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Georgia: The lowly enjoy success

By: Lindsey Young
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Perry Swindall

Like football players themselves, program turnarounds come in all shapes and sizes. In northwest Georgia alone, three early-season success stories show some of the different ways once-moribound high school programs can be turned around.

The Quick Fix

If the 2007 season was not the low point for LaFayette football, but it was close. The Ramblers went 1-9, surrendering the first win in Sonoraville’s two-year history. It was the third year of the Tommy Welch era, a period that produced a 4-26 record and spawned an apathetic attitude toward the program.

In stepped successful Alabama prep coach Perry Swindall, who has extensive experience in turning struggling programs into championship contenders. While Swindall has the same long-range goals of any coach in his situation — change the attitude, instill a strong work ethic and make football fun to play — he knows that nothing can turn a program around faster than a few wins.

In the Ramblers’ case, a 3-1 start, including a 36-33 Region 6-AAA opening win at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe a week ago, has been helped greatly with an influx of proven talent that had nothing to do with the program’s recent past. Foremost among the newcomers is Swindall’s son, Evan, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound senior offensive lineman who has helped solidify the team’s biggest weakness entering the season.

There is junior linebacker Ben Gillespie, the defensive coordinator’s son who also came from Alabama and is one of the team’s leading tacklers. Then there’s junior receiver Dimitri Miles, a 6-2, 194-pound speedster who has brought the big play back to LaFayette. He, too, transferred in from Hoover’s Spain Park High School because he enjoys playing for Swindall.

“He brings everything to a program,” Miles said of his coach. “He’s changed the attitude of most players here. There’s a big difference from when we first got down here. He’s one of those coaches who doesn’t just talk football. He cares about your life first.”

“Our kids’ attitudes have been really good,” Swindall said. “We’ve had so many good things happen for us. They’ve worked hard and they’ve acted right. There are some goals out there, and they want to be a part of this turnaround. They know this program has dropped far enough, and they want to fix it.

“This place had all the potential in the world. It just needed some tender loving care. It needed someone, for a lack of a better word, to take some risks to go out and do some things to attract some kids and coaches to the program. Our school board, principal and superintendent have allowed us to do some things in terms of kids and coaches, and that’s important.”

Recruit the halls

If there were an award for worst team in the area last year, the Gordon Central Warriors would have at least been a finalist. Not only were they 0-10 playing in Class AAAA under first-year coach Chad Fisher, but they were shut out seven times and their closest game all season was a 21-0 loss to Ringgold.

Fisher’s solution: Recruit his own school.

“We had some decent players in the halls who should have been playing,” he said after his team improved to 3-0 with a win over Trion last week. “Getting those kids out has given us the opportunity to two-platoon at most positions. The staff’s goal was to get all those kids back out and build some positive relationships so they could believe what you’re selling. We never talked about 0-10. We tried to be positive in everything we did.”

Though the newcomers have made a huge difference, Fisher points out that returning starters such as linemen Mark Rhinehart, Jonathan Benton and David Anderson, linebacker Chad Patterson and receiver/safety Kalin Lay have been the real keys.

It didn’t hurt also that the school dropped two classes to AA this year.

“We had 900 kids and we were playing 4A football, so it was tough,” Fisher said. “Dropping down was a big confidence booster for the kids because they knew they were on a more level playing field.”

Starting from scratch

Oct. 31 will be Senior Night at Sonoraville High School, which is very significant in the rise of the Phoenix to 4-0 this year. The three-year-old program’s first real group of seniors — 16 of them — went through the 1-19 record of the past two seasons and now is enjoying the rewards of perseverance.

“It’s a group that’s never given up, and now they’re reaping what they’ve sown,” said coach Chuck King, who has overseen this building process in a community starving for athletic success. “These seniors have made all the difference. We’ve always wanted to play physical football, but it’s hard to do with freshmen and sophomores.”

Among the key seniors are strong safety Trent Payne, who last year became the school’s first all-region player; defensive lineman Isaiah Hatch; two-way linemen Tyler Thacker and Tyler Smith; two players who rotate at tailback and cornerback, Tavares Washington and Robbie McAfee; and quarterback R.J. Glover.

“The sad thing is next year I have to play without them, but what a foundation they’ve built,” King said. “It’s too early to talk playoffs, but the kids are excited about this start.”

Three programs, three projects gone right and three different methods for success. They’ve proven, as Gordon Central’s Fisher said, that anything’s possible if the commitment level is high enough.

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