VALDOSTA —
Brooks County’s football coach knows that Friday night’s game will be a challenge. But he’s looking forward to that challenge.
On Friday, the Trojans will get on U.S. 84 and drive 17 miles east to Winnersville to face the Valdosta Wildcats. Kickoff time at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium is 8 p.m.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” Brooks head coach Maurice Freeman admitted. “They’re pretty good. It looks like they’ve reloaded. It’s going to be a tough game.”
It will be big school versus small school on Friday. Valdosta High School has about twice as many students as Brooks County High School. The Wildcats compete in the state’s highest classification (Class 6A), while the Trojans are a AA school.
But while Valdosta is a much bigger school and has more players, Brooks enjoys playing their neighbors to the east.
“We look forward to this game every year. It’s a great measuring stick for us, right down the road. ... We love to play it,” Freeman said.
Freeman has a lot of respect for the Wildcats. He grew up in Brooks County, and has paid attention to Valdosta for a long time. He admires all of the success the team has had over the years, and speaks highly of Valdosta.
“Valdosta has 23 state titles, 41 region titles,” he said. “They’re a proven program, a traditionally strong program. They go by the name of Winnersville, USA or Winnersville, Ga. It’s their 100th year (of football). I do have a lot of admiration for them.”
Like any good high school football team, the Trojans are coming to Valdosta with the goal of winning the game. But whether his team wins or loses, Freeman likes the challenge of facing the Wildcats. He believes that playing the Wildcats will make his team better, and help prepare the Trojans for the postseason.
“It prepares you for the playoffs, really, (when you play) the top of the line teams,” Freeman said. “Yeah, they’re probably above our heads, with the number of players and talent. But if you can hang in there with them, that gives your guys a lot of hope, as far as the playoffs are concerned. It’s a great measuring stick. Go back and look at that tape; they’re going to show you what you did wrong. If you don’t get a lot of kids banged up, you can go back and make those corrections and prepare yourself for the playoffs.”
Under Freeman, Brooks has never been afraid to play bigger schools. And they’ve beaten a few bigger schools. In both 2008 and 2009, the Trojans faced Tift County, one of Valdosta’s region rivals. And they beat them both years.
Brooks has started the season strong, winning its first two games. The Trojans routed Clinch County 43-3 in their season opener, on a night when just about everything seemed to go Brooks’ way.
“We were firing on all cylinders early in the year,” Freeman said. “We were able to be a little bigger than (Clinch was). We did the things that we thought we could do versus them.
“(Our game plan) will probably be totally different against Valdosta. We have to come up with a different scheme, because they are the Goliath and we’re the David this time. ... Hopefully we’ve fine-tuned it, and we’ll be ready to play.”
Last week, the Trojans survived a tough test from Monroe. Malcolm Parrish’s 55-yard touchdown pass to Deric Herring in the final seconds of the game gave Brooks a 21-18 win.
“We did not play well last Friday. I’m concerned about that,” Freeman said. “But we did win. An ugly win is better than a pretty loss any day of the week. We did win. We think we’ve worked out the kinks, and got rid of some of the mistakes we made last week. This is just another test for us.”
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Related Photos
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Brooks County quarterback Malcolm Parrish (12) looks for a receiver during the Trojans’ season-opening win over Clinch County last month in Quitman. Parrish will lead the Trojans into Friday’s game against Valdosta. Pat Gallagher | The Valdosta Daily Times
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Brooks County’s Deric Herring (11) hauls in a touchdown pass against Clinch County on Aug. 24 in Quitman. Herring has scored touchdowns in each of the Trojans’ first two games. Pat Gallagher | The Valdosta Daily Times
Discussion
Trojans ready to play Wildcats
Brooks travels to Valdosta Friday
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