Wayne County head coach Derrick Chastain really hasn’t looked up since he first arrived in late June from Camden County to assume his first head coaching position for the Yellow Jackets football program. By the time camp was over, the Yellow Jackets were already boarding buses to scrimmage Thomas County Central. Eight weeks later, Wayne County weathered Tropical Storm Hermine and then Hurricane Matthew a couple of weeks later, but the Yellow Jackets have gotten better.
“We have made tremendous strides from TCC to South Effingham,” Chastain said. “The question marks entering the season have progressively gotten better week by week. Regardless of scores, we are seeing the team moving forward in each week. We have a resilient group of kids.”
Despite a few lopsided scores against AAAAAA No. 1 Valdosta in their home opener and AAAAAA No. 9 Glynn Academy in week five, the Yellow Jackets have fought hard this season.
In game four, Wayne County got locked into a battle with AAA Appling County. While the two teams have always played well against each other, the Yellow Jackets were not phased by the athletic advantage that a veteran Appling County had. Both teams engaged in a scoring shootout. Yellow Jackets MJ Fuller scored with three minutes to go on a four-yard rush and added two more points on the conversion to tie the game at 31-31. Wayne recovered a fumble from the Appling County kickoff, and Fuller added another score, putting the Yellow Jackets up 38-31 with less than two minutes left in the game. The Pirates scored with less than a minute to go and got the two-point conversion for a 39-38 win.
“I often wonder what would have happened had we won that game,” Chastain said. “That was a heart breaker.”
Losses to Pierce County and Glynn Academy, along with the wild weather conditions of southeast Georgia, kept the Yellow Jackets’ quest for the first win of the season at bay.
“It was very important to come out and play well in our first region game,” Chastain said. “It was a little challenging mentally for our kids to expect to play one night, then re-schedule it for a Monday night, to have it pushed back another couple of days. We felt like we had a really good plan, but we didn’t play as well as I would have like for us to play. We kind of played like we just came back to school for the first time in six days. But a win is a win, and we will take them anyway we can get them right now.”
The win against South Effingham, while not exactly pretty, certainly gave the team more motivation.
“They were very excited, and as we went down to honor our band for the job they do on game nights, they were dancing and enjoying themselves,” Chastain said. “It was great to see them have fun for a change after a game. They have worked extremely hard for us, and they needed that win.”
Wayne has had a number of players step up and play in different positions, and special teams has been a pleasant surprise as the season has developed.
“I have been very proud of one of our seniors, Kolby Wallace, who was not playing much early, and he finally started practicing the way we wanted him to, and he broke through playing at WR and DB when we needed people,” Chastain said. “He now starts at WR and is the first DB we put in for different situations. Our kicking game has surprisingly been the strength of our team. Junior PK Austin Crews has handle the KO and FG/XPT duties for us, and he has done a very good job. Our punter who also plays TE, Dylan Leach, has stepped in and just averages over 35 yards a kick. To have never really punted before, this is impressive numbers.”
Wayne County has newcomer New Hampstead along with the old veterans Ware County and Statesboro left on the schedule. Chastain is pleased with the progress but knows that the Yellow Jackets have to be ready to play some of their best football in the last three games.
“Football is about blocking and tackling, and it will always be about blocking and tackling,” Chastain said. “We need to get better each and every day at blocking and tackling.”
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Yellow Jackets Get First Victory Under New Head Coach Derrick Chastain
Written by John Wood
