GMC to host 4-4 Wilco

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Following the second of two scheduled bye weeks, the 2024 season has hit the home stretch for the GMC Prep football team.

The Bulldogs (0-2 region, 0-7 overall) return to their home Davenport Field this week to host the neighboring Wilkinson County Warriors (2-1, 4-4).

Although it’s not at the forefront of his mind, first-year GMC Prep head coach Gavin Tierce is still looking for his first career win in the lead role.

“I’ve never been a part of an 0-7 team, so it’s a new experience for me,” said Tierce, a product of northwest Georgia’s Dade County. “It’s been challenging. Continuing to do the little things right can be difficult at this point, but the kids have taken pride in it and are working to get better. That’s all we can do right now.”

Multiple key injuries have been a major hurdle for the ‘Dogs this season. The outlook has been brighter lately as far as availability, but just because guys are taking the field does not mean they are at full capacity.

“We do have more kids back, but some are still not 100%,” the head coach said. “It’s nice to have them back, but they’re not quite where we were hoping they would be injury-wise at this point.”

Tierce’s Bulldogs sit last in the region having not yet played the two teams at the top of the standings. Wilkinson is one of them at 2-1 in Div. II Region 5-A play. The Warriors have defeated Hancock Central and Glascock this month. In the middle of those two games they dropped one to region frontrunner Johnson County, 20-12.

Wilkinson’s own first-year head coach is Jamoski Ward, an Albany native and the former Baldwin High offensive coordinator.

“Coach Ward has done a great job in his first year there,” Tierce said. “He’s got great numbers out, including some kids that look like they didn’t play last year. They’re explosive on offense. They run probably the most pure spread system we’ve seen all year, maybe outside of Crawford.”

Ward’s got the Warriors throwing the football around the yard a good bit with sophomore quarterback Quenterrion Stanford. He gets the ball out quick on wide receiver screens to the outside as Wilkinson looks to leverage its athleticism on offense. But, according to Tierce, the Warrior run game is also respectable, and the passing game isn’t all quick hitters. Just when defenses start to cheat to the outside, sophomore slot receiver Myles Cobb shows how dangerous he can be streaking up the seam.

Defensively, Wilkinson has actually surrendered 18 more points than it has scored this season. That stat is a little deceptive though, as it’s mostly due to a lopsided 51-14 home loss to ACE Charter. Each of the Warriors’ three other losses have all been close margins where the opponent hasn’t reached 30 points. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are still hoping to put up their first score in the 20s while opponents are averaging 37.7.

GMC Prep will try to improve on those numbers this week while Wilkinson County will try to make them a little worse. Kickoff between the Bulldogs and Warriors is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday on Davenport Field.