Mary Ann Miller | Special to the TimesGeorgia Christian quarterback Seth Copeland (14) gets past Valwood linebacker Cade Clark (50) during the team's season opener Sept. 4 at Goddard Field.

DASHER — The first game of the year for Georgia Christian did not depict the true potential of its ball club. 

The Generals only got in the end zone once against Valwood and finished the game with a 51-8 loss.

This week, the Generals look to avenge the first week loss and shake off some of the rust against the Skipstone Warriors.

They battle Skipstone Academy tonight in an away game in Griffin. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

“I feel good gong into the game,” Generals head coach Chuck Knapp said. “We have guys coming back. Our tailback, Dante Sacco, has been cleared from concussion protocol. We have a couple of other key guys back that were out in that first game due to some personal stuff.”

One of those key guys is none other than All-State player from a season ago, Christian Johnson. Johnson was sorely missed on both sides of the ball in their first outing, as he starts at both defensive end and wideout. 

“Anytime you have a Christian Johnson-caliber player not in the game, it will not go unnoticed,” Knapp said. “He is great at wideout and does a lot for us on the defensive side of the ball. It’s good to get him back, as well as having one of our safeties coming back this week.”

Sacco has been itching to get back out on the field. Earlier this week, he got back out there for the first time since the Valwood game and he looks even better. The offense seems to mesh better with him in the starting lineup. 

“Dante is a guy that is just hungry to be around the game,” Knapp said. “He was at the middle school game last week and he made himself the water boy. He told me that he knows how much he needs to rehydrate during games, so he knows how important that is. That tells you a lot about how much he wants to just be out there.”

“This week, I feel like we got way better,” Knapp said. “We were able to change some things around; we simplified some things and installed some new things. This helped the offense out and they started to look a bit better. Even the offensive line looks better than before, so we have some things that are working.”

Out at practice, things looked a lot smoother. Quarterback Seth Copeland looked more relaxed than before and more fluid throwing the ball to his playmakers in space. Sacco looked better running the ball, too. Guys were catching passes and running crisp routes. It seemed as though they are highly prepared for the task against the Warriors. 

“I feel like in this game, we have got to get the offense more on track,” Knapp said. “We have to get our timing down on some things. We have to complete more passes than we did in the previous game at Valwood. That starts with Seth but it also starts with the wideouts catching the ball. We had some drops that we would like to clean up.”

After their first game against a big-time opponent, the Generals look to be back in sync. At times, it seemed the bright lights may have gotten to them against the Valiants.

“I feel like we are over that first game shock that we had with Valwood,” Knapp said. “They are where we want to be. We have to go out there and prove ourselves and show that we belong, like the Valwoods of the world.

“Skipstone has a great program. They win on a regular basis, so those guys know what it’s like to have a winning team. We played them in the first game of last season, and we hung with them there until the end of the game when they scored late on us in the last minute to win it. We just have to go finish this time.”

Both Skipstone and Georgia Christian had a rough first outing and both are looking for their first win of the 2020 season. Both teams lost their opening games, but Skipstone may have lost more.  

Their first game of the season saw their starting quarterback get injured and carted off the field and then the backup quarterback suffered the same fate. While Skipstone hopes for a speedy recovery for them both, it may come back to bite them moving forward.

“They lost both quarterbacks in that first game, so schematically, we’re not sure what we will see from them,” Knapp said. “What we do know, is that they have a massive offensive line. They really have some big guys playing for them up front, and they seem even bigger than we faced at Valwood. But I feel as though that we can hang with them, nonetheless. While they may have the size, we have some really athletic guys to combat that with.”

With the uncertainly surrounding COVID-19, the Generals are just happy they still get to suit it up. 

“There are programs all around us that are having to take time off or canceling the season,” Knapp said. “We had our first home game to be canceled due to some stuff going on, so we won’t even get home field advantage until Oct. 16 of this season. So for us, we are just happy to be able to suit it up each day. I do get antsy just feeling like I will get another call of a team canceling.”

Rightfully so. 

Just last week in public school football, Valdosta and Tift County had to cancel their game they had scheduled due to positive COVID-19 tests.

“Outside of being happy we still get to play each week, I’m excited about how our front seven played on defense,” Knapp said. “They were aggressive in the game, but we have to get them to sustain that energy. We have to get those guys to tap in all four quarters.”