Apalachee High School coach Shane Davis doesn’t like the fact his team is not playing this Friday.
He especially doesn’t like it since the Wildcats were defeated in their season opener last week at Habersham Central.
“I would much rather play again after a loss,” Davis said earlier this week. “When you have almost 14 days to think about it, that can be a very long time. We did some good things last week but also a lot of bad.”
Losing a season opener is not common ground for Davis since he took over the AHS program. In fact, last Friday’s 38-35 setback to the Habersham Central Raiders was his first as a head coach.
“At this point, you really have two choices,” Davis said. “You can go to fighting and get better or you can quit. Quitting is not an option.”
The Wildcats will not play again until they host fellow Region 8-AAAA foe Flowery Branch Sept. 9.
During the first portion of practice this week, Davis said the coaches and players would simply concentrate on making themselves better.
“We’ll start looking at last year’s film and start lining up against some of their base formations,” Davis said.
While the sting of the loss to Habersham Central was clear in Davis’ voice, he stressed it did not have to make or break his team’s season.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean anything in the long term for us or Habersham,” Davis said. “Hopefully for us, it will be a low point of the year. We have to put it behind us and get ready to play again when Flowery Branch gets here. That’s a team you had better be prepared for or it could end up being a long night for you. We have a lot of work to do and we will get after it this week since we aren’t playing Friday night.”
