The 2017 Class 6A state championship game, like six other classifications title contests, was not played in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium after weather caused the GHSA to move the games to the highest seeded team’s stadium. The Lee County Trojans played host to Coffee County in an all Region 1-6A championship game. In a nail-biter of a game, Lee defeated Coffee for their first state championship in school history. The win capped off a 14-1 season and finally put Lee County on top after coming up short in the playoffs over the last few seasons.
To really appreciate what the first state championship means to Lee, you have to consider where the Trojans football program was just about a decade ago.
When Dean Fabrizio arrived at Lee almost 10 years ago, he inherited a program that was struggling, to put it mildly. The program had just gone through a winless 10-loss season and had lost 20 of their last 21 games. The middle school program was also struggling and went winless in Fabrizio’s first year, its third consecutive season without a victory. The Lee football program was in dire need of leadership and a new direction. Despite their past struggles, Fabrizio saw several positives surrounding the program.
“When I looked into taking the job at Lee County, I identified a few factors that told me we could succeed here: First of all, it was a good, solid school system,” Fabrizio said. “Any time you have a good school system, you will have the numbers (of students) to build on.”
To read more about Lee’s road to the championship:
Read the digital full magazine below.
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