As disappointing as the season opening loss to Rockdale County was, Winder-Barrow High School football coach David Wagner knows there is little, if any, time to dwell on it.
The reason is simple. No. 4-ranked Flowery Branch is set to pay a visit to W. Clair Harris Stadium this Friday. The Falcons put an old-fashioned beating on Madison County in their season opener, topping the 50-point mark on the scoreboard. Flowery Branch went 9-1 in its debut season in Region 8-AAAA a year ago.
“They are every bit as good, if not better this year,” Wagner said. “They are simply a very good, talented, well-coached team. They find ways to hurt you. They are very disciplined on both sides of the football. They graduated an All-State kicker but they replaced him with another kicker who can put the football through the endzone.”
It all adds up to a tall challenge for the Bulldoggs, who are looking for their first victory since 2009.
Flowery Branch used a spread offense. Wagner said the Falcons threw the football a good bit in their preseason scrimmage although they ran the football more last week against Madison County.
“They are very good about finding ways to exploit your weaknesses,” Wagner said. “They will be one of the better teams we see during the regular season. They are certainly among the top two teams in the region in my opinion.”
Defensively, Flowery Branch will use a 3-4 or 4-4 look. Wagner said the defensive alignment will depend on whether the Falcons walk down an outside linebacker.
“They even ran some 4-3 in their scrimmage so we will have to be prepared for pretty much anything,” the WBHS coach said.
While Friday’s game will present a definite challenge to the Bulldoggs, Wagner sees ways to have success.
“We will have to tackle on first contact,” Wagner said. “We can’t allow them to have yards after catches. We will have to do a good job defensively in stopping all three phases of their option. You have to try and do multiple things in the secondary. Of course, one busted alignment means seven points for them most of the time.”
The play of sophomore quarterback Christian Hodge will also be key for the Bulldoggs this Friday.
“He will need to go through his progressions at quarterback,” Wagner said. “We will use last week as a learning tool. Christian has been working a good bit with coach (Andrew) Johnson.”
Getting the football more into the hands of Jamonte Riden is also vital.
Wagner was pleased with the effort of his offensive line in the season opener against Rockdale County.
“I’ve told our team we have to not worry so much about our opponent and concentrate on what we can do,” the Bulldogg coach said. “I’m worried about Winder-Barrow. We need to execute, play with intensity and to look at what we can do. Against Rockdale, it was not about what they did but what we gave them.”
After reviewing the tape of the opener with Rockdale County, Wagner knows there is plenty of positives to build on.
“We did some good things,” the coach said. “We found some guys who continued to step up and grow. We made a couple of key turnovers, missed some tackles and allowed them to get on the edge against us. When we showed our players the film, they quickly saw what we needed to do better. When you give up 10 points off turnovers and lose 17-13, that tells you something. I told our players Rockdale County has scored one offensive touchdown against us in eight quarters. That’s tough when you don’t win but you have to be perfect in all three phases of the game. We are beginning to understand we are a team that is competing and that can correct a few mistakes and win.”
Flowery Branch was a close pick for second place in a preseason poll conducted by the Barrow Journal. The Falcons received three of seven first-place votes, finishing just behind Clarke Central.
