GMC Prep football won’t face a gauntlet in ‘24

Published 12:35 pm Friday, July 12, 2024

The Georgia Military College Prep School football team ought to be on roughly equal footing with its 2024 opponents despite having more games on the road than at home.

The Bulldogs’ win percentage last season? A nice round .300 thanks to their 3-7 record. The teams that will line up against them this fall? Their number sits at .299 due to a combined 35-72 mark.

It’s no gauntlet, but the Bulldogs don’t need one with what will be an only slightly more experienced team than last year’s. Many young athletes were thrust into the fire, which should help some, though there are also big holes to fill due to graduation.

First-year GMC Prep head coach Gavin Tierce, the team’s offensive line coach under the departed Bobby Rhoades in ‘23, hopes to get the ‘Dogs back to the state playoffs after they missed out last season for the first time in 2019.

Here’s a week-by-week look at GMC Prep’s 2024 opponents, including historical data as well as past head-to-head records and results.

The Tierce era is slated to begin with a pair of preseason scrimmages starting Aug. 2 at Montgomery County then at home the following week versus Macon’s Stratford Academy. The Bulldogs open the regular season on the road their first two weeks.

South Georgia school Atkinson County is the destination Aug. 16 in what will be a first-ever meeting between the programs. The Rebels were winless last year and have only finished above .500 three times since the year 2000, the last time having occurred in 2014.

Like Willie Nelson once sang, it’s on the road again in week two as GMC Prep will travel to Crawford County in Roberta Aug. 23. Similar to Atkinson, Crawford is not a winning program historically with just four over-.500 finishes since the turn of the century. It’s been a good matchup for the Bulldogs in recent years as they won meetings against the Eagles in 2020 and ‘21. The schools are 4-4 against one another all-time.

The regular season home opener is Aug. 30 against Brentwood School of nearby Sandersville. The War Eagles are coming off their first losing season (5-6) since 2016, but has beaten GMC Prep head-to-head the last two years in similar ballgames. Turnovers and red zone woes bugged the Bulldogs in both contests where the margins of loss were 11 and 15 points.

The Taylor County Vikings, 6-5 a year ago, will visit Davenport Field Sept. 6 in what will be another first-ever meeting for GMC Prep football. Taylor is one of only two Bulldog foes in ‘24 that toted a winning record last season.

The two-at-home, two-on-the-road pattern continues Sept. 13 with the ‘Dogs going to Creekside Christian Academy (1-9 last season). The teams blew one another out in 2020 and ‘21 with Creekside winning the first one 51-0 and GMC Prep getting revenge 46-0 the following year. The home team has won each time so far.

The midpoint in the regular season is a good time to have a first bye week, and that’s how the Bulldogs’ schedule is set up. They are off Sept. 20 before getting into region play at Twiggs County on the 27th. The Cobras of Jeffersonville struggled mightily last season, allowing GMC Prep to go into the offseason on a high note with a 35-12 victory on Davenport Field.

Twiggs welcomes in a new coach this year, and it’s a name familiar around these parts. Roderick Cummings, former defensive coordinator at Baldwin under Jesse Hicks, was named head Cobra in March. He’ll try to steer the program to its first winning record since 2016.

Only four times in 32 meetings have the Glascock County Panthers beaten GMC Prep in football. The most recent instance occurred in last year’s 59-20 final in Gibson. It was a historic season for Glascock with the first playoff berth in team history. The Bulldogs will look to set things back right from their point of view on Oct. 4 in Milledgeville.

Count Oct. 11 opponent Hancock Central among the schools in GMC Prep’s region that has a new head coach. Hancock alum Brandon Nolley was elevated to the head role after having previously served as offensive coordinator under Marleau Blount. Nolley actually played two years at GMC junior college after high school then finished out his college career at Georgia Southern.

He takes over a team that was young in 2023, but still managed to finish 4-7 and make the playoffs. One of those losses, though, came on a rainy night in Milledgeville as the GMC Bulldogs won 34-22.

The series between the neighboring county schools has been back and forth in recent years with Hancock holding the all-time edge at 9-5. This year’s meeting is in Sparta.

Following another off week, the Bulldogs head into the home stretch with an Oct. 25 home game against Wilkinson County. The Warriors lead the series handily at 19-7 and avenged three consecutive close losses to GMC Prep with last year’s 47-0 drubbing. The Warriors made the 2023 postseason as a 2-seed but were ejected quickly by Lincoln County in a 42-0 final.

The regular season finale comes on Nov. 1 at Johnson County. The Trojans of Wrightsville have won region titles each of the last two seasons with little resistance put up by the other teams. Both GMC-Johnson matchups in ‘22 and ‘23 were lopsided affairs at 48-10 and 47-16 in the Trojans’ favor.

How the Bulldogs perform those last few weeks of the regular season will determine if the team continues on into the state playoffs.