Part 2 of Our Look at Teams That Are Proving the Prognosticators Wrong

With the halfway point of the 2022 high school football season upon us, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the more interesting stories involving teams across Georgia, focusing on those that have been a surprise based on how they were projected to do. Much of those projections have to do with how teams have performed in recent seasons, returning starters, and other factors. Last week, we talked about a few teams that have not yet played up to their potential, or at least up to the expectations of the so-called experts. This week, we highlight five Georgia high school football teams that actually have performed better than expected by midseason, clearly deciding not to follow the script of those prognosticators.

Osborne

Several teams have been a pleasant surprise this year, but maybe none more surprising than Osborne High. To understand how big their turnaround has been so far this season, you have to look back at just how bad things have been, and for how long. The Marietta school finished 0-40 from 2017 through 2020. That’s four straight 0-10 seasons. Over the last six seasons the Cardinals finished 2-57. The previous six years before that they were a collective 13-50.

Last season, they were 1-9, and with reclassification they were on their way up from 1-6A to 1-7A, the state’s largest classification.

No sweat.

The 2022 Cardinals are 5-0 and are outscoring their opponents by an average of 53-7 per game. The team is lead by head coach Luqman Salam and offensive coordinator Phillip Ironside. The pair coached together previously at Hillgrove, where Ironside was head coach and Salam was defensive coordinator. Salam took over last season and endured another typical Osborne season with the 109 campaign. Regardless of what happens from this point forward, everyone can see the culture has turned 180 degrees   

Worth County

Worth County was known for its brand of hard-nosed, grind-it-out football and a program associated with the likes of Robert Toomer and Milt Miller. The latter is the namesake of the Rams’ home field and was the coach who lead the Rams to four state title games and their last championship, in 1987.

That seems so long ago – because it was. Recent editions of the Rams have not played any where close to championship football. The Worth program finished 11-49 over the last six years, including a 3-37 mark from 2016-2019. But this offseason, Jeffrey Hammond was hired as the new head football coach and he has the Rams faithful believing. Worth County is off to a 5-0 start after winning its region opener against another team that has been a pleasant surprise so far this year, the Berrien High Rebels. 

Hammond, a former offensive coordinator with Colquitt County, is heralded by those who know him and have worked with him as a top play caller. So far, he has the Rams offense clicking with a 32 ppg average. At midseason, this surprising Georgia high school team has already equaled its win total over each of the last two seasons, but the Rams are hoping there will be plenty more in 2022.

Peachtree Ridge 

Peachtree Ridge won a state championship in 2006 and was a winning program that advanced to the state playoffs nine times out of 11 seasons from that 2006 season through 2016. Since then, however, the Lions have struggled not only to win, but even to score points. (Those two things kind of go hand-in-hand, of course.) Last season, the Lions scored 72 points the entire year. That’s about a TD per game, and unless you’re holding teams to 6 points or less, you’re not going to win many games – and the Lions didn’t.

This offseason, Peachtree Ridge hired former Johns Creek head coach Matt Helmridge as its new head coach, and so far so good for the Lions and Helmrich. Peachtree Ridge is off to a 4-2 start and scoring points hasn’t been a problem for the Lions. Nor have they been giving up many points. The Lions rank fifth in Georgia High School Class 7A in points allowed and are averaging 33 points per game on offense at midseason.

Peachtree Ridge’s last winning season was in 2016; the Lions are 14-35 in the five seasons since. In 2021 they finished with 3 wins, so Helmrich has already eclipsed that total, but the former Gladiators coach is hoping and believing for a lot more.

“Our goal was to win the region,” said Helmrich. “These kids are believing.”

Don’t stop believing, guys.

Central Gwinnett

Central Gwinnett is 5-0 for the first time in 42 years. You have to go deep into the history of the Black Knights program to see that 1980 was the last time they started the season with five straight wins, and it was 2017 when the team last won that many games in a season.

First-year head coach Larry Harold has everyone surrounding the program believing the sky is the limit with this team, and they’ll need that type of confidence when region play rolls around. The Black Knights are a part of Region 8-7A, which includes powerhouses Buford, Mill Creek, and Collins Hill. Dacula and Mountain View round out the region. But with consecutive 1-9 finishes over the last two seasons, the program and its fans will enjoy the great start and worry about region play when the time comes. 

Long County 

Long County is off to a 4-1 start overall and 2-0 in Georgia high school region play at the 2022 midseason point. Last season they finished 5-6 and 2-2 in region. So, what’s the big deal about their record through the first four games this year, you may ask? A little context for you:

• Before last season, Long County had never made the playoffs.
• They were 2-48-2 in the five seasons prior to last year’s five-win season.
• They were 0-24 in region play in that same stretch.
• The Blue Tide finished 0-10 in 8 of the past 20 seasons.
• They finished with a .500 record only once in their history (5-6 in 2012).

So, while most schools mentioned in this section are turning things around this season for the first time in a while, this is actually year two of the reclamation project for the long-suffering Long County football program.

The man directly responsible for this massive turnaround is second-year head coach Mike Pfiester. He was hired prior to last season and inherited what was very likely the toughest gig in all of high school sports. Oh, and this was his first-ever head coaching position, after serving in various assistant positions, including as strength and conditioning coach and offensive line coach at South Effingham, where he had been for the previous two seasons prior to taking over at Long County. 

Pfiester is 9-7 over the last two seasons at Long County, equaling the Blue Wave win total from the previous six seasons.

Incredible.