Raising Expectations

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There were whispers of doubt and concern all around. 

“Coach, you really going to play them?” 

“Coach, that may get ugly quick!”

“Coach, you couldn’t find someone else, anyone else?”

With all the fretting and disapproving looks in the hallways and on the field, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had gotten myself into scheduling a scrimmage with Rockmart.  True, Rockmart was the defending state champion for Georgia middle schools.  True, the coaching staff for the middle school is not only paid but also serves as the high school staff.  They are the very same high school staff that just took a trip to the Georgia State Championship game last year.  So yes, we had set the bar pretty high, but I believed that I knew a little about football and that I was a fairly good judge of talent.  What I honestly believed was that our boys could play with just about anybody and I wanted to test that belief.  The belief that these kids from Lindale were competitors.

It was an inauspicious start to say the least.  The one solitary bus would not hold the 62 kids we needed to fit onto it.  The bus driver made two wrong turns before delivering us to the field significantly late.  The boys filed out of the bus and into enemy territory, stretched, threw on their pads and took to the field.  

From the opening kickoff it was clear to everyone that contrary to the prevailing opinion Pepperell was going to be up for the challenge.  Sandoval sailed his opening kickoff deep into Jacket’s territory leaving the kick returner alone to face a wall of gold jerseys.  The tackle was fast and violent, and the tone had been set.  A handful of plays later the front four had given notice that yards were going to be hard to come by as Rockmart lined up for their first punt of the day.  Rockmart snapped the ball from inside their 20yd line, but the push up front allowed Pepperell to block the kick giving them great field position for their first possession.  A couple plays later behind an aggressive and physical line, Tre Chatman carried the ball over the goal line for the first touchdown of the day.  

Rockmart would find it hard to put together sustained drives but with their big play ability they wouldn’t need it.  Though Pepperell sacked the quarterback 4 times and made a total of 8 plays of defense that netted negative yardage for Rockmart, it would be three long plays that would tip the balance to Rockmart.  In all, Rockmart would run just 16 offensive plays, eight went for loss of yardage but three went for TDs.  In short, it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.  However, coming out of the game it was clear that the front four of Sandoval, Nichols, Anderson, and Barkley were going to be a force to be reckoned with for quite a while.  The play on the backend was also solid, led by Payden Newberry at LB and Chance Hopper playing safety.

Pepperell’s offense was efficient behind strong running by Tre Chatman and a great push by the starting five of Evans, Pauc, Sandoval, Nichols, and Kinney.  The line also gave QB Hopper a good pocket to throw from most of the day, giving up just one sack on the afternoon.  Blayze McCary started shaky but quickly became Hopper’s primary target, converting a couple of key first downs.

The final quarter belonged to the JV squads of the teams.  Pepperell’s defense quickly set the tone turning over the Jackets on downs.  Then QB Asher Lawrence set about directing the new offense for the first time.  A few plays into the drive Ken Dodson pushed his way into the endzone for the first touchdown of the JV season.  The JV Dragons would not allow the Jackets any success on offense and finished the game strong for Pepperell.

With a final score of 20-13, it was not the win that we had hoped for but make no mistake, it was a victory.  Pepperell Middle School football took the field with the best our area, our state, has to offer and not only competed but competed well enough to win.  The football future for these young men is exceptionally bright because they aren’t afraid to step up to the challenge.  More importantly they aren’t afraid to do the work and pay the price that success demands.

It’s good to be their coach!