Lady Purple Hurricanes Improve From 7-5 to 21-2 Under Head Coach John Hadden
The Fitzgerald High School flag football team made major strides in 2025 in what was only their second season of competition.
After finishing 7-5 in Year 1 and making the playoffs, the Lady Purple Hurricanes finished 21-2 this past season, advancing to the state semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Harris County.
According to head coach John Hadden, there has been no shortage of excitement surrounding the flag football program at Fitzgerald, including the day two years ago that the school announced there would be tryouts held for anyone interested in playing.
“We had somewhere between 30 and 40 girls come try out for the team in Year 1,” Hadden said.
After the team’s successful debut saw them win seven games, the interest only grew when tryouts came around for the 2025 team.
“We had 60 girls try out for this past year’s team,” Hadden said.
From Powder Puff to Playoffs
Hadden said the initial interest in the sport started with a powder puff football game at the school, which had a lot of participation.
“These girls have watched their brothers and boyfriends play football, and it has made an impact on them to the point where they want to play too,” Hadden said.
That led to a conversation among the school’s administration about the possibility of starting a flag football program at Fitzgerald, and Hadden was approached about coaching the team, which he gladly accepted.
He recruited a group of assistant coaches who had played flag football in college, and together they conducted the tryouts and determined who the starters would be for the first-year team.
Hadden’s assistants are offensive coordinator Brian Braddy, Hal Wiley, and Paige Farabow.
Learning the Fundamentals: 1st-Year Growing Pains
Even with an enthusiastic group that was interested in playing, there was still a bit of a learning curve to start with.
“We had a great group that showed up from day one, but most of the girls didn’t know much about the game of football,” Hadden said. “They had no idea about the rules of football or how to catch and throw, but they were eager to learn. We had to start from the ground up, teaching them the fundamentals and the basic rules of the game.”
He said some of the early limitations factored into the coaching strategy and how the team would approach things in games, especially on offense.
“We couldn’t throw the ball 5 yards when we started that first year, so there was a lot of short passing plays, a lot of running plays, and we did a lot of pitches in that first year too,” Hadden said.
A major advantage in flag football that teams employ is using the center as a receiver. In this scenario, the center snaps the ball to the quarterback, then spins around to act as a receiver in quick pass plays. Fitzgerald used that as a means to advance the ball down the field.
Despite the limitations in the passing game, Fitzgerald managed to win more than they lost. They finished 7-5 with a playoff loss in Round 1 of the state playoffs.
Speed and Defense Lead Early Success
In their 2024 season, the Lady Purple Hurricanes lost their opener 13-0 to one of the stronger South Georgia flag football teams, Thomas County Central. The offense began to slightly improve over the next few games, while the team’s defense played very well, taking advantage of one of their team strengths: speed.
“We knew we had really good team speed, and it showed, especially with our defense,” Hadden said.
The combination led to Fitzgerald winning their next four games in a row, including three shutouts to start the season on a promising note at 4-1.
The team finished the rest of the 12-game schedule with three wins and four losses to finish with a respectable 7-5 in their first year. That included a 6-3 record in Area 3 in Division 1, which was good enough for a third-place tie with Wheeler County, who also finished area play with a 6-3 record and a 10-5 overall finish.
Areas are similar to regions in tackle football. Fitzgerald’s area includes Dodge County, Telfair County, Wheeler County, Sumter County, Hawkinsville, Macon County, Dougherty, Treutlen, and Dooly County.
The Lady Purple Hurricanes averaged 9.1 points per game but gave up just 7.1 points per game.
Offseason Focus: Learning to Throw the Football
While there was a lot to be excited about after reaching seven wins in the first year with a team of players who had never played organized football, Hadden knew that if his team wanted to continue to improve and make itself a serious contender in Year 2, they would have to get better on offense, especially in one particular area.
“It was a good start, but we knew we had to start learning how to throw the ball if we were going to be successful,” Hadden said.
While going through that first season, Hadden said that he and his assistant coaches could see that the really good programs were the ones that could throw the ball well, so Hadden and his team got to work over the offseason with the intention of improving the passing game.
“We started working on our mechanics every day over the summer,” Hadden said.
Record-Breaking 2nd Season: From 9.1 to 21.1 PPG
The hard work paid off in a big way.
Not only did the team finish with a 21-2 overall record in 2025, but they also won the area championship with an 11-1 record.
The offense improved from 9.1 PPG in 2024 to averaging 21.1 PPG in 2025.
The defense, already one of the best in the area, improved as well. That unit allowed just 3.7 PPG this past season.
Fitzgerald started the season with nine straight wins, including shutout victories in its first seven games. The only regular season loss was to Dodge County 13-6 in Game 10. The Lady Hurricanes then went on another streak, winning their final nine regular season games.
They then won their first three playoff games, all shutouts. Their Round 1 playoff game was a 21-0 win over Troup County, followed by a 20-0 win in Round 2 against Jefferson County, then a 19-0 quarterfinals playoff win over Jordan.
Fitzgerald advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs, falling 14-7 to eventual state champion Harris County. Harris County won the state title in their next game, a 32-0 rout over Washington County. The 14-7 game against Fitzgerald was the closest playoff game by far of any of the playoff opponents that faced Harris County.
Did Hadden see such a major improvement coming for Fitzgerald from Season 1 to Season 2?
“We actually took bigger strides than we thought we would,” he said.
All-Area Standouts Lead Fitzgerald’s Success
Several strong season performances led the team to its Year 2 success, including five All-Area selections.
Senior wide receiver and linebacker Kianti McDuffie had 642 yards receiving with six touchdowns, along with 407 yards rushing and four touchdowns. As a linebacker on defense, McDuffie had 49 flag pulls; one sack; four interceptions, including one pick-six; and seven pass breakups.
Junior quarterback and linebacker Sanorra McKind improved tremendously over the offseason to throw for 2,262 yards passing in 2025, with 46 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. She also had 275 yards rushing with one touchdown. On defense, she had 33 flag pulls, two interceptions with one pick-six, and 20 pass breakups.
Sophomore athlete and running back Melayah Benton rushed for 253 yards with four touchdowns in 2025. She was outstanding defensively, with 33 flag pulls, 13 of which were for a loss, and 19 sacks.
Sophomore wide receiver and cornerback Gabby Carter rushed for 401 yards with two touchdowns while adding 300 yards receiving and five touchdowns. On defense, Carter had 42 flag pulls; seven interceptions, including one pick-six; and six pass breakups.
Sophomore running back and rusher Alexis Hayward had 607 yards rushing with 15 touchdowns, plus 673 yards receiving and 16 touchdowns. On defense, she had 40 flag pulls, 18 of which were for a loss; six sacks; and one interception. She played in the 2026 GACA All-Star Game in Atlanta.
Other top contributors this past season were junior slot receiver Treasure Clark, who had 332 yards with eight receiving touchdowns; senior center Qa’nicia Campbell, who had seven receiving touchdowns; and senior safety Tai’kya Powell, who had nine interceptions.
Looking Ahead to Year 3
Looking ahead to the 2026 season, which will be Season 3 for Fitzgerald flag football, does Hadden have a prediction on how his team will do?
“Let’s just say I think we’ll be pretty good,” Hadden said.
