Jason Bishop

End of the Road

Published November 16, 2021 | By Jason Bishop

By: Jason Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The season is over for the Camden County Wildcats.

The Wildcats were eliminated in the first round of the GHSA state 7A playoffs at the hands of the North Cobb Warriors, 44-6.

North Cobb was the winner of region 3-7A and a #1 seed going into the 2021 playoffs. The only loss the Warriors suffered was to the Buford Wolves in the season opener. They are a very good football team and overmatched the Wildcats.

Camden ends the 2021 season with a 4-7 mark. It was a tough second half of the season for the Wildcats.

Camden came in with high expectations entering the 2021 campaign. This was mostly due to the second coming of Jeff Herron as Camden Coach; I like to refer to it as the Jeff Herron era 2.0.

Herron won three state titles in his first go around with the Wildcats and 12 straight region titles.

In fairness to Herron, he was trying to implement to complicated Wing-T offensive system to 17-18 year olds, who had never run it and were used to playing out of a spread offense. It was a tall order.

Not to mention the schedule was brutal. By far the Wildcats had the toughest schedule in the state. The Wildcats played games against Glynn Academy, Marietta, and Oakleaf in the first half season of season. The first half of Camden’s season saw them go 4-1 with blowout wins over both Glynn and Oakleaf.

The schedule in second half of the season got even more difficult. Camden had game @ Coffee County, Warner Robins, Colquitt, @ Tift and then at home against Lowndes.

Coffee made the playoffs, Warner Robins is the favorite to win the 5A state title, Colquitt was ranked 8^th in the state, Tift had a new coach and new system and Lowndes was ranked #5 in the state. The second half schedule was brutal.

Despite that the Wildcats played tough in most of those games and had chances to win. Camden lost to Coffee 10-7 on a trick play and a 50-yard field goal. Then lost to Colquitt in over time. After that lost to Tift by a touchdown and then lost to Lowndes on a miracle play right at the end of regulation. The point is Camden could have very easily finished the regular season 8-2 with a region title and a #1 seed in the GHSA playoffs, instead of 4-6.

None the less, the season is over and the record is 4-7. Now the Wildcats look ahead to 2022.

Camden will lose QB Gray Loden, RB Jamie Felix, LB Jadin Jones, RB KK Albertie, DB Zach Andreu, LB Will Dykstra, DL Iman Davis, DL Demarion Davis, DL Quinton Pinkney, K Adonis Coyle, OL Noah Demeritt, OL Thomas Scholl, OL Tyler Yarborough just to name a few.

The question is now can Jeff Herron turn this program back into one that reloads instead of rebuilds, I feel the answer to that question is YES.

Camden County Wildcats Coach’s Show w Jeff Herron November 10

Published November 11, 2021 | By Jason Bishop

Camden County Wildcats Coach's Show w Jeff Herron November 10

00:00 / 26:55

Tagged Bishop Media Sports Network, Camden County Wildcats Coach's Show w Jeff Herron, GHSA Playoffs, Jason Bishop, Lowndes County Vikings, North Cobb Warriors, November 10

The Playoff Picture

Published November 1, 2021 | By Jason Bishop

By: Jason Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Well, here we go. The last week of the high school football regular season is upon us.

The playoffs will start in two weeks and as always southeast Georgia will be well represented. But who will be playing where?

Brunswick High Pirates: The Pirates will travel to Springfield Friday night to take on the Effingham Rebels in what amounts to a region championship game.

BHS is the last unbeaten team in 6A and comes in at 9-0 on the season and undefeated in the region. Effingham’s only region loss is to Richmond Hill.

If the Pirates knock off the Rebels, BHS will lock up a #1 seed and will most likely be hosting Tucker. However, if Effingham upsets the Pirates, then Effingham would be region champion and BHS would likely host Lovejoy as a #2 seed.

Ware County Gators: The Gators are 7-1 on the season and undefeated in their region. Ware holds wins over Coffee, Veterans and Warner Robins; thus, they have locked up the region no matter the outcome of the Wayne County game Friday night.

The Gators will most likely host Banneker out of region 3-5A in the first round.

MCA Buccaneers: MCA is 4-4-1 on the year and currently holds the #3 seed in 3-1A Public.

The Bucs will head up to Millen Friday night with the #3 seed on the line against Jenkins County. The winner of that game will get the #3 seed and the loser will end up with #4 seed.

A #3 seed means a road trip to Mitchell County, a very winnable game. However, a #4 seed means a date with the Pelham Hornets, a much tougher game.

Glynn Academy Red Terrors: The Red Terrors are 3-5-1 on the season and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in the Rocky Hidalgo era.

Glynn’s only chance to get into the playoffs is to beat Statesboro Friday night at Glynn County Stadium.

If the Red Terrors succeed at knocking off the Blue Devils, they will earn a #4 seed and they would face Langston Hughes, the #1 seed from region 4.

Langston Hughes knocked Glynn out of the playoffs last year in the second round, 35-0.

Camden County Wildcats: The Wildcats have struggled closing games in the second half of the season. Camden has locked up the #4 seed in their region with a 4-6 record.

The Wildcats lost the last 5 games of the season. In fairness, Camden could have very easily won 4 of those games.

The Wildcats will head up to Atlanta to play the #1 seed in region 3, North Cobb.

Camden is a very dangerous #4 seed.

Charlton County Indians: The Indians nipped Lanier County last week by one point, earning the #4 seed from region 2-1A Public.

Charlton will take on Atkinson County Friday Night to close out their regular season, looking for a 7-3 regular season.

After that the Indians will take to the road in the first round of the playoffs to take Montgomery County, the #1 seed from 4-1A Public.

Frederica Academy Knights: The Knights currently are 4-5 on the season and hold the #2 position in GISA 2-3A. Frederica will head up to Dublin Friday night to take on Trinity Christian.

If the Knights win over Trinity, they will finish #2 in the region, however GISA uses a different ranking system than GHSA.

The most likely scenario is the Knights end up with #5 seed and a first round bye in the playoffs.