Out in the depths of Siloam, the Nathanael Greene Academy (NGA) Patriots have been preparing for their 2022 football season.
What makes this team so unique is they play eight-man football as a member of the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools (GAPPS). Nathanael Greene is in Class 1-A’s second region with Peachtree Academy, Peoples Baptist and Victory Baptist.
Patriots head coach Doug Brown explained that this version of football is much different than what most people typically see being played on Friday nights.
“In eight-man football, you lose both of your tackles and an extra wide receiver, so when you’re converting from 11-man to eight-man, you’re having to rethink your blocking schemes,” he said. “You’re trying to get everyone accounted for because you’re playing with fewer people. It’s still the same principles, but just working on a smaller scale on both sides of the ball.”
Brown is an Oconee County native who took the NGA job a few years ago, and he embraces his role.
The Patriots run similar schemes to that of a regular, full team, but have to tweak their approach given the different formations they run.
Defensively, Brown said he wants his guys to play with tenacity and explained their pursuit of the ball is everything.
“Defensive-wise, our schemes really help us with trying to attack the ball and to flow to where the football is at,” Brown said. “We run sort of like a 2-3 [front] and want eight helmets surrounding the football every time it’s snapped.”
Offensively, the Patriots have the flexibility to move guys around, regardless of whether they are under center or in a shotgun formation. Brown believes what’s most important on offense is staying diverse in their playbook and mixing up when they want to run and when they want to pass.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we’re looking at a wide variety of things,” he said. “We try to air it out some, but we also have to be able to be ready to ground-and-pound the ball if we have to.”
One of the main differences between eight-man and 11-man football is the number of kids that have to play both ways.
With only 15 players on the Patriots’ roster, many athletes never get the chance to come off the field during games, which can be a challenge for the guys who aren’t conditioned for it. However, Brown acknowledged that once players do it enough, they get acclimated to long periods of being out on the field.
“By the end of the season, they’re pretty much used to not getting the breaks,” he said. “This year, we’ve got a couple more kids to come out, so hopefully we can get more of these kids some time off.”
Looking ahead to the Patriots’ schedule, the players are excited to play a lot of the schools. Brown acknowledged that most of his players compete in more than one sport, as do the athletes from other schools in their region, so the kids play each other more than just during the football season.
“A lot of these guys are tri-sport athletes. We play Covenant Academy in basketball and baseball. John Hancock is over the river and through the woods, so we get to know these kids on a different level because we’re playing them constantly,” Brown said.
“I’m [specifically] looking forward to Peoples. I got to know their coaches last year, and they’re good people, but we kind of want revenge against [Covington Academy]. That was our first game of the season last year, and they whooped up on us, but by the end of the season I thought we could have gone toe-to-toe with them.”
Overall, Brown’s biggest message to his players is the idea of family. He feels as though it relates back to what it means to be a Patriot, and that it will keep the team together through good times and bad.
“I love our mascot. We aren’t the biggest or the best team in the area, but we are Patriots. We have to come together and rise to the occasion,” he said.