The Apalachee High School Wildcats raced out to a 5-1 start this season. A chance to host a state playoff game was still in the works. Making the postseason almost seemed a certainty.
However, nothing is guaranteed in life for the sport of football. The AHS team learned that the hard way as it finished 1-3 down the stretch missing out on the postseason after last Friday’s 35-10 loss to Loganville. And while the Wildcats did defeat Heritage, a team which finished the season as the No. 3 seed, that fact is probably providing little consolation today since the team is done practicing.
“The season was disappointing for our coaching staff, kids and fans,” said AHS coach Shane Davis who missed out on the postseason for the first time since his debut season with the Wildcats. “For the players on this team, going to the playoffs is all they’ve known. We just didn’t finish strong enough down the stretch and we’re not used to that. In the past, we’ve gotten stronger as the year has gone on. We didn’t do that this year.”
Davis said there could be any number of reasons as to why the team didn’t play better in the final four games. The region is tough and AHS was playing with several freshmen and sophomores.
“Youth is probably as good a guess as any,” Davis said. “We had kids who went from the eighth grade to playing on varsity and kids who went from the freshman team to the varsity. I don’t know exactly but that’s probably a big part of it. At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done. We felt we still had a pretty good team but we peaked early.”
After the team’s 5-1 start, Davis said he felt comfortable in thinking the team would be at least 7-3.
An upset loss to a Cedar Shoals team which at the time had posted just one win hurt the Wildcats’ postseason hopes in the end.
“We didn’t play very well at Cedar,” Davis said. “I’m not taking anything away from them because they won the game. However, we did not put our best foot forward. Last week, Loganville was simply better that night. We could not get going offensively and gave up some big plays defensively. They had 120 of their 240 yards on just two offensive plays.”
It was back to work for the team Monday. Davis said that’s the only way to get better as the push for the postseason in 2011 begins now.
“The players will be a little down,” the coach said. “We put in many hours to see the season end at this point. You have two choices. You can feel sorry for yourself or you can go back to work. The bar has been set high for us now. Once you win a region championship, you feel that should always be your goal.”
