For the amount of time Shane Davis has been in the coaching profession, he has not had to deal with his teams being involved with slow starts to a season.
To this point, 2011 has been one of just two seasons in 20 years Davis has had to try and get his team to turn around seasons which have started with a less than desired number of wins.
“The kids who are in our program here at Apalachee have never been through this,” Davis said. “It’s something new for me during my time as an assistant and as a head coach. However, we can’t let what has happened to this point keep us from realizing there are still seven more regular season games to play. Our goal at this point has to be to finish 7-3 and then see what happens.”
The Wildcats are on the road again this week to battle a somewhat surprising Heritage team. The Patriots are 4-0 with their most impressive win coming back on Sept. 2. Heritage defeated Clarke Central, last season’s 8-AAAA champ, 21-14 and suddenly put itself in position to contend for a region crown this fall.
“Clarke Central was up early on them, but did not put them away,” Davis said. “That win has really given Heritage a lot of confidence. It’s something you can really build upon in high school. Getting a win like that can carry you a long way.”
Despite the 0-3 start for the Apalacahee Wildcats, there have been bright spots. The offense has played well at times although it did struggle against Salem last Friday. The defense, after getting gashed to open the game against the Seminoles, made some nice adjustments and then limited Salem to just seven points the remainder of the way.
Davis is looking for a complete effort in all phases of the game this week. It’s something that is being stressed in practice this week.
Heritage has plenty of offensive weapons at its disposal. Quarterback Ryan Sutton has directed an offense which has 41, 35, 34 and 21 points. Dominic Craft is one of the team’s top offensive players along with Quami Stanley, whom some believe has already charted a course for region offensive player of the year.
Davis knows the task won’t be easy this week. It never is in Region 8-AAAA. However, the Wildcats are not far from being a strong team.
“I’ve said before all you can do is keep working and keep getting better,” Davis said. “There really is no other option. We will go back to work and see if we can turn the corner this week. We still have a lot of football to play this season and we want to get things turned to the positive side quick. This is not how any of us thought the season would go. However, we can’t throw in the towel. We have to continue to do everything we can to make us a better team.”
Despite the 0-3 start, AHS players seem to realize much can be accomplished before 2011 is over. The first step to those accomplishments is this Friday at Heritage in Conyers.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. You can send comments about this column to cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
