Tattnall returns to tradition, and tradition pays off

Anyone who saw Tattnall Square football during the Barney Hester era should be quite familiar with how the Trojans looked.

Blue jerseys and yellow pants at home. A plain yellow helmet. An offense that runs the ball, yet an offense so intricate that keying on just one ballcarrier was folly.

Tattnall won 11 GISA titles during that era, which came to a close after the 2012 season when Hester moved to Howard. Now, after some tinkering took Tattnall away from tradition, first-year head coach Chance Jones is steering the program back into its former mold.

Jones, who was plenty familiar with Tattnall tradition from his days at Westfield, put Tattnall back in blue jerseys and yellow pants after the program moved to an all-black home uniform following Hester’s departure. Also gone from the helmet is a big Tattnall oval-T logo, marking a move toward Tattnall’s plain yellow helmets of the past.

“They’re not exactly the same,” Jones said. “We put a stripe on it, but we did go back to the blank helmets. That’s kind of a tradition thing. You want to keep traditions around.”

More importantly, Tattnall has rekindled its running game. That, combined with strong defensive play, has the Trojans at 5-0 heading into Friday’s 7:30 p.m. home game against Mount de Sales.

Surpassing last year’s 4-6 record with a 35-6 victory last week over Wilkinson County, Tattnall certainly has things pointed in a positive direction. The team is scoring an average of 37.6 points per game while allowing just two touchdowns so far, both coming in the second half against separate opponents with the games already decided.

“We’ve got a lot of athletes, a lot of guys who can touch the ball who can make plays for us,” said senior running back Ahmad Barron, who has a team-leading 456 rushing yards and four touchdowns. “The defense, they’re doing really well right now. They’re just trusting the guy beside them, knowing he’s going to do his job and make his play. We’ve all got each other’s back, and we all know what we have to do in order to come out successful.”

There is some mystery as to how good this Tattnall team really is or can become.

Tattnall’s opponents are a combined 3-25, with no team having more than one win. The weak strength of schedule is taking a toll on the Trojans’ GHSA power rating, where the Trojans are all the way down in 20th among private schools, seven spots behind the next highest unbeaten team, Calvary Day, and just three spots ahead of Mount de Sales (2-3).

Still, the 5-0 start, regardless of strength of schedule, brings about a lot of optimism.

“We just have to play how we’ve been playing, just a tad bit harder,” receiver and defensive back Jimmy Marshall said. “Just keep up what we’ve been doing, work hard, and we’ll have a good end to the season.”

As much as Tattnall’s biggest tests lay ahead against its Macon rivals and a strong Twiggs County squad, the way in which Tattnall has defeated its opponents — chiefly through the running game — has people taking notice.

Tattnall ran for 339 yards in its region opener against Wilkinson County. Two players, Barron and Vasco Sanders Jr., each topped the 100-yard mark. Other running backs, like Destin Mack, Tyler Warnock and Antoine Davis, have enjoyed big games this season, as well.

That depth at running back is keeping players fresh, especially those who are expected to make contributions on both sides of the ball, something that is more rule than exception at the Class 1A level.

“They do a great job of flying around and getting to the football,” said Mount de Sales head coach Keith Hatcher, whose team is coming off a 41-14 loss to Stratford. “They are as good of a defensive team as we will see all year long, and they manage the game well offensively. They do a good job of running the ball and stopping the run, which is a lethal combination.”

In other Region 7A-1A games Friday, Twiggs County hosts Stratford in a battle of teams that are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in region play, while FPD (4-1, 0-1) hosts winless Wilkinson County (0-5, 0-1).

Twiggs County moved into first place in the Class 1A public power ratings with its 29-17 win Friday over FPD. The Vikings slipped from first to sixth in Class 1A private, one spot behind No. 5 Stratford. Landmark Christian, the team responsible for Stratford’s only loss, is No. 1 among private schools.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Tattnall returns to tradition, and tradition pays off."