Jackson, who went 6-4; Hebron Christian Academy, who went 6-5; Stephens County, who went 10-2; and Franklin County, who went 1-9.
Hebron Christian is the only other private school in the region.
Prince Avenue Christian’s Regular Season Football Schedule One of State’s Toughest in 2024
The reward for Prince Avenue Christian’s three state championships over the past four seasons is a difficult time finding opponents who want to play the Wolverines during the regular season.
“Last year we had to go all over the Southeast to play teams,” Vandagriff said.
And this season?
“Nobody wants to play us,” he said. “I’d like to play every team in our county, but I emailed every team in our county asking to play us, and none of the school’s ADs called me back.”
Vandagriff has had to put together a 2024 schedule that includes two state powerhouses from South Carolina: Class 4A defending state champion Westside and Mallard Creek, who has played Buford the last two seasons, losing a close game to the Wolves last year 10-7.
“Tell me another Class 1A, 2A, or 3A team that has a tougher schedule than we do,” Vandagriff said.
The season will open with Prince Avenue Christian taking on West Forsyth in the Corky Kell-Dave Hunter Classic in Forsyth County on Aug. 15.
“We wanted to play in the Corky Kell-Dave Hunter Classic, but we had to play a 5A team to get in,” Vandagriff said.
Prince Avenue Christian will travel out of state to Anderson, South Carolina, on Aug. 24 to take on Mallard Creek in the Turf King Invitational.
“Turf King called us and asked if we would play Mallard Creek,” Vandagriff said. “It was either play them or not have a game, so we decided, ‘Why not?’”
The Wolverines will play their first home game in Week 3 against Class 4A’s Blessed Trinity, followed by an open week. They will then remain home to host Class 5A’s Johns Creek on Sept. 13.
Prince Avenue Christian will make their second trip to Anderson, South Carolina, to play Westside on Sept. 20.
The Wolverines will open region play with a new slate of region opponents, starting with Hart County at home on Sept. 27.
Prince Avenue Christian will then travel to Toccoa, Georgia, to play Stephens County, who was a 10-game winner in 2023, before returning home to take on the Franklin County Lions.
The Wolverines will host East Jackson on Oct. 25 in their final regular-season home game.
Vandagriff’s team will wrap up the regular season in Dacula, Georgia, against Hebron Christian.
State Playoffs to Include Private-Public Split in Classes 1A-3A in 2024 Football Season
Following a brutal 2024 regular season schedule that will include larger public schools from higher classes in Georgia and South Carolina, the Wolverines should be well prepared for the new playoff format in 2024, which will see all private schools in Classes 1A-3A split from the public schools into their own playoff bracket.
There will be 26 football-playing private schools from Classes 1A-3A vying for a single state championship in the state playoffs this season. A points-based power ranking system will be used to seed the 26 private schools in their playoff bracket.
The public schools in Classes 1A, 2A, and 3A will be competing for individual state championships in their respective classifications.
Prince Avenue Christian Returns 15 of 22 Starters for 2024 Football Season
The Wolverines will return 15 of 22 starters for the 2024 football season, but they face the big question of replacing their quarterback.
“We return seven players on offense and eight on defense, and our strength will no doubt be our offensive line this season,” Vandagriff said. “But we lose our record-setting QB.”
That is, of course, Aaron Philo, who overtook Trevor Lawrence as Georgia’s all-time career passing leader with 13,922 yards. He also tied the single-season record for most passing TDs in a season with 56 TDs last year.
“We have two guys who will battle for the position in sophomore Ben Musser and senior Jake Bobo,” Vandagriff said. “We think we’ll be OK with either of those guys taking snaps for us this season.”
Bobo transferred from North Oconee last season and started the entire year on defense at outside linebacker for the Wolverines. He was also Philo’s backup QB.
Musser is a freshman who came over from Jefferson County this offseason and was the MVP in the Georgia Elite Classic, which features the top freshmen and sophomores from across the state.
Returning on offense will be three of the top four wide receivers in Vandagriff’s pass-friendly system: sophomore Hudson Hill, who had 84 catches and 1,230 yards receiving last year; junior CJ Dockery, who has 1,096 yards receiving with 15 TDs so far in his career; and senior Thorton Hester, who had 521 yards receiving and five TDs last season.
Among the eight returning defensive starters from last year’s state championship squad will be the team’s leading tackler, senior outside linebacker Kyler Giddens. Giddens tallied 159 tackles with four sacks and two interceptions in 2023, finishing the season third in overall tackles in Georgia.
Bowdon Seeking 3rd Straight Football State Title in 2024
The Red Devils have won back-to-back state titles, have won four straight region titles, and are undefeated in region play over that period. It’s a long way from where the Bowdon program was when head football coach Rich Fendley arrived to take over in 2018.
“We had 27 players and finished 1-9 that first year,” Fendley said.
He went to work and took the Red Devils to an 8-3 season the following year. In his third and fourth seasons at Bowdon, Fendley led the Red Devils to region championships. That led to back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023.
Bowdon also won four straight weightlifting championships during that time. Fendley said the strength and conditioning program has been a big part of turning things around at Bowdon.
“It’s great for our kids,” he said. “There is nothing better for building their confidence.”
Fendely said the other major factor in turning around the Bowdon program has been the coaching.
“The type of coaches and the relationships we have with these kids is a big part of it here,” he said. “We are more than just coaches. We strive to be father-like figures to these players.”
Bowdon returns to Class 1A-Division II and will once again be a member of Region 7 for the 2024 football season. Joining them will be Trion; Manchester, whom Bowdon faced off against in last year’s state title game; and crosstown rival Mt. Zion (Carrollton).
“We met as a team and set our goals for the season, and it was pretty simple: win our fifth straight region championship (and) go win a third straight state championship,” Fendley said.
Key Players Returning for Bowdon in 2024 Football Season
The Red Devils will bring back 17 starters from last year’s team, including all five offensive linemen. The team will also return their top eight defensive linemen and top three linebackers.
“We feel like we will be a pretty good football team,” Fendely said.
Linemen Stewart Powell and All-State selection Jackson Edwards will return along the OL and DL. The LB corps will welcome back All-State senior Dylan McGrinn and outside linebacker Kaiden Prothro, who recently announced his commitment to the University of Alabama.
Fendley said the team will “lose two really good players” in quarterback Kyler McGrinn and tailback Jordan Beasley.
Regular Season and Region Opener Will Be Huge Tests for Bowdon in 2024 Football Season
Bowdon will play two scrimmage games in the fall, one at Adairsville and one at home versus Calloway, before beginning their regular season schedule.
“We are playing larger schools in our first five games to get us ready for region play,” Fendley said. “Hopefully this will get us better for when we start region play.”
Bowdon will get a major test right out of the gate in Week 1 of the 2024 football season as they host Fellowship Christian, who finished 10-3 in 2023 and has won 55 games over the past five seasons.
Week 2 will be another tough one as Bowdon hits the road to face Macon County for the first of three consecutive away games. Macon County finished 10-3 a year ago and will have former Lakeland head football coach Kurt Williams taking over this season.
The Red Devils will then travel to Bremen to take on the Blue Devils, who finished 9-3 last season.
One of the state’s winningest programs and coaches will welcome in Bowdon on Sept. 6; Class 2A’s Westside (Macon) finished 8-3 last season and is one of Bibb County’s most successful programs under head coach Sheddrick Risper.
Bowdon will finally return home for the first home game in a month as they host Heard County in the first of two straight home games.
The second home game will be against Bowdon’s only out-of-state opponent, the Tanner Rattlers from Alabama. Tanner is a Class 2A school in the Alabama High School Athletic Association and finished 8-4 in 2023.
A familiar foe will come to town to open up region play on Oct. 4: the Manchester Blue Devils. That’s right, the same team that Bowdon defeated for the state title a year ago is now in the same region as the Red Devils. Manchester finished 11-3 last season following the 28-27 loss to Bowdon.
Bowdon won’t have to travel too far the following week as they take on crosstown rival Mt. Zion in their second region game of the year
Following their second open week of the season, Bowdon will stay at home to take on their third region opponent of the season as the Greenville Patriots visit the Red Devils in the next-to-last regular-season week of the season.
Bowdon will close out their region schedule as well as the regular season with quite the challenge as they host the Trion Bulldogs, an 11-1 team from a year ago and the Region 7 champions for Class 1A-DI. Trion finished with a perfect 6-0 region record in 2023.
