Augusta programs hope for better in GHSA Region 2-AAAAA openers

No doubt the players, coaches and fans at Northside, Houston County, Jones County and Warner Robins are eagerly anticipating the start of GHSA Region 2-AAAAA play this week.

And no doubt those at Evans, Cross Creek, Greenbrier and Grovetown are anticipating it a good bit less.

Considering the latter four lost to the former four by a whopping combined score of 186-28, that is easy to understand.

“Whew,” Warner Robins head coach Bryan Way said. “I didn’t know that.”

The four Augusta schools no doubt entered last season’s region opener feeling pretty good about things. After all, they had gone 4-0 and beaten Westside-Augusta, Hephzibah and Harlem (the Bulldogs opened with Greenbrier and Grovetown) by a 144-13 margin.

And then they got blown out when taking on the Eagles, Bears, Greyhounds and Demons.

Here we go again.

The Augusta side again comes in perfect in four games, and it outscored those same opponents 129-17.

“The schools up there, they got some wins,” Northside head coach Kevin Kinsler said. “I’m just not sure who those wins are against. It’s still kind of hard to tell.”

The bad news for those to the east is that almost nothing has changed regarding the teams from Middle Georgia.

Northside lost a starting defender at the end of the first half, threw a second-half shutout and turned an 18-point deficit into a three-point win on the road.

Houston County broke in some new running backs and ran for more than 200 yards and stayed in control while beating Veterans by 28 points.

Jones County was without a starting receiver and took on a much-improved prospect-laden Morgan County team and held serve.

Warner Robins trailed by three touchdowns in the first 10 minutes at Peach County and outscored the Trojans 44-13 the rest of the way, playing a half without a starting running back.

And three of the four are ranked in the top five of the latest Georgia Sports Writers Association poll.

But the question marks remain for how much improvement the Augusta side has made, especially early in the season.

“I think Evans looks like the same old Evans,” Kinsler said. “They’re going to be competitive.”

And then there’s the transition for a chunk of the Augusta programs, with new head coaches at Evans, Greenbrier and Richmond Academy.

“I finally get a dang bead on what everybody is doing,” second-year Jones County head coach Justin Rogers joked. “Now I’ve got to restart with (three) teams over there.”

Way said Greenbrier might be better up front but lost some skill players. Evans hired Lemuel Lackey, who was 56-33 in nine seasons at Laney. Richmond Academy’s change came late in the summer when Chris Hughes took an administration job and Simon Rodriguez took over. Greenbrier is now coached by Tony Kramer.

“They changed coaches right before the season started,” Way said. “That’s kind of unusual. I’m sure that’s tough to deal with.”

But it’s not as tough as dealing with the Eagles, Bears, Greyhounds and Demons.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Augusta programs hope for better in GHSA Region 2-AAAAA openers ."