Read the debate intro and read Bleacher Fan’s argument that Ohio has the best high school football.
There is just something about Friday nights in the fall. The leaves are browner. The air is cooler. And the small towns and the big cities gather at the same place every Friday night. It is a 100-yard sanctuary of hallowed ground. It is Friday night lights, and nowhere do the lights shine brighter than they do in Georgia.
Valdosta
As someone who grew up in the Peach State, I am extremely privileged to live 60 miles from Winnersville, Georgia – also known as Valdosta – and thanks to ESPN, now known as Titletown USA. To get a sense of the aura that Valdosta high school football has, all you have to do is look at the numbers. As of today, the Valdosta Wildcats, the nation’s winningest high school football program ever, has an overall record of 844-196-34. That includes six national championships and 23 state championships in Georgia’s highest classification (now AAAAA). In Valdosta, you have entire generations of families play for the Wildcats.
The Region
Valdosta, Georgia is a town of around 50,000, with Valdosta’s county, Lowndes County, totaling around 100,000 people. What has energized Titletown even more in the past decade is the emergence of the Lowndes County Vikings high school football team. The Vikings, after being a Wildcat “whipping boy” for an extended period of time, have won four state titles in the past 10 years, including three since 2004. It is a pretty safe bet that if both teams are playing on a Friday night in Valdosta, there will be 20,000 plus combined fans screaming at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium (Valdosta) and at Martin Stadium (Lowndes County). In addition, there will be thousands more tuned in on the radio and listening online. Each game is that much of an event. The competition is the region – the classification that high school football teams are sorted into – is extremely intense. As it is currently drawn, Valdosta and Lowndes’ region currently consists of seven teams. In the past eleven years those seven teams have combined to win eight state titles (Lowndes with four, Northside-Warner Robins with two, Warner Robins with one, and Valdosta with one). It should be noted that Rush Propst (formerly of MTV’s popular show Two-A-Days, which highlighted Alabama high school powerhouse Hoover High) is now coaching in this region at Colquitt County. Find me another region in this country that has those credentials!
The State
It is not just South Georgia that has great high school football – it is statewide! Parkview, a school in northern suburban Atlanta, won three consecutive state titles at the beginning of this decade. Who did Parkview beat in 2001 for the state championship? The aforementioned Northside-Warner Robins Tigers. I attended this game with my college roommate (who was a Northside graduate). We witnessed a spectacular show put on by current New York Met Jeff Francouer (Parkview) and current New York Jet Chansi Stuckey. Another example comes with Larry Campbell, who has coached at Lincoln County for 40 seasons and has 434 career wins to this point. Lincoln County is a county of less than 9,000 people in the northeastern part of the state, and yet year in and year out, Coach Campbell has his Red Devils competing for a state title in Class A. I have personally seen the Red Devils play 10 times. Every time I see them, they are well-prepared and very disciplined. The county seat of Lincoln County is Lincolnton, with a population of less than 2,000. Their fans have told me over the years that Lincolnton is literally a town that shuts down on Friday nights. In other words, you better have a full tank before kickoff!
Georgia and the Nation
The nation as a whole is starting to respect the tradition of high school football in Georgia. Not only has Valdosta been voted as Titletown USA, but ESPN and CBS College Sports are televising high school football games in Georgia. They are not these games where a big powerhouse from another state comes in to whip up on a local team. These are games involving two teams from the state of Georgia. For example, for the second consecutive year, the Winnersville Classic (the annual grudge match between Lowndes and Valdosta) will be televised.
State by State
Every day I receive an email newsletter outlying the activities surrounding high school football in Georgia. It is titled, “Georgia High School Football Daily.” In one of last week’s newsletters, GHSF Daily had an interview with North Gwinnett coach Bob Sphire. North Gwinnett was hosting a weekend event inviting teams from other states to come and play. Coach Sphire has coached in other parts of the country, but he says that the talent in Georgia is second to none.
“The one thing that impresses me the most is it is good all across the state in all classifications,” Sphire said. “In Alabama, for example, obviously Prattville has one of the best programs in the country… as well as Hoover. But my sense is that it is more feast or famine there. In Georgia, it is strong everywhere. In AA and AAA, the state has programs like Dublin and Calhoun.”
“Kentucky is like Alabama,” Sphire went on to say. “You had some really good programs. [But] Georgia is one of those any-given-night scenarios. I feel like I’m coaching in the SEC of high school football every Friday night. Even the teams that haven’t competed for a region championship over here, they’re going to have guys going to Notre Dame and Alabama. A lot of weeks in Kentucky I had to manufacture reasons for my players to be motivated. I don’t find myself doing that here.”
By the way, Sphire’s North Gwinnet team upset three-time defending Alabama Class 6A state champion Prattville last weekend.
I had a chance to ask GHSF Daily creator, and longtime Atlanta Journal Constitution high school reporter Todd Holcomb, about high school football in Georgia. He didn’t hold back his thoughts on Georgia’s talent, coaching, and tradition.
“Georgia is one of the top five or six states for producing NFL players and major Division I college players, and it’s not just because it’s a big state,” Holcomb said. “Georgia has a wealth of talent. There was a coach in Georgia a couple of years ago who came from Michigan and had been very successful there. He said the talent and speed here was far better, and that he’d never coached a team as talented as the first one he coached in Georgia.”
“Georgia also has great coaches,” Holcomb continued. “Georgia pays its coaches better than most Southern states because there are no restrictions on booster club supplements. Many of Georgia’s best coaches have come from out of state — Randy McPherson of Lowndes, Bob Sphire of North Gwinnett, and several others. Top coaches like to come here.”
“The final thing is support and tradition,” said Holcomb. “Fans want good football teams, and if you want it and there are talented kids, you’re going to have great football. And it’s the No. 1 sport in Georgia. Georgia produces great players in other sports as well, but football is king. If you’re an outstanding athlete, there’s a very good chance you’re going to be in a football uniform on Friday nights in Georgia.”
Georgia does not lack for NFL talent, either. If you are interested in seeing players from Georgia who went on to play in the NFL, there is an entire webpage devoted to it. Those who standout and are currently active in the NFL include Charles Grant, Champ Bailey, Super Bowl XXXIX MVP Deion Branch, Keith Brooking, Leonard Pope, Reggie Brown, and Ronnie Brown. By the way, if you are fascinated with high school football and have hours of free time, check out www.ghsgha.org. It is an endless supply of information for high school football in the state of Georgia. You can look at records of every high school, all state teams from previous years, and many other fascinating facts about high school football in Georgia. Holcomb coordinates this site, and does an excellent job with it. I encourage all readers to check it out.
Overall, I love high school football. Coming from a small town, I understand the relevance and importance of high school football to a town. I have tremendous respect for the coaches who put in hours and hours of unappreciated work. One of the first “real” books I read was Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. That book spawned a movie and a very well-written television show. It also took my love of high school football to another level, and made Odessa, Texas part of my bucket list of places I want to visit. But there is no way that any other state can match what Georgia has to offer overall in terms of high school football. From a big school like Valdosta High to a small school like Lincoln County, football is life. It is almost like a second religion here in the Bible Belt. You simply cannot top the Friday Night Lights of Georgia.
Good stuff. Personally, I’ve seen high school football in Florida and Georgia. I like the atmosphere in Georgia better, but talent is more abundant in Florida, obviously, because of the population difference. I talked with Randy McPherson, head coach at Lowndes High who also used to coach in South Florida, and he said the football down there is in a different league — even above that of Region 1-AAAAA. I found that astounding, but the talent that comes out of the Miami area is incredible.
Nice comment, Matt, regarding atmosphere versus talent. High school football is one of the rare sports where atmosphere does not always follow talent.
We’ll likely include Florida in our next round. People on Twitter seem to all think we’re dumb for not mentioning Texas. Hey folks, you have to start somewhere!
Thanks for the comment Stew! I will not dispute the talent in Florida. Sports Geek, myself, and a mutual friend went to see Valdosta host Lincoln out of Tallahassee eight or nine years ago. Lots of speed. Lincoln (also known as Florida State High to me) is very impressive year in and year out.
Yeah, Antonio Cromartie and Fred Rouse were big names in those years to come to Valdosta. Those were some great games, too. Cromartie turned out well, but Rouse was a lazy ass, you could even see it on the field. I guess high school football in Georgia is so great because of the support. People just live for Friday night. I had a guy from San Diego tell me once that he though it was funny we put high school football in the paper. I guess that about sums it up.
Nice perspective from California. Support definitely plays a significant role.