Loss last year spurs Upson-Lee to title shot

If things go Upson-Lee’s way Friday, perhaps a note of thanks will go to Savannah. That’s the home of New Hampstead, which stunned the Knights in the first round of last year’s GHSA Tournament.

“They were only a couple years old,” Upson-Lee senior Mikey Smith said, only off by a few years. “It was a big loss.”

The wounds lasted, but they were used as inspiration and motivation. Upson-Lee has made every opponent since then pay, and now they’re in the state title game for the first time in program history.

“Preseason practice, all we talked about was how we lost in the first round,” Smith said. “We didn’t want to feel like that no more.”

Upson-Lee puts its 31-0 record on the line at 8 p.m. on Friday at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion against St. Pius X for the Class 4A title.

The Knights lost one Region 2-4A game last season and were 23-3 entering the state tournament before the season abruptly ended. But the vast majority of the team was made up of underclassmen, so there was a reason for major optimism entering this season, even for a program lacking a large amount of postseason success.

“We played good years ago,” head coach Darrell Lockhart said. “But we didn’t make it to the state playoffs because we were in the same region with Jonesboro, and we had to deal with those teams. After that, we got here. They prepared us well, playing against those tough teams.”

Upson-Lee is led by a local product. Lockhart graduated in 1979 from Robert E. Lee. He played at Auburn and was drafted by San Antonio in the second round. He played professionally in Europe for more than 10 years, returned to Thomaston and didn’t teach or coach for a few years.

He started working at Upson-Lee as a paraprofessional and decided to go back to school and get his degree so his pay as a teacher would match the work he was doing.

Lockhart was an assistant for two years and then took over as head coach near the end of the 2004-05 season when Ed Ford — now at West Laurens — resigned. The first few years were a little lean.

“We had about three or four losing seasons,” Lockhart said. “And we’ve been pretty good (since).”

Smith and Tye Fagan were on the team two years ago that reached the quarterfinals. And memories are still fairly fresh of the Knights all but rolling through the regular season en route to a Region 2-4A title only to fall down in the first round of the tournament.

This season, the Knights have won big and won tight. They have only five wins by single digits but have some double-digit wins that were close until the final minutes, showing an ability to put people away down the stretch. Upson-Lee has been able to operate under a cliched but accurate philosophy that Lockhart prefers.

“I knew if we just took it one game at a time, it would be a possibility,” Lockhart said of going undefeated. “I especially thought about it after the game at LaGrange (a 68-47 win). I thought, ‘If we play like this the rest of the year, we might not lose any.’ And I quickly forgot about it.”

That was Lockhart’s 200th win, 16 victories ago, to go with 130 losses And the current edition of the Knights rarely forces the laid-back Lockhart to raise his voice.

“Everybody listens to him,” Smith said. “Everybody’s obedient.”

Lockhart is more prone to some noise in practice. If he’s unhappy during the game?

“He’ll take you out,” Smith said. “Lack of effort, walking down the floor, not getting back on defense.”

That doesn’t happen often when your team is 31-0. The Knights are athletic but fundamentally sound. Fagan, a wiry 6-foot-2 junior draws the most attention, with about 20 points per game, but Zyrice Scott, Smith and Cameron Traylor make the Knights go.

“He’s only a 10th-grader,” Lockhart said with a chuckle about Scott. “He plays good. He makes mistakes, like everybody else, but for a 10th-grader? It’s a good sign.”

Another bonus is the athleticism of Travon Walker, a 6-5, 250-pound sophomore who is getting serious looks from SEC football teams. Walker doesn’t play like a big or a young player.

“The big fella has stepped up,” said Lockhart, who is 6-9 himself. “He’s become more offensive minded. Ooh, he’s strong, got a big reach, a 7-foot reach.”

Just like Lockhart back in the day?

“Ohhhh, I don’t know if I could’ve dealt with him,” Lockhart said. “I wouldn’t want to have to deal with him.”

Chemistry is huge on any successful team, certainly one having a dream season. And the players and coaches will discuss shortcomings if need be.

“All of us keep each other in check,” Cameron Traylor said. “We listen to each other. All the playoff games, we’ve been in each other’s face.”

And it’s not a problem.

“We’ve been playing together since we were like in fifth grade,” Smith said. “We know each other. Everybody knows their role.”

New Hampstead helped make sure of that.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Loss last year spurs Upson-Lee to title shot."