Fox 5 Atlanta’s “High 5 Sports” recently recognized Morgan County’s football team as its “Team of the Week” following the Dogs’ Oct. 31 win over Callaway, which secured an undefeated regular season.
High 5 Sports visited the school on Nov. 6 to feature the team on its Thursday morning live television program.
In honor of the occasion, the school held a pep rally in the gymnasium at 8:30 a.m. during the live broadcast, and students were excused from their early-morning classes to attend. During the program, High 5 Sports also recognized the Morgan County volleyball team for its second consecutive state championship and the softball team for finishing as state runner-ups.
Paul Milliken, a feature reporter for Fox 5, has covered the Team of the Week program and its televised high school pep rallies for nearly 14 years. He said he enjoys the opportunity to cover smaller communities and was impressed by the large turnout of community members and parents at the recent Morgan County High School pep rally.
“I think the really great thing about our sports department is that they really do keep an eye on all communities and all of our local sports teams, so they’re not only focused specifically on Atlanta, Fulton County, or DeKalb,” Milliken said. “I love the excitement of us getting to be there and to show those communities off, so to see that kind of support, it’s really exciting for us, and makes us feel really welcome.”
Milliken said he drove nearly an hour and a half to Madison for the live broadcast, arriving at the school by 7:30 a.m. to do his teaser on the program before the pep rally. He mentioned that he has driven up to two-and-a-half hours for previous Team of the Week occasions.
According to Milliken, Fox 5’s sports department selects a team for the weekly honors on Friday nights, following games played earlier in the evening. He said that the broadcast’s sports director was notified of the school and that there was “a lot of enthusiasm in the town.”
“So usually by Saturday morning, I get an email telling me where the team of the week is going to be, and if there are any articles or anything, our sports director will send me some information so I can go down and read a little bit,” Milliken said. “I knew it was going to be a good pep rally. It’s just exciting to be there where the students feel really supported, loved, and happy about what they’re doing.”
The live coverage consisted of three “cut-in” segments and a teaser, all preceding the trophy ceremony at the end of the program.
The volleyball team presented a demonstration of the sport, as part of a longer segment between commercial breaks.
To start the trophy ceremony, Milliken interviewed Morgan County football head coach Clint Jenkins about his thoughts on the undefeated season and what lies ahead in the playoffs.
“These kids have done a great job at just taking it one day at a time; we always talk about what’s important now, and what an atmosphere, it’s been a great environment all year, and we’re just really proud of these guys,” Jenkins said. “We feel great [going forward] but again, we’re just taking it one at a time, one play at a time, and one day at a time.”
Milliken also interviewed senior quarterback Davis Strickland and asked him about his thoughts on playing the season with the rest of the team.
“These are my best friends, I love all of these guys, and we’ve been playing together for so long,” Strickland said. “There’s nobody else I’d rather play with, and I’m excited to get to some more games with them.”
Overall, Milliken said that one of his favorite aspects of covering Morgan County was meeting the students after the broadcast ended.
“The football team itself, everybody was really nice, and they all came up afterwards, thanked us and shook our hands; everybody was very, very generous,” Milliken said. “All the cheerleaders were really nice, and the band was really fun, so it seems like a good school and an excellent group of students, and so the whole thing was great.”