Peach County battles through injuries, heads into playoffs

Peach County has had more than its share of injuries this season.

And after losing a handful of players for the season due to injury, the Trojans lost another defensive lineman to a season-ending injury Wednesday.

The Trojans, however, will have to take the "next-man-up" mindset once again as they host Josey (6-4) on Friday in the first round of the GHSA Class AAA playoffs.

"It seems we just can't keep the same guys on the field with all of the injuries," Peach County head coach Chad Campbell said. "And losing a couple on the offensive line hurts even more because you have to have some continuity up there. The injuries have been the worst thing I've ever experienced in losing kids for the season, but we'll have to put all of that aside and hopefully continue to play good football."

The two teams have played each other just twice, both at Josey's home field in the first round in 1995 and 1994. The Eagles won both, 27-20 and 26-7.

Even amidst all of the injuries, Peach County is coming off a bye week in which it was able to recover a little after playing 10 consecutive weeks.

And before its bye week, Peach County gained some momentum, rallying from a 17-0 deficit on the road to knock off Westside and clinch a first-round home playoff game. The Trojans were sparked by Antoine Gilbert, Tyrique McGhee and Kearis Jackson in the comeback.

"We've had a good week of practice, and last week, we were trying to get our legs back under us," ­Campbell said. "It is a little different than last year in we keep losing starter after starter, but I think we've had a decent week of practice.

"We're certainly thankful to have that extra week to get focused on what we have at hand coming up."

What the Trojans certainly don't want is a replay of their first-round game against Appling County in 2014. Peach County, the No. 1 seed, was knocked off by No. 4 seed Appling County after the Trojans turned the ball over seven times.

"What can you do about seven turnovers?" Campbell asked. "It isn't anything we did wrong with schemes and such; we just turned the ball over. You turn the ball over seven times, you're not going to beat anybody. With that, (Appling County) could have very easily been the 1 seed but the way that sub-region and all is, everybody is so tough in that region.

"But again, you're not beating anybody turning the ball over seven times."

But Campbell didn't want to dwell on that game too much as the focus is entirely on a Josey team that is coming off a win in its final regular-season game.

"I don't want to re-hash last year's loss and bring up bad memories to our guys," Campbell said. "If you make mistakes, anything can happen, and I do want them to understand that. We want to just try to be 1-0 each week and go on to the next week. One team is going to go 5-0 this postseason in this class, and a lot of others will go home with a loss that ends their season.

" We just want to take it one game at a time with a common goal."

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Peach County battles through injuries, heads into playoffs ."